Pregnancy Pictures (39 weeks)

It is almost 4 days before my due date and I find that I have gone from scrambling to get everything done before the baby arrives, to trying to keep busy so that I don't go nuts waiting. Every day that goes by there is more of that feeling that somebody is trying to stick his hand out down there (ouch!) and some mild contractions that kind of remind me of when I first felt contractions two years ago... Except I do remember that last time I almost saw stars when I felt them, and that made me realize it was really happening.

So, last Friday it was the first day I kind of had some time to stay in the house and just relax. No laundry to do, no groceries to get, no phone calls to make. And Paulo was at daycare, so I decided to have some "me" time and take some self portraits of my 39 week belly. We had initially asked a friend to take some shots of our family, but considering how close we are to the due date and our inability to arrange a time to meet for a photo shoot, I decided to go ahead and try some of my own (I couldn't take any chances!).





Self Portrait #1

 

It only took about 1,385 shots to get one exactly as I wanted it, but I was pretty happy with the results:



Self Portrait #2

Both pictures where taken at about noon, right against the livingroom window (thus the blinds in the background as I couldn't find a proper backdrop) and exposing for the bright light coming through the window to get my dark profile. The picture was taken with a Nikkor AF-S 50mm 1:1.8 lens. Then I edited in Picasa. Unfortunately I forgot to write down the exposure and other details used.

These shots were really much harder to get than I thought. While doing only a silhouete picture allowed me not to have to worry much about my makeup, facial expression or what I was wearing, it was extremely difficult to make sure I was standing in the right angle, standing up straight, pulling my elbows back enough and sticking my butt out. After a couple of hours and tons of pictures, I was pretty happy with a few, specially these two.

  

Tomorrow a new week begins and it could be a very exciting one. Now to find some more little projects to fill time!