Black & Yellow Belly Cast

Can you believe that there is another Tadhg!? I absolutely LOVE our son's name, but the spelling took some time to fall in love with swallow. I never imagined someone else would love the name as much as I do, that they would subject their child to that consonant nightmare. GH... no HG UGH. Well there is, and I had the privilege to make his Mama's belly cast and be present at his birth as his Mama's doula. What a beautiful birth it was!
It is such an amazing experience to create a belly cast for a woman. Something she can look at, and remember the miracle of life growing within. While you're pregnant, it feels like an eternity, but afterwards at least for me, I begin to forget. Looking at my belly cast, brings back those memories of little baby feet nudging around and those hiccups.

I must say when we discussed decorating her cast and she mentioned the colors black and yellow, big bumble bees popped into my head and I thought "how!?" I love challenges. I love brainstorming and waiting for that creativity inside to take off, well maybe I don't LOVE that part, but I love waking up in the middle of the night with that inspirational image and then I am off. I am happy to say, as difficult as it is to accept your own work when you are a perfectionist, I am really pleased with how this turned out and when it left my hands, there was a bit of emptiness in my home. Every time I deliver a cast to a client, it reminds me of that feeling shortly after giving birth; you aren't mentally past just being pregnant and there is this empty womb feeling, but there is this amazing new being to share with the world and fill your heart with love. I spend many hours creating these casts, I become attached to every curve, detail, and parts that make each unique to that woman and moment in their pregnancy, and then when I have taken it through every step, I let them go and hope they will be cherished and loved.