Something that we have decided to keep quite private this year but can no longer hold back is the fact that we have been expecting our first child together. For the past 9 months we have been documenting Helen’s body as it changes and grows. We didn’t start the project until she was about 3 months pregnant by which time there was a little bloat evident, but in comparison to the latter stages looks completely normal!

It’s funny because in those early stages we noticed there was a hard bump there, but 6 months on it’s like a watermelon just sat waiting to drop.The first 4 images were taken when we were living with Helen’s parents in Widnes, we were there for a few months before moving into our new home where the remaining images were taken. All except one which was taken when we were in the Lake District for Dave’s 30th Birthday. Not only is it a visual pregnancy journal it also represents a time of big changes in our lives; moving from Leicester to the North-West, Dave starting a new job, the news of a little one joining us before finally buying our first home together on the edge of the Peak District.

We took the same position for each photograph every Sunday morning from this moment on and decided to wait to share this on our blog until our new arrival came into our lives. When writing this Helen was 39 weeks pregnant (see pic below) and looking likely to go into labour any time soon.

This is a very personal project but we felt that it deserved a space in our very personal blog which has always documented the things we’ve done away from our work-related lives. As you can guess the next few installments of the blog are likely to be baby-fueled.

Helen is looking forward to taking some time out of her professional practice, will she become all homely now? She has been attempting curtain making and other sewing machine projects so who knows. Meanwhile Dave is looking forward to paternity leave, 2 weeks isn’t long enough but its going to be a very special time for us.

Frank Leo Rutter was born on Christmas Day morning at 9.41am weighing 6lbs8oz. More to follow.