When I was pregnant, I hid my belly behind tentlike tops and ran from the camera like it was being wielded by Freddy Krueger. Fifteen years later, I treasure the very few photos of pregnant me!

In hindsight, I wish I would have taken more photos to show my babies' growth inside of my growth. And I wish I would have had the courage to wear those smart-looking, body-skimming pregnancy styles!

Here's what our Mommy M.D.s — doctors who are also mothers — do to photograph their own pregnancy journey.

"My husband took photos of my pregnant belly about once a month," says Lezli Braswell, M.D., a mom of one daughter and two sons and a family medicine physician in Columbus, Georgia. "It was a fun tradition, and it's neat to look back on the photos of my growing belly."

"A friend of mine and I were pregnant at the same time, and we took lots of photos of us together," says Debra Luftman, M.D., a mom of two grown children, a board-certified dermatologist in private practice, co-author of "The Beauty Prescription," developer of the skin care line Therapeutix and a clinical instructor of skin surgery and general dermatology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"I had often heard that people don't take as many photos of their second child," says Michelle Paley, M.D., a mom of a daughter and a son and a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in private practice in Miami Beach, Florida. "I wanted to be sure we had photos and also to ensure that they were special. I had a photographer come to our home while I was pregnant. She took such beautiful photos of my belly and our whole family. I also scheduled her to return shortly after we brought our son home from the hospital. I knew that even though we might not have as many candid photos of him, we'd have some very special professional ones."

"My favorite part of my pregnancy was taking photos of my pregnant belly," says Jennifer Gilbert, D.O., a mom of twins and OB-GYN at Paoli Hospital in Pennsylvania. "It would have been neat to have started this earlier, but I was superstitious and scared to do it too soon, so I wouldn't let my husband take any photos until week 32!"

"But at week 32, we wrote '32' on my belly in lipstick and took a photo, and then we did the same the next week and the week after that," Gilbert continues. "After that, we started writing messages to our babies in lipstick on my belly before taking the pictures. It was fun!"

"During my first pregnancy, I was so self-conscious about my rapidly ballooning

midsection that I wouldn't allow my then-husband to take photos of my belly," says Rallie McAllister, M.D., MPH, mom of three, co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby's First Year," nationally recognized health expert and family physician in Lexington, Kentucky. "If I had it to do over, I would relax and enjoy my beautiful pregnant belly, and I would have lots of pictures to remind me of my amazing transformation."

Jennifer Bright is a mom of four sons, co-founder and CEO of family- and veteran- owned custom publisher Momosa Publishing, co-founder of the Mommy MD Guides team of 150+ mommy M.D.s, and co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to the Toddler Years." She lives in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. To find out more about Jennifer Bright and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Free-Photos at Pixabay