A couple have created a quarantine maternity shoot to make people smile under lockdown – and one day show their soon-to-be born son what life was like while he was safe in mum’s tum.
Akemi Maehama Romain and her husband Terry donned face masks and rubber gloves to shoot the pictures in their backyard.
Mother-to-be Akemi, 28, who is eight months pregnant with the couple’s first child, a boy, said: “We couldn’t have a real maternity shoot so we thought we’d make a humorous alternative instead.
“We want to show the pictures to our baby, once he’s old enough to understand, so we can explain to him what was happening in the world while he was in my tummy.
Akemi, who works for the charitable arm of a sports organization, added: “It’ll give us a chance to look back on 2020, and what we are all going through just before he was born.
“We had to cancel our baby shower, and everyone is going through such hardship right now, it’s has been difficult for us to gather the items needed to prepare for the arrival of our baby…so we wanted to do something fun.
“Every mom-to-be is going through tough times right now, the fathers too, but especially the mothers. Everything is so uncertain.”
Dad-to-be Terry, who works for a rental car service, is still going to work every day while Akemi stays home in Miami, Florida, USA.
She added: “I’m thankful that he still has a job but I get so scared for him. He has to be extra careful and there’s a whole process when he gets home.
“He takes off all his clothes and puts them into the washer. We spray everything that he brings home with him.
“It’s tough, because I want to go and hug him as soon as he gets in the door, but we have to clean everything first. He takes a shower and then we can finally hug.”
The couple, who met when they were in high school, are expecting their baby to arrive on June 20.
“This is our first child, and we’re very excited about it. I’m going to give birth in a birthing center rather than a hospital,” said Akemi.
“I haven’t had a complicated pregnancy so I got to choose that option. I want my husband and mother to be there and I’m doing a natural birth.
“We plan to call him Maxi Kenshin, short for either Maximus or Maximo, we haven’t decided yet.
“Hopefully we can hold a baby shower some time after Maxi is born.”