Belly Casting: Capturing a Beautiful Moment in Pregnancy

Belly casting is something truly special. It’s more than just making a mold of a pregnant belly—it’s about capturing a moment that feels endless while you’re in it but, somehow, is gone before you know it. Pregnancy changes you in ways you can’t always put into words, and a belly cast is a way to hold onto one of those changes, to mark the time when your body was home to someone else.

When I first started offering belly casting, I didn’t expect how much emotion would come with it. I thought of it as a fun, creative experience—and it is—but I’ve also seen parents-to-be tear up as they sit still for the first time in weeks, feeling the weight of their baby in their belly and realizing just how close they are to meeting them. I’ve watched partners run their hands gently over the drying plaster, smoothing out edges with the kind of care that says, I see you. I love you. I’m here. I’ve seen people who’ve struggled with body image stare at their cast in awe, realizing for the first time how incredible their body really is.

The process itself is simple. Warm water, plaster strips, and about 30 minutes of stillness. But it’s also messy, intimate, and a little unpredictable—just like pregnancy itself. Some people laugh their way through it, cracking jokes as the wet plaster drips onto the floor. Others close their eyes and let themselves be still, feeling each breath as it rises and falls. There’s no right or wrong way to experience it. It’s just your moment, however it unfolds.

Once the cast is done, it’s a blank slate, waiting to become whatever you want it to be. Some people leave it untouched, raw and real, just as it was made. Others paint it with bright colors, flowers, or their baby’s name. Some tuck it away, something to be pulled out years later when their child wants to know what it was like before they were born. No matter what you do with it, the cast holds a piece of you—a version of yourself that existed for only a short time but meant everything.

If you’re considering belly casting, don’t overthink it. Let it be whatever you need it to be. A way to celebrate. A way to process. A way to pause, if only for a little while, and honor everything your body has done to bring this new life into the world.