KONKO INSPIRE

Brave Dads Pose With Fake Baby Bumps and Feign Childbirth For Hilarious Calendar Photo Shoot By Margot Peppers

A group of husbands and dads were photographed recreating memorable pregnancy moments for a hilarious new calendar. Shot by photographer Katie Hall, the 2014 Homebirth Dads Calendar stars a dozen men from Racine County, Wisconsin, sporting prosthetic bellies and pained expressions as they waddle around and put their hands lovingly on their baby bumps like pregnant women.

While the calendar was intended to be humorous, it actually opened some of the men's eyes to the painful and uncomfortable situations their wives had to go through during pregnancy. In one photo, a man leans against the door with both hands resting protectively on his protruding belly. His face isn't visible, but his masculine, hairy arms wrapped around his 'baby bump' make for a striking and silly contrast.

While the humorous nature of the photos is undeniable, some of the dads found it moving to reenact the moments - some of them painful - that their wives endured. The father who stars in the December photo, for instance, became emotional as he was photographed  with his newborn son for an image which was meant to look like the moment a baby is born.

Kimberly McGuinness-Rook, the midwife who came up with the idea for the calendar, told Today.com: 'I said "are you OK?" [And, he said] "I am really moved by this."'The father apparently admitted: 'As men, we never really get this opportunity to feel remotely what it feels like to have [a baby] and what my wife went through.'

The N4,940 calendar is meant to raise awareness of infant mortality reduction in Racine County, which has a higher than average infant mortality rate; around 17 of every 1,000 babies born there do not survive their first year of life.

Sales benefit the Greater Racine Collaborative for Healthy Birth Outcomes.

Ms Hall explained that while the dads recognized that they were being photographed for a serious cause, many giggled through the shoot because of the silly positions they were asked to pose in.

But they agreed to do it in the first place in honor of their wives and partners.