Most women heavy with child can't wait to see those basketballs around their midsections disappear once they've delivered.
But an option to turn them into giant 3-D mementos has been catching on.
"Belly casting" kits allow a mom-to-be, with a little help from her friends, to make a plaster mold of her pregnant abdomen and chest in about half an hour, then paint it, preserving the symbolic protrusion as a work of art (until the kid involved is old and embarrassed enough to throw it away). Some moms cast the stomach only, then turn it into a makeshift "belly bowl" baby chair.
Kits made by proudbody.com, running from about $19 to $35, are sold at Burlington Coat Factory, Peapods and Bellies to Babies. The Brooklyn Park online-sales company castingkeepsakes.com has a variety of brands starting at $15 (painting supplies extra).
Celebrity mothers who have tried belly casting include Brooke Shields, Kelly Ripa and Kendra Wilkinson. People tend to get whimsical with the painting, inspired to create everything from frogs and cartoon whales to Virgin Mary likenesses. If you have a baby on board but aren't down with making a mold of your tummy, you can always go with a henna design ($22) or a temporary "Tummy Tatt" ($5), also available from Casting Keepsakes.
KRISTIN TILLOTSON
