— Celebrity baby bumps are major news items. Maternity clothes are form-fitting: clingy knit tops, low-rise jeans and flirty dresses. The days of hiding the baby belly are over.

Now an empowered generation of young women is commemorating the journey into motherhood with professional photos. The photographs are posted on Facebook, pasted in scrapbooks and framed for the nursery.

“It’s OK to be proud of our belly; we don’t have to hide it,” said Sherry Schultze, owner of Inspired Portrait Photography in North Mankato. “Society has embraced the female form.”

When 20-year-old Tressa Roehm was pregnant in 2008 with her daughter, Teagynn, she went to Schultze for a flattering portrait of herself.

“I chose to do a maternity photo because I enjoyed my pregnancy and wanted to capture the excitement of waiting for my baby,” said Roehm of Mankato.

Schultze posted the photos on Facebook and linked them to Roehm’s page. The maternity photos also decorate her daughter’s room, her home and her parents’ home.

Maternity photography has taken off with moms in the age bracket of 25 to 30, Schultze said. She believes this generation defines themselves on Facebook, where they share their lives and pictures.

For instance, Kristine and John Spillers went to Lori Marie Photography in Mankato for her maternity portrait session when she was 34 weeks along.

“I think it’s a really beautiful part of the whole process. You’re bringing a miracle in this world. It’s important to capture that memory and those moments,” said Kristine, 29, of Mankato.

Kristine posed for some photos totally clothed but also opted to bare her belly while wearing jeans and a jean jacket and while strategically wrapped in fabric. The Spillers knew they were having a girl so Kristine posed with a pink and white softball and a butterfly barrette on her belly.

Kristine posted five of her maternity photos on Facebook and will frame three of the photos for her daughter’s nursery. They welcomed Brienne into the world on March 2 and Lori Marie Ruch, owner of Lori Marie Photography, took Brienne’s newborn photos before she was 2 weeks old.

An interior design trend is to hang a maternity photo and a newborn photo in the same size frame next to each

other in the baby’s room, Ruch said.

“The maternity portrait session is the first portrait we do of your newborn,” Schultze said.

Schultze, 30, and Ruch, 29, are peers who earned bachelors’ in fine arts with a specialty in photography from Minnesota State University. They have been professional photographers for eight to 10 years. Schultze opened her own studio in 2008, and Ruch moved into a new studio from her home studio in 2009.

As mothers themselves — both have a toddler and infant — they have their own maternity photos to show their clients. Thanks to referrals, they have seen a bump in maternity photos.

Mothers over 30 are getting maternity photos, too. Older moms tend to be more timid and hang their portraits in their home or put them in a baby book, but they are embracing maternity photos as an art piece, Schultze said.