Pregnant Woman Poses For Photo Shoot With Thousands Of Bees

"Our purpose is to save the bees and we take a lot of pride in doing so.”

Ultimately, the birds and bees are a pretty integral part of the whole pregnancy process — so perhaps it’s only fitting that at least one of those creatures be represented in a pregnancy photo shoot.

Just ask Emily Mueller. She invited an entire swarm to hers.

Emily runs the Mueller Honey Bee Removal service with her husband in Akron, Ohio. Their work involves carefully collecting and rehoming bee colonies that have popped up in undesirable places — effectively rescuing those important pollinators from deadlier removal methods. (Later on, the rescued bees help support the Muellers' mission by providing them with honey to sell.)

Naturally, when deciding to make a photo shoot in honor of her fourth child who's due in November, she thought it should include some bees she'd just saved.

"The bees that were used in the photo shoot were rescued from a park," Emily told The Dodo. "They were on a bleacher where people and children sit to watch games and they were unable to use that location due to the bees flying around and scaring people. We were contacted by several people and the park reps also were trying to find someone to come save them."

Some 20,000 bees in all were included in the unique photo shoot with Kendrah Damis Photography, who described it as a "once in a lifetime experience." While we certainly don't recommend trying this at home, Emily's a seasoned beekeeper. Still, it was a new experience for her, too.

Fortunately, despite presumably being new to the world of modeling, the swarm appears to have been quite cooperative throughout and are now safe in a new hive. But the whole experience of sharing her pregnancy photos with bees had special meaning for Emily, for whom helping those insects is her family's passion.

"Our purpose is to save the bees and we take a lot of pride in doing so,” she said.