WEST MILTON -- Liam Martin smiled as he slept curled up on his mommy's chest Saturday. Little does the 2-week-old know he may become a celebrity before he can even hold up his head.
A photo of mother Keturah "Kitty" Martin's baby bump landed her among 12 semifinalists of 450 entrants in the nationwide "Imagine Me & You" contest, sponsored by the Million Moms Challenge community organization with ABC News and the United Nations Foundation.
If the West Milton woman's photo is among three finalists chosen Friday, she has the chance to have her son's portrait taken 10,000 miles away, by world-famous photographer Anne Geddes in Australia.
Keturah learned of the contest from a friend on Thanksgiving -- the day before Liam arrived.
"I thought, I can't enter this, I'm having a baby!" she said. But she then remembered the baby bump photo taken by her friend Danielle Coons, a photographer.
The photo shows Keturah's hands, husband Bryce's hands and those of 2-year-old son Isaac forming a heart around her very pregnant abdomen.
A software program allowed "I wanna hold your hand" to be written on the photograph across Keturah's belly, words chosen to fit the contest rules of describing, in five words or fewer, her vision of her baby's future.
"Through motherhood, one of the very special things I've learned is just holding my child's hand brings such joy," Keturah said of why she chose those words. "I love to hold Isaac's hand, and then with Liam, just the power in those tiny fingers, it brings such emotion out in me."
That's what she loves about the photo Coons took.
"Her whole vision is to capture love" in her photographs, Keturah said. "She has such an incredible eye for it in her work."
The photo could capture the Martins the grand prize, announced in January -- a trip for two plus baby to Sydney, Australia, for a portrait photo shoot with Geddes, who will choose the winner herself. All three finalists get a year's supply of Huggies diapers.
Geddes is famous for her stylized depictions of babies and motherhood. Her typical images show babies or young children dressed as fairies, small animals and asleep in flowers.
The photo contest is to help the Million Moms Challenge, which seeks to raise awareness and funds to help women and children worldwide. Johnson & Johnson is donating $1 per signature up to $100,000 to provide proper nutrition and pre- and post-natal care for women and babies.
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