Bethany Hamilton, the inspiring character behind the movie Soul Surfer, has decided to stay away from the waves temporarily as she nears the final trimester of her pregnancy.
The proud mother-to-be has documented her pregnancy over at Instagram, posting photos of herself doing tricks on her short board even as her belly grew bigger. But now her surfing days are over, or at least temporarily, as she starts to focus on the nearing arrival of their baby boy.
However, it seems Hamilton cannot easily give up the outdoors. She was recently spotted swimming with husband Adam Dirks at a beach in Kauai, Hawaii, enjoying the waters in her multi-colored bikini suit. Later in the day, the couple was seen walking their dogs in a park.
Even at 36 weeks of pregnancy, Hamilton makes it look easy to enjoy her favorite water sport. However, she does find other activities, like going up the stairs, to be a little bit harder now with her growing baby bump.
She revealed through an Instagram post that her favorite part about being pregnant is feeling her baby boy move inside her belly. "It's so strange yet the best feeling," she described.
Yet Hamilton has been contemplating about the possible difficulties of entering motherhood with just one arm. "Motherhood with one arm, I kind of think about it... a squirming baby and changing diapers and just me could be really challenging," she said, according to the Daily Mail.
But she remembers how she has coped through life with just one arm. She said she is ready to adjust, as she has learned to do over the years, and she will find ways to take care of her baby.
Hamilton lost her left arm when she was 13. She was surfing off the coast of Kauai when a shark suddenly attacked her and bit off her arm. She lost a lot of blood in the process, about 60 percent of the blood in her body, but she surprisingly survived.
Even with one arm, Hamilton pressed on toward her surfing aspirations and continued to train. When she was ready, she joined a professional surfing competition in 2007.
The shark survivor wrote about her experience in the book "Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board," which was made into a movie in 2011 starring Dennis Quaid, Carrie Underwood and Anna Sophia Robb as the young Bethany. Hamilton performed all the one-armed stunts in the film.
Hamilton is also a motivational speaker and travels to different spaces to share her testimony. She and her youth minister husband are both Christians.
She is presently filming "Surfs Like a Girl" with Aaron Lieber. Last year, Hamilton and Dirks joined "The Amazing Race" and came in at 3rd place.
