For most of us who are mothers, pregnancy is a happy time. It’s filled with happy expectation of the new life who will soon enter the family circle.

We don’t expect our husbands to go to work and not return. We don’t anticipate bearing a child who will never know her father.

But that’s what happened to Meghan Jacobs of Greenville, South Carolina, back in March. Her husband, Police Officer Allen Jacobs, was shot and killed by a teenage gang member he was attempting to interview. Officer Jacobs was shot multiple times by the assailant, while his service weapon remained snapped into its holster. The perpetrator later shot himself.

The city of Greenville rallied to honor its fallen officer, as seen in the video below. Since then a softball tournament and a gang prevention camp, both established in honor of Officer Jacobs, have been established as well.

One of the most touching tributes honoring Officer Jacobs was made through the collaboration of his widow Meghan and her longtime friend, photographer Jessie Ellex. Meghan’s third child, a girl named Lennox, is due to arrive next month, and Meghan and Ellex decided to conduct a maternity photo shoot to honor Officer Jacobs.

The six-hour photo shoot started off with just Meghan, her mother, and photographer Ellex, but later they were joined by some of Allen Jacobs’s fellow police officers.

It was an emotional event. As Ellex remembered, “All I could do was fight back tears. But we all pushed through.”

The results were stunning and poignant. Jessie Ellex shared some of the 600 photos to her Facebook page, and they’ve gone viral.

Our prayers go out to Meghan Jacobs and her children. May they all learn to honor and love the memory of their father.