Swiney

Preggos: Beware the swine!*

SWINEY!

Seriously, is anyone out there wearing a mask in public? Considering there are 'stylish maternity sickness vomit bags', why hasn't some bright spark started making pregnancy specific swiney masks with pictures of little foetuses covering their mouths?

*Yes, I know swiney is deadly for pregnant women in some cases. But it's Friday, and I'm having a bit of fun.

The secret is out

Has anyone else noticed that almost all of the Victoria's Secret 'Angels' are preggers (except for Miranda Kerr)?

Clearly, parading around in your knickers improves your chances of conception.

Workin' it summer style

Girls of summer: Nicole Richie and French model Laetitia Casta workin' their preggo bikini bods

Grin and bear it, ladies: pain is supposed to be positive

Apparently, women today aren't as stoic as their ancestors when it comes to pain in childbirth.

Dr Denis Walsh, a senior midwife and associate professor in midwifery at Nottingham University, said: "A large number of women want to avoid pain. Some just don't fancy the pain [of childbirth]. More women should be prepared to withstand pain."

"Over recent decades there has been a loss of 'rites of passage' meaning to childbirth, so that pain and stress are viewed negatively," he added, arguing that patients should be told labour pain is a timeless component of the "rites of passage" transition to motherhood.

Now, while I think that in certain contexts epidurals are sometimes overused, why on earth should women suffer through pain if they don't have to? Does it make you a better mother?

Thoughts?

Encapsulate your placenta

I'm baaaaaack!

What better way to herald my return to blogland than a post about placenta. Eating placenta, that is. I've written a bit about placenta eating already. This week in Time, however, Joel Stein revisits his first experiences with his wife's placenta in Time.

The most fascinating part of his story is not that his wife wanted to eat her placenta. Apparently, for $275 you can get someone to come to your house and cook up your placenta, "freeze-dry it and turn it into capsules to help ward off postpartum depression and increase milk supply". The 'placenta pills' are presented in a glass jar with a card, a CD of lullabies and a satin pouch housing part your child's umbilical cord, fashioned into a heart.

I haven't been able to find the service that Joel Stein and his wife used but I did find a number of 'placenta encapsulation services' like this one and this one or this one. I never knew such a thing existed. Most of these services charge about $200 for processing and encapsulating your placenta. But seriously, you might as well just do it yourself for $75 with a placenta encapsulation kit.

Yay or nay?

Big holidays and big babies

Sometimes even bloggers need a little break.

I'm off to Fiji to reinvigorate my politically incorrect tan. See you in 7 days!

I leave you with a photo of the largest baby girl born in Australia: 6.28kg (14lbs). Mum puts it down to her healthy stockman's diet.

"I lived up on a cattle station near Charters Towers right up until about six weeks before she was born.

"I was working on the station but once I found out I was pregnant I became a governess but we all still ate the same food as the others who were working - really hearty meat and veges."

Seeing double

Introducing new additions to the Parker/Broderick family, Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge, born in Ohio last Monday.

Photo credit: Robin Layton/AP

Stuck in a moment

Over at Pacing the Panic Room, a baby girl has been born. A little while back, I wrote about this awesome dad for chronicling his partner's pregnancy with absolutely gorgeous photos. He snapped her feeling a first contraction as they were doing their weekly photo.

Precious.