Ashlee Simpson: not worried about weight

Ashley Simpson has responded to critics saying she is obsessed with her pregnancy weight gain. She posted little retort on her MySpace blog:

My size 0 jeans...by Ashlee Simpson-Wentz

Today I read on a blog that I went to the doctor and he said I was overweight and I cried and went to Planet Blue (because I was blue) and bought 6 pair of size 0 jeans. Now it is ridiculous to read such nonsense about oneself so I thought I would address this one...
1. My doctor says I am right on target with my weight gain
2. Have not been to Planet Blue in at least two years
3. Love my maternity jeans ..they have stretchy tops it is awesome!
4. My closet full of size 0's are being worn by Pete right now and he looks hot in them :)
So now that I have cleared that up let me tell you...carrying a child is the most inspiring, emotional, amazing experience of my life. My weight and my pant size are the absolute last thing I am concerned about. I am only concerned with having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. People who talk and judge pregnant women's weight need to get a life!!!
Peace and Love,
Ashlee

Source:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=29917611&blogID=428369335

Minnie Driver: pregnant bikini poll

Remember those pregnant bikini photos of Minnie Driver I posted the other day? As I was perusing the interwebs, I came across a poll at Popeater asking whether people 'approved' of Driver wearing a bikini.

This is what they found:

What's your take on bikinis while pregnant?

Why would you?	60%
Why not?	40%

Total Votes: 134,952

How soon do you think Minnie will have the baby?

2-4 weeks	41%
4-6 weeks	27%
Within 2 weeks	22%
6+ weeks	10%

Total Votes: 112,900

I'm amazed. Well, I guess I'm not amazed but more surprised. For all intents and purposes, Driver looks pretty 'slender' in the sense that she has no excess 'fat' anywhere on her body. Her arms and legs are very slim. She only has a large belly obviously because she's heavily pregnant. 60% of voters thought she looked unattractive. Yet, everyone seems to love it when preggo celebs pose naked on magazine covers. Weird.

Source: http://www.popeater.com/movies/article/minnie-driver-may-possibly-be-pregnant/148187

Mummy makeover story

Looks like I'm writing a story about post-baby plastic surgery holidays for one of the Melbourne weekend magazines. So. If you you or anyone you know has had a mummy makeover (or is thinking about it) or gone overseas to have a bit of a post-baby nip and tuck, please email me.

Eating for two

Charlotte Church is apparently freaking out about her weight and she doesn't want a ‘bum bigger than her bump’.

‘I’m trying hard to regulate what I eat,’ she tells the Sunday Mirror. ‘Indulging yourself is the down side to pregnancy.’

Her daughter Ruby is 11 months old. Charlotte is due in November.

Source: http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/celebrity-news/271372/charlotte-church-i-don-t-want-a-bum-bigger-than-my-bump/1/

Breasts are not just for babies anymore?

Brits are all up in arms because TV presenter Kate Garraway appears to be breastfeeding a calf in a promotional poster for a documentary she is promoting about cross-feeding.

'I'm on a journey to find people who believe milk has to be from the breast, people who buy it, sell it, people who give it away and people who even feed each other's babies,' said the 41-year-old.

'To many this might seem weird, but they challenge us that it's actually much weirder to give our babies cows' milk than it is to drink milk from another woman.'

Other People's Breast Milk, one in a series of female-led documentaries, will be broadcast on Channel 4 on September 9.

Offensive?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1048622/Kate-Garraway-faces-outcry-provocative-photoshoot-shows-breastfeeding-calf.html

Minnie Driver bikini stylin

In case you forgot, Minnie Driver is still pregnant.

Source: http://www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com/2008/08/minnie-driver-is-somewhat-pregnant.html

The Brangelina Bunch

Apparently Brad Pitt shot a series of photos of her and the brood for the November issue of W. He last collaborated with W in July 2005 for a series of photos of he and Ange dressed up as a 1960s married couple, very sensitively released shortly after he and Jen were splitsville.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/news/brad-pitt-photographs-angelina-jolie-and-kids-for-w-magazine

Porn star pregnancy. No, seriously.

Porn queen Jenna Jameson, 34, is pregnant. The 'devout Catholic' says she is still in a state of shock but she and her martial arts fighter boyfriend, Tito Ortiz, are ecstatic. Strangely, there was a fake news report last month that she was pregnant after she appeared in the PETA ad above. She says she wasn't pregnant at the time but it prompted to her to have a test and she was actually pregnant.

Sources: http://www.usmagazine.com/news/jenna-jameson-confirms-she-is-pregnant
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/pregnancy%20reports%20came%20true%20for%20jameson_1078407

Laila Ali in fighting form

Laila Ali is featured in the September issue of Pregnancy magazine. As the daughter of Muhammad Ali, Laila, also a professional boxer and host of American Gladiators, is planning to have a homebirth:

"Society tells you, 'You get pregnant, you go to the hospital,' and that was just naturally what I was going to do, but once I saw that there was another option, it just fit me," she explains. "I want to be fully present. I don't want any medications. I just want to be in control of the situation -- as much as I can be anyway."

Of course she's working out four days a week and trying to eat well:

"I always thought I was going to gain a lot of weight because I'm a big girl naturally. I walk around at 175 lbs, I'm 5'11", and I love to eat," Laila reveals. "I thought, 'Oh God, I'm going to be like 250 lbs and huge.' I know a lot of women have that fear. But because I'm already a big girl, I was just imagining myself to be a giant."

"I haven't had any problems, no cravings or nausea," she says. "I have gained 25 pounds, but I'm going to go back to that gym and work it all off so I'm not really worried about it."

Source: http://www.etonline.com/news/2008/07/63040/index.html

Big stars, bad baby names

Oh no she didn't!

Celebrities can get away with a lot these days. Wearing outfits that don't match. Washing their hair with Evian. Having personal umbrella holders.

Gwen Stefani had another baby boy by caesarean on Thursday. And she named him......

Zuma. That's right Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale.

Seriously. SERIOUSLY?!

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20210744,00.html

Maternity fashion has just become 'fierce'

Christian Siriano, the designer from Project Runway, is designing a maternity line called Fierce for Moody Mamas slated for production in Spring 2009. Siriano "thought it would be great" for a gay man to partner with two women who haven't given birth to create a maternity line.

Sources: www.moodymamas.com
http://www.lilsugar.com/1875749
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2008/08/christian_siriano_to_launch_fi.html

The mystery is over.

Jennifer Garner has confirmed she is pregnant.

The world can now continue to turn.

Source: http://www.accesshollywood.com/article/10944/access-exclusive-jennifer-garner-confirms-pregnancy/

Post-baby bodies

Looks like Jessica Alba has lost some serious weight. The actress if now 25 pounds lighter going from a size 8 (US) to a size 4.

And looks like Angelina Jolie is struggling to shed her baby weight. She lost 30 pounds almost immediately following the birth of her twins but is now working hard to drop the last 20 in time for the premiere of Brad's new film at the Venice International Film Festival.

Sources: http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272622202.shtml
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20220166,00.html

J.Lo adds triathlon to her repertoire

J.Lo is planning to compete in a triathlon in September in Malibu, 6 months post birth.

'The idea came up when I was about eight months' pregnant when I was beached like a whale [with pregnancy],' she said.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1046515/Unstoppable-Jennifer-Lopez-begins-training-triathlon-months-having-twins.html

Billie Piper feels like a sea cow

Brit actress Billie Piper has always been known for her good looks. Now that she's pregnant she finds playing Belle, a high-class hooker on the new show Secret Diary of A Call Girl , less glamorous:

"When I am playing Belle I have to play a sexually liberated, empowered young prostitute but unfortunately I felt like a sweating sea cow!”

Piper has been using two body doubles throughout the filming.

“I had no food cravings other than wanting food constantly,” jokes the actress, who is expecting her first child with husband Laurence Fox in October.

“This year I found the heat very uncomfortable and that, coupled with the fact that I was growing every day, the lack of sleep and the desire to just sit on my bum and stuff my face, was not conducive to work.

Sources: http://ok.co.uk/celebnews/view/2563/Billie-I-feel-like-a-sweaty-cow-/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/06/very-pregnant-billie-piper-strolling-in-paris-with-husband-115875-20685808/

Dara Torres: passing on maternal advice

Remember Dara Torres? The 41 year old American swimmer with the killer post-baby body? http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2008/07/dara-torres-insane-body-at-41.html

Seems as though she was giving her fellow swimmers a bit of advice about birth in the locker room pre-swim:

"She was actually talking about childbirth in the ready room," relay teammate Kara Lynn Joyce said of Torres, who gave birth two years ago. "She said it was painful. Swimming is painful, but nothing compares to that."

"Somehow childbirth came up and we were mimicking being in the stirrups and giving birth," she told reporters that day. "And I was trying to tell them that it actually wasn't that bad -- not the childbirth part, but afterward. After having a kid and getting back into shape, I felt like I was stronger and more flexible. They were like, 'Great, you showed us we can do that.'"

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/torres-gave-her.html

Caesarean boom in New York

Scary.

New York City's cesarean section rate has increased by 24% over the past six years to an average of nearly 31%, and rates are on the rise at nearly every single city hospital, according to new data released by Choices in Childbirth.

Contrary to popular belief, caesar rates are not going up because of more 'elective' caesars or because more 'older' women are getting pregnant and are at greater 'risk' of complication. For instance, only 1 in 1600 caesars are 'elective. According to this new data, caesars are increasing from women across every age, race, and socio-economic status.

The most likely explanation seems to be that American birth is just getting more medicalised: women are less informed about alternative birth options and interventions are increasing due to fears of medical malpractice.

As a result Choices in Childbirth, a non-profit maternity education group in New York is urging NYC to create an online database providing info on all New York hospitals so women know their options when they are choosing a place and a method for birth.

Source: www.choicesinchildbirth.org
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118284.php

Maternity clothing questions!!

I have lots of questions:

What did you do with your maternity clothes following your pregnancy?

Did you keep them?

Pass them on to a friend?

Or throw them away?

If you got rid of your maternity gear, why?

Also, I'm writing this thing about maternity fitness clothing...

If you worked out during your pregnancy, what did you wear?

Did you buy workout gear specifically for pregnancy? Where did you buy it? Did you have trouble finding clothing?

Please leave a comment or send me an email!!

British dads doing it tough?

A survey of 3,000 dads across the UK has produced some intriguing results:

42% of new fathers say they argue more with their partners since the birth of a child, mostly about money

70% of 'older' dads get more sleep than their partners

26 % of dads in their twenties get less sleep than their female partners

49% of fathers get up in the middle of the night to attend to their babies

53% of 'older' dads do night-time feeds

British dads in their thirties are the most 'hands on':

61% claim to regularly changing nappies

58% regularly feed the baby

56% calm their baby when he or she cries

Dads in their late forties struggle the most with parenthood:

52% feel helpless when the baby is crying

How does your partner stack up against these stats? How often does your male partner feed, change, or settle your baby? Do you think new fathers need more support?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1044855/Round-Babies-bring-battles-bonding-relationships.html

Britney is back

Brit is back. She got paid $1 million to do an interview with Ok! in which the only interesting thing she says has to do with Jamie Lynn:

"I was shocked a little bit," says Brit. "She’s always been the baby, and now the baby was having a baby. It was mind-boggling."

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/8415

Infertility recognised as a medical condition

It looks as though infertility is finally being recognised as medical condition after a landmark ruling in Chicago. Women in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana will now be able to take time off of work in order to have fertility treatments. They can also draw on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in order to protect themselves at work.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

"The ruling expands a trend toward recognizing infertility as a medical problem; 13 states have laws mandating insurance plans to pay for in vitro fertilization, says the Pacific Research Institute, a think tank. Also, more employees are seeking time off for treatment under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act; this law, which entitles covered workers to up to 12 weeks' unpaid time off, may apply in some cases if a doctor certifies the treatment is for a serious health condition."

I wonder, however, what the implications of such a ruling will have for women if they begin to disclose their 'conditions' at work. Would it be liberating for women to disclose or harmful in the long run? Also, some people are arguing that because fertility treatments are 'elective', that like plastic surgery, women shouldn't be given extra allowances. What do you think?

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858336262134875.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Pregorexia is not caused by celebrity pregnancy

I'm getting really sick of reading about 'pregorexia'. In fact, it annoys me even more that the media is now suggesting that women are become pregorexic because of celebrities. While I'll be the first person to agree that celebrity culture is inherently problematic, the truth is that celebrities are actually not extremely significant in the life of the average woman and pregorexia is more likely to arise from significant body image issues that already existed prior to pregnancy. In fact, most body image issues in pregnancy are pre-existing. In my study, I found that sisters and best friends were far more important when it came to worrying about weight loss post-baby. If a sister lost baby weight quickly, that was more meaningful than if Angelina Jolie or Katie Holmes lost weight quickly as well. On the CBS Early Show yesterday, this doctor, Holly Phillips, was quoted as saying:

"I think we've never before been more kind of obsessed with celebrity culture, and with celebrity pregnancies, as well. It's not unusual to see pictures of these celebrities the day before and the day after birth and they're looking super-humanly fit. They're really incredible. "

I think these comments seem to assume that pregnant women (or women in general) are just these passive receptacles of popular culture, unthinking and unwilling to resist the templates of idealised beauty that put before them. Sure lots of women read gossip magazines. Heaps of women read them in my study. But, women are quite realistic when it comes to thinking about celebrities. Although my informants were interested in celebrity pregnancy and often felt badly about themselves when they couldn't lose their baby weight quickly, in the end, they would always recognise that celebrities are thin for a reason: it's their job. I hate the fact that the newsmedia constantly suggests that celebrities are like these demigods that all women, everywhere, aspire to become. Now, sure I have this blog which focuses on celebrities so you might think I'm a hypocrite but I have this blog because I think it's important to critique celebrity culture, not to constantly pay fawning tribute to these actresses just because they manged to get knocked up.

Phillips continued to say that "it's wonderful that pregnant women now have designer styles to choose from, especially those that celebrate and compliment the pregnant shape. It only becomes a problem when women become unhealthily fixated on remaining a specific size."

Yeah, well mainstream maternity wear is not necessarily 'celebratory'. In fact, it requires that pregnant women be comfortable with their size and shape in order to wear tightly fitted outfits. That in itself, is a problem, not just the fact that pregnant women worry about their weight gain. This is why alot of the women in my study didn't wear maternity clothing necessarily: they often reported feeling extremely ambivalent about wear something that would invite other people to look at them. Thus, some of these really complex experiences of pregnancy in 'public' just become watered down in the media.

Anyway, I'll just take a deep breath now and step away from the computer.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/11/earlyshow/health/main4337521.shtml

Oh no you didnt!

Hell has frozen over.

*deep breath*

I just found an article about post-baby weight loss in the New York Daily News (I guess that says it all) in which the author quotes some $%&*head surgeon that says caesareans are great for this reason:

"You burn a lot of calories healing after a C-section. It's a serious surgical procedure - you're cutting through the abdominal wall and the uterus," he explains. "Your body is trying to repair itself and that stimulates your metabolism. Plus you're usually on a liquid diet for the first few days afterward. You can lose about 10 pounds. So if you keep that off, watch your diet and get back to exercising, you can look really good."

Right. let's just go back to the 'cutting through the abdominal wall' bit. How about 'Ouch'? Um, I think weight loss is perhaps the last thing on your mind when you are trying to prevent your intestines from bursting out of your surgical scar.

There you have it, ladies. Elect to have a caesar and forget about going to the gym. Your immune system will take care of the weight loss for you.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2008/08/11/2008-08-11_hey_mama_postbaby_body_secrets_of_celebr.html?page=0

Pregnant mannequin that actually bleeds!

If you have ever wondered how obstetricians learn how to deliver babies, allow me to introduce you to 'Noelle', the pregnant woman simulator. For a mere $45,000 obstetric residents can practice birthing in a number of different situations. 'Noelle' can give birth normally, breech, and by C-section, and she can exhibit symptoms of having medical conditions such as diabetes and pregnancy-related emergencies such as seizures from eclampsia. Fake blood spurts from a reservoir in her leg. Oh, and her simu-baby is named 'Hal' and he is propelled down the birth canal by hydraulics and even turns blue to replicate oxygen loss...

Source: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080811/NEWS32/808110333

Placenta: it's what's for dinner?

Camila Alves had a long labour: 60 hours. She ended up with a caesar but Matt McConaughey told CNN that he kept the placenta and will bury it based on an Aboriginal ritual he learned about in Australia:

"It's going to bear some wonderful fruit," said the 38-year-old.

"When I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river," he added. "It was gorgeous."

"All the placentas of all that tribe, all that clan, whatever aboriginal tribe that was, all the placentas went under that one tree and it was this huge behemoth of just health and strength.

"This tree was just growing taller and stronger above the rest of Mother Nature around it."

I find it odd that this sort of story makes the news. I think the implication is that it's weird and slightly funny that someone would actually want to keep a placenta. Most of the reader comments to the story say as much, most read along the lines of 'Ew'.

A few women in my study had a lotus birth, eventually burying the placenta or eating it.

What did you do with your placenta?

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7551683.stm

Dress yourself pregnant

Pregnant paper dolls....I find it particularly interesting that all of the first trimester outfits are flirty and cute and all of the third trimester outfits are all extremely casual and seem to suggest that pregnant women are not working and instead are sitting at home in their pajamas doing nothing!



Source: http://wishingfish.com/pregdolls.html#

'Sexy' pregnant mannequin too hot for North Yorkshire

A shopkeeper in North Yorkshire is being attacked by locals for displaying a pregnant mannequin (apparently named 'Emily') dressed in maternity lingerie at the front of her shop. The only store in the area to even sell maternity wear, Amanda Bere thought she was just merely showing off her wares to potential customers:

"It started with people looking in the window and making comments outside and they told me their points of view that they found it offensive. Other shop traders also told me that people were saying to them that it was offensive and that I should cover her up or move her. So I put a camisole on Emily and someone else made another comment, saying that they could still see the bump, so I put her in the corner of the shop away from the window."

I find this so interesting and it actually proves one of the points I've been trying to make in my work. Although it may seem as though pregnant celebrity nude portraits are published without fanfare or that we have all become so accustomed to seeing exposed pregnant bellies, a close examination of the reception of these images and of pregnant bodies in 'public' more generally, reveals that they are still controversial. In a similar example, in July 2007, New Zealand maternity lingerie company, Hot Milk, found itself at the centre of a controversy following the publication of their catalogue on the website of a retailer, Breastmates, featuring pregnant women wearing lacy bra and knickers sets.

I wrote about that here: http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/07/maternity-lingerie-is-apparently-soft.html

This was a fascinating ‘controversy’ and one that nicely illustrates the ambivalence about both the visibility and sexualisation of pregnant bodies.The fact that the catalogue images were associated with mainstream pornography suggests it was specifically pregnant bodies that were causing offense and not necessarily the marketing of the products or the products themselves. Whilst, catalogue images of non-pregnant women in lingerie are rarely deemed to be offensive or ‘soft porn’ because these images have been normalised in popular culture, pregnant women in ‘sexy’ lingerie were deemed offensive by virtue of the fact they were pregnant, ‘fat’, and ‘flaunting’ their sexuality. The same can be said about this pregnant mannequin.

Even Britney Spears’ Harpers Bazaar nude, pregnant photograph was censored, like Demi Moore’s portrait in 1991. When a giant poster of the singer was set to hang in one of Tokyo’s busiest railway stations, the ‘obscenity screening team’ decided the image would be ‘too stimulating’ for young viewers. Instead of banning the image altogether, Japanese metro authorities compromised by blackening out Spears’ belly. The magazine responded saying they were happy for the reversal in sentiment and that they were only trying to portray a ‘happy’ mother, not a sexually explicit image. Moreover, it was impossible to tell that Spears was pregnant; she just looked like a ‘chubby woman’.

So what does this all mean? As much as they hold the power to fascinate, pregnant bodies still hold the power to horrify, especially when they are ‘too sexy’ or ‘too fat’. In much of my work, I argue that the ambivalent reception of pregnant bodies has not necessarily changed in the 18 years since Demi Moore’s controversial magazine cover. Pregnant women have to invoke a number of strategies to present acceptable forms of maternal beauty if they want to ‘pass’ successfully in public. Quite often, visibly pregnant bodies, as with the case of 'Emily' the pregnant lingerie mannequin, are still highly problematic. They symbolise the ‘in-between’ areas that many cultures and enclaves of the world do not quite know how to manage.

Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/7550134.stm

Lisa Marie: a baby bump built for two

Lisa Marie Presley is baring all for the September issue of Marie Claire on newsstands 12 August. Pregnant with twins, you might remember that Lisa Marie was pretty miffed a few months back when she was attacked for being 'fat' well before she had announced that she was pregnant. According to the this new article, 'baring all' is her way of getting back at fat taunts:

"The tabloids were going so far as to alter photos. I could never figure out why they went to all that trouble to make me look fat. "There are at least six other famous women pregnant right now who aren't getting picked on," she says in the interview. "But they're all over me. It's like there is a campaign to demean me."

"You know what I think when I see those fat photos? I am not going to let them control me. I just let it all hang out. You want to look at me? Go ahead and look." "I am trying to grow another human being," she adds. "Besides, I'm 40! I'm lucky to even be able to do this."

But apparently the controversy doesn't stop here. According to one of her recent blog posts, LMP is pissed off at Marie Claire for taking her quotes out of context:

"I gave a 3 hour heart felt interview and what became of it was. Quotes that were usually about something else entirely in the conversation, grossly simplified and taken way out of context and sprinkled randomly and erroneously throughout the 2 pages [sic]."If you want it [the magazine] for the photos then great but I am not behind the article at all."

Sources: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20217939,00.html

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/presley%20upset%20over%20simplified%20article_1076873

Birth couture? Give me a break.

Well. I have seen the future (again). And it is not good.

As if it wasn't enough to have 'couture' hospital gowns(Remember when I wrote about J.Lo and her designer gowns? http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2008/02/jlo-too-good-for-paper-hospital-gown.html

Now, it seems, some enterprising young mum has created a birthing dress. Apparently, it's for 'fashionistas' who feel the need to look hot when they are pushing out big-headed humans from very small holes.

It's $98 and very tenuously references something about making you feel 'warm and fuzzy'

Right. And it's probably 'Dry Clean Only' as well.

Source: http://danielacorte.com/collections/shop-online/products/dar-a-luz-maternity-gown

http://www.wmagazine.com/w/blogs/editorsblog/2008/08/06/its-official-weve-seen-everyth.htm

Jamie Lynn bounces back

Jamie Lynn Spears: 2 months post-baby

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/08/07/2008-08-07_jamie_lynn_spears_bounces_back__just_lik-1.html

Homebirth is 'old school'

Time magazine has a story about home birth in the US in the current edition. While seemingly praiseworthy of the move towards birth at home, I was annoyed to read this sentence:

"Old-school birthing is back in style, with well-read women forsaking obstetricians for midwives and epidurals for warm baths."

Referring to home birth as 'old-school' suggest that it's antiquated or primitive or that women are foresaking a 'modern' life. Silly women! The article devotes about one paragraph to the positive aspects of homebirth but the rest of the article basically reads like a cautionary tale to women who would 'dare' to deviate.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1830388,00.html

Gwen: on the brink of birth

In case you were wondering, Gwen Stefani is still pregnant.....

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1042088/Ready-pop-Heavily-pregnant-Gwen-Stefani-does-minute-shopping-baby.html

Ulkrika Jonsson weighs in on bouncing back

TV presenter Ulrika Jonsoon is 5 stone heavier since she had her 4th baby a few weeks ago and she has written an essay for the Daily Mail about the scrutiny of her weight gain and the pressures to bounce back. She's written a very honest account of her weighing more than her husband, the enormous praise lavished upon Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry for their washboard abs a few weeks post-birth, and the struggles she's had with fighting to be skinny throughout her life:

"I remember thinking at the time that if I ever got pregnant again, I'd be one of those gloriously slender Yummy Mummies, driving my immaculate family around Chelsea in a vast and shiny 4x4, laughing mockingly at all the fat mums-to-be passing me by. Some chance. My body shape has changed more this time than it did in any of my previous three pregnancies, when I managed to notch up just a measly three stone".

A refreshing read: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1042408/Ulrika-Jonsson-Im-stone-heavier-Im-proud-post-baby-body.html

Mummy makeovers allegedly 'safe'

A new study reviewing the safety of plastic surgery following pregnancy confirms "women who choose a mommy makeover do not appear to be at any additional risk of complications compared to those women who have one surgery, like a tummy tuck in Los Angeles, and then down the road elect to have a cosmetic breast procedure."

Oh did I mention that the surgeon who performed the study, Grant Stevens, founded Marina Plastic Surgery in Los Angeles? The study is based on procedures done at this surgical centre over the last 10 years. This is the same doctor that tells women that they should 'embrace the feeling of a being a woman' by having a mummy makeover.

Sources: www.amommymakeover.com
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/08/prweb1175234.htm

New Mothers Speak Out

It seems that women have more to worry about than just postnatal depression. About 15% of new mums experiences PND. A new study suggests that some American women (about 9%) are also experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder due to childbirth. It i thought that the increase in the number of medical obstetric procedures in labor and delivery, like Caesarean sections and premature births, could be contributing to PTSD. These women often report feeling powerless in during their births. African-American women, those without private health insurance and women with unplanned pregnancies were more likely to have PTSD symptoms. The survey, called New Mothers Speak Out, also covered a range of other post-birth issues.

Here is a good podcast about PND: http://podcast.mktw.net/wsj/audio/20080804/pod-wsjzimmerman/pod-wsjzimmerman.mp3

Sources: http://www.childbirthconnection.org/ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789883018612223.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Mixed bag of pregnancy lollies

Information that you probably could probably do without. Sometimes it amazes me that these things are considered 'news' items:

Angelina Jolie did not conceive her twins through IVF:

"If they had been conceived through IVF, we would have been happy to discuss it," she says. "But we have been fortunate never to have had fertility problems."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jQchnBNzoLcNg4Ze-NPgs1i5XdggD92BNCQO1

Rebecca Romijn is craving ice cream, lots of it.
http://www.usmagazine.com/rebecca-romijns-pregnancy-craving-a-lot-of-ice-cream

And pregorexia is back in the news. Yay for moral panics!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1041605/Plague-pregorexics-How-women-dieting-exercising-pregnancy-cost-babys-health.html

I've already written about it, check out the older posts: http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/10/pregorexia-eating-for-one.html
http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2008/03/pregorexia-update.html

Expensive babies.

The $15 million cover photo...enough said. People just released the photos and the website has been counting down for the last three days. Zoiks.

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20216352,00.html

One-to-one midwifery care in Queensland

Good things are happening in Queensland.

Anyway. Turns out preggo women in Queensland are going to get one-to-one midwifery care from conception straight through to the first few weeks of motherhood. Seeing as some women were seeing up to 16 different midwives throughout their pregnancies and beyond, Premier Anna Bligh decided enough was enough.

'This is about delivering personal, professional and local support to regional Queensland mums and mums-to-be: from the moment they conceive right through to the early weeks of motherhood,' Ms Bligh said.

'They will have access to the same midwife, or small team of midwives, for every stage of pregnancy - someone familiar to answer their questions and support them through this very emotional time'.

Source: http://news.theage.com.au/national/new-midwifery-services-plan-for-qld-20080803-3p7k.html

Olympic frenzy = caesarean boom

For pregnant Chinese women, 8 August is particularly auspicious day for giving birth and not only because this is the slated start for the Beijing Olympics.

According to Chinese tradition, the eighth day of the eight month of the eighth year is considered extremely lucky. Coupled with the opening of the Games, giving birth on this day is thought to bring good luck to a baby.

You can guess what happens next. According to local reports, expectant women in Chinese cities have been requesting caesareans for that day. One hospital in Shijiazhuang has received requests from 78 pregnant women.

It has been noted that China has also been experiencing a baby boom this month because many women tried to time their pregnancy around giving birth in August.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1181375

World Breastfeeding Week

Today marks the start of World Breastfeeding Week (1 - 7 August) . Working mothers are twice as likely to stop breastfeeding their babies by the time they are six months old. This week is more than just a reminder that breastfeeding is important; it is a way for mothers in Australia and the US, especially, to speak out in favour of a national scheme for paid maternity leave and more flexible working environments in which mothers can take their babies to work.

For more info about breastfeeding and La Leche League:

http://www.babiesatwork.org/

www.breastfeeding123.com

http://dev.lllusa.org/wbw/

In New Zealand, mums and their bubs are taking part in the Big Latch On in an attempt to break the world record for simultaneous breastfeeding.

See: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/auckland/4629398a6497.html

Wellington maternity line Womama is launching a saucy new lingerie collection "Mother in Nature" to coincide with the world's celebration of breastfeeding.

Check them out: http://www.womama.co.nz/

Go forth and feed!

Another Spears wedding

It's been a big year for Jamie Lynn. Now it seems she is 'racing' to the altar, planning to marry her boyfriend Casey in her backyard at the end of the year.

So at 17 she will be married and a mother. Hopefully, this will settle those folks who have traced the rise in American teen pregnancies right back to Jamie-Lynn.

Oh and by the way, she's lost all of her baby weight.

Source: http://news.sawf.org/Gossip/52157.aspx

Tell me something I don't know

As if we don't already know how these gals lost weight.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/cover-how-hollywood-moms-get-thin-so-fast