Pregnancy madness

I like to keep abreast of the latest scandal as much as the next gal. Whereas scandals used to involve celebrities, an addiction, an affair, an illegitimate pregnancy or a divorce, this week pregnant women around the world have been making headlines for subverting all kinds of cultural norms:

In the Daily Mail yesterday, a debate about freebirthing as 'madness' or 'ideal'. One woman is profiled for flagrantly bucking the British national health system. Apparently the risks she took 'horrified' doctors.
See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1039407/Freebirthing-Is-madness-ideal-way-birth.html

Two American women in the US were featured on Good Morning America after admitting to 'cross-feeding', meaning they breastfed each other's babies. This is apparently controversial and has been featured as a topic for discussion on all the American morning shows and this morning on Australia's Today.
Watch the segment here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/story?id=5459697&page=1

Again, on GMA this morning there is a lengthy feature about women who give birth not knowing they were even pregnant in the first place. This is supposed to be bizarre but actually it happens quite often. The GMA article argues that it is most likely because the women are overweight and do not gain any weight or have physical signs of pregnancy. I tend to disagree. I think that part of the lack of recognition of physical or psychological signs of pregnancy may be attributed to ‘avoidance coping’ mechanisms in which a woman denies the pregnancy if she feels she is not ready to have a baby or has not yet decided whether she will carry the pregnancy to term. For isntance, it's very interesting that the majority of women who have 'surprise pregnancies' (which the show doesn't even mention) are teen mothers.
Check it out: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/story?id=5470808&page=1

Thoughts?

Rebecca Romijn pregnant

It was only about a week ago that Jerry O'Connell mentioned that he and his wife, Rebecca Romijn were trying to get pregnant. Turns out they have just announced she is pregnant with twins. And apparently, this has all come about without any fertility treatments.

Yay! Now, we can all look forward to another big celebrity baby magazine payout.

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20206200,00.html

Camila Alves: post-baby body

In the true spirit of Hollywood, Camila Alves (Matt McConaughey's girlfriend) is looking positively slender only 17 days since the birth of their first child.

Check a gallery of celeb more baby bumps due in the US 'summer':

http://www.usmagazine.com/summer-bumps

Source: http://www.ahlanlive.com/4974-camilas-post-baby-figure?imgN=0

X-files pregnancy

"The only thing I do when I'm pregnant is eat and sit on my butt!"

"I'm not really craving anything, but there's the lazy part of me that thinks, 'What's the point in working out until I have the baby?' Then we'll actually do something!" she said.

Well, clearly that's not true considering Gillian Anderson is flitting around the world promoting X-Files. It seems to me, either celebrities blab on about how active they are and how much they love pregnancy or they do the 'I don't care about weight gain'/'I'm lazy' thing.

This woman is probably working harder now than she has in the last few years!

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/Gillian-Anderson-on-Pregnancy-I-Eat-and-Sit-on-My-Butt

With a little help from science

The interwebs is all abuzz with word that the new Brangelina spawn were conceived using IVF. It seems that because the pair want to have lots of kids while they are still young, they decided to bank on the 25% chance that they would have twins through in vitro:

The actress chose the procedure (which can cost around $12,000 a pop) so "she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of trying to get pregnant," the source tells Us. "She could just knock it out."

I don't have a problem with IVF necessarily and I think things become very complicated when we start judging what is 'ethical' when it comes to reproductive technology. I'm puzzled, however, because Ange is only 33. If indeed, she conceived Shiloh 'naturally' as everyone seems to assume, I would think she has many more years of viable baby-making time and eggs in order to pump out as many children as she so desires. I think it's kind of odd that she's turned herself into a baby factory. Humans carry one baby at a time for a number of evolutionary reasons. Twin pregnancies are extremely taxing on the body. Why do that by choice if you didn't have to?

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/angelina-jolie-twins-conceived-through-in-vitro

Matthew McConaughey: 'we' or 'she'??

Talk about two slow news days. Matthew McConaughey and his partner Camila Alves are on the cover of Ok! with their new baby, Levi. Not very whiz bang exciting but I am interested in the fact that Matthew is the focus of the article. Sure he's the 'celebrity' but she's the one that had the damn baby and very oddly, he answers most of the questions about the birth. Poor gal ended up with a caesar because the docs told her a cord around the neck was making it too dangerous to give birth 'naturally':

"We ended up having an epidural because, on the large contractions, the umbilical cord was being compressed. They went in and tried the vacuum. This is where I learned — and no one tells you this — but having a baby is a bloody, pukey, sweaty, primeval thing! And I mean that as a beautiful thing. It is wild. But the vacuum didn't work, and the doctor said, 'C-section.'

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/8038

Why stop at fourteen?

This British mother of 13 is pregnant with number 14 (just 7 months following 13). Oh and she's a size zero. Lost all her weight 5 days after last birth:

'I don't really diet after I've given birth,' she said at home in Guernsey. 'I do have a real weakness for chocolate and like all mums I definitely indulge while I'm pregnant. But I don't put on much weight during each pregnancy as I don't have a huge appetite and afterwards the excess goes very quickly.'

This woman has basically been pregnant with short breaks for the last 20 years...and *gasp* she's not necessarily hanging up the preggo clothes.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1036905/Mother-13-pregnant-number-14-just-seven-months-gave-birth.html

Nicole Kidman: what baby?

Brave be the woman who wears white jeans two weeks following childbirth.

Source: http://dlisted.com/node/27280

Wordle me this

This post may be vaguely related to pregnancy, but I just came across Wordle. On this free site, you input text and get a word cloud! The prominence of the words displayed depends on their frequency in the text you input. I tried a page from my thesis about pregnancy nutrition. If you want to make clouds and add them to The Baby Bump Project Gallery, save them under: babybumpproject



Source: www.wordle.com

Halle Berry: post-baby body

Halle Berry sporting a very flat stomach 5 months since giving birth. According to the Daily Mail, this is 'several months longer than other new Hollywood mothers'. Give me a bloody break.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1036490/New-mum-Halle-Berry-flashes-flat-tummy-losing-baby-weight-healthy-way.html

Breast milk jewelry?

Yes, you did read that title correctly. JEWELRY. MADE. OF. BREAST. MILK.

A French design collective, Duende, is displaying a collection of objects that explore the sharing of food between mother and child in France in September.

Objects will include containers for burying the placenta, tableware for the ritual of eating the placenta and conceptual jewellery that could be made from the mother’s breast milk.

The 'milk pearl' shown above is made from solidified casein, the protein in animal/human breast milk. According to the designers:

"The ‘Perle de lait’ range of jewellery imagines a new set of personalized post-natal objects. The breast-feeding mother sends a feeding bottle full of her milk to a laboratory where it is transformed into a gem-like substance that can be mounted on a neck-piece or any other form of jewellery."

The objects in the collection are evocative and beautiful:

http://www.dezeen.com/2008/07/02/la-part-des-anges-by-duende/

Nicole Kidman: with baby, no bump

Nicole Kidman, one week postbaby. Word is she has most (or all?) of the weight she gained during the pregnancy. Was spotted at the gym the day before she delivered too!

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/07/18/2008-07-18_nicole_kidman_loses_baby_bump_in_record_.html

Melissa Joan Hart: on losing weight post-baby

Melissa Joan Hart is featured in Ok! talking about her post-baby weight loss. Hart gave birth to a second son 4 months ago, and now says she is only 5 pounds away from her 'goal' weight'. This time around the actress says she tried harder to drop her weight, although, she is not trying to lose too much because she is breastfeeding. Here are some highlights:

How much extra weight did you put on when you were pregnant?
I probably put on about 35 pounds. Maybe by the end of it, it was close to 40. Whereas with Mason, my first pregnancy, I put on like 55. So it was a big difference.

How much do you have left to lose?
I’m about five [pounds] off from where I started. But I want to drop another 10. So I have 10 more pounds, and I'll do that over the rest of the year. But see, weight's tricky too, because I’m putting on muscle. When I had Mason, I was the lightest weight I’ve ever been, but I wasn’t working out. So I looked skinny, and the scale was reading skinny, but I had no muscle tone to me. This time I want to have muscles, so I’m probably going to weight a little more than I did.

Did you go through stages of feeling "unsexy" while you were carrying the baby weight?
Oh god, I did not like being pregnant. I was just reading a magazine where there were a group of celebrities that loved being pregnant, so they never wanted to stop. And then there was a group of women that were just like, I hated it. And I just hated it.

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/7933

Jessica Alba: sappy and sweet

Jessica Alba's $1.5 million Ok! cover has just been released. Apparently, Alba had a 'natural' birth and she 'didn't scream'. She says:

"The labor was more like meditation," she says. "I did yoga breathing. I was focused."

And now, of course, she's back to working out and losing weight:

"I started working out last Thursday, but for 20 minutes. I do cardio on my own. I'm doing it slow," she says. "Now I'm starting to eat more healthy. Because after working out, having fried chicken and mashed potatoes is a little counteractive."

*Yawn*

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/7881

Contraception = abortion?

There are times when I miss being an American and actually living in the US...but then there are moments, like right now, when I'm happy to be living in another country.

If you thought that George W. was just a 'lame duck', let me tell you...Mr. President is planning to suck every ounce of reproductive freedom from the wombs of American women. Here's why:

A report has been released suggesting that the Bush administration is planning to strengthen their opposition to abortion by redefining contraception as abortion. Under the new regulation, abortion would be defined as:

'...any of the various procedures - including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action - that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation'.

So basically 'pregnancy' is being defined as the presence of a fertilised egg and not an implanted fertilised egg (as most gynecologists and medical dictionaries would argue). Moreover, another niggling detail of this proposed bill is that it strengthens the legislation that already exists that says that federal employees cannot be fired from their jobs if they do not want to perform certain tasks that run counter to their religious/moral beliefs. Why does this matter? Well, because there are a number of federally funded health care services that will be able to refuse treating certain patients or refuse performing certain procedures if a doctor doesn't believe it is right. This means that women (especially poor and minority women) might have their access to contraception or abortion restricted if a doctor thinks its wrong. Health providers would also have the right to share their personal beliefs about abortion, for instance, with patients. Hospitals could potentially have the right to refuse emergency contraception to rape victims.

This is what happens when a President allows a veterinarian to be in charge of the Office of Women's Health (no, really!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901576.html

On a lighter note, say Goodnight to Bush: http://www.goodnightbush.com/

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11147
http://www.alternet.org/story/91654/?ses=52547cd5c8ab64e91c5c017223aa7cdb

Vertical birthing in Peru

The Peruvian government is encouraging poor indigenous women to travel to birth centres to have their babies as opposed to having them at home. Too many women are dying or suffering from complications. In Peru, 185 die per 100,000 births. As a result, the birth centres are finding ways to integrate indigenous birthing practices into a medical environment, including vertical birthing, which is basically having the baby while standing up.

"Western science is unaware of the priorities and needs of women, particularly rural women, who consider childbirth a natural event and do not think changes to the traditional vertical delivery are needed," the ministry said in a small book extolling the benefits of standing during childbirth.
One photographer has documented the births of a number of Incan women in Cuzco and the images are spectacular:

Check them out: http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2008/07/12/old-birthing-in-the-new-world/

Read more about vertical birth: http://uk.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUKN7B38571520080711

Charlotte Church: babies are better when they are born at home

Huzzah! Charlotte Church is having baby number 2 at home. Apparently Charlotte has become a spokesperson for breastfeeding and homebirth since having her first baby at home last year. According to the Welsh government, homebirths in Wales have risen to 25% even though the government's target was only 10%. That's 1/4 of all births taking place at home!

Even her rugby playing partner, Gavin, was pretty jazzed with the homebirth:

“The midwife called me when the baby was just coming out and to see that was amazing. You don’t know what people are talking about unless you’ve been a part of it.

“I had so much more respect and so much more love for Charlotte after what she’d just been through. I cut the cord.

“I was just so relieved that the baby looked really healthy. I checked everything and she looked beautiful.”

Source: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/2008/07/15/charlotte-church-opts-to-have-second-baby-at-home-91466-21339878/

Womb raider spawns two of her own

Oh, in case you're living in bunker, Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins by caesarean section. The world can continue to turn.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/angelina-jolie-has-twins.usmagazine.com/angelina-jolie-has-twins

Charlotte Church: fighting the fat

Charlotte Church may be happy to be pregnant for a second time, but one thing she's not looking forward to is getting 'fat'. In the latest edition of Ok!, Charlotte says:

'I’m not looking forward to getting a big fat face and arms again. I was just beginning to get my body back and I was doing quite well.'

In the next breath, however, she back pedals and says:

'It’s what women are made for. If you can’t indulge yourself during pregnancy, when can you?’

Source: http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/celebrity-news/266157/charlotte-church-i-m-not-looking-forward-to-getting-a-big-fat-face/1/

Civil rights movement for foetuses

In November, it looks like Colorado voters will be asked when life begins. The Human Life Amendment is being put forward to voters to ensure that personhood starts from the moment of conception. If voters agree, fertilised eggs will have the same rights as those people with the gross motor skills, a fully formed brain and obviously, the ability to walk.

Although the measure is not directly aimed at putting limitations on abortion, Colorado Right to Life is all over it for obvious reasons.

"The goal is to restore legal protection to preborn babies from the moment they are conceived, which is the only way we're going to stop abortion," said Leslie Hanks, vice president of the group.

If passed, this could have dire consequences for the progress of medical research, the rights of mothers, the continuing availability of contraception, and of course abortion. Some critics are suggesting that if this amendment passes, this could be the start of another battle against Roe v. Wade. Also, if pregnant women are categorised as 'two' people instead of one, her ability to access medical care will also be compromised.

This measure may protect the 'human' rights of foetuses, but what about protecting the mother's human rights?

What do you think?

Source:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/12/AR2008071201615.html