katie price: mother of the year!

I just read that Katie Price (aka Jordan) has won 'Celebrity Mum of the Year'..isn't that interesting? Considering this blog is all about the celebrity backlash, you'll love this piece from Rachel Johnson from the Times Online 'Less yum, more mum':

"I take my hat off to any woman with the iron will to restore herself to bikini-ready shape weeks after giving birth in order to do a photo shoot, and I have only admiration for confident beauties who light up the red carpet. But I do think that once you’ve given birth, you pass the baton. Becoming a mother is nature’s way of calling attention to the next generation, not the current one.

So I don’t like it, I admit, when glitzy, gorgeous women wheel out their children as a means of jacking up the amount of slavishly admiring attention that they themselves might receive. Which normal woman does?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rachel_johnson/article1529870.ece

hollywood hooters

Speaking of feeding, here is a great commentary from The Mother's Movement Online about Angelina Jolie, her babies, and the lack of celebrity mothers who breastfeed (at least in public!):

Hollywood hooters http://www.mothersmovement.org/opinion/07/janssen_0702.html

Isnt it strange? When you think about how often we see baby bump porn in the tabloids and obsessive coverage of Hollywood mothers, we never actually see any celebrities breastfeeding. They claim they do....But we never see any pictures of them actually doing it. Am I wrong? Why is that? Considering we are pretty much completely de-sensitised to images of breasts because they are so omnipresent in our visual culture, it is bizarre to think that sighting the celebrity breast is taboo.

feeding

Considering most of my days have been spent doing post-baby interviews, meeting all of the new bubs from The Baby Bump Project, and chatting about labour and delivery, I have been thinking alot more about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is one of the most potent topics of conversation in the post-birth interviews for good reason; for alot of the first-time mums I've interviewed, it's hard. Damn hard. Hard like they never expected and no one ever told them. Sure, there are a few women who have babies that latch on without any fuss and the feeding is simply a pleasure. For most, however, feeding takes work and practice and alot of consultation to get it right. One woman in the public system here in Melbourne was having so much trouble feeding, she was referred to a lactation consultant. Sure, that's all well and good but she couldn't get an appointment for 10 days. 10 days! In that ten day period, she developed mastitis and a severely cranky baby because her nipple was too banged up to feed and no one told her to continue through the pain. So, for any women out there who need some help, I give you this:

I came upon this resource which has a clever name and great information and products:
The Pump Station http://www.pumpstation.com/pumpstation/

You're probably saying, 'Meredith, The Pump Station is in America and I'm in [insert your country here]. How is this going to help me'?

Have a look at the resources in the upper left hand corner of the website, Helpful Tips. There are videos, articles and maternity bra guides all at your fingertips, so it doesn't matter where you live.

Also, I read another blog about motherhood called The Washing Line http://thewashingline.blogspot.com/ and there is a great post about the 'Fourth Trimester' and one mum's reflection on being connected to her son through breastfeeding.

join in the baby bump fun!

Hi everyone,

I've been noticing on the site metre (my latest obsession) that alot of you folks out there reading this blog are from all over the world. What fun! I would love to post some of your experiences of being pregnant, weight gain, baby bumps, celebrity pregnancy, anything related to maternity or motherhood.

I would absolutely love to see your photos as well. If you have any images of your pregnant bellies, postbaby bellies, stretch marks or anything pregnancy related and you would like to contribute to our supportive community, send them through.

I'm all ears, all the time: babybumpproject[at]yahoo.com.au

Oh and one more thing, feel free to link to me if you have a blog or a website yourself:
http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!
Meredith

pregnant silhouette

I love this photo, again from Torrie on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/torrie/414888862/

She says:

I decided to challenge myself today- try to embrace my pregnant body, while I was feeling quite unattractive. It's amazing how a photograph can sometimes make you feel so much better about yourself and show you beauty didn't know you had.

'fat' answers

Considering my last few posts about 'fat' and pregnancy, I just came across this really thoughtful post on a UK website, Chocolate Brownie, from a self-described overweight woman reflecting on her pregnancy. She deconstructs alot of the 'myths' I was posting about particularly surrounding the idea that 'fat' women cannot produce and deliver healthy babies...

Here is the link: http://www.chocolatebrownie.co.uk/site/content/view/24/51/

According to the BBC, maternal obesity is a public health 'time bomb':

"Obese mums-to-be are more likely miscarry, experience pre-eclampsia and dangerous blood clots or need a Caesarean section to deliver the baby, which is likely to be larger itself."

For full article see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6301313.stm

Definitely a fantastic read......I love myth busting :)

Naomi and her bump

Okay, now that everything is out in the open, Naomi Watts is finally pregnant after many tenuous tabloid moments of is she or isn't she? According to Access Hollywood (my favourite source for juicy American gossip) Naomi's partner, Liev Schreiber said that he thinks Naomi's baby bump is mad hot and 'probably the best bump' he's ever seen (http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah4352.shtml

This is what intrigues me. In the picture to the left, alot of sites have captioned the photo 'Naomi Watts and her bump at the Oscars'. To me, the AND HER BUMP implies that other people think of the baby as separate from her body, like the 'bump' is a different person from her. That's pretty interesting considering at only 12 weeks or so pregnant, Watt's baby would be unable to survive outside of her body. Alot of the women I've interviewed seem not to think of the baby as a person until at least they feel some movement and very few women feel like the baby is actually a separate person until the third trimester. The fact that 'bumps' are becoming babies earlier and earlier is exactly why fetuses often have more rights than a 2 yr old child in a court of law. Not to ruin my light hearted moment, but the laws supporting fetal rights (particularly in America) potentially create an antagonistic relationship between mother and fetus and also may encourage doctors to compel women to undergo certain medical procedures (for example, caesarean sections) in favour of the protection of fetal life. Just something to think about....