Welcome to my 100th post! I can barely believe that just over one year ago I started my interviews with pregnant women from all walks of life in Melbourne and around Australia for The Baby Bump Project. Now, more than 200 interviews later, I'm in the process of writing up my PhD research and embarking on the journey to make The Baby Bump Project into a book.
When I started this research, I had no idea how my life would change as complete strangers invited me into the most intimate moments of their lives, sharing their stories of bringing forth new life. And new life there is. 40 new babies born to 40 remarkable women. I can't thank you enough. As I have spent countless hours transcribing hundreds of hours of interviews from the shockingly horrible first few halting conversations to the interviews that are so arresting the hairs on my forearm stand on end, I can honestly say that I have become a 'listener'. I've always been more of a 'listener' than someone always waiting to talk, however, this project has taught be to become a real listener.
Although my pregnant women (and I call them 'my pregnant women' as a term of endearment) each have a unique bodily history to share (before, during and after pregnancy), I have been able to recognise alot of myself in the stories I've heard, not because I've had the experience of being a mother, but because as women (and I apologise for universalising the 'sisterhood') we all to some degree have a particular (and slightly peculiar) obsession with our stomachs.
Women who have the power to love their bodies in all of their feminine glory are blessed with a confidence that many women in this world never allow themselves to feel. As Eve Ensler writes in The Good Body, 'the tools of my self-victimisation have been made readily available'. The magazines and the blonde, flat stomach-ed ideal seems to always be waiting at eye-level in the supermarket or on the television. The desire for the perfect body in and out of motherhood is an arresting, unsettling and unachievable proposition in our world that is so preoccuppied with flab, diet books, the obesity 'crisis', and celebrity. I can't help but wonder, will women forever be prisoners of their bodies (self-imposed or otherwise), distracting our intelligence with daily surveillance of slight imperfection, no matter how much exercise, cosmetic surgery, or dieting we may punish ourselves with?
As women, we are in a constant dialogue with our stomachs. In pregnancy, bellies take on a new meaning; I am yet to meet one woman who was not both awed and frightened of the transformation of her stomach in pregnancy.
Our stomachs are our most serious committed relationship. A woman's pregnant belly protrudes through her clothes, sometimes her confidence, and even her ability to be a little invisible sometimes.
Yet, on the other hand, women have never felt so attached to their stomachs in the same way they do when they are pregnant. The jab of a tiny foot in the small hours of the morning is worth a thousand battles looking sideways in the mirror at that little pouch of skin that sits on the top of your waistband.
I have learned from my interviews that, despite the Hollywood nuclear reactor pumping out standardised images of motherhood, in pregnancy, women do not have to be afraid of their fullness or afraid to be seen. I think to myself, why do we spend so long trying to get rid of the best part about us? Our soft bellies are the carriers of the future.
Now that should make some of us take our stomachs seriously.
On giving birth
Interesting post about the closure of birth centres in the States from the Huffington Post;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-marie-roth/on-giving-birth_b_52048.html?view=screen
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-marie-roth/on-giving-birth_b_52048.html?view=screen
Paid maternity leave: It's long overdue!
Marie Claire is launching a campaign for mandatory paid maternity leave in Australia.
If you want to support Marie Claire's campaign calling for government-funded paid maternity leave, join their protest rally on Thursday, June 14 at 12.30pm in Martin Place, between Castlereagh and Pitt Streets, Sydney. That's tomorrow, ladies!
If you're not located in Sydney, visit their website to register your support or leave a comment:
If any of you do end up going to the rally, please give us a shout and I'll publish your wrap up of the event!
Liv Tyler on losing baby weight
I have always appreciated Liv Tyler's (daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler) strong sense of self and relative disregard for the sweeping trends of mainstream celebrity. After having her son, Milo, with husband Royston Langdon, British rocker of the band formerly known as Spacehog (who I did see once in Chicago in a former life and I have the t-shirt to prove it, Liv basically dropped off the Hollywood radar. She jumped the LA ship back to the Village (Greenwich, that is) and lives in a pretty sick Manhattan brownstone with the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and a hefty handful of happily under-the-radar New York celebrity mothers.
When I was gallavanting around Manhattan last December I had this secret wish that I would randomly run into Liv or SJP as I stalked Magnolia Bakery and all the Village maternity shops. Alas, I came away with nothing but some deliciously sweet cupcakes and alot of photos.
Anyway.
Liv was profiled in the 10 June edition of the Sunday Herald sunday magazine. She has some refreshing things to say about being a mother and the pressure to lose weight postbaby (and she's not killing herself to be thin, almost 2 years since the birth of her son).
On the joys of motherhood:
"I love being a mum. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I think I had alot of anxieties about what it would be like to be the child of someone like me. I didn't grow up with nannies- I grew up with my mum, my aunt and my grandmother, and I was a little suspicious about what it would be like to go back to work and have a nanny look after Milo."
On her weight:
"I wasn't one of those women who just dropped pounds instantly when I was breastfeeding. Actually, I became so homely, I was ravenous for things like doughnuts and cakes."
On the media pressure to be slim:
"I can remember walking down the street one day when Milo was probably six or eight months old, and a photographer took my picture. I was wearing a very unflattering shirt and a pair of sweat pants, and when the picture appeared in a magazine, they ran a caption asking if I was pregnant again. When I saw it, I said 'I think the holiday is over.'"
How she tried to lose the weight:
"I did a million different things. I was on a strict protein diet and then a raw diet, and then colonics and fasting. And I did pilates, yoga and worked out with my trainer. I rode my bike, I ran, I tried everything under the sun. I have lost a good 4.5 kilos, and I feel great. But even though I'm a size 6 [Australian size 8], my back and shoulders are still broad, so there's no way I will ever be a size 0. I'm really quite sensible about all that".
Bump to Baby
Check out my article 'From Bump to Baby: Gazing at the fetus in 4D' in the latest edition of Philament, the arts and humanities journal from the University of Sydney:
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/publications/philament/issue10_contents.htm
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/publications/philament/issue10_contents.htm
Obese mums-to-be should lose weight during pregnancy
As I have discussed in previous posts, the media and biomedicine consistently villify overweight pregnant women for 'risking' the lives of their babies and themselves. Many obese pregnant women are discriminated against even in Victoria hospitals and often required to lose weight before the hospital will take them on board for their antenatal care. Moreover, a number of studies have suggested that obese women are more likely to suffer from gestational diabetes or require a Caesarean because excess fat complicates natural birth.
Apparently a new study from St. Louis University is saying that obese women do not have to gain ANY weight during pregnancy and in fact, they can lose weight safely without doing harm to the unborn baby. The principal researcher, Dr. Raul Artal, says:
"We found that obese women do not have to gain any weight, and, in fact, can lose weight and it won't hurt the baby. Pregnancy is an ideal time to start an exercise and fitness program, particularly for women who are obese."
Quite obviously, there is nothing wrong with encouraging pregnant women (and all women in general) to maintain a sensible weight coupled with a healthy lifestyle. However, does anyone else find it bizarre that this doctor would suggest that pregnancy is the best time to start a fitness program?
Women should want to be healthy for themselves, not just because they are pregnant. That might sound a little strange, but the chances of maintaining an exercise/nutrition program are really low for women who are doing it just because they are pregnant and worried about the baby. What happens after the baby is born? As I've said before, it may not be medically 'ideal', but there are plenty of overweight women who give birth to perfectly healthy babies. Pregnancy is not a time to stigmatise women who are already undeniably painfully aware of their body size in a culture that valourises thinness over any other virtue.
Are overweight women going to be charged with child abuse for refusing to lose weight during pregnancy? Give me a break.
You can read the entire article here:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=73269
Apparently a new study from St. Louis University is saying that obese women do not have to gain ANY weight during pregnancy and in fact, they can lose weight safely without doing harm to the unborn baby. The principal researcher, Dr. Raul Artal, says:
"We found that obese women do not have to gain any weight, and, in fact, can lose weight and it won't hurt the baby. Pregnancy is an ideal time to start an exercise and fitness program, particularly for women who are obese."
Quite obviously, there is nothing wrong with encouraging pregnant women (and all women in general) to maintain a sensible weight coupled with a healthy lifestyle. However, does anyone else find it bizarre that this doctor would suggest that pregnancy is the best time to start a fitness program?
Women should want to be healthy for themselves, not just because they are pregnant. That might sound a little strange, but the chances of maintaining an exercise/nutrition program are really low for women who are doing it just because they are pregnant and worried about the baby. What happens after the baby is born? As I've said before, it may not be medically 'ideal', but there are plenty of overweight women who give birth to perfectly healthy babies. Pregnancy is not a time to stigmatise women who are already undeniably painfully aware of their body size in a culture that valourises thinness over any other virtue.
Are overweight women going to be charged with child abuse for refusing to lose weight during pregnancy? Give me a break.
You can read the entire article here:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=73269
Marcia Cross back in her jeans
Here's a tidbit for those of you who followed Marcia Cross' twin pregnancy this year...well apparently she's lost the weight and is looking fabulous *groan*
In other news, I've been manically working away on a detailed history of maternity wear which I hope to publish some of in this blog v.soon. Also, look for my comments on body image in the July issue of Pregnancy & Birth and in a new article on personal dopplers for www.iparenting.com
Will give you more details as they come!
Marcia Cross says baby weight nearly gone
June 1, 2007
As is usually the case with celebrity moms, actress Marcia Cross has wasted no time in losing her baby weight.
Just three months after giving birth to twins Eden and Savannah, the Desperate Housewives star says she has lost almost all of her baby weight. "I'm still working on it, but it's happening a lot faster than I expected," she tells People.
She credits her weight loss to working out at home with DVD's and at a gym in LA. Of course, let us also keep in mind that she probably has a nutritionist, trainer and nannies galore to help her!
She says she just has few more pounds to lose. "It probably won't happen until I stop breastfeeding!" Cross says.
Cross, 45, and her husband Tom Mahoney are enjoying being parents to their baby girls. "He's there every minute, and he's as madly in love with them as I am" Cross says of her husband of 11 months. "I don't know what I would do if I had one of those husbands who was just not interested."
"I'm so happy. Sometimes very tired, but mostly just a happy mother. I like to get [the babies] out now, just go out and show them the world. Say hi to the flowers."
Source: celebritypregnancy.com
Read more here about how celebs really lose the weight (and I dont think it's all just from pilates!)
http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Celebrity-weight-loss-secrets--Lose-the-baby-weight-6113.htm
In other news, I've been manically working away on a detailed history of maternity wear which I hope to publish some of in this blog v.soon. Also, look for my comments on body image in the July issue of Pregnancy & Birth and in a new article on personal dopplers for www.iparenting.com
Will give you more details as they come!
Marcia Cross says baby weight nearly gone
June 1, 2007
As is usually the case with celebrity moms, actress Marcia Cross has wasted no time in losing her baby weight.
Just three months after giving birth to twins Eden and Savannah, the Desperate Housewives star says she has lost almost all of her baby weight. "I'm still working on it, but it's happening a lot faster than I expected," she tells People.
She credits her weight loss to working out at home with DVD's and at a gym in LA. Of course, let us also keep in mind that she probably has a nutritionist, trainer and nannies galore to help her!
She says she just has few more pounds to lose. "It probably won't happen until I stop breastfeeding!" Cross says.
Cross, 45, and her husband Tom Mahoney are enjoying being parents to their baby girls. "He's there every minute, and he's as madly in love with them as I am" Cross says of her husband of 11 months. "I don't know what I would do if I had one of those husbands who was just not interested."
"I'm so happy. Sometimes very tired, but mostly just a happy mother. I like to get [the babies] out now, just go out and show them the world. Say hi to the flowers."
Source: celebritypregnancy.com
Read more here about how celebs really lose the weight (and I dont think it's all just from pilates!)
http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Celebrity-weight-loss-secrets--Lose-the-baby-weight-6113.htm
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