Letters to our bodies

BlogHer (the community for women who blog) has just started a really fantastic initiative called 'Letter to My Body'. Your letter can be anything you want it to be.

You can upload your letter directly on the BlogHer network here if you have yor own blog: http://www.blogher.com/letter-my-body

Or you can send it to me and I will post a link to this blog showing all of the letters I receive.

I think it would be great if pregnant and post-baby mums wrote letters to their bodies. Of the letters I receive, I'll post the best ones over the next few weeks.

When was the last time you told your body that you loved it?

Salma Hayek: post-baby body

For the woman described as a 'baby mammoth' during her pregnancy, Salma Hayek is looking to be in perfect form on the April cover of Glamour. The first-time mum says pregnancy was hard on her body:

"I had diabetes while I was pregnant. I became huge. And I said, 'This is what it takes for me to have this baby, and I really want it.' Then you don't know if it's going to be healthy; you are completely out of control," she says. "So the experience really makes you humble."









Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20182179,00.html

Nicole not a fan of her improved bust

Any woman that has been pregnant is familiar with 'pregnancy boobs'; the much enhanced cleavage that is so often a blessing for a man in a pregnant woman's life but not always so welcome for the woman who feels like her chest is growing almost as fast as her baby bump.

Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera have received quite a bit of attention for their post-baby breasts. In fact, as soon as Christina and Nicole made their post-baby debuts, the media interest centred right around their new bust friends.

Nicole has opened up about her post-baby breasts:

"He (Joel) likes it! It doesn't really fit with my wardrobe, it's not who I am. I am not someone who is used to wearing a bra or having to wear a bra, I really don't like it.

"I like wearing vintage hippy see-through shirts that aren't slutty on me because there is nothing to look at. Now I have boobs so I can't really wear it because it sends out a different message."

An honest and interesting comment. For someone like Nicole who has had much smaller breasts pre-pregnancy it is easy to see why having a cultural gaze focused on her much larger breasts as a mother is uncomfortable. This is also fascinating because for most women that I've spoken to in my study, breasts become extremely un-erotic post-birth, meaning that some women feel like their breasts feel like tools to feed a baby and not necessarily the sexual objects they were pre-pregnancy. Breasts are for the baby and not for the partner. However, to the public spectator, calling on sexualised images of women in pop culture, large breasts = sexy. Clearly a sort of bodily contradiction for post-baby mums who have fantastic cleavage but aren't feeling like having the world stare at their boobs.

Nicole's body does clearly look different but not being able to wear her normal clothes is less an issue of fashion and more a realisation that her identity has changed. She is a mother and her body has changed as well to support a baby.

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article874781.ece

Nipplegate: Heidi 'no nipples' Klum for Jordache

In August, I wrote about Heidi Klum's post-baby debut as the face (or body, I guess) of the dying denim brand, Jordache. In the sexy ad campaign, replete with a topless Heidi wielding a riding crop, the brand that was last popular when I was 8 years old was back on the market.

Read original post here: http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/08/heidi-klum-shows-off-postbaby-body-in.html

However, new photos from the campaign have been released all over New York this week and I've just noticed Heidi is nipple-less. How creepy is this?! So the execs at Jordache have thrown a half-naked woman in the middle of an ad campaign to attract attention and yet, Heidi's nipples are deemed too offensive!

She looks creepy and weird and more like a Barbie doll than the sexy mum that she is.

J.Lo and her baby divas

According to Fametastic, Jennifer Lopez is spoiling her new babies like she would herself. After hiring a colour therapist during her pregnancy to help her design the most soothing nursery for the twins, now that the babies have arrived, not only do they have an entire wing all to themselves but they have classical music piped into their room to keep the peace. J.Lo has hired a baby masseuse to come in a few times a week to ease the babies tired muscles and she has insisted on a totally sterile environment in the nursery.

So if you're still planning to send her a baby gift, it will most likely be de-contaminated before it makes it anywhere near the babies.

Source:http://fametastic.co.uk/archive/20080304/10154/jennifer-lopez-hires-baby-masseuse-colour-therapist-to-give-babies-a-boost/

Pregorexia: update

In October, I wrote about 'pregorexia' the 'new' term for anorexia in pregnancy. In the post, I cited an article from The Sun which profiled 2 women who supposedly were 'pregorexic'. http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/10/pregorexia-eating-for-one.html

As it turns out, Laura Preston, one of the women featured in the article, contacted me and would like to clarify a few things about The Sun feature:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/article314257.ece

I did not write about Laura directly in my blog post, however she says she's not anorexic and instead was diagnosed with Hyperemisis--extreme morning sickness. She was unable to contact the newspaper so here is her clarification:

'When I did this story it was being queried as to whether I had an eating disorder or not. In the end it turned out to be an illness called 'Hyperemisis' which I had with my first son too. This is basically like anorexia where you are sick throughout the day and can't stop but it is NOT self inflicted. The quotes in the article are all VERY false, being a mum to me is such a responsibility and I love it and would never harm my babies whether in or out of my womb. The picture that they took was actually taken the very day I turned 5 months pregnant and yes I do look skinny, I lost weight during my pregnancy at first but I was only out of hospital a few days before it was taken. That was the last time I was in hospital, after which the sickness calmed down and I enjoyed eating a lot and actually in the end I got told to slow down! I have complained to the magazine and the sun paper about this story but they deny what I say as being true.'

For more info about hyperemisis: http://www.helpher.org/hyperemesis-gravidarum/

Million dollar babies

Today, I've written an op ed for The Age about Christina Aguilera and the fear of childbirth:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/too-posh-to-push-no-just-too-scared/2008/03/01/1204227049136.html

I am really eager to hear what you think!