Ah, look at me in all my glamor, as I show my side that’s fed-up with glam mags touting the fab, post-pregnancy bodies of famous moms. Tabloids: they are so delicious, and so annoying.
Celebrity Weight Loss
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Tag Archives: Pregnancy
The Shape of a Mother
As we all know, your body does some adjusting when you are pregnant. Things that don’t always change after birth. Yes, one of my feet is a half-size larger than the other.
This site, The Shape of a Mother, was funny and touching. It is a very honest site about our bodies. So after you watch my vlog, please go check it out. It’s a great antidote to those awful tabloid covers rating celebrity cellulite and other flaws. What famous women have imperfect bodies? Stars, they’re just like us!
Birth, the Old-Fashioned Way
Sometimes it’s good to see something like this to remind us of 1) how good we have it and 2) how f–ing hard labor can be. Check out this piece from Reuters about birthing in a primitive place. No lights, no anesthesia, lack of sterilization, and the woman giving birth had lost the baby’s father months before. The picture of her enduring all alone is breathtaking.
I went through a C-section (Vivien was breech and late), no walk in the park. But when I miscarried I went into labor. I would not have thought at 15 weeks it would have been as UNRELENTINGLY painful as it was. But after begging them in the ER, I was eventually given something for the pain which helped a bit ’til it was over. I was so GRATEFUL for the care I got.
I know some women, like my mother, opt for natural childbirth. I thought I would be that person, but my experience changed that. I cannot believe the pain women go through. And the women in this story don’t have an option. It’s not a planned, at-home, water birth by affluent Americans. It’s all there is. Just something to think about.
What Not To Say
This vlog is not a knee-slapper. But I wanted to reach out to the women who have gone through a miscarriage, like I did.
Like so many things in life, you can’t totally relate unless you’ve gone through it. If I had thought about it before it happened to me, I don’t think I would have felt as bad as I did. I couldn’t talk about it for a while. But, as I lay in the recovery room of the hospital (since I not only had a miscarriage, but hemorrhaged badly and had to have a blood transfusion), the nice nurse told me she had four miscarriages before having her child. Geez! I don’t think I could have handled that. She seemed so plucky, too.
It seemed people came out of the woodwork with their own tales of loss. People have had worse hits than my own, like the women who have to give birth to a stillborn child. Just heart-breaking.
But if you haven’t gone through something like a miscarriage and are not sure what to say to someone who has, take a listen. And if you have gone through it, I’m sorry, and I think you will relate to this.
I’ll always miss my angel.
You Are So Beautiful, To Me
Pregnant women are beautiful. When I was pregnant I vacillated between feeling gorgeous and like I was an out-of-shape peasant, flapping around in my open-toed, flat shoes. Better to embrace the former. No matter how you feel, it’s fleeting, so get a nice picture taken.
But don’t be stupid – only shoot yourself in black and white.
Why I Loved Being Pregnant: Part Two
Hey, I came up with another reason. Now, did you guess, “I love to waddle”? Or did you guess, “It’s fun comparing your swollen feet with those of other pregnant ladies?” Or perhaps, “My breasts look like a porn star’s!”
All good guesses. But in this video, I chose to concentrate on another great by-product of being pregnant. Although now I think of it, I could have done one on, “Act crazy and mean and people will forgive you.” (Catch up on Part 1 here.)
This “Lost” Star Is a Cool Mom
In my job as one of the hosts of “The Fashion Team” on TV Guide Channel – or, as I like to call it, “deep cable” – I meet various celebrities. One of the great aspects of motherhood is the insta-connection you can make with people of all stripes. Between takes on my show, it’s best to chat with your guest, get to know them, make them comfortable, distract them so they don’t notice it’s taking 20 minutes to set up a shot. Some are more fun than others.
Elizabeth Mitchell, “Juliet” on “Lost,” was a recent fave. We all loved her. I remember her from 10 years ago as Angelina Jolie’s girlfriend in “Gia” (hot!). It took us about 10 seconds before we were chatting about our kids, who are only a couple weeks apart. Mitchell’s not a Hollywood mom; she lives in Hawaii for the show half the year, and Seattle is her homebase and she doesn’t have a nanny. Her husband and relatives help her out. Love a Mister Mom!
I asked her what’s one of the beauty rituals that’s gone out the window with motherhood. She said, “I’m doing it.” She said she only puts nail polish on the toes that peek out of her pumps and since she doesn’t wear those much (for motherhood or “Lost”), she doesn’t bother with a full pedi – it’s outfit dependent. Good tip! (No pun intended.)
She gained 70 pounds with her pregnancy. Wow, that’s a lot of girl. She is tall so she could carry it better than I – I would have been a perfect circle. She’s lovely now, so I asked her how she lost it: “Nursing and running.” We chatted about how nursing peels off the pounds. I have the knees of 60-year-old, so the running isn’t happening for me anymore.
I asked her if I could quote her on my blog. Being Ms. Perfect, she said (paraphrasing), “Oh, yeah, I think motherhood can be really hard, all that goes with it, and I like to demystify it.”
I gazed at her, “You had me at the toenails.”
Why I Loved Being Pregnant: Part One
There are so many upsides to being pregnant. Number one, if you aren’t working, you can say it’s cause you wanted to take time off for for your baby. I know a lot of struggling actors who wish they could say they are on maternity leave. Better than “I haven’t booked in months and can I take your order?”
Number two, Hispanic men are so nice to you. Not that they are mean otherwise, but there is a great child-centered, mom-loving aspect to the Latino culture that I benefited from, living in Southern California. Other types of people would let a door swing shut as I waddled up in a caftan and flip flops, but not a Hispanic man – they would hold that door.
Now, we know with pregnancy comes fatigue, swollen limbs, and weird rashes, but in this video I present my favorite by-product of being with child.