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Postpartum Bellies

With one final push you look up to see your brand new baby, waving his arms around and crying wildly. And then you glance down to see what used to be a tight, very round belly, now draped across your abdomen like a pillow. It feels like a half-drained water bed mattress. It moves like a bowl of gelatin. When you stand up, it falls against your body in the shape of a rain drop: one the size of a cantaloupe. And although it makes a perfect cushion for your nursing newborn, you can’t help but look forward to the … Continue reading →

Your First Forty-Eight Hours

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The first forty-eight hours following birth are a mixture of joy and sheer exhaustion. Childbirth classes often focus more on pregnancy and the birth. They touch on the postpartum period, but for the most part, they don’t go into to much detail about the events that happen after the baby is born. One of the most popular questions I get is, “what will my stomach look like after I have my baby?” After you have your baby, everything except for the baby and the placenta remains. As a result, the size of your post-birth belly may surprise you. Many women … Continue reading →

Navel Rings and Pregnancy

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About a third of women have their navel pierced at some point, so it stands to reason that having a pierced belly button and being pregnant at the same time can’t be all that uncommon. As you can imagine, trying to keep the jewelry in during pregnancy presents a few problems. Most navel jewelry is not long enough to withstand the amount of stretching that the belly button goes through in late pregnancy, and leaving it in can cause ripping or infection. For those women who wish to keep their piercing during pregnancy, there are special navel rings available that … Continue reading →

Belly Photos: Public or Private?

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I recently read that Gisele Bundchen had her pregnant belly airbrushed out of her fashion photo shoots because her pregnancy was “too sacred” to share with the world. What a striking statement to make in contrast to the very public belly (and body) baring photos that have been featured on magazine covers by celebrities like Britney Spears, Demi Moore, and Christina Aguilera. Showing off your pregnant belly is the norm these days, not hiding it. All you have to do is do a Google image search for “pregnant” and you’ll find thousands of women, not just celebrities, showing off their … Continue reading →

What Type Of Newborn Mother Are You?

Whether you’re a veteran mom or about to give birth to your first child, you probably have opinions about life with a newborn. My husband worked in a church last year, so we built close relationships with many people. Everyone in the church felt a close connection to us, even if we didn’t know them very well. It was wonderful. We found out I was expecting a baby in the fall, and as the due date approached, I got an increasing amount of comments from people that made me very nervous. They were comments like, “What hospital are you delivering … Continue reading →