Comments on: Quick hit: Against baby bumps

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:16:50 +0000

When I was pregnant (both times) I lived in L.A., and it was probably the only time in my life I’ve ever been “trendy.” Yeah, me and Kate Hudson. Pregnancy trend-setters.
Anyway, I must say that most people were very nice to me. But a handful…OY!
One guy (yes, A GUY) cornered me at a dinner party and demanded to know if I was planning on breastfeeding. I’d known him all of about 5 minutes. Another time, at a playground with my son when I was pregnant with my daughter, a woman asked if I was going to have a home birth with a dula, then proceeded to give me ALL the details on HER magical home birth. At the time, I had an HMO and lived in an apartment next to the Armenian mafia. Even if my HMO would pay for a home birth (HA!), I’d probably have gotten shot once the labor pains started for making too much noise.
Our bodies are our business. Maybe we should make a t-shirt that says just that. A simple “None of your business” written right across the stomach.
(Of course, it would help if people would stop splaying every detail of their personal lives all over YouTube and reality TV.)

By: emmy

emmy — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:32:34 +0000

Oh, God, Liza, I hate that about Target, too. They used to have the maternity wear well away from the women’s sizes, but they rearranged, and now I keep almost picking up preggie clothes! Which would be fine, but I actually do kinda have a round tummy, and I really do not want to be mistaken for pregnant when I’m, say, having a few beers or some nice sashimi. People give you dirty looks.

By: Bunny Mazonas

Bunny Mazonas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:42:49 +0000

“When I eat, my stomach always become visibly distended for about an hour afterwards. I call it my “food baby.””

Ha! Meg, someone I used to work with had that! She changed jobs recently. I miss her food baby; it was a happy little mound in a sea of crazy lunch-time diet talk.

By: heddybee

heddybee — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:43:24 +0000

I’m pregnant right now, and so far no one has commented on my belly. I do hate the phrase baby bump with a passion. I am also fat, and only 4 months pregnant, so I know that at this point my belly is slightly ambiguous. :) I admit that in my struggle to have a healthy body image and love myself regardless of weight, I do feel a bit self-conscious about the belly protruding even further than it normally does. I’m working on this, although having an OB/GYN who tells me not to gain more than ten pounds during pregnancy didn’t help. Anyway, I’ve been kinda disgusted with maternity clothing, because a lot of it seems too cutesy/flowery for my taste and rather boring, and seems like it’s screaming “i’m not a sexual being, i’m harmless and sweet and most *certainly* not just a fat woman.”

By: Celeste

Celeste — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:32:02 +0000

You know, the airlines should just increase the prices unilaterally if they need more money AND BE DONE WITH IT. Then people can choose to fly or not fly. I don’t want to hear about extra little fees for this or that–nickel and dime. Either you can afford to fly or you can’t, end of story–one of the many, many changes we are all going to have to deal with in our Brave New World of high gas prices.

The more you give people chances to look for discounts or avoid surcharges, the longer it will even take to board the plane.

By: Piffle

Piffle — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:09:56 +0000

I can’t see the comments at Shakesville, are they having problems?

By: jen

jen — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:09:00 +0000

Kate -

Get a load of this. WTF??

http://cbs2chicago.com/consumer/airline.weight.fee.2.741830.html

Airlines charging more for fat people. This is beyond ridiculous.

By: Liza

Liza — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:02:17 +0000

Or they could have some period bloat. Which is kind of the antithesis of a baby bump.

And I agree with the first person. I saw a maternity shirt somewhere that said “does this baby make me look fat” and nearly puked.

I’d also like to point out that it annoys me that in some stores (I’m looking at you, Target) the “women’s” section and the maternity section are together and the line is really blurry, sometimes they are practically mixed up as one section. Maybe it just bugs m because of the time I took this really adorable dress in to try on and realized it was a maternity dress once I noticed the belly was baggy (!) and the booty was tight.

My stomach is always lumpy. But I’ve known some people with otherwise flat stomachs look a wee bit preggers after a big meal. Wah wah.

By: Zaftige

Zaftige — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:47:14 +0000

Reminds me of this casting I just got in my inbox for a booze commercial…

“Female Bartender: Brazilian female or someone who appears Brazilian with dark features, mid 20′s-30. You should have a Brooke Burke pre-baby body, sexy, a little mischievous looking like Angelina Jolie. You must have Mixology experience, and can work fluidly with cocktails, glasses, bottles and shaker. English speaking, sexy voice. Talent with Brazilian heritage are encouraged to submit. Must be legally 25 years old or older. “

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:51:03 +0000

I have a very thin brother, and especially when he was sixteen and cleaning out the fridge five times a day, he’d get that belly. Usually it was the two-packs-of-ramen-noodles-and-a-couple-of-chili-dogs belly.

They’re also talking about lactose intolerance causing distended abdomens, and whoa, do I know that one. It takes about three days of NO MILK EVER for my belly to be as flat as it’s going to get. Needless to say, that rarely happens.

The first comment, though, is the most horrifying: “When did she get so fat?” I probably would have flayed the coworker verbally.