[JeanetteL]

We're doing a Birth Circle on this topic tonight, and I want to get inspired! (Yes, this is last minute - I had three doula clients deliver last week and I'm writing a grant application due tomorrow)<br><br>
Tell me - how did you celebrate your body during pregnancy? Belly casting? Belly Photos? Mehndi? Something cool and original.<br><br>
What is most beautiful about pregnancy? Do you define the term beauty differently during pregnancy than you do the rest of the time?<br><br>
How did you feel about your body while you were pregnant? How did that compare to how you feel when not pregnant?<br><br>
How much attention was paid to your weight gain during pregnancy (by your care provider, friends and family)? What sort of comments did you hear about weight gain? Did you feel any anxiety about this issue at any point?<br><br>
In comparison, how much attention was paid to the quality of your diet, and attentioin to developing good, solid nutrition habits.<br><br>
How do you feel about the way pregnancy is portrayed in the media? Did you feel pressure to look like the pregnant women you see in magazines, or like pregnant hollywood celebrities?<br><br>
Any thoughts you have on the topic would be great.

 

[carlasher]

Though I am only almost 20 week, I will answer these can compare my answers when I am 30 weeks. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin"><br><i><br>
Tell me - how did you celebrate your body during pregnancy? Belly casting? Belly Photos? Mehndi? Something cool and original</i>.<br><br>
Currently, I am doing photos and still art modeling. I try to keep my "style" not hide behind big baggy clothes and stay sexy (pretty much). When I am around the house in sweats, I feel...slopy.<br><br><i>What is most beautiful about pregnancy? Do you define the term beauty differently during pregnancy than you do the rest of the time?</i><br><br>
The belly, the breasts, changes in nipples, skin, hair, the baby...<br><i><br>
How did you feel about your body while you were pregnant? How did that compare to how you feel when not pregnant?</i><br><br>
I feel great - much better than before pregnancy in different ways. I dont experience the pain of Endometreosis I do when I am not pregnant.<br><br><i>How much attention was paid to your weight gain during pregnancy (by your care provider, friends and family)? What sort of comments did you hear about weight gain? Did you feel any anxiety about this issue at any point?</i><br><br>
I did weigh myself and though I havent gained so far, (despite the tummy) I feel healthy and eat as well as I can. I will not obsess over my weight anymore.<br><br><i>In comparison, how much attention was paid to the quality of your diet, and attentioin to developing good, solid nutrition habits.<br></i><br>
More in a lot of ways, but I ate well before the pregnancy, but resisting the really bad cravings is a bother.<br><br><i>How do you feel about the way pregnancy is portrayed in the media? Did you feel pressure to look like the pregnant women you see in magazines, or like pregnant hollywood celebrities?</i><br><br>
I wish I saw pregnant women of all shapes and sizes in the media. I dont like the way non super thin pregnant women are treated. I sometimes feel the pressure to look like them, but I was not thin person but curvy/athletic pre-pregnancy anyway, so whats the point?

 

[Aura_Kitten]

it's a bit late, but i'll answer anyway. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br><br><b>how did you celebrate your body during pregnancy? Belly casting? Belly Photos? Mehndi? Something cool and original.</b><br><br>
yoga. tons of belly photos. tons of NUDE belly photos. massage. self-massage :LOL<br><br><b>What is most beautiful about pregnancy?</b><br><br>
being round and soft all over. creating a life!<br><br><b>How did you feel about your body while you were pregnant? How did that compare to how you feel when not pregnant?</b><br><br>
i love my body when i'm pregnant. when i'm not, it's kind of a love-hate relationship...<br><br><b>How much attention was paid to your weight gain during pregnancy (by your care provider, friends and family)? What sort of comments did you hear about weight gain? Did you feel any anxiety about this issue at any point?</b><br><br>
tons of attention ~ "you're not gaining enough," "you need to eat more," etc. my doctor told me to eat fish eggs. uke: i was really upset that i might not be gaining enough... but eventually realized that my body was just doing what it needed to do to make me have a healthy baby. i gained 20 lbs, over 8 of which was all baby. so... i guess i gained enough. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="orange big grin"><br><br><b>In comparison, how much attention was paid to the quality of your diet, and attentioin to developing good, solid nutrition habits.</b><br><br>
i paid so much more attention to eating right and taking vitamins than i normally do. i wanted my baby to be as healthy as possible.<br><br><b>How do you feel about the way pregnancy is portrayed in the media? Did you feel pressure to look like the pregnant women you see in magazines, or like pregnant hollywood celebrities?</b><br><br>
i hate the way pregnancy + mothers are portayed in the media. i wish pregnant women could learn to feel beautiful, learn to relax and enjoy their new shape and revel in the creation of a new life.<br><br>
i also felt a certain amount of animosity directed at me from other mothers, because i *didn't* gain a ton of weight, and because i didn't just resign myself to wearing sweat pants... i still paid attention to my appearance and made an effort to go out walking in the mornings, etc. one mother actually stopped talking to me when i told her how far along i was, because she gains so much more weight than i do when she's pregnant. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> i wish mothers could just drop all that and see themselves as beautiful, because they are.<br><br>
i also wish people could let go of that ridiculous stereotype that if you stay relatively thin, you won't get stretchmarks. i want to stand up and shout out to everyone, i'm thin and i'm striped like a zebra!! and have them see themselves as lovely even with their battlescars.