More women than you might think (or, at least, more than I thought before nursing school) are afraid of having a baby that's "too big." The smaller a baby is, it seems, the "cuter" it appears to those women.

The grotesque extreme of this is celebrities who get a scheduled c-section at 36 or 37 weeks' gestation, to avoid the weight gain in the 9th month of pregnancy (during which the baby's weight increases dramatically).

Okay, I am totally slack-jawed at these people. Slack-jawed at Aimée's friends and the harm they could have done their baby (and where was their OB? Why wasn't s/he saying You're not gaining enough and it is scaring the shit out of me?), equally slack-jawed at the c-section schedulers. Major abdominal surgery that 99% of moms are hoping like hell to avoid, chosen voluntarily? The fuck?

With a side of slack-jaw, as always, at the creepy celebrity culture (and agents and managers and whatnot) that's no doubt telling these women that if they gain too much they are worthless and professionally doomed.

I imagine OB was telling her to eat more. I also imagine that she blew him off.

Back in 1971, when my mom was pregnant with me, OB/GYNs didn't tell women to gain as much weight as they do now, or, at least, they didn't put such a strong emphasis on it. (Or possibly that was true of only my mom's OB/GYN.) In any case, she was a model before she met my dad, and when she got pregnant with me, she could wear her pre-pregnancy pants up to month 7, IIRC. I was 5 lb., 5 oz., and early.

I've managed to make up the low birth weight, and then some.

I don't recommend that pregnant women do what my mom did, but babies do okay when they're small. Fortunately. Because parents do dumb-ass things.

My mom's doctors were concerned because she only gained about 10 or 15 pounds when she was pregnant with me. I was a bit under 7 pounds when I was born. About the same amount of weight gain, and same weight of baby, with my sister.

On behalf of men everywhere, please feel free to smack any man who would do that.

Signed, tired of the asshats further sullying the image of men.

Yeah, but the proper response of a pregnant woman to the Other Genetic Contributor who complains of her being fat, is to grab him by the throat and say, "Listen up, dickhead. You have two choices: One, therapy including couples sessions in which you genuinely seek to change your dickhead attitude; or Two, you say that again on tape and I get to test my assumption that there ain't a jury in the world that would convict me."

Hey, JZ. Backflung.

I have some memory of the 70s being 'don't let the baby get too big' (well, not PERSONALLY). I have a cousin who was induced what turned out to be too early because of it.

Because it's not just him. She's just as stupid and ass-ish.

From the sound of it, I'd agree.

As for whoever wondered about the OB's response, there isn't a direct connection between mom's weight and baby's weight. I didn't gain any weight during the last two months of my pregnancy either, and I was eating just as much as I had been all pregnancy. The only one concerned about my lack of weight gain was me. The OB went by the increase of the fundus and by ultrasound scans of the baby, not by my weight.

I actually remembered to cut and paste, and thus present a full-sized meara:

web page for my favorite local soft cheese place.

I love that place, beth. My dad’s company used to have their picnics there, and I try to visit each time I come to CA. It seems like their pond is shrinking a bit, though. I would have thought that it was a function of me getting older, but I really think it’s the encroaching water plants.

Once again, Steph is me. I have three pairs of glasses just in case the regular pair... I don't know, explodes or something. Along with my contacts. Civilization could collapse, and I'd need them. My visual field is about six inches. I'd never survive in the wild.

Once again, Zenkitty is me, and apparently Teppy too.

But you have to basically make her wear a velcro suit and stick things on to her body to keep her from losing them. She's like the most absent minded professor parody you've ever seen.

And apparently JZ is me too. Score!

I really must look for my keys that have been missing for two weeks.

It's awesomely awesome, so soft and cozy and perfectly suited to me. And that's not all, vw put in a bonus comfort shawl (how does she do it?) in gorgeous colors and soft and warm. I've been bundled up in both of them all morning. They even smell good.

That’s so gorgeous, -t! What a wonderful job, vw! I absolutely love the colors in the shawl. What yarn did you use? It looks kind of like Homespun, which I love, but I can’t quite tell. Also, do you have a pattern?

But 3 weeks of moderate sinus headaches are enough to do me in. They WILL NOT GO AWAY. I've taken a full 10 days of Augmentin and it hasn't gone away.

I’m on day 16 of Levoquin (working on my second 14 day course). I wonder if memory loss is a side affect, because my brain just. won’t. work. And neti pots just don’t seem to do anything for me.

Ohhhh, me too. Can I just abdicate from my life and float around as a professional buffista?

Me three!

fire bad. tree pretty. beer foamy.

The last two weeks. Bleh.

The wife of one of the librarians here delivered a healthy baby boy this morning, and mama is doing well.

What I'm actually thinking: His paternity leave is really going to screw up my work schedule.

Sorry!!!

The smaller a baby is, it seems, the "cuter" it appears to those women.

Ewww. Small babies can be healthy, but to even take a risk of endangering your child over something like image is just, well, ewww.