Stuffed

Expecting, in a "family way," bun in the oven, the rabbit died, positive result, scored, preggers--it's amazing how all these different words and phrases have come about to say a woman is pregnant. In some parts of England, "stuffed" is slang for pregnant. A lot of these odd sayings originated during the 1940s and 1950s in television--if a character on a TV show was pregnant, they could not say the actual word "pregnant." Heck, Jeannie the genie couldn't even show her belly button on television.

I think skinny girls have the hardest time being pregnant, if they are lucky enough to get pregnant at all. (Women with too little fat on their body will not ovulate.) But those who are able to conceive watch their bodies change, sometimes with horror, as pants get tighter and shirts seem to creep up their abdomens of their own accord. For heavier girls like me, it's pretty routine. "Oh, I can't button my pants anymore? *Sigh* What's new?" "Oh, it's because I'm pregnant? Cool, now I don't have to feel so bad!"

These skinny women bemoan each new stretch mark as they watch their beautiful bodies stretch and sacrifice to accommodate new life over a few months' time. Something they'll never understand is they are lucky--they at least have a legitimate reason to be gaining all that weight, for those stretch marks to appear, to buy bigger, looser-fitting clothes. They are also more likely to lose all that weight after labor. 

On the bright side (for me), thinner women are also more likely to have issues with morning sickness and for longer than average during pregnancy. I think morning sickness is a way to get thin women used to eating more often, since the main cure for morning sickness is constantly munching on something. A stomach with food in it is less likely to get upset.

Another challenge some thin women face is difficulty breastfeeding, since skinny women tend to be more flat-chested.  (Then again, very overweight women also have a hard time breastfeeding because of their larger chests.) Women who are too thin are also more likely to have a miscarriage. My tip for those skinny girls: drink one Frosty every evening. (I've actually had skinny friends whose doctors--actual physicians--would prescribe a Frosty for weight gain.)


Do not get me wrong--any woman who chooses to be pregnant and bring new life into the world makes noteworthy sacrifices. Different shapes and sizes of women have different sets of challenges while pregnant, that's all. It just helped when I was pregnant to think of the challenges other women experience and be glad I didn't have those problems. It's like I was saying yesterday--when we think about other people's problems, our own issues don't seem so bad after all.

Still, even with our great, logical brains that can acknowledge weight gain is expected and healthy while pregnant, it can still be depressing. I blame the media for making us women feel bad if our shape isn't a perfect 10, size 2 and bikini-ready. Ideally it should be all about health. If you're healthy enough and have the stamina to be chasing around a toddler in the next couple years, then you are good to go.