Belly Itch Blog

Because BumpWatch is So much FUN!

  • Celebrity
    • Red Carpet
  • News
  • Parenting
  • Fashion
  • Reviews
    • Past Reviews
  • YouTube
  • WIN: Giveaways
  • Shop
    • Gift Guide
  • Advertise

JJ Ghatt's Old Stuff

Here are the articles I've written in the past

3 Things NOT to buy for a baby shower

November 7, 2010 by JJ

Having attended and hosted several dozen baby showers in my lifetime, I think I’ve come up with the list of the THREE things that you should never purchase and/or re-gift to a friend for her shower.

1. Bath tubs – each shower I’ve attended, there have been at least 2 to 3 bathtubs given. You are best skipping it. Not everyone reads this blog, so let the other people make the mistake of purchasing the tub listed on the registry. You, dear readers and friends, avoid this “Baby Shower” cliche and go a different route.


2. Disposable diapers – though diapers are a very practical gift and every parent will appreciate you alleviating the financial burden of buying something they will use anyway, it’s a no-no for a couple reasons: 1. It’s not cute  and you will not get the “awww” and “ooohs” that every shower gifter craves; and 2. it’s not an environmentally-friendly purchase. Even though you may use(d) them for your kids and know the new parent(s) will too, there’s no utility in YOU contributing to the overpopulation of the world’s landfills. My mother DISAGREES! For every shower, she always calls and tells me, “JJ, BUY THEM A CASE OF DIAPERS!” LOL!

3. Ointments. Yes, the mom to be will inevitably put Butt Butter, Desitin, Rash cream, Anti-cracked nipple salve on her list, it’s just not a comfortable or “cute” thing to have them pull out the bag in front of other shower guests.  Immediately, everyone’s mind will go to the Mom-to-be’s Breast and/or Nipples and/or in the case of diaper ointment to a stinky smelly rashed up baby bottom. You don’t want to be the one to have everyone conjure up that image. Let someone else do the honors! LOL!

Enjoy! Happy  Baby Shower shopping!

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Laila Ali blogs about weighing over 200lbs this pregnancy

November 6, 2010 by JJ

old photo of Laila Ali in June 2008 when pregnant with her first child Curtis Mohammed

Check out BlackCelebKids.com for its story about Laila Ali blogging about her pregnancy. Well, that sources US magazine, but I’m too lazy to do the work, so here you go: LOL!
Former Boxer Laila Ali opens up about her pregnancy cravings in a blog post titled: “It’s No Fun Weighing Over 200 Lbs While Pregnant”:
I’m pregnant for the second time! I’m just about four months pregnant — but in my opinion, I look like I’m six months along! Giving birth to a child is a beautiful gift and a privilege — there is no denying that. But, what a woman has to go through to make it happen is something else.
Luckily, my first pregnancy with my son, Curtis Jr., went very well. No morning sickness, nausea, skin problems, crazy food cravings, etc. But I did have to deal with what most women dread when having babies: weight gain! I know it is healthy to gain 25-40 pounds — but that does not mean I have to like it. I’m a big girl already. I’m not one of these skinny chicks. At my best, I weigh about 174 lbs, so adding another 35 puts me past 200lbs. That’s no fun for any woman.
And, this second pregnancy has given me a bigger appetite so I better watch out. Sweets are my weakness — especially baked goods such as strawberry shortcake and peach cobbler a la mode. In fact, I actually made a peach oatmeal crisp last night. It was supposed to be for my husband, but he still hasn’t had any yet, so of course I’ve been eating it! It didn’t even turn out as planned, but it is warm, sweet and goes well with vanilla ice cream. And that’s good enough for me.Read More
Source
Well, you know how I feel. Buck up and ride it out. She’s gonna be back down in no time flat post delivery. But notwithstanding all of that it does blow to see the scale keep going up each weigh in…but c’est la vie. I’m torn. 😀

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bump Watch: Alanis Morissette in a Bikini

November 6, 2010 by JJ

TMZ, which stands for thirty-Meter Zone, the minimum distance paparazzi must remain away from a photography subject, has photos of a glowing Alanis in a bikini while vacationing in Mexico! Gorgeous!

But again, here is an example of how the BUMP WATCH fascination enables celebrities who have fallen off the radar and not actively pursuing any projects to get some publicity and press, wanted or not! LOL!

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Mariah Carey determined to be a good mom, reading pregnancy books

November 6, 2010 by JJ

Mariah performing in
Brazil in August showing what looks like a clear bump source

London, Nov 4 (Calcutta Tube) Singer Mariah Carey, who is expecting her first child next year, is so determined to be a good mother that she is spending hours reading pregnancy books.
The ‘Hero’ singer, who confirmed her pregnancy with husband Nick Cannon last week, has also completely changed her eating habits, reports contactmusic.com.
‘Mariah has turned ultra health conscious. There is nothing unhealthy in the house. No junk food, no alcohol, nothing. Nick is making sure she has everything she needs including fetching her just about every book on babies and pregnancy ever written. Mariah is 41 and she’s leaving nothing to chance,’ said a source close to the couple.
But one thing that Carey is not able to avoid is high heels.

‘I came home yesterday to help my wife get ready for her video shoots and she has these 19-inch heels on. So I go into the closet searching for some flats for my wife. She got a lot of damn shoes – it’s like a Macy’s. And Mariah Carey does not own one pair of flat shoes,’ he said.

Carey defended herself, insisting she does own flat shoes – but did not want to wear them.

‘To be fair, I had some boots from Aspen, some Dior boots. Ski boots. And then we did find some flats and then they were a regular ballet slipper, like a beige, and I was like, ‘I don’t think so.” she said.
After persuading Carey to don ski boots, the 30-year-old presenter is now planning a shopping trip to buy the singer some more practical footwear.

‘Basically, I got Mariah Carey, the high-heel queen, to put on some flats. And this is amazing. I’m going shoe shopping today, needless to say, to buy you some flat shoes.’

And the Grammy winner will flaunt her growing figure on a planned ABC special called Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You, which is set to air on 13 December (10).

source

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Eco Friday: Pregnancy Advice for the Complaining Pregnant Woman

November 5, 2010 by JJ

For this eco Friday, I’m taking some creative liberties to define ecology and environmentally-friendly- I am recycling old advice that my mother-in-law used to share with me throughout each of my pregnancies. 

I know sometimes it just feels good to mope and complain about all the crap you are going through this time and most times you can’t help yourself because the excess hormones make you extra bitchy. So not your fault. 

Notwithstanding all of that, whether I wanted to hear it or NOT, whenever I would complain about my various aches and pains associated with pregnancy, she would share this with me:

“You think you are irritated, annoyed and miserable now. Just remember this: There is a woman out there struggling with fertility, conception and maintaining a pregnancy who would gladly take…

…your achy back from having to balance the weight of a growing baby you are carrying
…your pregnancy related acne
…your sciatic pains from a growing baby putting pressure on your pelvic region
…your bloated ankles from fluid retention caused by your pregnancy
…your excessive weight gain and appetite you have because you need to feed your baby
…your doses of insulin to control your Gestational Diabetes
…your constipation from having to take extra iron pills
…your giant iron pills you have to take to fortify iron deficiency caused by your pregnancy
…your calf and leg cramps
…your urge to vomit or nausea caused by excess hormones traveling through your body
…your stinky smelly flatulence issue
…your burping up and having to taste again the last thing you ate
…your hemorrhoid flare ups
…your leaking pea when you laugh
…and all the other icky yucky achy things in between!

There is a woman out there who wants that, all of that!”

IT SURE HELPED ME PUT THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE and appreciate how Lucky, Blessed and Fortunate I am. 

I  hope it helps you (and your partners, mothers and family members suffering through your miserableness) too! LOL!
post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Distorted Study: Young low-income women gain too much weight during pregnancy

November 4, 2010 by JJ

(Reuters Health) – A new study finds that young, low-income women often gain too much weight during pregnancy, raising concerns about the potential long-term impact on their obesity risk.

SIDEBAR: I have a problem with this new study AND the way it is reported. It’s about a survey of 427 pregnant women between the ages of 15 and 25, mostly black and Hispanic, which concluded that  young low-income women gain too much weight during pregnancy.  But before I discuss, read the rest of the article reported by Reuters Health first:

Nearly two-thirds of 427 pregnant women, mostly black or Hispanic, seen at two U.S. medical clinics put on more than the recommended weight during pregnancy.

And a year after giving birth, about half had retained at least 10 of their pregnancy pounds.

Writing in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Dr. Bonnie E. Gould Rothberg of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues say the findings are worrisome.

…The researchers found that before pregnancy, just shy of a quarter of the women were overweight, and slightly more were obese.

Among women who were normal-weight before pregnancy, four in 10 fit the definition of “overweight” one year after giving birth, and one in 20 fell into the obese category.

…Of those who were overweight before becoming pregnant, more than half were obese one year after delivery, based on body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in relation to height.

A BMI above 25 is considered overweight and above 30, obese.

One of the concerns with these weight changes is that they resulted from just one pregnancy, Gould and her colleagues note.

Since the women in the study were only between the ages of 14 and 25, the researchers point out, it is likely that they will have more children, and possibly retain more weight after those pregnancies.

Few studies have examined patterns of weight gain among young minority women in the U.S., according to Gould Rothberg and her colleagues, who call for more efforts to make such women meet IOM recommendations.

MY ISSUES?

1. The survey starts out by targeting only young women but the headline comes off as if it included older women too and that only the younger ones gained too much weight. However, no-one under25 was in the survey to begin with so the title is faulty. Agreed?
2. Second, the survey was of women who went into a clinic. Most of the women who do not have health insurance or a job that enables them to see a private practitioner have to get their pre-natal care from a clinic or some other public option. So there were likely no middle or upper income women in the survey either.  Therefore, they could not have been included in there for comparable purposes. Reading this account of the survey would lead one to think they were. Distortion here? Yes?
3. Most women, young, old, black, poor, rich gain a significant amount of weight beyond the recommended 25 to 35 pounds. I’m sure had this survey included a wider range of women, they would have discovered that. It is NOT a problem unique to the poor minorities as this survey suggests! Of course, if you oversample to include minorities, you would get this type of result. 
4. Likewise, many women gain more weight with each pregnancy and all women, regardless if they’ve given birth or not, have trouble shedding pounds as they get older.  It’s not a problem unique to black and Hispanic women as this survey suggests. 
5. Also, I reject the BMI ranges for black and Hispanic women because generally we have rounder bottoms and breasts and our bodies are atypical to Caucasian women. I do not think they adequately account for these differences. I always expect to be at the top of the range or will add a point or two anyway because I know the range does not accommodate for cultural, ethnic and racial differences. 
6. Also, the study presumes that because they are young, they will likely have another child. I do not know where that presumption comes from other than the preconception that  poor minority women usually have more than one child. I have no problem with that conclusion just that compounded with all the other faulty aspects of the survey, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

7. Finally, how about the fact that young low-income is and has become synonymous with black and Hispanic. Whenever someone says young poor, the image of a person of color pops up in your head, doesn’t it? Why do you think that?

I am not one to want to draw the race card often -well not that often- but when I see stuff like this, it really just boils me over! hrmpf! It’s like someone said to themselves they notice a lot of young minorities are “overweight” and said to themselves, “it must be all the babies they have” and then set out to convene a survey to justify those conclusions.

post signature

Share |

Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: expose, exposes, study, survey, weight gain, young women

Bump Watch: Ali Larter at Williams-Sonoma

November 4, 2010 by JJ

A pregnant Ali Larter shopped at Williams Sonoma with a girlfriend in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Tuesday (November 2) while wearing a $175 ruched tank dress from Isabella Oliver. source
post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bump Watch: Ne-yo’s girlfriend Monyetta Shaw

November 4, 2010 by JJ

BlackCelebKids reports:

Neyo and Monyetta Shaw were spotted at a private screening for movie “For Colored Girls” on Monday night.  The expectant parents will welcome   their first child together, a baby girl, in January of next year.

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Lily Asked fans to say prayer before rushed to hospital

November 3, 2010 by JJ

Lily Allen, who was six months pregnant with boyfriend Sam Cooper’s child before she miscarried last week, sent a tweet to her fans the day after she was rushed to hospital (last Thursday) with severe stomach pain. 

She posted the message on her Twitter account the next day asking fans to “say a little prayer”.

Here’s to hoping the prayers continue to provide her and Sam with solace as they continue to deal with the devastating loss. Having been there (though not at such a late term), I can empathize. Hang in there, kiddo!

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bump Watch: Dancing with the Stars host Samantha Harris

November 3, 2010 by JJ

Dancing with the Stars host, Samantha Harris was seen showing off her glowing and growing belly at the Angel Ball for Cancer Research in New York this week. She’s 6months preggers now and is pregnant with her second child, due this January. She already has a 3-year old daughter, Josselyn.  

post signature

Share |
Over 9 million people have enjoyed Bellyitch's Award-winning Celeb "bumpwatch" pregnancy and parenting blog. Trying to Conceive? Download our FREE Fertility 100 ebook. Hunting for Top Maternity or Kids Brands? Our Bellyitch 100 is the free resource for you. Baby Shower Shopping? Check out out Top Picks on Amazon or our Gift Guides.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 976
  • 977
  • 978
  • 979
  • 980
  • …
  • 1070
  • Next Page »

25 Ways To Show Mom Gratitude For Helping Raise Her Grandchildren

Copyright © 2018 Bellyitch Blog · Built on the Zenstack Platform

  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Submissions
  • SHOP
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy