Are you or somebody you know pregnant and looking to make a big splash with the announcement? Whether you are waiting to tell husbands, parents, siblings, in-laws, or close friends, a national daytime talk show wants to help you reveal your big news in a dramatic fashion!
If this sounds like something you, or someone you know might be interested in, please email [email protected] with a your name, contact information, and some details of who you would want to tell, and become a part of this nationally televised, once in a lifetime experience!
[Disclosure: Bellyitch is an Affiliate to Amazon.com.]
You guys (including us) who have been fawning over all these tech companies’ generous parental and maternity leave policies should sit up and read Julie Cheiffetz story about how she was treated when she had cancer and a baby while working at Amazon.
The Executive Editor at Harper Collins wrote about her experience in a recent post on Medium.
In “I Had a Baby and Cancer When I Worked at Amazon. This Is My Story,” Cheiffetz explains what many fear about all these hyped up extended year-long liberal leave policies in the press these days: that people who take them cannot be guarantee they won’t be dinged by taking time off.
Here is the most excerpt to Cheiffetz’ story:
After a five-month leave, I was nervous and excited to return to work, and I showed up that first day back with a big smile and a phone full of baby pictures to share. I figured I’d catch up with folks and get a high-level update on how the business was doing, since the strategy had evolved from the time I was hired. Here’s what happened instead: I was taken to lunch by a woman I barely knew. Over Cobb salad she calmly explained that all but one of my direct reports — the people I had hired — were now reporting to her. In the months that followed, I was placed on a dubious performance improvement plan, or PIP, a signal at Amazon that your employment is at risk. Not long after that I resigned.
The truth is, I’ve moved on. I’m healthy. I have a great job doing work I love. There’s no question Amazon is an incredible company. I met some of the strongest, most brilliant women of my career there. Unfortunately, many of those women have left. And the voices commenting on the New York Timespiece so far have been predominantly male leaders of male-dominated teams.
Jeff: You asked for direct feedback. Women power your retail engine. They buy diapers. They buy books. They buy socks for their husbands on Prime. On behalf of all the people who want to speak up but can’t: Please, make Amazon a more hospitable place for women and parents. Reevaluate your parental leave policies. You can’t claim to be a data-driven company and not release more specific numbers on how many women and people of color apply, get hired and promoted, and stay on as employees. In the absence of meaningful public data — especially retention data — all we have are stories.This is mine.
And alas, the struggle for moms in the corporate culture continue.
We are all very happy to hear that this woman triumphed over cancer and is in a better place now, but yeah, don’t tell us everything will be rosy and not think we won’t speak up when things don’t go according to plan.
After a very bumpy and rocky Season 18, the ABC round table daytime talk show The Viewreturns for Season 19 this September with several of our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alums in signature positions.
Full House starCandace Cameron Bure, who will reprieve her role as DJ Tanner in a much-anticipated Netflix b revival of the 90s show, will be one of the main panelists.
She will join a returning Joy Behar along with cast regular Whoopie Goldberg, Michelle Collins, and Raven-Symone and another new member Paula Faris of ABC News.
Other Bumpwatch alums include former hostSherri Shepherd,Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi and actress model Molly Sims, who will fill in occasionally as a rotating team of contributors. Also rotating will be What Not to Wear vet host Stacy London, Republican strategist Ana Navarro.
What a diverse cast!
Season 18 cast members Jenny McCarthy,Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie Perez and Nicolle Wallace never lasted the entire season either because they left or was asked to leave (McCarthy).
Raspy-voiced singer Kelis is reportedly expecting her second child.
The “Milkshake” singer debuted a sizable bump in a hot pink caftan-like top while performing this weekend at the Afropunk Festival in Brooklyn, New York on Sunday.
The singer has a 6-year old son named Knight with rapper Nas. The couple split smack dab in the middle of filming a reality TV show for MTVwhile the curly-haired songstress was pregnant with Knight.
She recently concealed her bump in a black outfit while celebrating her 36th birthday and is allegedly several months along and is ‘feeling great’, according to E! News. Her skin looks amazing. She is absolutely glowing. Wow, mama!
One year ago, Jessica Ennis-Hill was giving birth to her son Reggie and today she is the gold Heptathalon champion at the Beijing World Track and Field Championships.
It was only last January 2014 that Ennis-Hill announced to the world that she would not compete in the Commonwealth Games due to her pregnancy. Back then, news reports focused on whether the then-newly married track and field star’s pregnancy would make her better or not.
Ennis was not phased and remained focused, telling The Independent, “I am 100 per cent set on returning to full time athletics once our baby is born and go for a second gold medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016,” she said.
One commenter doubted it:
“Is it possible to come back from Olympic gold as a heptathlete and go on to Rio?” English 2010 Commonwealth heptathlon champion Louise Hazel told the BBC. ” It throws a huge question over the continuation of a career as a heptathlete and that’s just being realistic.”
The heptathlon includes seven events: 100 meter, 200 meters, 800 meters, high jump, long jump, shot put and javelin throw.
On July 17, 2014, Ennis-Hill welcomed her son, Reggie, with husband Andy Hill and today, August 23, 2015, she’s a gold medalist heptathalete.
Guess Hazel was wrong.
Besides, there is a history of other women coming back from motherhood and continuing in their greatness, as The Independent summarized:
Paula Radcliffe won the New York marathon in November 2007, just 10 months after her first child, Isla, was born.
US marathon runner Kara Goucher set a new personal best – beating her old time by more than a minute – at the 2011 Boston marathon, a year after giving birth.
The British long-distance runner Jo Pavey recorded the second-fastest time for an over 35-year-old and the second fastest time for a British athlete in the 10,000m at the 2012 Olympics – watched by her three-year-old son Jacob.
The US beach volleyball gold medallist Kerri Walsh Jennings, already a mother of two, was five weeks pregnant when competing at London 2012…
while hockey player Keli Smith Puzo
….and modern pentathlete Mickey Kelly were just two of many mothers to compete in what were dubbed the “Women’s Games”
Even for these games, Ennis-Hill said she did not want to leave behind her one-year-old son Reggie and husband Andy if she did not have a realistic chance of a medal. Apparently, she did so well at the Anniversary Games last month showing Ennis-Hill figured she had a shot at a medal after all.
Never underestimate a strong-willed mom…and her supportive team.
“It’s hard with a newborn at the beginning and you’re just into everything and then getting back into training and thinking about everyone that’s helped me, my family, Toni and the team around me,” she said. “They’ve been patient and believed I can get back to this point.”
Three cheers also for parents who support the dreams of their superstar athletic children.
Ennis-Hill’s parents, including her dad who was a sprinter in his native Jamaica before emigrating to the UK and a mom who shot javelin as a kid, were not interested in pursuing their own personal early interests in sport but encouraged Ennis-Hill who had a talent and passion to compete since age 10. They sacrificed weekends and loads of money on hotel stays and flights for meets, and almost got derailed after a career-ending injury at age 21, the Telegraph’s report states.
But Ennis-Hill’s determination (and good looks) got her corporate endorsement deals that helped her keep going until she started slaying at various meets again! Awesome sauce!
Today, Ennis-Hill endorses several products, is a Jaguar brand ambassador and the face of UK track and field.
The National Zoo in Washington says there’s one more panda in the world after its female giant panda gave birth to a cub on Saturday.
Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson confirmed in an email that Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) gave birth to the cub at 5:35 p.m. If the cub survives, it would be the 17-year-old panda’s third surviving offspring.
She gave birth to that cub’s twin around 10:35 at night.
Mei Xiang’s first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005. Her second cub, Bao Bao, turns 2-years-old on Sunday.
Update: she gave birth to a 4th cub, the fist cub’s twin around 10:35 pm Saturday night.
A woman’s height may determine when she goes into labor during a pregnancy, The Telegraphreports.
New research has shown smaller women to give birth to smaller and more premature babies, putting them at risk of complications from an early birth.
Shorter women have shorter pregnancies and smaller babies, according to new research.
And the study suggests they are also at greater risk of giving birth prematurely.
Researchers studied 3,485 Nordic women and their babies, and found that maternal height, which is determined by genetic factors, influenced the length of pregnancy and frequency of prematurity. But birth length and birth weight are mainly influenced by transmitted genes.
The video a dad-to-be took of his pregnant wife dancing her way thru labor pains has gone viral.
In the video, which Connell Cloyd uploaded on his Facebook page, featured his wife Yuki Nishizawa doing the butterfly, The Electric Slide and the popular 90s dance to the title song “Toostee Roll” by the group 69 boyz.
“I just felt pain only and nothing positive,” she toldINSIDE EDITION. “I said, ‘Let’s ask nurse if it’s okay for me to dance, you know something fun, something positive for me to go through it.'”
The video, as of this post, has been viewed close to 6 million times and the couple have appeared on several news outlets.
“My mind still can’t fathom how many views the video‘s had,” Cloyd told Inside Edition.
“This is our little Tootsie Roll,” Cloyd said, holding up his newborn son, Coji.
Break ups are sad and we’ve notice that in the 7 years that Bellyitch Blog has been in existence, a substantial amount of celebrity women who we have had on our “bumpwatch” list have broken up with their respective significant others.
Some broke up before the baby was even born: Christina Milian, Kelis, Heidi Klum and January Jones,and many more split with their respective hubby/baby daddies before they even gave birth.
Last year, Ciara, Eva Marcille (nee Pigford), and Amber Rose split with their partners before each of their baby’s turned 6 months old. The separations have been messy, still. A few years ago, Selma Blairand her ex Jason Bleick split up 14 months after welcoming their first child together.
At this point, it’s probably safer to start chronicling those who are still together because they are the new exception, not the rule in Hollywood, it seems. But hey, so long as everyone is happier and better off apart and the off-springs are co-parented well with little to minimum drama, right?
No judgment from us, okay. We’re just pointing out the trends and facts. Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts! (*smirk*)
