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You are here: Home / MOTHERHOOD / Blogger Bump Club Week 17 #BlogBumpClub

Blogger Bump Club Week 17 #BlogBumpClub

September 4, 2014 by Molly 11 Comments

Blogger Bump Club

“What’s it like being pregnant?” asked my husband the other day. At the time, I gave a totally unsatisfactory answer. Something like, “It feels like there’s a baby inside you,” before getting on with whatever I was doing. But I’ve been thinking about that more this week and have a better answer now.

Being pregnant is like running a marathon while being made to watch a series of tear-inducing films (think Beaches and Marley and Me) and listening to the most uplifting and joyful music around. In short, it’s long, requires endurance and is an emotional rollercoaster.

If being pregnant is like running a marathon then I’ve got to the mile before the penultimate one. The end is in sight, but there’s still a bit of a slog. I’m tired but incredibly busy, although I know that very soon the adrenaline will hit for that final mile.

36 weeks pregnant

Anyway, enough of the similes. You get the idea. Pregnancy is amazing but also hard work. I’m tired and busy. There – could have just summed the whole thing up in ten words. 

For me, I’m at one of the most exciting stages of pregnancy. Last weekend we ventured into the loft and got out of all the baby clothes and paraphernalia. Seeing the tiny babygrows fluttering on the line felt like a big milestone…

Baby clothes on the line

I washed the pram / carry-cot section of the travel system, washed the covers on the bouncy chair, washed the fabric inserts on the car seat. We put up shelves in the nursery and packed away various nappies, wipes and baby pamper products.

Meanwhile, the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine and my parents started phase 1 of a big garden makeover and we emptied the office and started to paint the built-in desk. It was a busy weekend.

I’ve also had two home visits this week, one from my midwife and one from my health visitor – introducing herself before the baby’s born. It’s a totally different kind of service to the one we had where we used to live and makes me feel lucky to know there’s such great home support for after the baby’s born.

Things are all feeling very imminent now. I can almost see the placards cheering me on to that penultimate mile.

All the baby prep has fallen at the same time as my last work deadlines. I have two big projects to complete before I handover for my maternity leave. These will be done by Tuesday next week, so after that I can focus on rest, reading and relaxation. Oh, and spending time on all fours attempting to get my baby out of the back to back position (although I had the exact same with Frog so I’m thinking it could just be due to the shape of my pelvis).

It means I’m not getting much sleep at the moment because Frog hasn’t started school yet (first day on Monday – argh!) so I’m juggling work with having her at home. Most of my work is getting done between 6pm – 1am and I’m not sleeping brilliantly, hence the tiredness.

Anyway, the end is in sight. Roll on next week when I can stop and… I don’t know. Just be for a while. Fingers crossed the baby doesn’t have other ideas and make a slightly early appearance.

Link Up

How’s your week been? Last week I missed a big congratulations to another #BlogBumpClub baby – congratulations DamBaby on your beautiful new baby girl!

Link up your latest pregnancy post here and don’t forget to join in and leave comments for other people who’ve linked up if you can. It’s like a blogger antenatal club and is no fun if you just sit in the corner not talking to anyone!

There’s also a badge below – don’t forget to grab it and display it on your post or blog so other pregnant bloggers can find us.

And, finally, you can carry on the chat on Twitter using the hashtag #BlogBumpClub. If you tweet me a link to your post I’ll be sure to share it for you. I’m @mollyjforbes over there.

Mother's Always Right

Filed Under: MOTHERHOOD, Pregnancy Tagged With: 36 weeks pregnant, Pregnancy, third trimester

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Comments

  1. Working mum blog says

    September 8, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    Well described! The end is near in deed. I am so wishing mine arrives earlier now that I am full term. The waiting and constant messages from family is driving me a little impatient :-). Hope you enjoy your maternity and that you get the time you need to relax before the baby arrives. x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      September 10, 2014 at 8:50 am

      This is the best time – although I’m hoping the baby doesn’t arrive early so I can enjoy some peace and quiet and relax a bit first! x

      Reply
  2. Kerry says

    September 6, 2014 at 3:36 pm

    Eeeek how exciting getting everything washed and ready, i love seeing baby clothes on the washing line!

    Sorry I haven’t been joining in for a while – I’ve barely been spending time blogging lately as I don’t seem to have the motivation so not really had time to check out other blogs etc. Hoping I can stick around this time haha!

    Reply
  3. Bex @ The Mummy Adventure says

    September 5, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    I am ready to start joining in, just as you are about ready to have your baby! I totally agree with your description, I think I am finally finding my stride in the marathon at 14 weeks, although a long way still to go!

    Reply
  4. Oh So Gawjess says

    September 4, 2014 at 8:06 pm

    I love seeing the baby clothes on the line – Im so excited!

    xXx

    Reply
    • Molly says

      September 5, 2014 at 2:17 pm

      It’s a definite milestone isn’t it?!

      Reply
  5. The Breastest News says

    September 4, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    Sounds like you’ve been a very busy bee recently, bet you just want everything done and to relax a bit before baby gets here. Fingers crossed it all works out smoothly for you and hopefully Frog gets on ok at school, only a few more days till she’s there. My sons been at school for 2 weeks now and he’s enjoying it, not so much the homework mind you haha. Can’t blame him though!

    Thanks for another great linky 🙂

    Reply
    • Molly says

      September 5, 2014 at 2:18 pm

      You’re so right – I’m looking forward to a bit of time to myself. Things have been so busy and I’m starting to feel really exhausted. But hopefully next week will bring me a bit of time to myself to sit down!

      Reply
      • The Breastest News says

        September 6, 2014 at 8:26 am

        Yeah fingers crossed. Sometimes we just need to be a bit selfish for a change and have a relax. It’s hard though 🙂

        Reply
  6. ghostwritermummy says

    September 4, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    Yep, pregnancy is like a marathon. And add in one that where you are required to cry at the drop of a hat, are unable to control basic emotions and the fact that you do it all while lugging around the equivalent of a sack of potatoes… great fun!! Haha! Sounds like you’re getting organised though, can’t wait to get the clothes down from the loft myself 🙂 x x x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      September 5, 2014 at 2:19 pm

      Getting the clothes out definitely feels like a big milestone. I remember washing all the clothes when I was pregnant with F – they seemed so tiny drying on the line I can’t believe she was ever that small! x

      Reply

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Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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Hello. How are you? . I’ve noticed something th Hello. How are you? 
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I’ve noticed something this lockdown that feels different to first time... the sense of people being more disconnected than ever, more divided, more isolated. 
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Maybe it’s because we’re all on our last nerve now - the loss, sacrifice and stress is amplified that bit more. 
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And we’re so deep in it, often confined in our thoughts at home, our only connection with the outside world via a screen, that it becomes harder to appreciate our differences in circumstances. 
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We forget that we are all just humans muddling through a global pandemic, trying to come out of it alive, with our minds intact and hopefully our jobs too. 
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We’re angry, sad, frustrated, scared. And in the absence of those regular social connections we need a place to direct those feelings. The social media platforms and comments sections on news sites have never been so busy. 
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Except it’s not just faceless people on the internet that we’re upset with anymore. It’s our neighbours, family and friends. 
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Dr Vivek Murthy wrote about the importance of social connections and community in his book Together, pointing out that loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 
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We are sociable creatures. We need community not just to thrive but to survive. 
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So check in with your friends today. Maybe even send them a voice note. Don’t assume you know how they’re doing based on their latest Facebook post. We need to get through this together, not apart ❤️
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[Image description: Molly is looking at the camera, smiling in a tired, resigned sort of way. She’s outside and is wearing a fantastic hat that her husband says looks like a tea cosy.]
✨Art from @emilycoxhead gorgeous book You Are In ✨Art from @emilycoxhead gorgeous book You Are Incredible Just As You Are✨
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A reminder that loving every bit of ourselves isn’t just about embracing all the parts on the outside, but also about accepting - and maybe even celebrating - the bits on the inside too. 
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I’ll go first: I am a worrier and have a tendency to think deeply on things. If we’ve ever had a disagreement - be it an exchange on Twitter in 2018 or a row in the playground in 1992 you bet I’ve stored that away in my brain ready to ruminate on in the depths of a night when I can’t sleep. 
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But in the spirit of loving every bit of ourselves I say that rather than looking at these parts of ourselves as “flaws”, we choose instead to view them with loving kindness and a heavy dose of self-compassion. 
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I worry because I am sensitive, and I care. This sometimes means I’m more vulnerable to allowing others’ opinions of me have too much power... but it also means I feel remorse when I make mistakes and try my very best to learn from them. 
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And this also means I work hard in everything I do because I genuinely care about doing a good job. Meanwhile, my tendency to think deeply on stuff means I’m able to see the nuance in things and appreciate other perspectives, because as I grasp for an answer I often find two things can be true at the same time. 
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These are not traits I would view as “pathetic” or “needy” or “indecisive” in my kids and I would never tell them to “just get over it”, so I’m trying to remember this for myself too.
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Tell me, what parts of the inner you are you working on learning to love? 
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[Image description: A double page spread from Emily Coxhead’s book You Are Incredible. It’s a yellow page with a red heart and white writing which reads “Here’s to loving every bit of you.”]
Let’s talk joyful movement and.... PRIVILEGE! A Let’s talk joyful movement and.... PRIVILEGE! A nice juicy subject for a Thursday evening 😅
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I absolutely love to see the narrative shift (albeit ever so slightly) to the intrinsic benefits of movement. The focus on intuitive movement and moving our bodies for how it makes us FEEL over how it makes us LOOK brings me huge happiness. 
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BUT... even when we take movement away from a diet culture context, I still think there’s often a lack of acknowledgment of the many barriers preventing people engaging in movement in the first place (hot tip: it’s not “just cos they’re lazy” 🙄). 
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When it comes to my own family - here are some of the privileges we live with which make movement easier for us: 
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✨ We live in an area with access to lots of safe green spaces to play and walk.
✨ We can afford to pay for a gym membership, and extra curricular activities for the kids like gymnastics, Street Dance and swimming.
✨ We have access to the technology needed to take part in online classes over lockdown.
✨ We are non-disabled so experience no physical access issues preventing us from joining in with these activities. 
✨ Our work schedule allows us to get out together during daylight hours. 
✨ None of us lives with a mental health condition which might make getting outside / engaging in movement really hard or even impossible.
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Kids access to movement is not equal so if we really care about encouraging more children to move then, as a nation, we need to level the playing field (pun intended). 
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Some accounts which often discuss movement and privilege: @thephitcoach @amysnellingpt @theaishanash ❤️
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[Image description: Molly and her two daughters standing on top of a hill smiling, with their arms in the air.]
It’s pretty well accepted that certain “fad di It’s pretty well accepted that certain “fad diets” are not the one. But if our definition of diet culture stops there, and we fail to see how diet culture IS fatphobic in its very nature - and that it absolutely depends on a collective cultural fear and vilification of fatness then we’ll never get anywhere with tearing it down.
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Dressing up fatphobia as “health concern”, or “tough love” or “helping people” is just a fluffy way of saying you don’t acknowledge the huge complexity around health, or the many factors that impact weight, or the research showing the harmful (and unhealthy) impact of weight stigma, or the evidence into the long term effectiveness of diets and intentional weight loss. 
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And essentially, those who assert that health only looks one way, and that people have a moral responsibility to prove their health via the shape of their body and not be a “drain on society”, are saying that only people with their version of a “healthy body” are worthy of respect, equality, dignity.
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Children pick up on these messages and learn from an early age that “fat = bad”, and to see some bodies as better, and more deserving of love and respect than others. This could be why we’re seeing a rising number of pre-teens with eating disorders and mental health issues associated with poor body image. 
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Yes we need to lose the fad diets. But we also need to lose the deeper prejudices and anti-fat biases that make them profitable in the first place, otherwise they’ll just continue to show up in different ways, coming in ever more aggressive and insidious ways for our kids.
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(Image description: A yellow slide with multicolour shapes and a screenshot of a tweet overlaid which reads “FYI you can’t be simultaneously anti-diet culture and pro fatphobia. (And yes, fatphobia includes continuously asking “But what about health?” and not listening to the answer...)
You might have missed this in the news over Christ You might have missed this in the news over Christmas. It didn’t get nearly the same amount of coverage as all the diet-related features that are everywhere right now. It was hidden away behind the before and after “amazing weight loss” stories, celeb diet plans and “o*esity causes covid” headlines. But that doesn’t make it any less shocking or heartbreaking. 
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I believe there’s a link between the rise in children being diagnosed with eating disorders and the rise in children suffering poor body image. These issues are fallout from a culture that idolises thinness, vilifies fatness and continually promotes one, narrow, over-simplified version of health. 
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Diet culture is coming increasingly aggressively for children, and the pandemic with the huge mental health toll it’s taken has not helped one bit. We already knew the number of pre-teens diagnosed with anorexia in the last decade had doubled, and it seems the figures are rising even higher. We need change. Fast. 
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Check out the Body Happy Kids resources, workshops and Masterclass and the #FreeFromDiets campaign in my bio, if you want to help change the culture our kids are growing up in. They deserve better.
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[Image description: a section from a news article about rising numbers of children suffering with eating disorders. Full text can be found in Alt Text.]
I’ve been looking a lot at old photos lately. Th I’ve been looking a lot at old photos lately. This pic is from summer 2018, when I could hug my mum and travel abroad on holiday. If I close my eyes I can almost feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, smell the salty sea air and hear the laughter of other families playing on the beach. Holding on to these memories and the hope that the hugs, sunshine and bikinis will come again one day. In the meantime it’s video calls, trackie bottoms and WhatsApp. ❄️☀️ 
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[Image description: Molly and her mum standing on a beach in France, in 2018. They are both wearing brightly coloured bikinis, hugging and smiling. It’s a hot sunny day and the sky is blue.]
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