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You are here: Home / MOTHERHOOD / Blogger Bump Club Week 21 #BlogBumpClub

Blogger Bump Club Week 21 #BlogBumpClub

October 2, 2014 by Molly 12 Comments

Blogger Bump Club

So…. I’m still here!

Still no baby and I’m quite pleased about that. It’s my birthday today and, call me Mariah Carey, but I’m a total birthday diva. I didn’t fancy a) spending my birthday pushing out a baby and b) sharing my birthday forever more with a more important member of the family. I know, shallow. What can I say?

Anyway, it’s now just gone 7pm and still no baby so I think it’s pretty unlikely this baby is going to make an appearance tonight. Don’t get me wrong though, I am MORE than ready to have this baby now. The baby’s head is so low it feels like I’m wandering around with a bowling ball permanently in my pants (who says pregnancy isn’t dignified and glamorous?).

40 weeks pregnant

I had a midwife appointment today which showed baby is well and I am well. I also successfully argued my case to wait until fourteen days past my due date for an induction, rather than the standard twelve where we live. That means I have until 11th October (Saturday after next) to have a baby naturally. Frog arrived twelve days past her due date so I really feel like my body just takes a little longer than 40 weeks to cook a baby – and that’s fine. My midwife is lovely and very supportive, saying she agreed I was making the right decision.

If I get to Saturday 11th October and there’s still no baby then I’ll admit defeat and accept an induction is inevitable. For now though, I feel like I’ve got a reprieve and have nine days to let this baby arrive fashionably late – just like his or her older sister.

Other than the bowling ball pants thing I’m feeling good. I’m managing to sneak in regular naps while Frog is at school, keeping up with my yoga and meditation CDs and trying my very best to stay relaxed and positive. I get far more tightening “fake” contractions with this baby than I ever had with Frog, causing me to wonder a couple of times if something might be starting but, obviously, so far nothing. I find it fascinating to think of all the things going on in there that I’m not even aware of. All the physical processes that have to happen to prepare the body for labour – it kind of blows my mind, you know?

 

Link Up

Huge congratulations this week to Transatlantic Blonde and Life with Pink Princesses who welcomed two gorgeous baby girls into the world. Have there been any other babies in the #BlogBumpClub born? If so don’t forget to link up your final “meet my new baby” post!

How are the rest of you doing? Link up your latest pregnancy post here and join this week’s #BlogBumpClub. Don’t forget to grab the badge and display it on your own blog so other pregnant bloggers can find us. And tweet me a link to your post so I can RT it for you (providing I’m not having a baby!) – I tweet at @mollyjforbes.

Mother's Always Right

Filed Under: MOTHERHOOD, Pregnancy Tagged With: 40 weeks, going over pregnancy due date, inducing labour, Pregnancy, pregnancy blog linky

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Comments

  1. Working mum blog says

    October 4, 2014 at 5:24 pm

    Happy belated birthday :-D! Hope you had a fab day and got spoilt. I am also overdue and planning the same as you and trying to enjoy everyday this week. The baby can arrive any day now and that is quite exciting to know. If he is not here by next weekend then i’ll deal with what I need to do then. All the best to you and have a lovely rest of weekend X

    Reply
  2. Anna says

    October 4, 2014 at 11:00 am

    Happy birthday!! I hope you get a nice belated present soon in the form of your baby 🙂 Meanwhile, the bump’s looking lovely! x

    Reply
  3. Bex @ The Mummy Adventure says

    October 3, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    I hope you are enjoying these final days and putting your feet up . Your bump looks amazing!

    Reply
  4. Another Bun says

    October 3, 2014 at 7:24 pm

    Some people just cook their babies for longer – I wish there wasn’t such a fight to avoid induction and to let pregnancy just take it’s course. I had to endure a horrid consultants appointment to be ‘allowed’ to go over by 15 days. As it was he was here by 41+4 , and all that stress was for nothing. Hope baby doesn’t keep you waiting too much longer!

    Reply
  5. The Breastest News says

    October 3, 2014 at 6:58 pm

    Aww hope you had a lovely birthday and that’s great your midwife is listening to you and letting you decide to go overdue by 14 days. Sometimes you just know your own body and if you’re comfortable then great stuff 🙂 I have to say I had an induction with Logan and it wasn’t fabulous but he was 15 days overdue in the end, I just needed to get him out lol.

    Your bump is looking lovely btw, not much space left in there now 🙂

    Reply
  6. Caroline (Becoming a SAHM) says

    October 3, 2014 at 7:37 am

    Happy Birthday and glad to hear you are feeling well! We’ve been having a debate about this lately as we knew the c section would get booked soon and were thinking about possible dates, &hubby was really hoping baby would be born on his birthday. I can’t understand it really as I would hate to share my birthday, it’s the one day that’s all about me (I am clearly a total birthday diva lol!). But he says he isn’t bothered about birthdays and would rather the attention be drawn away from him. I felt it may be unfair for baba to have to share but he wanted to… but anyway we got no choice on dates in the end and they have booked the c section for the day after! Hubs is a bit gutted bless him. Anyway hope you can avoid induction, yay to the midwife being on your side! xx

    Reply
  7. Carie says

    October 2, 2014 at 8:23 pm

    Well Happy Birthday:). I already share my birthday but I’ve always been glad there was never much chance of having a baby that day – there are more fun things to do on your birthday than be in labour! And fingers crossed this babe makes a nice fashionably late appearance!

    Reply
  8. Boo Roo and Tigger Too says

    October 2, 2014 at 7:47 pm

    I share my birthday with a cousin and my in-laws wedding anniversary, so I don’t think you’re too much of a diva for not wanting to share yours with the baby. Fingers crossed baby arrives before your induced.

    Reply
  9. Ghostwritermummy says

    October 2, 2014 at 6:56 pm

    You are looking amazing once more!! And yay for the midwife agreeing 14 days over is fine. I was 14 days over with Eva and 12 with luka and I agree that some pregnancies were always destined to last a little longer. So can’t wait to read your birth announcement x x x

    Reply
    • Molly says

      October 2, 2014 at 6:58 pm

      Ah thank you – it feels very strange to know that there will be a baby here imminently. Strange and incredibly exciting! xx

      Reply
  10. Rachel @ Parenthood Highs and Lows says

    October 2, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    Oooh soooo close now!! I have never been overdue (yet!!) but loved it with baby number two (number one was induced) when I was at the point where every little twinge was exciting – he was four days early! I know exactly what you mean about not sharing birthdays – baby number 2 was born two days after my birthday, there was NO way I was going to share my special day! I did go into labour whilst out spending my birthday money 🙂
    Good luck, and looking forward to seeing a baby announcement any day now!

    Reply
    • Molly says

      October 2, 2014 at 6:59 pm

      Thank you Rachel – indeed, any day now! Really hoping I manage to avoid induction but I’m determined not to let it play on my mind. Very excited about meeting baby now! 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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