Skin Care News

• Although many moms think of a baby’s skin as “perfect,” it can be very sensitive. When your baby is born, it’s normal for her to have skin discoloration; blotchy, dry skin; or even rashes.

So laying flat on my back for all those months, getting no exercise and whatnot, I gained some weight..."some" being modest. I weighed about 180 pounds before the accident, and around 260 once I started getting around and about. It's been 4 years, and I'm still at the same weight, despite all kinds of attempts at diet and exercise.

As for age, I stand by my argument: Evidence suggests that neither paleolithic people nor recent western hemisphere indigenous people were routinely living to 80, despite ideal diet and exercise and low stress. If you want to explain this away, there are stories you can tell, but none of them seems as plausible to me as the story that lifespan is cultural. Also, both western and eastern religions speak of people in past ages living hundreds of years or longer. Consider the possibility that they’re right. I think there are different “fields” that people can resonate with, and I’m aging more slowly because I’m not resonating with the dominant field of American culture.

If I was a better role model for my daughter I would be happy with my body fat or slim. I would derive all self esteem from my intellect, wit and strength and be happy that I am healthy. Unfortunately I am an american woman and that is not a viable option for me. I am doomed to feel inadequate compared to all younger, thinner, women. Just kidding. Fuck them. They’ll get pregnant and watch their stream line bellies turn to stretch marks. Their boobs will sag and the faces on these once perfect women will fill with wrinkles.

Actually, I was a bad, bad girl and called in sick today . . . mostly because I was ALSO a bad, bad girl last night. We went out drinking, and after five Singapore Slings at the local izakia (pub) and a tumbler of GIN and a wee bit of tonic at a place that is basically behind a carport in this guy’s basement and seats five, I admit to being quite hammered. I had an “in depth” conversation with a JET teacher I hardly know about defining his undefined relationship with a local Japanese lass. Well, at least I think it was deep. After two or so “slings,” being able to repeat one’s own name might be considered an intellectual accomplishment. And, the glorious English fun that is Nathan-san and I compared stretch marks and confessions of love and loss. So, it was a good night of comraderie, but one I paid for this morning over the toilet and groaning. So, yeah, I didn’t make it in today . . . third time this week, as I called in last Sun. and Mon. to show Robin around Hamada.

Maybe so, but shouldn't her naked beauty be something only for her husband to behold and relish? If anything, in light of so many pregnant women thrusting their bear bellies into plain view stretch marks and all (i.e. the Dove Soap hussies), a little more Victorian restraint might do us some good with more being left to the imagination once again.

This has not been friendly on my poor little boobs. They don’t know what’s happening to them, and I don’t either. One day they hurt like hell, the next day it feels like my nipples are going to pop off, and the next I have colostrum dripping out of them. They are white globes with blue veins running through them, and now they have pretty purple stretch marks and giant dark brown nipples. The boobs rest quite nicely on my belly, as if my belly was put there to be a shelf to hold them up. What happens when my belly goes away? Where will the boobs sit then?

Look, there's nothing wrong with making the most of what you have. Or making some changes that give you confidence. Far be it from me to pass judgment on anyone who makes plastic surgery a priority; I have my own opinion about it, but it's not my choice to make.

I am supposed to document physical changes, etc… that happen throughout the pregnancy. Since I have harped about the stretch marks SOOO much, I will not do so here again. The swelling has gotten to the point that its about to my knees and doesn’t go down at night. Its pretty much 24/7. My skin is the most bizarre lately. I have thousands of “skin tags.” They are little itty bitty pieces of extra skin all over my body. I know, sounds lovely, but I read its common in pregnancy due to the extra hormones, etc… Plus, I have eczema and have had it since I was born. It bothered me a little growing up, but not much.

Thirdly, psychological research has shown that after 3 months (12 weeks!), people begin to lose motivation in a diet and exercise program. So this program will only lead people to the “feel good” stage, they’ll start to see some results and feel better about themselves- then they will finish the program. Their motivation will wane, they will lose impetus and all the good work and beneficial diet and exercise changes they will make will be forgotten. They will go back to old habits- and lo and behold, the weight will come back on. After 12 months, they can receive another $200 incentive to go back on the weight loss program and the yo- yo cycle begins again. Research has shown the effects of yo-yo dieting on the body can be more detrimental than obesity itself.

My diet and exercise program is going so well I am not even going to talk or write about it now.

Wednesday I go to the doctor to have him say: “Chris, your cholesterol is to high, you don’t exercise enough, and you need to wear sunscreen when you are outside. Oh yeah, your are going to be 40 next visit so we get to start the fun tests……”

Trouble is, it appears he did a bit more than that. After taking office, and before the deal between himself and AMI was revealed, Schwarznegger vetoed a bill that would have restricted the distribution of questionable dietary and bodybuilding supplements. Had the bill passed, AMI would have lost most of its advertising income, as some 80-85 percent of its advertising income comes from companies that make such supplements. Which would have sunk the magazines and probably AMI as well.