The New Motherhood - pregnant women and new mothers staying active, dressing fashionably

Ebony, May, 2001 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

Trendsetters take pregnancy in stride, wearing daring clothes and continuing their active lives without missing a beat

It wasn't so very long ago that pregnant working women were immediately fired from their jobs. Today's new mother often works as late into the pregnancy as possible. Sometimes she even goes into labor on the job or leaves work on Friday and has the child that weekend. "Old-school" moms remember when maternity fashion was hideous--consisting mostly of brightly colored, shapeless sacks--that they refused to venture out except to church and the grocery store.

Today's modern mothers celebrate their swelling stomachs with a choice of form-fitting, designer-label maternity wear from jeans to formal gowns.

In what some people call the good old days, child care was either non-existent or not enough. So if a mother didn't have help from family or friends, she was out of the workforce until her child or children reached school-age.

Today's new working mothers, while still acknowledging that high-quality, affordable child care is difficult, nevertheless have much more of a chance of finding child care than their mothers or grandmothers.

Today's career mothers take maternity in stride and for role models they simply have to open the latest magazine. Tisha Campbell-Martin and her husband Duane are expecting their first child this summer. The actress is starring with Damon Wayans in a new sitcom, My Wife and Kids. "When I asked Damon if it was okay for me to get pregnant while working on the show, he answered, `Please do,'" she told one writer.

The list of stars who are either pregnant now or who have delivered in the last couple of years is a veritable who's who of Black entertainment: Vanessa L. Williams, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nia Long, Yolanda Adams, Erykah Badu, Holly Robinson Peete, T-Boz of TLC, Salt-n-Pepa, Sole, Jasmine Guy, Monica Calhoun, Tracey Edmonds, Lauryn Hill and Audra McDonald.

Hollywood is leading the way to active pregnancy and child-rearing trends. For prime examples of this trend, check out the "Bouncing Back After Pregnancy" article in this month's "Beauty and Style", where gospel star Yolanda Adams discusses in detail how she performed right up until her daughter, Taylor Ayanna, was born. Tammy Franklin, wife of gospel great Kirk Franklin, says she walked daily until her son, Caziah Rashad, was born. Actress Jasmine Guy also remained active until the birth of her daughter, Imani. Guy toured the country in the play Chicago and continued the energetic role after her daughter's birth. She is enjoying the challenges of working motherhood. "I always want to be with her," she told one writer. "I'm feeling like I'm not moving as quickly as she is."

From the first to the third trimester of pregnancy, with nursing infants, toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners, the stars attend galas and movie premieres, award shows and fund-raisers with their little ones often matching Gucci attire.

One of the most dramatic examples of designer maternity apparel was Tracey Edmonds' recent red-carpet entrance in a clingy, off-the-shoulder, floor-length, black-lace gown with a revealing thigh-high slit that emphasized her burgeoning abdomen.

Today's working mother, who may be a star only in her own home, has some of the same choices and opportunities as celebrity moms. All working women can choose to stay active and not hide their pregnancies. The medical community also supports and encourages that choice. Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, an obstetrician-gynecologist, medical professor and author of Having Your Baby: A Guide for African-American Women, is also the mother of four children.

"I finished medical school in 1980, and in the last 20 years, things have changed drastically and dramatically in the way that health care is provided to women," Dr. Hutcherson says. "Women have started saying, `The usual way is not the way I want to do it; I want something different, something better, something more personal,'" she says.

Unless women are at high risk with serious medical problems like heart disease or severe diabetes, they don't need to restrict their activities during pregnancy, she says. "Having had children of my own gave me a whole new perspective of obstetrics," she adds.

Erykah Badu, who had a home delivery, says that new mothers must take care of themselves. She is a vegetarian and tries to maintain a healthy diet. "I love recording; I love handling my business; I love every aspect of it, but sometimes you get tired. The spirit never gets tired, but the body does," she says.

Gwen Scales of Detroit also knows about talcing care of yourself and planning. Scales is the lead singer and co-manager with her husband, Charles, of a jazz group, Modern Tribe, and the mother of two daughters, Lauren and Briana. She has never stopped working, she says, even when both girls were born. "With the support of family and friends, it works," she says. Her husband and her mother both help, but she says she had to decide early, "I'm a mom first and a vocalist second." She schedules most of the band's gigs during the evening, on weekends and during the summer, she says, "allowing me more freedom to interact with my children."