The Celebrity Baby Bump Watch

It seems everyday we are bombarded with images of celebrities whether it be internet, radio, television, magazines, or even newspapers. We hear about all the hottest new celebrity trends and the average young person tries to emulate it. Whether its their fashion sense, the phrases they patent or their behavior, America has decided these are the role models for our children. This idea in and of itself I find troublesome. I don't understand what makes the average American citizen believe that these celebrities have done something that merits being role models to our children.

There is one celebrity trend that has emerged in recent years that is especially disturbing - the celebrity baby bump. It seems to me that young Hollywood has decided to ditch their Chihuahuas in their trendy purses because babies are just so much cuter. Our news media keeps a constant "celebrity baby bump" watch. They watch everyone's waistlines for even a hint that there might be a story to tell. Then the celebrities parade themselves around in trendy maternity clothing and issue press releases denying they are pregnant when its obvious they are. As long as they continue to deny it, it keeps their name in the news. Then once these bundles of joy come, they are promptly given odd names, photographed for that magazine cover (that they receive an outrageous amount of money for) and then handed to their nanny. They are paraded out only when there's a photo opportunity or to distract from a failed movie/show/album. These are the people we are teaching our children to idolize. Except when little Jamie has her baby at the age of 16, there is no nanny to hand the baby off too.

This baby trend has escalated further in the last couple years. We have seen the rise of the celebrity twins. Celebrities who have elected to utilize technology to give birth to more than one child because "man aren't twins just so darn cute? I can put them in matching outfits and it'll be adorable" One only has to Google 'celebrity twins' to find a list of the celebrities in the last few years who have given birth to twins. There are too many for this to be natural. I find it tragic the number of forums with young women and teenagers saying "Oh, twins are so cute, I want twins!" Even more distressing is the young women who are obtaining fertility drugs illegally and abusing them in hopes of having twins.

The risks of pregnancy doubles with twins. You are at a higher risk of delivering your babies prematurely which can lead to low birth weight, underdeveloped internal organs, low immune system and the inability to suck or swallow. This says nothing of the risk to the mother. They have increased chance of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

Fertility medicine is a wonderful thing. It gives people like myself who have trouble conceiving naturally the opportunity to become parents. It's the people who abuse these treatments that give fertility medicine a bad name. I adamantly believe that there is a reason why natural twin births don't happen to every woman. However, because we have reached a point in our society where we need instant gratification for our every want, these celebrities are utilizing fertility treatments to give them the pregnancy they need for that publicity event sooner because the period of trying to conceive naturally can be too long.

I predict in 16 years we will have a score of nanny raised young celebrity teens who exhibit self-destructive behavior because their parents had babies for selfish reasons. I just hope we are able to teach our children not to follow suit.