pregnancy

According to a report released earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breastfeeding rates are on the rise.

As any mom can tell you, pregnancy and childbirth do a number on a woman’s body – changes that stay permanent long after that cute baby hits college. Our racks begin their southward descent, our left legs are two inches shorter than our right because our little meatballs ride our hips for two years, and four years after giving birth, I can’t watch my kids spin on a merry-go-round without throwing up in my mouth.

Celebrity moms seem to have a miraculous ability to lose the baby weight and be red-carpet ready as they roll out of the recovery room. But for the rest of us, there's no "bouncing back." It takes work. So we asked some St. Louis moms to share their get-fit secrets.

It wasn't until after I lost the baby weight that I really started to worry. I was back at my starting point, number wise, but let's just say things had settled into a most unsavory final resting place.

After taking an afternoon to think about it I came to my final decision. I was going to have full body plastic surgery.

But then Nick, my husband, said that wouldn't be a good idea.

With all the side effects that accompany pregnancy, many mothers-to-be tend to blame stereotypical symptoms, like lower back pain, sudden weight gain and leg swelling, on the hot weather or one too many jalapeno burgers.

Yet, depending on their severity, these warning signs can signal preeclampsia, a condition in which the expectant mother’s blood pressure rises to dangerous levels, potentially leading to a variety of other life-threatening conditions. The disorder often comes out of the blue, and the only cure is to deliver the child, often weeks before his or her scheduled due date.

Jennifer Killion (pictured) of Overland, for instance, was just 19 weeks into her first pregnancy when her blood pressure raced to 220/110, and her kidneys and liver began diving into organ failure.

“My family was told to prepare for the worst, as my doctors did not know if I would survive,” she explained by email.

Congratulations on your little bundle of joy, Snooki!

I know there are a lot of jokes going around about how your due date coincides with the Mayans’ prediction of the end of the world, but don’t let that get you down, girlfriend.

In all honesty, I feel a sort of kinship with you. My name is Nicole, too! And I also subscribe to the GTL philosophy – except not in that order and without the G and T. So for those reasons, I wanted to give you a little head’s up on what you can expect when Snooki, Jr. enters the world.