Blog Tag: pregnancy
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Garments vs The Fashion Industry, Part 2, Maternity Edition
My heart is broken because we champion motherhood so much in the church, but the church shows so little understanding about the intimate details of how a woman and her needs actually change with motherhood.
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LDS Mother’s Rooms for Nursing Moms Suck
"I wanted to show what a typical mother’s room looks like in a church building in 2024, but it was very hard to find images online anywhere. (Apparently, our mother's rooms are not worth bragging about on the internet.) So after dropping my kids at school one morning, I headed on a whim to the local stake center and made this video of myself touring a problematic mother's room."
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Guest Post: Will men ejaculate responsibly and end unwanted pregnancies?
Guest post by Shelbey Neil, a graduate student, amateur thespian, and primary caregiver. After a lifetime of perfect politeness, she is thrilled to have finally embarked on her “villain era.”
Gabrielle Blair’s newest book, Ejaculate Responsibly, is an epiphany. And the genius lies not in pointing out complex, hidden truths, but rather in pointing out obvious realities that have been both deliberately and accidentally obfuscated by ordinary and powerful people for as long as any of us hold memories. We all—knowingly or unknowingly—perpetuate the incredible imbalance of responsibility for unwanted pregnancies through our behavior and unexamined attitudes. Blair, in her new...
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Guest Post: The Conception of my Inner Voice
Guest Post by Amy. Amy enjoys reading, hiking in the mountains, and learning alongside her three children and husband in Orem, Utah.
My oldest child is turning 11 soon. Every year around his birthday, I reflect on the days leading up to his birth and simultaneously my birth as a new mother finding my inner voice.
My husband and I graduated from BYU, and just nine days later we fulfilled the next commandment by having a child. After all, “The greatest job that any woman will ever do will be in nurturing and teaching and living and encouraging and rearing her...
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It’s Time to Ditch Gender Reveal Parties
A couple stands over a cake and each announces their guess for what it will reveal. "Girl," the father says confidently and, perhaps, resignedly. "Boy," the mother declares hopefully; doubtfully. They cut into the cake and, as large, pink nonpareils emerged, they laugh and she looks at him almost apologetically. Another girl. Sigh.
Growing up at the fourth daughter in a family with just four daughters, I heard the jokes repeatedly. I felt the jokes too. Can you imagine my parents disappointment? Why couldn't they make boys? Who would grow up to be like Dad? How could he bear...
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Come Follow Me: Isaiah 13–14; 24–30; 35 “A Marvellous Work and...
Lots of people don’t like Isaiah…but the prophets who wrote our scriptures sure did.
The Book of Isaiah is quoted more often in the New Testament, Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants than any other Old Testament text. While many modern readers find its poetic style confusing, familiarizing ourselves with Isaiah helps us better understand the other books of scripture in our canon.
No other prophetic book is more often quoted in the Christian New Testament or in the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Jewish sectarian Qumran community, and no other book appears more frequently in the Jewish annual...
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You Know Someone Who’s Had an Abortion
Content Warning: abortion, infertility, pregnancy loss
Statistically, you probably know someone who has had an abortion. Were you a safe enough person for them to trust with that information? Did you work to create an environment where they were less afraid of being open about their experience? Maybe you were the one who had the abortion. Did you feel like you could talk about it with others close to you or that it was something you had to go through alone?
I know of at least four women who have had an abortion. These women come from different generations and walks...
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Guest Post: In the Womb: Heartbeat vs Voice
Guest post by Amy. Human Being. Mother of Two. Deep Thinker. Granddaughter of a Philosopher.
Points of Connection
While carrying my first child, I was minimally concerned about hearing the baby’s heartbeat. My unwritten, quite logical rule was that “Babies have heartbeats. Inside me, I am growing a baby. Of course we will hear the baby’s heartbeat.” It really felt like that, and really fit into my world narrative.
The second time around, the unsuccessful quest for a heartbeat seared into my soul the innocence of my previous assumptions, and sanctified how hearing my baby’s heartbeat connected my baby to me. We...
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On The Morrow Come I Into the World
Guest Post by Anonymous. The author is a returned missionary and BYU alum. She is currently a writer and SAHM.
A few years ago, my husband and I decided it was time to have our second child. A few months later, the eagerly anticipated second pink line appeared in my bathroom, and I anticipated the same rush of joy that accompanied a positive pregnancy test with my first child. Instead, my heart dropped into my shoes. I plastered a smile on my face and hurried to tell my husband, hoping his enthusiasm would ignite my own. Instead, for the next...
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Guest Post: Premature Birth
by TMarie
On Mother’s Day last year I found myself pregnant with my second child (a girl), dealing with an intense fear that she would be born early. My pregnancy was considered high risk for this due to the fact that my son was born 7 weeks premature, which caused him to spend 4 weeks in the NICU. There were no warning signs of preterm labor with my first pregnancy and my doctor didn’t have any kind of explanation either--I had even just had a sonogram and an exam 5 days before I went into labor where my doctor reassured...
What is Exponent II?
Exponent II provides Mormon feminist forums for women and gender minorities across the Mormon spectrum to share their diverse life experiences in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. Through these exchanges, we strive to create a community to better understand and support each other.
Exponent II was founded in 1974 by a group of Mormon women in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These women were inspired by the original periodical, “The Woman’s Exponent,” to create a forum “posed on the dual platforms of Mormonism and Feminism.”
For 50+ years, Exponent II has shared women’s voices in its quarterly magazine, and members of the community have convened at an annual retreat. Our reach has expanded as technology has advanced: the blog, founded in January 2006, has reached millions. As we look to the future, we are focused on growth and building a more inclusive community.
