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The great thing about having an ever-expanding waistline is that it makes it so much easier to navel gaze. There’s just something about pregnancy that makes me turn inward. Many of my friends have noticed it, wondering aloud if I’m okay (yep!) and when Old Charlotte is going to come back (better give me at least a year, sorry!). While disconcerting to some, I don’t think I’m alone in this pregnancy induced self-absorption (selfishness?). Not only have my sister and several friends who have recently spawned experienced similar feelings but it seems like famous women – women who have more money, resources, talent and looks than I do – are similarly affected. Poet Laureate Maya Angelou has written a poignant essay about her pregnancy with her son and his birth, noting that while she didn’t write during her pregnancy her creativity was channeled inward; fittingly, her son is now a novelist. Sylvia Plath’s creative and emotional struggles during her pregnancies are well documented. Perhaps this is one reason why Jennifer Hudson, despite being obviously pregnant, refuses to confirm it.

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