It was only in 1948 when the television series, Mary Kay and Johnny, “showed” a woman’s pregnancy on television. Then on December 8, 1952, the I Love Lucy episode, “Lucy Is Enceinte“, aired. Enceinte is French for excepting. Producers did not want or nor allowed any mention of the word pregnant on the show. As they could not deny the fact that their star was in fact pregnant, they incorporated her pregnancy into the story line. Lucy was excepting a baby:

“Lucy Goes to the Hospital”, aired on January 19, 1953. The original airdate was chosen to coincide with Lucille Ball’s real-life delivery of Desi, Jr. who was born via c-section. The episode was watched by 71.7% of all American television sets, which beat out the current record of that time as the most watched event in the country. The second highest rating of that time was Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration coverage, which pulled in a 67.7% rating. Talk about influencing a generation.

Who doesn’t love I Love Lucy? It was a hilarious show, but being that this was such a source of cultural influence, it had in fact negatively contributed to society’s altered perception of birth and how to embrace the natural process and what it truly entails. Fast-forward to today’s popular culture and how birth is portrayed and received:

There are too many misguided celebrity and media figures who continue to pump fear driven jargon about birth and pregnancy. One would think that in 65 years of broadcast, a more realistic, empowering portrayal of birth would be streamed over the main stream as well as be supported when done so.

Birth is a beautiful and powerful experience. Women are more than capable to have a healthy pregnancy and birth. It can and it should be approached as a natural process and event, and conveyed as an exciting life passage instead of a dreaded/feared event. Women should be educated and empowered to know their choices, options, ways to ease labor pains and discomfort and the support available to them to help them create a beautiful birth experience in addition to more transparency when it comes to drugs used for labor and their effects, c-sections and formula vs. breastmilk. there are a lot of producers, writer, marketers and reporters who need to look at themselves in the mirror more often before willingly contributing to the defacing of women and their natural strengths and gifts.

This past Monday, I had the fortunate, thought provoking experience of attending the first annual WIE: Women Inspiration and Enterprise Symposium. The event was spearheaded and hosted by a phenomenal triad of women including Sarah Brown (on behalf of the White Ribbon Alliance(WRA)), Donna Karen and Arianna Huffington. The symposium was held to coincide with a United Nations review summit on the Millennium Development Goals which is also being held this week in New York.

The focus of the symposium was to highlight the work of the White Ribbon Alliance, advocates and leaders around the globe who are making a difference. The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is an international coalition of individuals and organizations formed to promote increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women and newborns in the developing, as well as, developed countries.

Participants left touched, inspired, empowered and motivated to make a change for girls and women around the globe. Special guest speakers included Melinda Gates, Queen Rania of Jordan and Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Director of the Department of State’s new office on Global Women’s Issues and the list goes on to cover more than 40 impressive women. Click here to read more about the participants/panelist.

Many young innovators and entrepreneurs were honored at the event, but I would like to highlight the WIE winner for Creative Vision particularly. Christy Turlington Burns won this deserving award for her film, No Woman, No Cry. In this piece, she shares powerful stories of at-risk pregnant women in four parts of the world, including a remote Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a slum of Bangladesh, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States. It is her passion to increase awareness and support for maternal health around the globe so that we as humanity can collectively end unnecessary deaths due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

After the panels and the awards show, Donna Karen along with other designers such as Diane Von Furstenberg, Chloe and Vera Wang to name a few, presented a fashion show in honor of the White Ribbon Alliance. All garments are available for bidding on Charity Buzz. The proceeds will benefit the WRA. The evening was capped off by an uplifting performance by Estelle.

The same dynamic duo who presented America with the must-see documentary, The Business of Being Born, has just released a wonderful book entitled Your Best Birth. Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein have compiled a collection of wonderful birth stories shared by familiar faces such as Cindy Crawford and Laila Ali, distinctions of the commonalities of child birth and more.

The book is introduced with a foreword by Jacques Moritz, OB-GYN, Director of Gynecology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital and Assistant Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University. It is then divided into 4 sections, Know Your Options, Putting Your Dream Team Together, Interventions: The Slippery Slope and Take your Birth Back. I commend the duo for also including a chapter on Birth and the Sexual Abuse Survivor.

This book stands out from the crowded world of the pregnancy book shelves. It is not intimidating in its size and it is filled with quality substance that is easily digestible. Whether or not, you have seen Lake’s and Epstien’s The Business of Being Born, this is a wonderful book for women to read if they are pregnant or are planning to be pregnant very soon.

Make sure to join the sister website of the book, Mybestbirth.com , to share your stories, participate in forums, and become a part of a supportive community.

Actress, Activist and Producer Salma Hayek was moved to take action while on a recent visit to Sierra Leone, West Africa. Before she reached her hotel, her and her crew stopped at a hospital. “(A woman) was trying to breast-feed the baby, and the baby wouldn’t take it anymore. I said, ‘I think we shouldn’t be here.’ As we walked out, two to three minutes later, the baby died,” she says. “I’ll never forget the look of desperation on that woman’s face. How can you not get involved, especially when you have a child yourself?”

With the camera crew of ABC’s Nightline following her during the duration of her stay, footage of Ms. Hayek breastfeeding a hungry baby was documented. The infant’s mother was unable to produce any milk to feed her child so Ms. Hayek was compelled to become the baby’s wet nurse. She went on to say, “It’s about women sticking together and we really need to help the children in any way we can.”

Ms. Hayek was in the routine of breastfeeding her one year old daughter at the time and had extra milk to share.

First off, I have to applaud Angelina for gracing the cover of the new W magazine while breastfeeding. The photographer just so happened to be Brad Pitt. Angelina is inspirational because she has confidently taken a stand and is sending a message loud and clear. Women who are mothers are naturally beautiful and breastfeeding is a normal natural phenomenon that should be accepted as a social norm. Though the cover picture is just a simple black and white photo, and there were no fancy film crews in their home, still remains evident a beautiful halo of motherhood. Breastfeeding is healthy and super beneficial for mother and child. It is unfortunate that over the years, breastfeeding has been given a taboo cloak. Because of these tainted views, many women aren’t given the freedom, encouragement and support that they need to give nutrients to their child, build their immune systems, reduce a their own risk of certain types of cancer, and more. With this cover, a dialogue can begin again.

And secondly, Brad Pitt has collaborated with beauty brand Kiehl’s to create the first ever Cradle-to-Cradle certified beauty product (environmentally safe, healthy , designed for material reutilization,etc.) The Aloe Vera Liquid Body Cleanser that Brad helped design and developed the scent, debuts this month. He also wrote a little message on the label to inform everyone where proceeds from their purchase will go:

These two people are amazing and inspirational.