I know like 5 people are going to care about this story but my brain needs a break from some of the horrible things that are going on lately. I want to pretend I’m at Rachel Bilson’s baby shower giving her advice.
Bilson, 33, is due to have her first baby, with boyfriend Hayden Christensen, also 33, sometime this fall. Bilson announced her pregnancy in late May, and assuming she was around three months along at that time she’d be about seven months pregnant now. I could be wrong, she could be due sooner than that.
Anyway US Weekly has details of Rachel’s baby shower over the weekend. It was attended by her Hart of Dixie costar, Jaime King, along with Natalie Portman and some of Rachel’s family and childhood friends. Instead of gifts, guests gave Bilson a bead that will go on a special necklace she’ll wear while giving birth. With the bead, each guest gave her a piece of advice. I like that tradition! How have I never heard of that before? Here’s more, including the detail that Rachel is having a girl:
The Hart of Dixie actress, 33, was feted on Sunday, Aug. 31, at a private home in L.A. According to the source, guests included Bilson’s high school girlfriends, family, and a handful of celebrities including fellow moms Natalie Portman and CW co-star Jaime King.
Bilson’s shower gifts, however, veered away from the traditional. “Instead of gifts, everyone brought a birth bead,” the insider tells Us. “Each person gave her a piece of advice and a blessing along with the bead.”
The beads were to then be stranded together into a necklace for Bilson. “She will use the beads for strength during labor,” the source explains.
In return, guests went home with party favors including tea and mints that came in boxes affixed with a tag reading “Rachel & Baby, Mint to Be.”
As for the woman of the hour herself? “She’s so excited to be having a baby girl,” the insider says. (Us Weekly exclusively revealed in May that The OC alum is expecting her first child with boyfriend Hayden Christensen. The two went glamping most recently to celebrate Bilson’s 33rd birthday on Monday, Aug. 25.)
“She’s wanted it for a long time and is going to be an amazing mom,” the source adds of Bilson’s pregnancy. “Everyone is ecstatic for her.”
That’s lovely and a great idea. I googled “Birth Beads” and I guess this is a baby shower thing that people are doing. Here’s part of the explanation from WhatToExpect with more at the source. Birth beads are “an African tribal tradition. Those close to the mother make a wish for the baby and another wish for the labor. Each wish is represented by a bead. The mommy-to-be will find comfort in wearing the necklace or bracelet during labor. It reminds her that she is not alone and there are many people projecting good thoughts at this time.”
I really like that, especially for celebrities who are probably gifted countless items from baby companies and who are so wealthy they can buy exactly what they want. Why bother getting them gifts they will barely use? It sounds like it takes a lot of the pressure off too. I wonder if you could use this concept with music, for example. Like each guest could pick a song that’s relevant to her and add the song to a shared spotify playlist for the mom-to-be. Advice, ideas or music are a great gifting idea for so many other occasions too, like weddings or anniversaries. It’s much more meaningful than a typical gift, especially for established people who don’t need money or things. Graduates would probably still appreciate some cash, but for other occasions this would work.
Congratulations to Rachel and Hayden! I bet she’ll be a great mom.
Photos are from August. Credit: FameFlynet and WENN.com
It’s a lovely idea, but if it were me in labor, I’d probably be ripping them off my neck… HA
LOL! Yep. I like the idea though.
Yeah I like the symbolism of having your friends and family around you.
Still, I’ve never had kids myself but I imagine beads aren’t going to be the thing on her mind in the midst of it. lol
The idea is nice but a necklace isn’t going to make your labor any easier. That would be the last thing I’d think about while giving birth.
And throwing them at my husband or the anesthesiologist when the epidural didn’t work.
EXACTLY my reaction! Get this sh*t off my neck!!!
I like this idea. They’re rich, they don’t need gifts. This seems like an excellent way to get around that.
tbh i just read this in case there were pics of hayden christensen. score.
I have to say she’s really rocked her pregnancy. She looks good and comfortable.
Sweet. When I had radiation, I used to visualize all of the people who loved me standing right beside and behind me, enveloping me with their love. It gave me a lot of strength and courage. Of course, radiation doesn’t feel like a flaming bowling ball is trying to get out of your vagina, as my cousin described labor, so it might not help that much. But it’s still a sweet idea.
She has a cute pregnancy style.
Lol at the description, GoodNames. And glad you’re still here with us too. 🙂
Thank you, sweet mimif. Me, too.lol
Just envision Mimif and I enveloping you in mimosas and comfy muumuus.
Honestly, the image of friends and family embracing you seems like it would be incredibly comforting and empowering.
I thought about you the other day, GNAT (Yes, I spend too much time here) and that Adam Driver thread where you seemed really offended by his bleak (I say realistic) outlook on life and I realized that as a cancer survivor, you probably have a vastly different concept than myself and others of life in general, and how precious it is.
Anyway, you could have gotten on your soapbox about being a cancer survivor (and none of us would have blamed you) but you never did, You’re one of the good ones, GNAT, you have class for miles.
Nice post, Kitten. 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🙋
*gently tosses muumuus & mimosas at GoodNames*
*throws Kool-Aid at Kitten*
That is so sweet, OKitten, and means a lot to me. I actually thought about that thread a few days later, too, and how everyone, especially you, was patient and understanding with my overreaction and helped me to see that what he was saying wasn’t all that different from what I was saying, it was just something about the way he said it that I didn’t like. (Well, except for that one poster who basically said I was an a$$hole, lol). It made me look at his words again and see that I was having a knee jerk reaction to what I perceived as his ingratitude, when he was really just trying to describe why the beautiful moments are so rare and meaningful to him. So thank you for that.
And of course, you know I think you’re one of the best ever.
This is what I love about this site. There are really profound things going on. Much love to you all.
It’s a very sweet idea and I don’t blame you for wanting to do a positive story with all the negative stuff going on.
I totally agree.
I so want to like the idea, but since the beads have words of “advice” they kind of make me cringe. About the only thing I didn’t like about being pregnant was getting all that “advice”. Unlike Rachel, I at least didn’t get advice from non medical people during the actual labor.
I can’t imagine a more difficult labor than one where I have to hear advice from the likes of Natalie Portman.
I get the impression it was more sweet motherly anecdotes kind of advice. “Savor the moments, it flies by” and “don’t wake a sleeping baby”-that kind of thing. I doubt anyone lectured her in their notes or told her how to breathe while she’s pushing. I don’t believe the advice is on the beads or coming out of them during labor so she won’t be hearing Portman at all.
That’s a relief! Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I once went to a baby shower where all of the guests wrote sweet messages on each of diaper in a package. I guess this is a similar idea.
I attended a girlfriends baby shower but it was more of a blessing. She asked us to bring beads and we could say what we wanted. I picked a heart shaped glass bead and talked about how she is such a good friend and is affectionate and warm and open. She gave us tea lights to take home and light when she would let us know she was starting to labour. Ok I am the give me the epidural mom, not super hippy etc but I have to say this was the most lovely pre-baby event.
I think it is nice that Natalie Portman showed up. I do not think she has ever worked with Rachel, but Hayden is the connection. I do not know why I like that, but I do.
With the far flung sets and all the promo for Star Wars I’m not shocked that they were close – and I’m not shocked that the friendship continued over the years because she’s very loyal to her friends (in fact she and Kunis fell out over Kunis’ s breakup with Culkin, because Mac and Natalie go way back to their child actor days). Natalie may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but she does seem to forge close relationships with the people that she works with.
Awesome idea. Excellent way to keep those closest to you near, especially if they live a long distance away.
That source is totally Jaime King…
I like the idea a lot, it’s personal and nice. I like when wealthy people do something different in lieu of gifts, or suggest that their guests donate money or goods to charity instead.
I think it’s so cute that Natalie Portman attended the shower! Anakin & Padme forever (as friends of course haha)
Wtf is “glamping”? Is that like glamorous camping…? I can’t even imagine what that entails but it sounds like something that happens at the gynecologist’s and I’m guessing it is not at all like actually camping.
Yeah it’s like luxury camping. Sleeping outdoors, but on a king bed.
Come on, you haven’t heard of Glampons before? 😉
Are glampons made of silk and braided fairy hair?
Mine are made from ethically sourced bamboo fibers with 18k gold electro plated (re-usable) applicators.
I thought the exact same thing! What the heck is that? If you get too “glam”, you aren’t camping anymore!
I love Rachel Bilson – thanks for the story!
That’s a cool idea.
She looks so cute!
I’ve been wearing a lot of summery dresses too- they’re not technically maternity dresses but they’re loose & flowy enough so they fit. It’s helped me get thru the hit summer 🙂
she seems like such a sweetheart, love her.
Ok, bad person here, but when I saw beads in the headline this is not where my mind went.
Don’t feel bad. I thought the headline said “birth heads”. For a split second I thought it was like doll heads or something. Those wacky celebrities and their birth heads.
Yeah, seems like she’ll be a good mom. We just adopted a dog and am sad to say I’m not sure I could make the leap to caring for a baby. :-/
I’ve missed Celebitchy’s posts! Hope everything’s ok!
2 years after my labor, it sounds so sweet. I can imagine DURING my labor that it would probably p-ss me the hell off! But, they are wealthy and dont need gifts so its a cute and thoughtful idea.
I just had this visual of her lying in the hospital bed in labour, sliding the birth beads across the string like an abacus, trying to recount the advice given and breathe deeply through a contraction….
..and then wadding up the birth beads and throwing them across the room while yelling “f*** this S**T!! Get me an EPIDURAL RIGHT F***ING NOW! I’m SERIOUS! And I want MORPHINE!
…I’m a nurse.