As we discussed last week, Amy Schumer is partnering with Tampax about normalizing the discussion on menstruation. In her new HBO Max docuseries, Expecting Amy, she hopes to do the same for life before, during and post pregnancy. In the docuseries, Amy and husband Chris agreed to include everything they filmed, the good the bad and the scary. Amy’s hope for people watching the series is that they understand the realities of pregnancy and how very little of it is actually easy.
On her HBO Max docuseries, Expecting Amy
Something’s wrong with me where I don’t have the thing that I want to make myself look perfect. I feel like people relate to me and I want to be as open as possible so I can help women feel better about themselves. We all get our periods. All this stuff that we’re not supposed to talk about. Pregnancy, we’re supposed to make it look easy. I really reject that.On how open she is about her relationship
We have a couple fights in this movie. We wanted to include it all. What couple doesn’t have these struggles, but we have different struggles. [He was] diagnosed with autism while we were filming when I was pregnant. We wanted to share every aspect and not try and make ourselves look better than we are.It’s really interesting to film yourself fighting. Every couple should do that. You think ‘OMG I’m so right,’ then I watch it and [think] ‘I could have been a lot better in that moment.’
On IVF and her plans for expanding her family
We got one normal embryo. We’re really excited that we got one. We’re going to put trying to increase our family on hold. A pandemic doesn’t seem like the time… if we can avoid it.
[From ET Online on YouTube]
“It’s really interesting to film yourself fighting. Every couple should do that,” I believe if we saw how we actually handled conflict, it would, in fact, be a big eye opener. We all know what we are trying to say in those moments, but I think we rarely know how we come off when we say it. I mean, obviously someone shoving a camera in my face when I was ticked off is probably only going to incite me, but I agree with Amy. I’ll bet if I saw myself argue, I’d be shocked. Hell, I’d probably be shocked by just how I communicate in general.
I respect that Amy doesn’t care about looking ‘perfect’ for her audience. Too often people, famous or not, craft their public image. That applies to any aspect of life but it’s a big issue in the Mommyverse, where parents post idyllic situations of unspoiled familial bliss. Amy’s right, too many people are out there trying to promote pregnancy and raising kids as easy. It may be rewarding, but it is rarely easy, any part of it. And I appreciate that people like Amy are willing to say that for those of us thumbing through Instagram trying to figure out how we are getting it so wrong.
Photo credit: YouTube, HBO Max, WENN/Avalon and Instagram
I…have nothing to add with what Amy said in this interview. Huh.
This pandemic man. This pandemic.
I watched her cooking show and loved her husband Chris. He is the most low-key guy around and so loving and funny. And such a good cook to boot! I love what Amy is doing to normalize women’s bodies and how they function from menstruation to pregnancy. I’m just happy she and Chris found each other and produced such a cutie in Gene. They are a great little family.
What she is doing to demystify menstruation and childbirth is important. Men have forced women to hide it away, and their discomfort brings so much needless shame, humiliation and even financial burdens, for women. So many cultures force women to suffer needlessly. It’s like death: everyone is born because of mensuration, and everyone dies. Men need to understand it and embrace it as a part of life.
I loved their cooking show! They had such a great rapport
“Expecting Amy” was really good. My God her pregnancy was horrific.
As a woman handling her first pregnancy…un-gracefully(?) I appreciate her trying to show the realness of being pregnant. Why are my arms so fat?!? I can’t get out of my own way and I’m only 5 months! I digress…
I’m not a huge fan, but I appreciate what she’s doing here. My pregnancies were awful and it felt really lonely. Most of my friends were all earth mother goddess about theirs and mine was just … awful. And my oldest is 3 now and he juuuuust started being enjoyable. It was really really hard. Maybe if we talked more about the hard parts we could build better support structures for that time.
I hated being pregnant and I had no problem letting anyone know it! Unless you’ve been through it, it’s just really hard for anyone to understand just how hard it is on a woman’s body. I loved feeling my sons kick and getting to know them before they arrived, but the aches, pains, and changes were just really overwhelming. I went through minor issues when I was pregnant, including the surgical removal of a thrombosed hemorrhoid, and even with those issues my husband remained hesitant to have another child. I can’t imagine the horror if a REAL issue came up during pregnancy.
I like her.
I now think of my 3 pregnancies as the easy part of having kids. Once they are born, nothing is ever easy. Time management becomes super difficult when they are young. Then adolescence comes along to make you nostalgic for potty training and sleep deprivation. I’m about to send my oldest away to college during a pandemic. That’s parenthood. Nothing about it is easy.
That also is my experience. Felt fantastic during pregnancy. Even when it got really uncomfortble. Even giving birth in perspective was simple as there were doctors and nurses to help. Once you have that tiny human all for your self, that is when the real struggle hits you. And as they grow, it doesn’t get any easier. As soon as they are born for mothers it is like having you heart detached from your body. It is not easy
I couldn’t stand her until her cooking show. I kind of felt like I “got” her more after watching that. Glad she’s kind of demystifying things women go through. Kind of wish “Expecting” was around back in the long ago times when I was pregnant. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt so odd for hating being pregnant.
I needed to see this series SO BAD right now. I’m 33 weeks pregnant with twins, had horrific sickness (not hyperemesis like she had, but some of those clips were very familiar!!) And a litany of other issues: lack of CO2 production (always out of breath, nothing anyone can do), extreme swelling so bad I haven’t been able to walk without pain since month 5, I developed “hydradenitis suprativa” or however you spell it (basically horrible painful cysts in my groin area I can’t get treated right now because PREGNANCY, and are being squished by my belly), I have gestational diabetes, horrible sciatic nerve pain and my nose is ALWAYS stuffed. ALWAYS. so I only sleep 45 min max before I start choking from snoring because I’m breathing through my mouth. I’ve also gained about 90lbs so that’s super awesome (did you know your skin can rip apart? Yeah, me either! It does!) and holy joint pain. Worst part is, I keep hearing people say, look at the amazing thing your body is doing! You’re making two people! You’re a warrior! No. My first child and these two were the results of fertility treatments and now more than ever I feel like my body is saying “we told you not to do this, you did it anyway, so we’re going to make this as awful as possible”. I don’t feel powerful or magical, I feel resentment, pain, anger and loneliness. What Amy did was so fucking important for people like me (and for everyone). At 2am, sleeping in my fourth location trying to get comfortable, I was able to laugh and not feel so alone.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!! You are a super hero and no matter how much it will all be worth it, pregnancy is a bitch. My own mom shushed me when I told someone that when the baby moved in my stomach it felt like a scene from Alien. I’m sorry, it just isn’t all roses for a lot of us.
LMAO!!!! YES! I got the worst look when I said something similar, with my son (which was an awful pregnancy also, but nothing like this) I really loved feeling him roll around. This time though it definitely creeps me out at times and absolutely feels like an alien waiting to bust through! I was then told “do you know how many women would give anything to feel that?” Yeah, I do, I was one of them! I loved how Amy also mentioned this in her special, just because there are people out there struggling does not mean we aren’t allowed to feel what we are feeling. In fact, I wish more people were open about how awful it could be when I was struggling – it felt like every beautiful pregnancy described to me was a reminder of how broken my body was. In truth, it’s all messy, and if you are fortunate to have an easy conception and delivery, well, good for you too! 💓
@girl with the soup tattoo you’re doing great! Mom to twin 7 month boys via IVF. Twin pregnancies are hard!! I didn’t have it as tough as you but the sleeping and stuffed nose just suuuucked. My stuffed nose was normal by the time I was fully awake in recovery!! Sleeping reclined helped a lot for the breathing and sleeping too. I was on modified bedrest at 28weeks. Pregnancy is just hard. It will get better!
Didn’t Amy make fun of Meghan and how she seemed to be having an uneventful pregnancy? And now we know Meghan was probably struggling more than Amy.