Busy Philipps Opens Up About Pregnancy Stress, New-Mom Hormones and Baby Names
The Bump: Congrats on your pregnancy. You look gorgeous! Do you know what size fruit your baby is? At The Bump, that’s code for how many weeks pregnant you are.
Busy Philipps: I know! I have The Bump app, and I don’t think I’m a fruit anymore. I think I’m a vegetable now. [Flips through _The Bump _magazine.] Yep, my baby’s the size of a squash!
TB: How has the second pregnancy been compared with your first?
BP: It’s been good! But I do I feel like I was even happier when I was pregnant with my daughter, Birdie. My husband recently reminded me that it was because I did nothing, all day long. I literally slept and went to prenatal yoga and meditated for nine months. And I ate nonstop! Now I’m stressed. I have to go back to work two months after the baby; I have a 4 year old; and I’m in involved in 47 different things. I can’t say no to anything!
I agreed to go to the premier of my movie, A Case of You, at the Tribeca film festival. I said, “Sure, I’ll go, and I’ll also bring Birdie by myself to New York City, and take her to see some Broadway shows.” Because that’s not stressful! I took my four-and-a-half-year-old at seven-and-a-half months pregnant on a six-hour flight to New York City. It was nuts. The second day, I had a breakdown in the bathroom by myself where I was like, “This was a terrible idea!” But she had so much fun. We saw Annie and Cinderella, and now she wants to be on Broadway.
TB: We’ve noticed that every mom has a moment when they realize, “Wow, I’m a mom!” Did you have one?
BP: About two days after Birdie was born, I had a crazy hormonal surge. I held her, looked at her and thought, She’ll never understand how much I love her. I was at the same time realizing that I never understood how much my mom loved me, either. That’s the moment you realize, oh boy.
TB: Birdie has the best name. How was it inspired?
BP: It was inspired by Lady Bird Johnson. She passed away right after my husband and I got married. We were listening to a story about her on NPR, and my husband really took to the name. Then, right before I had her, the first season of _Mad Men _aired. Don Draper calls January Jones’ character “Birdie.” I grew up with a nickname, so I knew I didn’t want to name her one thing and then call her Birdie. I just wanted to name her the name we were going to call her.
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