"Is that really a good idea?" The first line of this Mail Online piece on Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky seems to answer its own question, since the article goes on to excitedly describe how Pataky "plummeted" down a steep waterslide "just hours after announcing pregnancy."

My god, watersliding during pregnancy. Next thing you know she'll be exercising, taking baths, going outside during a full moon, or raising her hands above her head. OH, THE HUMANITY.

Granted, I don't think I would have chosen to take a trip down that exact sort of slide while I was pregnant (not that I spent a lot of time lounging on luxury yachts in St. Barts), but that's because I'm a giant wuss about water rides. Just looking at it makes me a little woozy, in fact. It's so high there's a freaking helicopter pad next to it! GAH.

Still, I don't think it would be super dangerous to ride that sort of thing when your belly is still small enough to stay out of your way. I'm sure there's a decent impact at the bottom, but it's not like you'd be landing face first. Well, unless you're ME, which is why I avoid any and all activities that combine athleticism and water.

The finger-wagging tone of the article makes me think about how quick we are to judge anything and everything that has the outward appearance of being potentially risky. For instance, lots of people seem to think that physical activity should be avoided during pregnancy, despite guidelines that clearly state otherwise. Activities that are more strenuous than walking are particularly frowned upon—remember the woman who ran the Chicago marathon then immediately went into labor? Man, folks seriously ripped into her for that, saying she was stupid to risk her life and the life of her newborn ... despite the fact that she had a perfectly healthy birth.

Celebrities really get the short end of the stick when it comes to criticism about their pregnancies. They gain too much weight, they don't gain enough weight, they have the audacity to wear heels in public, they ride waterslides. If you're famous and knocked up, you definitely can't win, but it seems like being judged is the common theme with pregnancy and motherhood for everyone.

I really don't know why as mothers we're often so interested in how other people—people we don't even know!—birth their babies, feed their babies, or gestate their babies. What is it about parenthood that makes us so unwilling to accept that other people make different choices than we do, and those choices are none of our business? I don't know about you, but I've got way more important things to worry about (like how long a pile of laundry can be ignored before it becomes sentient) than whether or not some total stranger should or should not be riding a slide.

Why do you think we care so much about what other women do during pregnancy?



Image via Flickr/blcamut