Kirsty McCabe is a meteorologist and TV presenter, who has presented weather forecasts across the entire range of BBC television and radio channels, including Breakfast, BBC One, BBC News and World News, Radio 4 and Radio 5Live. She has also presented on GMTV and Daybreak and is currently weather presenter for BBC Scotland. She lives in South London with her husband and their sons, Ethan (age 2) and newborn Logan.
Sorry Michael MacIntyre, we're here to stay...
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My second trimester is coming to an end, and according to one of my many pregnancy smart phone apps I’m now carrying a cauliflower. It is starting to look and feel that way…something I really noticed when I decided to quickly shave my legs in the shower followed by a DIY pedicure.
The reason for the midweek grooming session wasn’t for my husband (sorry Renato) but because I’d booked myself in for a pregnancy massage and wanted to look presentable. Not an easy task when one of my toenails still hasn’t grown back fully following my marathon-walking Moonwalk efforts last year.
Anyhow, at six months, my baby bump is starting to get in the way when bending over, so I reckon it won’t be long before I give in and head to the salon for waxes and pedicures, definitely worth it later on when you can’t even see let alone reach your own feet! Is it just a British thing where we want to maintain appearances even en route to the labour ward?
I had a bright red pedicure (and a bikini wax of course) the week before Ethan was born and then heard from a friend that if you need an emergency C-section they will remove your nail polish. Don’t ask me why – something about needing to see your nail beds to monitor oxygen levels?
Anyhow, after a mild panic – it can be hard to maintain the appropriate perspective when heavily pregnant – I decided to keep the polish on my toes but make sure my finger nails were clear (those at least I could still reach myself). Thankfully, no C-section was required and I even got complimented on my pedicure! My lasting memory from leaving hospital, though, was just how fabulous it felt to bend over to put on my shoes and not have a big belly in the way.
But that’s a few months away yet and with my cauliflower rapidly heading towards Iceberg lettuce/Chinese cabbage status I’m starting to get a little bit sensitive about comments on how big I am. This wasn’t helped by reading a nasty tweet this morning which read 'Is the qualification for weather presenting, pregnancy? Please give us a break, can’t see the chart for the bump!'.
I resisted the temptation to engage in a twitter war but rude remarks like that make me mad. In the first place, my bump is not covering the chart! The current framing for my weather shot is from the waist (what’s left of it) upwards and I’m not covering any of the land. So unless the man (you knew it was a man so let’s call him Mr Twit) lives in the Atlantic he’s not missing any of the forecast. And secondly, actually I’m a fully qualified Met Office aviation forecaster with a decade of national and international TV and radio broadcast experience thank you very much. My ability to conceive has nothing to do with my forecasting/presenting skills.
Our Mr Twit is not alone; during my first pregnancy I was the subject of a joke by Michael MacIntyre at the Royal Variety show. He claimed I (or rather my bump) was blocking Wales. When I met him at a party months later (by this point Ethan was born and I’d consumed an alcoholic beverage or two) I reminded him what he’d said and pointed out that to block Wales I’d need block Ireland and the southwest of England first.
So why do people comment on pregnant weather girls? I think it’s because weather presenters stand up to deliver a forecast, as opposed to sitting behind a desk to read the news, which makes it more obvious when we’re expecting.
Also, given the fact many of us have spent years training/getting experience, we’re often of an age where we want to start a family by the time we’re on higher profile TV slots. I know there are people who think pregnant women should hide away but tough, as long as we’re healthy and want to then why can’t we work? Tell you what, I promise not to turn sideways too much when my bump gets bigger just in case…
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