Burabacio’s Belly Diary: you can’t be without it!
Burabacio ‘s “DIARY OF A BELLY” is a 100-page diary where you can write down the most important moments of your PREGNANCY , from when you discovered you were pregnant until giving birth!
Page after page, you can write, draw, paste memories, take notes. You will be able to write what you would like to say to the tenant of the belly, mark the Unsolicited Advice of the day, write down what the belly likes. You’ll be able to paste other memories like the first ultrasounds, tell the first time you heard your heart beat, the first time you felt it move.
Page after page, you can write, draw, paste memories, take notes. You will be able to write what you would like to say to the tenant of the belly, mark the Unsolicited Advice of the day, write down what the belly likes. You’ll be able to paste other memories like the first ultrasounds, tell the first time you heard your heart beat, the first time you felt it move.
How did you become the Burabacio we all know? Where does the name you chose come from?
I became Burabacio almost 6 years ago. I was in a moment of great life change and in all that chaos I had clung to the drawing as one clings to a lifeline. Drawing was something I had abandoned for several years, I was doing graphics in a communication studio and I didn’t have the necessary motivation to draw. I started drawing short comics and some friends told me: create a Facebook page. So I found myself choosing a name and mine, Sabrina Ferrero, didn’t seem to have much impact. I immediately thought of Burabacio which is a word from the Piedmontese dialect that means scribble but also puppet. For me it was also a memory because my maternal grandmother often told me so when she saw me draw.The word Kiss is inside, it sounds good and has great sentimental value, I didn’t think twice and created the burabacio page. The rest came by drawing like crazy, always, a lot, it was my need to tell through images. I drew what happened to me or what struck me. After a few years I received the first job offers as an illustrator from people who for one reason or another had come across the blog and Facebook page up to the first book with Electa “La mia Milano” written by Martina Fuga and Lidia Labianca , and here I am!
You have been a mother of twin girls for a few months. How has your job changed (if it has) after maternity leave?
I became a mother of Demetra and Leda on June 4th, until the day before I was drawing illustrations for a book that was going to be printed in the summer, the day after I was giving birth. The ladies decided to visit us a month and a half early so I still had 25 illustrations to finish. As soon as I was discharged, I resumed drawing one drawing a day, with the understanding of the publishing house that didn’t put pressure on me. Certainly my way of working has changed and the moments of the day in which I do it: many times I work in the evening or while the girls are sleeping. I don’t want to miss too much of their first months, it’s so nice to watch them grow. Then being two is a wonder doubled. The thing that has really changed is that now, if I have any problems with work, I’m angry, disgruntled or worried, I no longer go to bed sad, I just look at their toothless smiles and it’s all over.They are my medicine. Continuing to work immediately after their birth was difficult and very tiring but somehow it was useful to keep my mind on something and not get overwhelmed by the twin hurricane. I’m not sure how to explain it but I think it did me good. Many times a woman as soon as she becomes a mother sees everything change and, especially if it is her first child, she is afraid of not doing well, of not being capable. Suddenly she is catapulted, together with her father, into a totally new adventure. Keeping something you know how to do and which confirms that you still know how to do it is good for you. Before I worked with the wheelchair next to me, now I often work with them next to them on the carpet, fortunately I am a person who adapts well to chaosso I draw with Leda in my arms, I stop to play with Demetra and a giraffe, I make a phone call and then there’s a milk break, I roll a coffee with one foot and use the graphic tablet with one hand. Then we have a very present dad and this makes the difference.
Why should a mother never give up keeping a diary during pregnancy?
Because pregnancy is a unique moment in which everything comes to mind and everything happens to you: from the neighbor to the grocery store assistant who delight you with splatter stories , from the elderly gentleman who tells you about unique educational methods, to the new mother eager to tell you about her birth. And then all the forecasts : he’s male, his belly is high! Your face is swollen and female! Your nose is swollen, you’re about to give birth. To exorcise all these things a diary is perfect: Writing unsolicited advice and giving birthing horror prizes is a way to laugh about it. A new mother wrote to tell me that her diary always took him to the prenatal class to make her adventure companions laugh. But the thing that is really worth keeping a diary is to be able to read it in 10 years with our boys and girls and our husbands or companions. Imagine reviewing the first ultrasound scans, your comments, what you wrote to the tenant of the belly, the photos and drawings of the belly, rereading the first words said after the pregnancy test, reviewing the contents of the birth suitcase in the company of all the family!
What was the worst unsolicited advice you received?
The worst advice was given to me by a man about childbirth (and this is already a bad start). According to him I should have requested a cesarean at all costs because his wife with natural childbirth had recovered after a month and she had never returned “as before”. But he didn’t limit himself to this: he told me his experience in the delivery room with a thousand details and he lingered to tell me about the episiotomy they made to his wife who was very reminiscent of a machete blow in the Amazon forest. He accompanied it all with an unequivocal hand gesture and a sound: ZAC! It was terrible and I walked out of the discussion terrified! According to him they no longer did so many caesareans to save money, on women’s skin!
Then luckily my delivery went much better than that and I have great memories of it, especially thanks to the amazing midwives I found.
Furthermore, the fact that I was pregnant with twins meant that many people enjoyed painting me pictures like: when one cries the other will have to be changed, when one wants to eat the other will be crying, when one sleeps the other will scream, wake up the first and both will cry.
What is the best memory of your pregnancy?
The best memory of pregnancy was undoubtedly the discovery of being pregnant. We wanted a baby (and we were amply satisfied) and we had been trying for a few months to have one. One month I realized that my face skin was very smooth, like a peach. Absurd as a signal? Maybe yes, but I don’t remember skin like this in my life! On the second day of being late I was already convinced I was pregnant. I bought a pregnancy test in the evening intending to use it the next morning. I woke up early with a dream in my head: I had dreamed that I was taking the test and it was positive. So I ran to the bathroom and a red line came out so strong that it was impossible to misunderstand. I announced it to my companion and we slept embraced for another hour.The same morning, a commissioned drawing I had ordered from an illustrator, Enrica Mannari, arrived at home, which was a hand holding a star. I had asked her to draw something that represented the achievement of a dream and in case she wanted the drawing to arrive at our house that very day. I still have the drawing and envelope today, it was dated November 7th.
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.