I don't mean to derail the discussion, but it's a problem in television media, as well. If a woman character becomes pregnant in a series, the child magically grows several years within a season, so the adult characters don't have to deal with all that Baby Stuff. (probably because the predominately male writers don't want to deal with it in their teleplays any more than they do in real life)

Sandra MacDonald wrote an entire book in which her female protagonist spent it in various degrees of pregnancy-this was possible because of time/parallel time line jumps, but there you go. Probably the one and only time I've read about a pregnant female protagonist who is still the center (or half of the center of the story). It was uncomfortable for me to read it, because it brought back ALL the discomfort of pregnancy. Brrr.