Blog

Posted by Liz Hodes on March 1, 2012

Tackling Pregnancy To-Do’s

There are lots of things you’re supposed to remember and do while you’re pregnant.  Fitting in exercise,  eating well, taking care of yourself – it all sounds great on paper, easy even.  But add in the demands of everyday life, the extra exhaustion that can come with your growing belly and the forgetfulness of pregnancy brain, and suddenly remembering whether you’ve taken your prenatal vitamin or eaten something green today can be a challenge.  I’m trying to make it easy to remember a few of the more basic things on my pregnancy to-do list by making them part of my daily routine.  Routines work great for kids – I know my toddler is wedded to the bath-PJs-stories rhythm we’ve gotten into before bedtime – so there is no reason they can’t work for mamas-to-be, too. Here’s how I’ve tried to incorporate a few pregnancy to-do’s into my everyday life.

 Prenatal Vitamin After I Brush My Teeth 

This is the one I’m most faithful about, because it’s the one I’ve been doing for the longest. (I’ve been either pregnant or breastfeeding – or both – since June 2008; that’s a lot of prenatal vitamins.)  I have a weekly pill organizers, and every Sunday I fill up each day’s slot with my prenatal vitamin, a DHA supplement and my morning dose of heartburn medicine.  I take all three immediately after I brush my teeth in the morning.  Simple, but effective.

(more…)

Posted by Zoe Quinton on February 29, 2012

Grief and Motherhood

The beginning of this month marked the third anniversary of my father’s death. In a lot of ways, it was the hardest one yet, simply because I spent the entire day (and week preceding it) very much aware that my dad will never see his grandson. But in other ways, it was also the easiest one yet, since my mothering duties kept me from wallowing and feeling sorry for myself.

Before having a baby, difficult emotional times would find me curled up in bed with a book, escaping the world for a day or two at a time. Now, my highly active and curious eight month old won’t allow me that luxury. No matter what’s going on with me, I have to get up in the morning and take care of his needs, just the same as any other day.

Inevitably, he chose that same week to finally pop his first tooth. I tried to make space for myself to sit with my emotions whenever I could, and I tried not to get too frustrated with my boy when I couldn’t. Mostly I just got through it. I’m not one for bottling up my emotions, but sometimes that’s just what you gotta do.

Thankfully, on the day itself, my husband came home from work early and took the boy out to give me a little bit of alone time. Great, I thought. I can finally have a good cry if I need it, and a little bit of space to sort through my emotions and thoughts.

Instead I fell asleep on the couch. Go figure. (more…)

Posted by Christiane Williams on February 28, 2012

Home Birth Preparations

This is my third child and I am planning a home birth. Most people shake their heads about it and call me brave, but as a matter of fact I am just the opposite – I am scared! Scared that I will have the baby in the car! With No2 I was in the hospital for 17 minutes, already pushing in the elevator, before he shot out. If this one is just as fast or faster, there is no way I will make it to the hospital in time! Total labor from first contraction to birth was under 2 hours, so if that happens again, there is not much time for husband to commute home AND drive to the hospital… So I decided to get everything ready for a home birth just in case – and if it takes longer and/or there are complications, I will transfer to the hospital!

While the last time, all I had to prepare was a hospital bag and make sure I had a friend on speed dial to watch my son, preparing for a home birth is much more involved (and even costly)!

First I had to decide on a location in the house, where I wanted to labor and deliver. We considered the family room (too small for the pool), the living room (too valuable furniture and rug) and finally decided on the nursery, which was still half-empty and has wood floors. Now of course the room is full, since in addition to the changing table and crib we have added a birthing pool and a comfy chair. (more…)

Posted by Amanda McFadden on February 27, 2012

Bye Bye Babyhood

For the last 15 months, I have been attempting to savor every minute with Caleb, my youngest baby.  I hold him a little tighter and a little longer than I held my other two.  We’ve co-slept and breastfed more frequently and longer, too.  He’s basically lived in the Ergo carrier, and he’s even earned the nickname “Titty Baby Supreme” because, well, because he is.  For most of his life, he’s been happiest when he has been held, carried, or worn by his mommy, and I have liked it that way!

I have wanted him near me or attached to me constantly because I know that he’s our last baby.  I know how fast a baby’s first couple of years fly by, and I know how much I will miss it.  It pains me to think about him not being a baby anymore (If you are now thinking that I should just go ahead and have another baby, please read my earlier blog post Baby Fever), and the thought of weaning him from breastfeeding practically sends me into a panic attack.  Try as I might, I cannot stop the clock.  He’s becoming his own little person, and I have to let him grow and explore the world, as much as I want him to stay close forever. (more…)

Posted by Meagan Church on February 24, 2012

Au Revoir, Newborn Fears

I’ll be honest; I’m not much of a newborn fan. At least generally speaking. I prefer the stage when they get a bit older, more interactive and independent. Or at least that’s how it has been in the past. When Jonas was born, I was overwhelmed and afraid. I didn’t know what to do with this little, helpless, crying kid. I feared the day when Matt’s paternity leave would end and I’d be left alone with this little creature. Of course that day eventually came and I somehow figured things out, though I was a bit tentative and uneasy at first.

When Kenna came along, I was still worn out from Jonas. I wasn’t really sure I was up for another baby, but we wanted them to be two years apart. Jonas was such a bad sleeper that I was still exhausted from him. Nevertheless, Kenna joined us and then we decided to put our house on the market when she was only a few months old. That meant I was especially exhausted and much of her babyhood is a bit of a blur to me.

I didn’t know if I was ready for a third child, but away we went. Would I remember what to do with a newborn? Would I be able to survive on less-than-ideal sleep? Then Adelyn was born. From day one, I felt at ease. Sure some of it was knowing how to change a diaper, initiate nursing and care for the umbilical cord. I’d been there and done that. I have enjoyed her first three weeks more that I did with the other two babies combined. Gone are the hesitations and even the exhaustion I felt with the first two. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still tired, but it’s different. (more…)

Posted by Laura Vellema on February 22, 2012

Labor? My Birth Story: Part One

You will deliver your baby around the same gestation your mother delivered you. This was an old wives tale I wanted to believe. When I was 33 weeks pregnant, I drove back home to the Chicago area to visit my mom.  She was throwing me a baby shower. The night before the shower she and I dug out the baby book she kept throughout my childhood to look up the details of her labor and delivery with me. My mom delivered me at 37 weeks and four days after her water broke, she went to the hospital and labored less than four hours.  I was her second child and I’m on my first, but apparently the story with her first was quite similar. Her story sounded pretty ideal to me, so I embraced the you-will-deliver-like-your-mother theory.

I had 37 weeks and four days marked on the calendar. Well, not literally, but I knew exactly when that day would arrive in my pregnancy and I started nesting frantically at about 35 weeks, accordingly. First, I stockpiled baked goods in the freezer followed by casseroles. I cleaned rarely touched places in the house and cleaned the car as if I were an auto detailer. The nesting culminated with an exhausting 10 hours of carpet shampooing.

But 37 weeks and four days passed. Two days later, however, I started having frequent contractions. Compared to the several random Braxton Hicks I’d had each day since about 20 weeks, these seemed like they could be the beginning of the real deal at 5, 10 or 20 minutes apart. I called my dad, a perinatologist, to ask him what he thought. He gave me a 50/50 possibility that this was the start of real labor and I was hopeful. This was two days before Christmas. (more…)

Posted by Sessilee Lu on February 20, 2012

Am I Hurting My Baby?

I’m now four months postpartum. Little D was born in late September. Together, we had a great fall and holiday season at home enjoying each other’s company. It was lovely, warm, and sweet!  We got to know each other, learned each others’ tics and schedules (I yell, she cluster feeds) and it was bliss. Promptly, with the new year, I was back at work (13 weeks maternity leave) and Little D was ensconced in full-time daycare.

The hurting in the title of this post does not refer to my daughter being at daycare.  I love daycare!  My 5 year old, still in daycare as  Pre-Ker, has been dropped “in school” since he was three-months old and we are the better for it. As Little D grows, I know I will neither have the patience nor creativity to give her what she needs in entertainment, activities, and learning experiences (a day home from work to me means tv time and vegging out – just saying). And frankly, selfishly, I want to go out, make money, interact with adults, enrich myself professionally, and further my career (more about that in another post). Daycare is a win-win in our family.  So, why am I questioning whether I am hurting my baby?  Well, the poor little one has had a constant stuffy nose for as long as I can remember. Having entered daycare, Little D’s cold and runny nose have just gotten worse.  With a runny nose, comes encrusted boogers.  Yes, I said it and yes, I’m blogging about it. Boogers. It’s a universal annoyance to parents. Like poops, boogers are talked about in our set (they even sell wipes branded  as “Boogie Wipes”).

Little D’s cold has resulted in boogers that range from wet and bubbly to hard and mask-like.  Her poor little nose! (more…)

Posted by Christiane Williams on February 16, 2012

Trying To Conceive: Oh, The Things We Do….

After listening to the recent PregTASTIC episode on Hypnofertility, I was reminded of the time when we were actively trying to conceive. What had started out as an exciting project over the months became a chore, a science project and finally a desperate “I’ll do anything” approach…

If you go to any internet forum about pregnancy, you are bound to found a section on “TTC” (Trying To Conceive), often sub grouped into categories like “Not trying, not preventing”, “Assisted Conception”, “Trying for our first”, “Older moms TTC” and sadly also “Trying after a loss”, “Secondary Infertility” and “Long Term TTC”. You never imagine that you will go beyond the generic “TTC” and end up in one of the more desperate subgroups… After all, most of us have spent our twenties trying NOT to get pregnant. Surely it would happen rather quickly as our mothers warned us once we stopped using contraception.

Alas, that’s often not the case – and as the months pass by without that positive pregnancy test, you start reading (and wondering) about the many things you can do to get pregnant, encouraged by the success stories that are posted on forums or the promises made on websites! (more…)