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1. You look like you’re about to PoP! 2. Are you having Twins? 3. When are you due, last week? 4. How much weight have you gained? 5. Enjoy ____ while you still can! 6. You are eating for two! 7. What are you having? or Do you know what it is? (a dog. I’m having a dog.) 8. Are you going to have a natural birth? (no, i will have this baby via teleportation) 9. He/She is going to be a soccer player! 10. Your vagina will never be the same.
Most mom’s would do anything for their babies…even grandbabies… Eva Ottosson, 56, is donating her uterus to her 25-year-old daughter, Sara, who was born without reproductive organs, in hopes that she’ll be able to have a baby. (If the surgery is successful, Sara and her boyfriend will use in vitro fertilization to conceive). The groundbreaking womb transplant, set to take place in Sweden next year, has been attempted only once before, but that transplanted womb had to be removed a few months after the procedure due to complications. Maybe this mother-daughter duo will be more successful, like the 61-year-old woman who gave birth to her own grandchild in February. Another above-and-beyond mom? Forty-year-old mom-of-two Diane Kieras-Ciolkos is serving as a surrogate for her best friend, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, a pulmonary disease which can cause pregnancy complications. The two, who have been friends for 30 years, had to endure serious psychological testing to get accepted at a fertility clinic. Stay tuned — Diane is due in July. But one California mommy literally went through a labor of love (two days worth, to be exact) and gave birth to a 14-pound baby via C-section. Her newborn boy, Matthew, surprisingly didn’t break the Guinness World Record: A boy in Canada was born at nearly 24 pounds in 1879. Would you serve as a surrogate for a friend who couldn’t carry her own baby?
When I first got online to network with other mom’s who were pregnant like me, I was bombarded by a sea of acronyms and slang that is like another language. A language that is the world of family planning, pregnancy and familial lives on message boards and social networks. Here is a brief introduction to them and their meanings, in no particular order. TTC – Trying to Conceive
If you are choosing to have a natural birth without pain medication, here are some tips from Lamaze International to help you have a smooth and natural birth. Talk with your support person beforehand to let them know what your plan is for the birth. Remember to listen to your body’s cues and rhythm. Having a natural birth can happen, but make sure that you are prepared for medical intervention. 1. Find a place that will support your choice of a natural birth. Whether this is at a hospital, home, or in a birth center, choose a place that supports your choice of birth. 2. Look for a healthcare provider that will support you in your choice of having a natural birth. Many women have found that the care provided by midwives and doulas includes more labor support and less medical intervention. 3. Do not request or agree to induction of labor unless it is medically necessary to do so. It is a good idea to let your body go into labor on its own, because that is the best sign that your baby is ready to be born. Give your body time to find its own pace and rhythm during labor and don’t focus on the clock. Don’t use any medications such as Pitocin to speed your labor. 4. Try moving during labor. You will be much more comfortable if you are able to move around freely, and your labor will progress much quicker. If you stay upright and respond to the pain of your labor by changing positions, your baby will move through the birth canal easily. Try different positions such as rocking, straddling a chair, lunging, walking, and slow dancing with a partner. Labor & Delivery 5. Aside from your partner, consider who else you want to support you during labor and birth. You might want to hire a doula to give you and your partner emotional and physical support. 6. Ask that your baby’s heartbeat be monitored intermittently instead of all the time so that belts, cords, or wires do not tie you to a machine or a specific place. 7. Follow your instincts and eat and drink as your body tells you. If you drink plenty of fluids during labor, it will give you energy and keep you from getting dehydrated. 8. Try to use non-medical pain management strategies. Many women like to get into a warm bath and showers to relieve pain. Practice using birth balls, massage, hot and cold packs, aromatherapy, and focused breathing to help you deal with painful contractions. 9. If you can, avoid giving birth on your back. Use an upright position such as sitting, squatting, or standing to give birth. This will increase the effectiveness of your contractions and enable you to work with gravity. Push when your body tells you to and ask your support persons to give you only quiet encouragement. 10. Have your baby with you right after you give birth. Skin-to-skin contact keeps your baby warm and helps to regulate your baby’s heartbeat and breathing. Staying with your baby in the same room will help you to get to know each other, and it lets you respond to early feeding cues and get breastfeeding off to a good start. If problems arise, ask questions about the risks and the benefits of any recommended intervention. Understand that sometimes labor and birth don’t go as expected. If you’re involved with decisions about your care and have good labor support, you’re more likely to be satisfied with the birth, even if medical interventions are necessary.
Depending on the type of birth you plan to have, most women have a list of the same types of essentials to pack for a hospital birth. Aside of labor tools like flame-less candles, ipods for music or hypnobabies, or massage oils, the essentials are pretty common: A Camera! You won’t need:
1. Don’t get induced unless medically necessary Years of study have shown that inducing labor often leads to a C-section. 2. Labor at home until you’re approximately 3 centimeters dilated Consult your DR if your water breaks, they may want you to come into the sterile hospital environment to avoid infection. Also many hospitals start the 24 hour to birth clock when you check in, and your body may need longer than that. 3. Choose your hospital, and your practitioner, carefully If having a vaginal birth is important to you, shop for a doctor and a hospital with low C-section rates. 4. In the delivery room, ask questions if your practitioner says you need a C-section Some situations are true emergencies, and a C-section is necessary within minutes to save the baby’s life. That’s not a time to negotiate. But in other situations, parents should ask questions about whether a C-section is absolutely necessary – such as if the Dr says the baby is too ‘big’ or the DR is following a time table. 5. Get a doula Doulas, or birth assistants, can help advocate for a mother when she’s in labor.
A lot of parents today do not realize that their baby products may contain harsh chemicals that can possibly harm their children. Even products that advertise words such as “natural,” and “fragrance free,” may still contain harsh chemicals.
It is always important to read all of the ingredients contained on the label of your products. If you would like information on which products may contain harmful chemicals, SkinDeep, a cosmetic safety database, is a site that breaks down any harmful ingredients that your products may contain.
Additionally, if you would like to purchase baby products that do not contact harsh chemicals, but don’t know where to shop, I recently came across a website that contains a lot of natural products that your baby can use.
The website is called Baby Earth and contains everything a parent could need from nursery gear, to clothes, to bath products. I really like that a lot of Baby Earth’s products are natural and free of harsh chemicals. One of my favorite products is the SwaddleMe Bamboo wrap, which is eco-friendly. Another company that sells natural baby products is Burt’s Bees. Burt’s Bees products can be purchased online, and also at stores such as CVS, Target, Ulta, and Wegmans.
If you have been listening to the news recently, you may be aware of the single, unemployed mother that already has 6 children and just recently had 8 more children (Octuplets) through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Nadya Suleman, who lives with her mother, now has 14 children. While I certainly believe and standby a single woman’s right to have children; I do not standby someone that chooses to have children he or she cannot afford to support financially.
Nadya is currently unemployed and lives with her mother, while struggling to already care for her 6 children, and now she brought 8 more children in to this world without a means to support and care for them. Her own mother, out of desperation, has threatened to leave town.
Nadya Suleman has a degree in Child and Adolescent Development from California State University, Fullerton, and is pursuing her Masters Degree in Counseling. However, her children currently range in ages from newborn to 7 years old. So even if Nadya wanted to go back to work, how would she be able to afford daycare for all of the children that aren’t currently in school? In today’s society, the average cost of daycare for 1 child is about $800.00 to $1,000.00 per month, not including summer camp, which can also be costly.
On a positive note, the octuplet babies are currently breathing on their own and are being tube-fed. The octuplets range from 1 pound 8 ounces to 3 pounds 4 ounces, and are progressing well. Hopefully, all of Nadya’s children will be able to live healthy and happy lives, despite their mother’s shortcomings. I am curious to hear everyone else’s opinions. Please leave a comment expressing your views and opinions regarding this matter.
I am sure everyone is feeling the down-turn of the economy in one way or the other, especially if you have a baby on the way, or have mounting daycare expenses to pay. While having a baby is a miracle that only a parent can even begin to describe; having to pay all of those extra expenses, like buying clothes and shoes every few months for your growing bundle of joy, can certainly put a strain on your finances, and even add stress to your relationship.
That is why I highly recommend purchasing gently used, and sometimes even new baby clothes on EBay. A woman I once worked with use to sell her baby boy’s clothes in lots and buy them in lots from EBay. By doing this, she barely spent any money at all on baby clothes, and even made some extra money for the purchase of diapers and formula. Babies grow so quickly, so you can usually find very nice clothes and shoes on EBay for a fraction of the price that you would pay at department stores.
I recently bought my baby daughter 6 pairs of shoes in excellent condition from EBay. These shoes included name brands like Baby Gap and Stride Rite, and I received all 6 pairs, with shipping, for about $35.00. At the department stores, one pair of Stride Rite shoes is usually around $40.00. The seller was Auctionmojostores, and I was extremely pleased with the quality of his baby shoes. All of the shoes looked brand new and were shipped quickly. I was so pleased with the shoes I received, I contacted him and he said as his daughter outgrows her shoes and clothes, he will be listing the items on EBay. Here is the link to his EBay store if you have a daughter or granddaughter that needs gently used, name brand clothing and shoes: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/auctionmojostores_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ.
Of course, after my daughter out-grows the items I purchased, I will be relisting everything on EBay as well. As you can see, by buying and selling baby clothes on EBay, you can save money, possibly make money, and help other parents in need during the tough times of our current economy. EBay truly creates a situation, where everybody wins.
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