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Fearing for Your Baby

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This blog is the result of a conversation I had with a close friend the other day. She is expecting a baby in December. She told me that she always worries about the health of her babies until they are born. I realized that I tend to do the same thing. In speaking with other mommies, I realized this is a very common issue among pregnant women. I’ve worried about my babies with each pregnancy. Would they be healthy? What if the baby was stillborn? What if he or she had a condition that was incompatible with life? If the … Continue reading →

The Pregnancy Blog Week in Review for Feb 10- Feb 16

Another week has passed so quickly. Pregnancy is a busy time. The Week In Review is a good way to catch up on your reading. Visit the Pregnancy Blog Archives for hundreds of articles on just about every topic related to this miraculous time of life. Saturday, Feb 10 Let’s Talk About Teenage Pregnancy – Breaking Through Stereotypes discusses the ageism that surrounds teenage pregnancy and young mothers. Let’s Talk About Teenage Pregnancy – Breaking the Big News talks about how to break the news to the father of the baby and your parents for pregnant teens. When you are … Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About Who to Include at Your Homebirth

Giving birth is no doubt a personal and intimate time for a woman. Perhaps you already have an idea of whom you would like present at the birth of your child. Even more important is to decide whom you do not want present, for your comfort is the most important factor to consider. Sometimes there are people that are very eager to be present, but you aren’t comfortable with them being there. You will have to determine the best way to explain this to them, and remember that it is ultimately your decision who is there. If there are certain … Continue reading →

What to Expect at Your First Prenatal Visit

If you are newly pregnant for the first time, you may be wondering about your first prenatal visit. Whether you are seeing an obstetrician or a midwife, your first visit will be longer and more involved than subsequent prenatal appointments. Regular prenatal care is important during pregnancy to assess your health and prevent or treat possible complications. You will be given a pregnancy test to confirm the pregnancy. This is usually a urine test. Your urine will also be tested for protein, sugar and bacteria. This will be done at every prenatal visit. You will be asked the date of … Continue reading →

Yoga Positions for Early Labor

The other day my doula visited our home to show us some techniques we’ll use for pain management during early labor.  Our goal is to do as much of the labor at home as possible – we’re more comfortable at home, and thus more likely to be relaxed here – and so these are some moves and positions Jon and I can do to help me get through the pain. If you get a book like The Birth Partner or other books about/that have sections on natural childbirth, these positions might be familiar to you.  I don’t know exactly what they’re … Continue reading →

Becoming a Big Brother or Sister Part 2

Since Dylan became a big brother a month before we had expected that he would, we did not have all of the details in place for who he would spend time with during my labor and delivery. Well, that is not exactly true. We did have details in place, but we only had a plan “A” and not a plan “B”. As of a week before baby Blake’s arrival, everything was looking good and it seemed as though my dream of giving birth at home was about to become a reality. My husband and I talked about what Dylan would … Continue reading →

Eighteen Weeks

As I enter my eighteenth week of pregnancy, there are a lot of things on my mind as well as events that are getting closer and closer (more quickly than I anticipated). I remember the eighteenth week of my first pregnancy very well because my husband and I used our spring break to travel back to our home town for a little vacation. That was the week that I chopped off my long curly locks. I also bought my first pair of maternity jeans at gap maternity during my eighteenth week (we did not have a gap maternity in our … Continue reading →

Blood Work

This may seem silly, but I absolutely abhor needles. The mere thought of blood being drawn from my veins leaves me cold. There are certainly much worse procedures to have done and I know that there are people that endure needles and much worse almost daily. God bless those people and thank God I am not one of those people. I remember going with my mother to her prenatal appointments as a child. There was the amazing part of hearing the baby’s heartbeat. Then there was the horrifying part of my mother having her blood work done … I couldn’t … Continue reading →

Finding a Midwife

We had decided to go with a midwife shortly before we starting trying to conceive. After reading “A Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth” by Henci Goer and several other similar books, I started looking for midwives in our area and there weren’t any! The closest midwives were at least two hours away. So I called them up and we took a day to visit them (they were 20 minutes from each other). Talking to the different midwives was a great experience. They answered all my questions and I really felt prepared to go with either of the two … Continue reading →

Is Two Better Than One?

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Yesterday I learned that a fellow CF (cystic fibrosis) mother’s second baby also has CF, just like her first. This hurt. She, like me, found out she was pregnant with baby number two while struggling to decide whether to get pregnant again at all. CF is genetic, which leaves a 1 in 4 chance of any of your children having CF if both parents are carriers of the defective gene. She, like me, refused any prenatal testing due to the risk of miscarriage and went forward with the pregnancy with all the hope and fear in the world. For her … Continue reading →