the one with my two cents

Okay, you know I can't post without a picture of the sweet babe. This is Maya sleeping on our bed. I just love how she pulls her feet and hands under her :o) I didn't like the lighting from our bedroom in the picture, so I just made it black & white. Still figuring out settings on my camera.

And here is a picture of me after my haircut on Friday. You really can't tell too much in the picture, but it feels soooo much better! And it dries so much faster, which is super important right now. _________________________________________________________________

Okay, now for my two cents...... One of my sweet, newly pregnant friends emailed me today to ask me a question and I was thinking it would be fun to write up all the things I wish I had known in this wonderful adventure with baby (while it is still fresh in my mind) and resources that I read for anyone who is interested.

First thing is books. I am one of those people who loves to read and can't get enough info from books. My hubby teases me because it is not uncommon for me to be reading several books at once. I LOVE the library! They probably hate me because I constantly have books sent to the closest library. I am going to categorize these by Trying, Pregnant, and Post-baby.

TRYING While trying to get pregnant, I poured (and I do mean poured over every resource imaginable). Favorites were "Taking Charge of your Fertility" by Toni Wechsler-this pretty much teaches you everything you need to know about your body and your fertility that you never learned in health class. And fertilityfriend.com. The website was a good and a bad thing. Lots of good information and lots of great support groups, but I also kind of obsessed over it (just a warning), I also loved "The Conception Chronicles" which was a collection of hilarious emails that went back and forth between a group of women trying to get pregnant. It was nice comic relief about a not funny situation. I also loved "Waiting for Daisy" which is a wonderful story about one woman's account of her infertility.

PREGNANT "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" (of course). This was sort of a milestone book. I MADE myself not buy that book until I got a positive test, and I made Jared take me out the very day I got the positive to get it. I figured I had waited long enough :o) I also read "Belly Laughs" "The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy" and "Your pregnancy week by week". There were others, but these were the main ones. Oh, also "Baby Bargains" was also a wonderful handbook when registering for baby gear. I carried it everytime I went to Babies R Us.

POST BABY "What to Expect the First Year" I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with this one. I just didn't like the format and didn't feel like I was getting the info that I wanted. I have "The Baby Book" by Dr. Sears and I LOVE it! Attachment parenting has somewhat of a bad conotation for some people, but I really like it (especially breastfeeding and babywearing-more on that in a minute). I also am reading "The Nursing Mother's Companion" that I borrowed from a friend-also very good. I wish that I had started both of these books before having Maya. I was not as prepared for nursing as I would like to have been and I think both books would have been very helpful the first few weeks. (I didn't get them until later) And I just started " Peace with Child Care". It is supposed to be very good and was written by a lady who had a well-known child care center here in Nashville.

Second, my two cents worth of tips written from my experience:

• belly bands (i ordered belly brites on ebay) to make regular clothes fit longer and make too-big maternity clothes wearable
• TUMS, TUMS, and more TUMS-I had heartburn and indigestion
• ginger ale and saltines really helped with my morning all day sickness-I carried saltines at all times
• A&W is the root beer that does not have caffeine, Barqs does
• multiple pillows are your friend when sleeping with a big belly (between your legs, under your belly, etc)
• i got tervis tumblers with lids and straws and kept them full of water (still do) and it helped me to drink a lot of water
• I slept sitting propped up on pillows toward the end because of the reflux
• Take a book to all dr appts. I read most of the Twilight series at the doctor :o)
• Listen to your body. When I was in labor, the hospital staff didn't think I was. I was and I had Maya very quickly once they admitted me to L&D. If they had sent me home, I might have delivered there!
• Limit your visitors at the hospital. I was given this advice but didn't follow it. We were so glad to have everyone come see us, but we were soooo tired from all day visitors after we had no sleep the night she was born.
• I highly recommend the miracle blanket! There is information on their site that explains the theory behind it and the Dr. Sears book explains swaddling. Basically, it mimics the close quarters of the womb and makes babies feel safe and secure. Also, it helps to keep babies asleep because they are not awakened by their little flailing arms. I also suggest taking it to the hospital because the nurses swaddle with the hospital blankets and it is so much easier with the miracle blanket. (the funny thing is that the nurses always brought her back not in the miracle blanket, because they didn't know how to work it!)
• I also got "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (checked out from the library :o) This has a series of steps to go through to calm your baby. The swaddle/swing combo works for us pretty much every time.
• The other thing I wish I had started earlier was babywearing. The philosophy behind it makes so much sense. Baby is calmed by being worn. The movement, feeling, and sounds are similar to being in-utero and it is very comforting to baby. I think we would have avoided a lot of evening fussiness if we had started it sooner. I use the baby k'tan and love it because you can carry baby 8 different ways. The material is stretchy and comforting to Maya. I throw it in the dryer when it gets too stretched. I have gotten so many comments on the sling. I prefer her to be in it over the carrier seat or stroller. It is better for both of us. It allows her to be right with me, but also allows me to do a few things that I need two hands for. Read in the Dr. Sears book about all the benefits of babywearing.
• If you are going to introduce a bottle, do it as soon as nursing is established. Maya gets thrown off if she doesn't take at least one bottle each day. If we skip a day, she has a hard time taking it the next day. Not all babies need a bottle that often, but ours does!
• Find a good lactation consultant. We did have to put some money out for this, but you can submit the charges to your insurance. I don't know how much we might be reimbursed yet because I just sent in the claims. (my pediatrician wrote a prescription for it) It has been so worth it for me. Even if we had not had issues, it is just helpful to have knowledgeable support in that area. She helped me with lots of things beyond nursing. It is especially important if you are going back to work because there are things you have to do to build your supply and you cannot wait until the day before to start!
• I prefer nursing tanks to bras. The tanks cover your mid-section!

Okay, like I said this is my two cents, and considering that I have only been a mommy for eight weeks that is probably about all it is worth, but other mommys feel free to add your "two cents" too.

I asked my hubby what his advice was for new dads and he said "Don't tick off the pregnant or new mommy" :o) Well, there ya go!