Warning: This post contains information about breastfeeding.
I’ve been to a lot of baby showers. In fact, I was one of the last in my group of girl friends to have children. While everyone else was nesting and planning, my husband and I were backpacking Europe. All that to say that while I’m so glad my husband and I had that incredible experience of bonding and seeing the world, I have so much joy and love for my son and our baby girl (who will be here in less than 4 weeks!).
Have you ever noticed that baby shower gifts usually don’t include a single gift for the mother-to-be? Now, I’m definitely not complaining (at all), but there are some things a mom-to-be could really benefit from. So today’s post is all about the gifts moms (like me) would probably enjoy receiving. Whether it be something essential like a nursing bra or something to pamper her like bath gel…here are some fabulous gift ideas for the mother-to-be.
Belli: When I was pregnant with my son, I was DETERMINED not to get stretch marks. Sadly, so much of it is genetic and I did end up with some just like my mother. But, I rigorously rubbed oil all over my belly every single morning and evening with my son (I haven’t been as consistent about it with this one). Surprisingly, I haven’t developed any new stretch marks and I’m 35 weeks (yeah!). Belli offers three lines of skin care products for pregnant women, babies, and new mothers. I received the Motherhood Essentials Kit which includes products designed to restore a woman’s body including nursing cream, eye brightening cream, body firming serum, and hand sanitizer. The company has high safety standards and is the only skin care line that screens for teratogens and xenoestrogens.
My Brest Friend: Nursing my son proved to be more challenging than I imagined. It also didn’t help that I had a c-section. During my many months of nursing, I used an awesome nursing pillow. My very good friend insisted I purchase My Brest Friend. I know I would not have been able to nurse my son comfortably without it. It got to the point where I even brought it with me in the car for nursing sessions. Two things I KNOW make this pillow different from the rest. It wraps around you (so it stays put and so does your baby) and it’s got a supportive back rest. I have never tried another nursing pillow but I will say that my son never slid down or rolled away because the pillow was too squishy!
The Shower Hug: I remember all too well the pain of breast-feeding. When my milk finally came in, I was engorged, febrile, and in a lot of pain. I don’t know if it’s like this for every woman but it was for me. I suffered through numerous bouts of mastitis but I endured it all because nursing my son was of the utmost importance. How I wish I had The Shower Hug! You can use it in and out of the shower and for support and protection for women who have had a c section. So, I guess I’ll have to get another since I’ll be using it for all 3 purposes! Providing support, protection, and therapeutic relief, The Shower Hug is definitely something that’s going to get a ton of use!
Laugh & Learn: As a nurse with almost 10 years experience in obstetrics and neonatal nursing, you’d think that I’d be the LAST one to fear childbirth. I should know it all right? No Fear! Ha! While I have a lot of knowledge and experience, that didn’t (and doesn’t) change the fact that there were things I was nervous and even afraid of. If you’re a busy mom who maybe doesn’t have time to attend childbirth classes, are on bed-rest (like I was with my first pregnancy), or don’t like the formal setting of a classroom, you must check out the Laugh & Learn childbirth education program. Taught by an RN, you and your significant other will actually enjoy learning all about childbirth, newborn care, and breast-feeding…all in the comfort of your own home on your time. All three series are informative and actually quite entertaining! Her teaching style is relaxed and non-threatening.
Bravado! Designs: Having a supportive nursing bra is essential (trust me!). I had a very difficult time finding a proper fitting nursing bra after I had my son. Now that I have an idea of what size I will be wearing, it’s much easier to purchase bras online (I would recommend getting fitted by a professional the first time around to make sure you’re wearing the correct type and size of bra). Many of the nursing bras I saw in stores were supportive, but not particularly attractive. Nursing is not the most glamorous of motherly activities. Bravado! Designs offers comfortably fashionable bras that fit! I particularly like their “What the heck should I buy? section which is a great place to start!
Preggers by Therafirm: When I was 34 weeks pregnant with my son, my feet started swelling (which apparently is quite normal unless you’ve been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia). I spent a lot of time with my feet up, but it was terribly uncomfortable. Fortunately, I have not had to experience leg swelling in this pregnancy. Pregnancy, as miraculous as it is, can be very uncomfortable. I am very appreciative of companies who have gone out of their way to research ways of making these 10 (yes 10) months more comfortable. When I worked on the floor, I always wore support stockings and socks due to the 12 hours I was required to be on my feet. Preggers by Therafirm offers trendy, comfortable compression hosiery that isn’t impossible to put on. Now that it’s winter, I’ve been wanting to keep my feet warm. When given the option, I definitely prefer the trouser socks over the panty hose but I didn’t spend ten minutes trying to put either one on (which is a good sign!). They provide enough support to make a difference but they’re not so tight that they leave marks. Preggers by Therafirm are not available yet, but soon They also plan on including maternity and postpartum support products in their line. Stay tuned!
Are you ready for another game?
We all have a birth story. Some of you birthed at home. Some of you labored for days without an epidural. What I am really looking for is your most inspirational birth story. I will have help from the gals who threw me the shower in determining first, second, and third places, so make it good. You can either post here in the comment section or on your blog (whichever you feel most comfortable). Remember…leave your answer in the comment section along with your prize choices (in order of preference).
Prizes for Game #3:
Laugh & Learn DVD Set, Book, and Tee
Motherhood Essentials Kit from Belli
My Brest Friend Deluxe Pillow
For more fabulous maternity and baby shower gift ideas, please visit the baby shower site.
Entries for this giveaway will close on December 20, 2009 at 10 PM PST. Please note that entries for all baby shower giveaways are different than my normal entry methods. One comment per person, please (unless you do the extra credit). US residents only. Duplicates and comments not including the above information will be disqualified. Comments are moderated. If you don’t see your comment in a reasonable amount of time, send me an email. Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. If you don’t want to leave your email address, please be sure to check back for my announcement on the winner. Please note that winners must respond within 48 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn.
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Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for this review. I did receive a product, courtesy of the company in order to facilitate my review.
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My birthing story:
Ok so all my births were really short. My 1st child was 1 hour from time painful contractions start til she was out. My second was 30 minutes. Well with my third child it was a stress ful pregnancy since the docotrs thought she has water on the brain a hole in her heart and other issues all those cleared up and disappeared by the 7 or 8th month but had to have a amniocentesis to make sure and everything. I had had preterm labor from 20 weeks on with her so by the last months I didnt know what was real or fake any more lol. 4 weeks before my delivery date I was cooking dinner and had to go potty i found out I was bleeding so I caled my doctor to let him know. He said it was probably nothing to come in. Well ok my OB/GYN was on vacation til the next day so the on call doctor I called didnt know me or my history and so on. I went into the hospital by myself since he reassured me it was nothing. I got there they hooked me up and then checked me I was at 3 centimeter and contracting every 3 minutes. So I called my hubby told him to call my mom to come watch the kids and get down there to use her car. So 30 minutes goes by at this point I dont feel anything so I am thinking I am stopping. Then I get severe pain in my side here I was having a kidney stone attack at the same time so they give me morphine to help the pain. I then feel like I peed the bed. The nurses come in and say yes that was what it was they couldnt test it with all the blood because i was still bleeding but they felt with the kidney issue thats what it was. so they clean my bed and check me again and now I am at a 4 and they up the meds to stop my labor even more. I am freaking out because my hubby isnt there yet he couldnt get ahold of my mom here to come to find out she was on her way to the hospital to check on me so he had to get his brother to watch the kids. I then have a another wet spell. It now was my water broke. Ok panic mode for nurses. My hubby and mom finally show up as the nurses are calling the on call doctor. He says he will be there in less then a hour. He figures I am at a 4 water just broke he has a few hours til delivery. Ok but that is not my style and I want my regular doctor who I told on friday not to leave state til sunday or else but did he listen to me of course not. 1o minutes later they hook me up to ampicillin since I was early they could not test for group b strep so to be safe they just give me the antibiotics. Well 5 minutes later I have a llergic reaction to the antibiotics and cant breath and faint. so they counter act it and stop it. ok better but now the painful contractions start and i know what that means. Ok now all that happened in 15 minutes since they last checked me at a 4. I tell the nurse I want a epidural now. she calls him to come get it. My luck a guy about 5′ 3″ walks in with jeans and a tshirt and a baseball cap we tell him he is in the wrong room he says you need a epidural I say yes he was there to do it. Oh my gosh tell me your kidding me. He comes in starts doing the precdure griping at me not to move yells at me when i jump when the needle went it. and then leaves. 5 minutes later still very painful actually worse here he didnt put it in right go figure they check me its now been 25 minutes since the 4 check I am now at a 5. They call the amnio guy back but he has left the building and will take him 20 minutes to get back hello you left 5 minutes ago . whatever. I start have worse pains and the babys heart rate is dropping so they give me oxygen to help. 5 minutes after they checked me at a 5 the doctor still about 20 minutes from being there I felt like I needed to push. The nurse says impossible you are a 5 dont push she checks me again after much persuashion yep I am a 10 and crowning. she rushes to call doctor again and get her scrubs on well yelling dont push cross your legs hold on. she had her gown on and one glove when my daughter made her appearance legs crossed and everything. The on call doctor now walks in 10 minutes after I already given birth delivered the placenta and left wow his job was hard. The nurse took my baby girl over to NICU nurses to clean her up and they hand her to me for a minute she was all swollen and crying she was beautiful but couldnt open her eyes. she was so little too she was 17 inches long and 5lbs 2 ozs but thats with all the water retention. . She then started having trouble breathing so they took her from me to try to get her breathing again. they couldnt get a good breathing down so they rushed her to NICU and hours later told me they might have to fly her to SLC to a special hospital since her breathing isnt stabilizing. They put her on a CPAP to help her breath well pretty much breath for her. it was almost a day later before I found out they end up keeping her there and that I could see her but couldnt touch her or hold her. She was in NICU for almost 2 weeks before she got to go home since she had to breath good on her own, eat on her own and a good amount which for her was 1 oz and even that was tough to get her to eat that much, she had to gain weight because after she lost the water retention she went down to 4lbs 5 ozs she came home at 4 lbs 15 ozs. She was tiny even premie clothes were too big. the hospital told me not to buy premie cloths she would out grow them to fast hah she wore premie clothes til she was 6 month old see what they knew she is now a health but still small 5 year old. oh and I forgot to tell you my normal doctor walks into my room the next morning saying to me so you couldnt wait a few more hours could you haha funny doc. I about strangled him. Funny thing is he went on vacation when I delivered my 4th child to but made it back just barely.
I have 4 daughters.
1st: 15 days Late, I started contractions and had her in 3 hours. In the room with me was just (now ex) hubby as all of my family was in England for my brothers wedding.
3 years 1 week later
2nd: 18 days Late, my water broke and contractions started I had her in 1 1/2 hours. In the room with me were my 3yo daughter, my sister-in-law (now ex) hubby, my Mom, and my mother-in-law
16 years later
3rd: 9 days Late, my water broke I had her in 9 hours. In the room with me was my wonderful hubby, my two oldest daughters (16 and 19 at the time) my Mom, my sister and my 4yo Niece who was helping me count…LOL!
3 1/2 years later
4th and final: 9 days EARLY! I was walking around the house and I started having twinges. I decided to time them. They were 3 minutes apart and lasting a minute. They did not hurt so I figured it was just my body getting ready. This continued for about an hour and hubby says come on we’re going to the hospital. I get there and sure enough I was in labor but it didn’t hurt. I requested my epidural as soon as I got there and they gave it to me. In the room with me was my hubby and my two oldest daughters (now 23 and 19), my Mom and my 3 month old granddaughter! (Yes, my oldest daughter and I were pregnant together….it was awesome! Especially watching her be born while I was 7 months pregnant with her Auntie!) Anyway after 8 hours of the most wonderful relaxing and easy labor (couldn’t feel a thing) I had my last daughter.
My son was born four week premature. My daughter had also been early but she had no complications when she was born. My son wasn’t so lucky. HIs lungs were underdeveloped. I was kind of out of it when the delivery was first over. They had let me hold him for a second and I had heard him cry, but then suddenly he was gone and so was everyone else, even my husband. I was literally in the hospital room alone. I thought they might have taken him to get cleaned up and I had told my husband not to let the baby out of his site if I wasn’t able to go with him. I waited for what seemed like hours but really was probably only minutes. My eyes were too out of focus to see the clock to know for sure. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I tried to pull myself up out of the bed. One of the nurses saw be struggling from the hallway and came in to scold me for trying to get up so soon alone. I didn’t even acknowledge that just demanded that she tell me where my baby was. She said she wasn’t sure but wouldn’t look at me. I argued with her a few more minutes and finally the pediatrician came in. He told me that my son was having trouble breathing and that they weren’t able to take care of him there and would have to transfer him to a hospital in the city. I cursed myself for living in a little hick town with stupid hick doctors. But finally they said I could see him. They helped me into a wheel chair and wheeled me into his scary room with so many monitors I couldn’t imagion what they were all for. He was so tiny and had so many wires attached to him. My husband was standing over him crying. When I saw him I knew why. He was trying so hard to breathe that it looked like his entire chest would collapse. I wanted to take him in my arms and make him safe, but I wasn’t even allowed more than his hand because it would make it harder for him to breathe. BUt the worst was still to come. The ambulance arrived only minutes after I got into that scary room. They packed him up into an incubator, took a poloraid and handed it to me without a word and starting to take him. I freaked out. I started pulling out my IV and said I was going with him. Then someone hit with a needle and a the next thing I know I was alone in my room again. My OBGYN was nice and released me the next day even though it could have resulted in a law suit if I anything had happened to me so soon after delivery. I met my husband in the NICU and spent the next two weeks there watching my son struggle to live. Thank God he was strong and pulled through. He’s seven years old now and every time he screams and drives me crazy I remember that I need to be grateful that those lungs are working so well.
I started having contractions at around midnight at home. Went to the hospital, and I was in labor. They put me on fluids to hydrate me, and after two hours, contractions stopped. They broke my water at 4 am. A very long 9 hours of all natural, unmedicated labor and then 45 minutes of pushing and my huge baby boy was born at 8lbs 14 oz!
I had a tough pregnancy with morning sickness, heartburn, TONS of stretch marks, swelling, etc and PUPPS..which is the itchest rash ever..I couldn’t even sleep at night. Plus I gained 40 lbs. I really thought I would have a difficult birth since my whole preganancy had me complaining about everything!
I was induced two days after my due date because my doctor said PUPPS wouldn’t go away until I gave birth. Trust me..I was ready for him to come out! But I was also so scared as this was my first child. I got to the hospital at 6am and was already having contractions 5 mins apart. Really? I barely felt them but that’s what the machine said. I was put on pitocin and we just waited. For hours and hours…weirdly, the IV in my arm bothered me more than the contractions. I also heard other women moaning & screaming on the floor. O-kayyyy not good. Eventually at night the contractions got more painful, I got epidural…then a few hours later it was time to push. After about 3 pushes, the doctor said the cord was around my son’s neck so she had to help him out using a vacuum thing on his head. Poor hubby didn’t get a chance to cut the cord. A few more pushes later and my son was born. My husband who’s nickname is Robot (since he unemotional)…got teary! Alex was a 7 lbs 6oz screaming bundle of joy. I was amazed that giving birth was sooo much easier than my pregnancy. Heck, he’s 10 months old now and I’m ready for baby #2! Will I be this lucky again? We’ll see…
My preferences:
Laugh & Learn DVD Set, Book, and Tee
Motherhood Essentials Kit from Belli
My Brest Friend Deluxe Pillow
i had planned for a natural birth fr my firstborn, but things went awry and we ended up having a c-section, which i hear is pretty common!
here is the birth stroy I chose to tell http://clarissaneiding.blogspot.com/2009/12/birth-story.html
I would pick the Breast friend, then the essentials products then the laugh and learn.
I was blessed to have such an easy time giving birth to all three of my children. My sister was in labot for over 28 hours so I was petrified that I would have a similar experience, but thankfully I didn’t. No inducing labor, no excruciating contrations, just a lower back pain and then a beautiful baby within a few hours. My daughter is now expecting again after losing a baby boy, and I tell her my birth story often to remind her that she is so much like me that she is bound to have an easy labor whenever she gets worried about labor pains. Each day I pray that my granddaughter(Yes it’s a girl) will be born not only healthy but with ease just like her mother, my daughter, was born.
I had one of those textbook pregnancies and births that went exactly according to plan, other than being a week late…
On Sunday (April 1 – fools trick!) I wasn’t feeling the baby move, so my mom convinced me to go to the hospital. Baby was fine. But everyone rumoured that I had a false labor…
So Monday I was determined not to go to the hospital until absolutely necessary. I went to work as usual, skipped lunch, and had a routine OB/GYN appt that afternoon, and was told there by the nurse that I was in early labor, though I had no idea. But they were concerned about the baby’s heart rate, so sent me to the hospital, where my midwife was (she delivered 7 babies that day). Baby was fine. Since I was a week overdue, she gave me the option of checking in, which I did. After she ruptured the membranes, I went into immediate hard labor – no time for relaxing or breathing between contractions. I got into the birthing tub shortly after and had a water birth after 6.5 hours of labor. The poor midwife had been in the hospital all day, rushing from room to room, and my baby decided to wait until 1 a.m., so she had a REALLY long day.
I wanted an all natural waterbirth – the odds were about 15 percent that it would happen, and it did! My little girl is incredible and I am so blessed.
I have only had one but to me it was great:) Definitely not the pain, but seeing my baby was worth it all to me. I would really like the Pillow but my next choice would be the kit from Bella. Thanks so much. It was an encouraging time reading the stories here.
I am an email subscriber also.
I also used Digg-kingsdaughter24