Gifts During Pregnancy

I was thinking about how lucky I am to have such a great wife when I started to think about what sort of gift she would like while, she is expecting. I decided to decorate the house tonight as she went to sleep early and buy her a nice house coat that she can use to relax in the house. What other gifts do you think would be appreciated by a women to make their pregnancy more enjoyable?

Pregnancy and Flying

In a couple of weeks my wife will be going on a trip and will be flying. We were visiting some family over the weekend and my wife started to talk about her upcoming trip. One person indicated that pregnant women should not be flying, neither one of us had heard of this before. This post will focus on information I can find on this topic.

Flying While Pregnant
Indicates that healthy pregnant women before the 36th week should be able to fly but should consult their doctor. It also points out that during the first trimester flying can make morning sickness worse.

Pregnancy and Flying
This is a set of questions and answers on fling and pregnancy.

BBC Parenting: Flying During Pregnancy
Information from Dr. Gill Jenkins about problems arising from flying during any stage of pregnancy.

What have you heard about flying and pregnancy?

Diet and Pregnancy

I have read, in a number of places, how important it is to have a good diet during pregnancy. We have not visited a dietitian by I am interested in what a good diet would entail. I noticed that we have an eating plan on the fridge, but have not been following it at all. Below you will find two online sources of information on this topic and I then leave you with a question.

Pregnancy Diet and Nutrition by Gloria Tsang R.D.

BBC Parenting Diet and Health

What type of diet do you suggest?

Problems During Pregnancy

So as I have said before we are both new to the realm of being expecting parents. We had a little bit of a scare yesterday but the doctor told her she would be fine (she sure felt better when she heard a heartbeat). We were told that my wife needs to get some rest. She needs this as she has been working really hard the last while. I told here that the rest is well worth the wait. What types of complications can there be during pregnancy and what signs should we be looking for?

Balance

I was reflecting on my day today and started to think about balance. Both my wife and myself work long hours and have many commitments outside of work. We are extremely excited about starting a family but I am a little nervous about the pace of our current lives and know we will need to make changes.

I have noticed already that I need to do a lot more around the house, as my beautiful wife is tired when she gets home. For those of you that are parents now, how did you balance your life after being blessed with a baby?

Here are a few articles on this topic I found on the Internet.

40 Mom-Tested Tips for Balancing Work and Family

Juggling work and family: 7 coping strategies

Finding Balance: Parenting and Working: Geeky Mom Blog

Week 8

I signed up to get emails about what is happening at each week of our pregnancy. The information comes from Pregnancy Baby-Gaga and it provides information for each week. We are currenlty at week 8. I am also placing a Pregnancy Ticker at the top of this blog so show everyone where we are at each day. What do you think of this?

Pregnancy Community Chat

I am currently talking to a group of people online. I sure think it is a big support to talk to others about things we are going through. I have asked the people that I am talking to, to add a comment about the things they are going through (ie. tired, sore, hungry). I guess I will see how this works.

Ultrasound

Today we had our first ultrasound. I was sure excited and scared at the same time. The best part for me was hearing the heartbeat. It is a sound that I will never forget. It really did not hit me that I was going to be a dad I until I drove away from the clinic. Below you will find two pictures. The dotted line in the second picture is our baby! The baby is only 1.64 cm and yet has a heartbeat, that is truly amazing.

Ultrasound

We are going to having our first ultrasound on Thursday. I have heard of people going but am not sure what to expect. At Wikispaces it indicates that an ultrasound looks for the following:

Date the pregnancy.
Check the location of the placenta in relation to the cervix
Check for the number of fetuses.
Check for physical abnormalities.
Assess fetal growth.
Check the sex of the baby.
Check for fetal movement, breathing, and heartbeat.

We were talking last week with a relative that has a newborn about finding out early the sex of our baby. She told us that she did not want to know because it gave the birth day that much more excitement. At first I thought that I wanted to know but I think I want to wait as well. At this point we believe that this is what we will be doing.

Below you will find some information on ultrasounds:

Girl or Boy Quiz
Fetal ultrasound: What can it tell you?
A real 20-week ultrasound (Watch ultrasound videos)

What do you think about finding out through and ultrasound about the sex of a baby?

Pregnancy and Bathing

We have been discussing whether it is OK for my wife to have a bath during pregnancy. We were not sure if it was OK and have heard that the temperature can cause problems. It is important to find out as my wife has been extremely cold, especially at night. So today I decided to turn to looking to see if this was a health concern or not. This is what I found out.

About

This articles states that baths are very good for pregnant women but the temperature can cause problems. The temperature of the bath should not be more that 100 degrees F (roughly 38 degrees C).

Aetna InteliHealth
An article at this link 'Twelve Myths About Pregnancy' by Robert H. Shmerling (MD) agrees with the information about watching the temperature of a bath. He also gives advice about:

Controlling and Predicting Gender
Morning Sickness and Gender
Umbilical-Cord Problems
Heartburn and Hair
Sleeping Position
Sex and Exercise
Cats
X-Rays, Microwaves and Computers
Bathing
Weather and Labor
Spicy Foods and Labor
Bumps

FitPregnancy
An article at this link 'Bathing Bliss' by Marla Neuman agrees with the last two sites. She states that bathing is safe as long as the temperature is equal to your body temperature and that you limit the soaks to ten minutes. It also gives suggestions to when bathing that include setting the mood, drawing the bath, bubble bath, massages and body lotion.

Do you have any other suggestions or information on the subject of bathing and pregnancy?

Baby Names

I know that it is early to start thinking about names but I thought it would be fun to start. I have heard of some ways to think of a name. They including naming after significant people in society, after family members, combining the parents names and a host of other ideas. Well here are two sites that tell you the background of individual names.

Baby Names
This site has it all. It includes information about the meaning, history, names starting or ending with a certain letter, nationalities or even the top names from various years.

Think Baby Names
This site is similar to the last. You can search by the name and their meanings, by alphabetical order or by popularity.

Do you have some good ideas for us for either a boy or a girl?

Fetus Development

It has been about eight weeks, be belief since my wife has become pregnant. We have an ultrasound this coming week. We have both been reading information about the changes the fetus is going through. I sure do not like the word fetus, I prefer baby better. I thought it would be a good idea to do some research on a couple of websites to see exactly what was going on. Below you will find some websites that I discovered that may help you out as well.

Baby Center
This link takes you to information called Fetal Development: How your baby grows. You can actually select the month you are at and read about the changes. Also, it shows a picture of exactly what is going on. The information tells me that our baby is the size of a kidney bean and is constantly moving. That sure is small.

Paternity Angel
This site has some very descriptive photos. Things sure change fast. I especially liked the information for men section.

Pregnancy
This link is really amazing. It takes your through each week and breaks them down into the Trimesters. The pictures that are found under each week are in colour and sure make me excited about what is happening. Wow we are 1/5 of the way done and cartilage and bones have begun to form, not to mention the little one is roughly 0.61 inches (1.6 cm) in length and weight in at 0.04 ounces (1 gram).

Have you found any other great sites?

Holiday Expectations

The holidays can be a great time to get together with family and friends but it can also be a very stressful time, especially for the expecting mother. What others forget is that pregnancy affects women in different ways. Family members must remember that they need to be supportive and do what they can do to reduce the stress in the expecting mothers life.

Barbara P. Homeier, MD has an article that can be found online at Kids Health. It is entitled 10 Things that Might Surprise You About Being Pregnant. These ten things include the following (make sure to check out the article for more information):

Altered States

• The Nesting Instinct (organize, clean, decorate)
  
• Inability to Concentrate
  
• Mood Swings

Unexpected Effects of Pregnancy

• Bra Size (Breast Fairy)
  
• Skin
• Hair and Nails (Grow Faster)
  
• Shoe Size
• Joint Mobility
• Varicose Veins, Hemorrhoids, and Constipation

Birth Day Surprises

• Things That Will Come Out of Your Body

With all of these changes it is important for family, friends and especially the husband to be supportive.

Shirley Temple Anyone?

Hello there, I am the mother of 1new baby. I have a funny to tell about my husband who has been so gracious and eager to help me out. We were out with friends during a mini getaway. While everyone was ordering a beverage, I asked for a Shirley Temple. My husband kind of gave a funny look, and then flagged our waitress down. He looked slightly distressed and asked her for a non alcoholic version of the Shirley Temple. We, the table, had a good little chuckle as we then realized that my husband did not know that Shirley Temple's have been famous for their lack of alcohol, and their"virgin" appeal. We had a good laugh, and it remains as one of our lessons to laugh and live over.

Looking for some great non alcoholic drinks, check out this link. Do you have any other great drinks that an expecting mother may enjoy? Make sure to leave us a comment with your suggestions.

Maternity Clothes

Today I learned a lesson about maternity clothes with a stop at Thyme Maternity. My wife was having problems finding clothing in her closet that fit right. We have still not let everyone know our good news so she wanted some clothing that conceals and looks good. We found a line of clothing that is called Now & After. This line is supposed to work early in pregnancy and after the baby is born. It is a little expensive but my wife sure looks good in the clothing.



Well time for a story. We went into the store and I looked around for a while. I am not the most patient shopper I was told so after about five minutes I decided (asked permission) to go over to London Drugs. I spent about ten minutes in the store looking at new TVs and thought I better get back to see how my wife was doing. I went back into the store and sat down to read a magazine that was in the store. Another fifteen minutes passed so I walked to the change room and called her name. No one answered. I then asked a salesperson to see if she was changing. I thought she might have been having a touch of selective hearing. The salesperson said that she was not in the change room. Well I was a little frustrated that she was not there and thought I would check a few more of the stores in the mini mall. I did not find her anywhere so I went back to the vehicle. She came outside from the store and was wondering where I was. She needed my opinion on the clothes. In the exchange in the vehicle I found out that I had been sitting in the wrong store! We sure had a good laugh. Do you have any shopping stories for me? If so make sure to leave me a comment.

Travel and Pregnancy

Travel during pregnancy is something that needs to be planned for and not taken for granted. This past weekend we went on a trip. It was a lot of fun but it is important to make sure there is plenty of food available. I sure have learned this in a hurry. As for the trip itself, it is important to make sure that you communicate the expectations for the trip with everyone involved. The expecting mother to be will more than likely be very tired. This needs to be taken into consideration. I sure know that I learned a lot this past weekend. Make sure to comment on any good travel stories during pregnancy that you have had.

Here are some other tips Internet sites or articles on this topic:

Suite 101: Travel During Pregnancy by Kelby Carr

• Safety Tips
• Making Travel Comfortable During Pregnancy

About: Pregnancy & Childbirth: Tips for Travel During Pregnancy by Robin Elise Weiss

• Five Tips to Remember