One of the first items I ordered when I found out I was pregnant was the Organic Bamboo Belly Band from Baby-be-Mine. (I ordered it through Amazon.)
I cannot say enough good things about this product. At first, I used it to cover the fact that my jeans were un-buttoned, back when I could still get my pre-pregnancy jeans up over my hips. Now into the third trimester, I'm still using it! Now I use it to cover the not-so-lovely panel that maternity jeans are known for, when my shirt isn't quite long enough to cover it. It simply looks like I'm wearing a snug tank top or tube top underneath whatever I'm wearing.
I ordered 4 of these, one each in black, white, cocoa, and stone. The bamboo fabric is delightfully soft and easy to care for, requiring no special laundering. I've heard women complain of other types of belly bands being too short, or not staying up, but I've had no such problems with these.
After my daughter is born, I will continue to use them until I can button my old jeans again, and will also use them so that if I need to lift up my shirt to nurse, my saggy and stretch-marked post-baby belly and sides will be covered! And beyond that, hell, I'll probably just use them as regular ol' tube tops!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Blinded by the White
The baby's room is all painted! Our friend (with BD's help) did an awesome job (and spent lots of hours) fixing and patching and sanding and priming and painting the walls. The walls are yellow (exactly the yellow I was picturing in my mind, which like, NEVER happens with me and paint), and the trim is orange. VERY ORANGE. In a good way, though. It was rather overwhelming before the walls were yellow and the furniture was back in place, but now? AWESOME. I love that it's not overly girly, but super cute.
My mom had offered to get us wood blinds for the baby's room, so we ordered some white bamboo ones on Sunday, and they arrived today. Unfortunately, since nothing else in the room is white (the furniture is all dark wood) they look horribly out of place.
So, BD is off to see if he can exchange them for a darker wood variety. Let it be known that he wanted darker wood ones in the first place, and I said that no, we needed to get white ones, because it needs to be a bright and sunshiney room for our little sunshine (gag, I know) and the dark wood will make it gloomy!
Alas, A MAN WAS RIGHT. Mark your calendars, folks. ;p
My mom had offered to get us wood blinds for the baby's room, so we ordered some white bamboo ones on Sunday, and they arrived today. Unfortunately, since nothing else in the room is white (the furniture is all dark wood) they look horribly out of place.
So, BD is off to see if he can exchange them for a darker wood variety. Let it be known that he wanted darker wood ones in the first place, and I said that no, we needed to get white ones, because it needs to be a bright and sunshiney room for our little sunshine (gag, I know) and the dark wood will make it gloomy!
Alas, A MAN WAS RIGHT. Mark your calendars, folks. ;p
Friday, August 7, 2009
Featured Friday: The Snoogle
The Snoogle by Leachco is not your average body pillow.
Having a Snoogle in your bed with you is like spooning someone and being spooned simultaneously (assuming you have a human spooning partner in your bed as well...otherwise, order two) but without that tricky arm conundrum, at least on the Snoogle side. In other words? Heaven.
Unlike regular body pillows, which are essentially just big pillows, the Snoogle's unique shape truly does provide the right kind of support right where the pregnant body needs it. It can be difficult to find comfortable sleeping positions with a big ol' baby belly, and this nifty pillow does the trick.
The photo above shows just a few of the super-comfy positions possible with The Snoogle. It can also be sort of swirled into a spiral for a comfy butt-nest for movie watching on the couch or reading in bed. It comes with an insert that shows all sorts of positions and uses for them, including using it for breastfeeding support after the babe arrives.
I recommend buying an extra cover for it, since the covers are much easier to wash than the pillow itself. I have two covers on mine.
Based on the way BD snuggles into it once I get out of bed, it is also cozy for non-pregnant people, including men!
I have only one complaint about The Snoogle, and it is more a complaint about the mobility issues that develop later in pregnancy. With BD on one side of me, and The Snoogle on the other, getting out of bed to pee 26 times per night is a bit more of a challenge. Hurling my pregnant body over this glorious pillow is a bit of work, but well worth it.
I give it 4 out 5 stars. ****
Because I just randomly decided to give out stars. I'll have to devise some sort of system of what the number of stars actually means to me. :x
Having a Snoogle in your bed with you is like spooning someone and being spooned simultaneously (assuming you have a human spooning partner in your bed as well...otherwise, order two) but without that tricky arm conundrum, at least on the Snoogle side. In other words? Heaven.
Unlike regular body pillows, which are essentially just big pillows, the Snoogle's unique shape truly does provide the right kind of support right where the pregnant body needs it. It can be difficult to find comfortable sleeping positions with a big ol' baby belly, and this nifty pillow does the trick.
The photo above shows just a few of the super-comfy positions possible with The Snoogle. It can also be sort of swirled into a spiral for a comfy butt-nest for movie watching on the couch or reading in bed. It comes with an insert that shows all sorts of positions and uses for them, including using it for breastfeeding support after the babe arrives.
I recommend buying an extra cover for it, since the covers are much easier to wash than the pillow itself. I have two covers on mine.
Based on the way BD snuggles into it once I get out of bed, it is also cozy for non-pregnant people, including men!
I have only one complaint about The Snoogle, and it is more a complaint about the mobility issues that develop later in pregnancy. With BD on one side of me, and The Snoogle on the other, getting out of bed to pee 26 times per night is a bit more of a challenge. Hurling my pregnant body over this glorious pillow is a bit of work, but well worth it.
I give it 4 out 5 stars. ****
Because I just randomly decided to give out stars. I'll have to devise some sort of system of what the number of stars actually means to me. :x
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Featured Fridays (unless I come up with a more clever title before tomorrow)
I've decided to do "something new" with my little piece of the web. Yes, in addition to posting on it more often. :x
On Fridays, I will feature a product or service that I love. Many of them may be related to pregnancy, or birth, or babies, and what-have-you, many of them likely will not be. Don't be surprised to see "Featured Friday: Chocolate Ice Cream with Sliced up Bananas and Chocolate Sauce", because seriously, who can live without THAT?!?
Also, I'm going to apologize in advance for the times when I will inevitably forget to post a Featured Friday post. I promise I have the best of intentions, though.
Wouldn't it be cool if I could get people to pay me to feature their products? Any leads on how to like, do that?
On Fridays, I will feature a product or service that I love. Many of them may be related to pregnancy, or birth, or babies, and what-have-you, many of them likely will not be. Don't be surprised to see "Featured Friday: Chocolate Ice Cream with Sliced up Bananas and Chocolate Sauce", because seriously, who can live without THAT?!?
Also, I'm going to apologize in advance for the times when I will inevitably forget to post a Featured Friday post. I promise I have the best of intentions, though.
Wouldn't it be cool if I could get people to pay me to feature their products? Any leads on how to like, do that?
I Think I Might be a Boob Nazi
Every now and again, something happens that reminds me that I'm TOTALLY pregnant. Like this morning, when I was watching The View (shut up. I don't know how I came to start watching The View. All I know is that lately, if it becomes 10:00, and the television is not turned to The View, something in my universe feels terribly off-kilter. BD doesn't understand why I watch it, since it normally just pisses me off.)
Whew. So yeah, I was watching The View, and realized that my pregnancy hormones must be raging out of control, because I am crying. Tears of JOY. At a montage of the most memorable moments of the season, or some such, which culminates in a clip of the cast of The View intermingled with what is apparently the current Broadway cast of Hair, singing Let The Sunshine In all together, and Barbara Walters flashes a peace sign, and I melt into a heap of joyful sobs. Because clearly, this means, THERE WILL BE WORLD PEACE.
But anyway, the whole point of me typing in this box on the internet is what happend before that, which was one of those times when watching The View really pissed me off and made me want to kill Elizabeth Hasselbeck in a slow and painfully torturous way. Usually it's the political nonsense she spouts off that makes me feel homicidal, but today, it was her comments about breastfeeding.
When she first started talking about the dream she had in which she was breastfeeding her new baby, and then her two current kidlets were also nursing, I was optimistic, thinking she was going to proclaim the joys of extended breastfeeding or tandem nursing.
But no. She goes on to say that she thinks it's wrong to breastfeed a child who is old enough to ask for milk.
Um. What?
Lots of women (I intend to be one of them) teach their babies to sign "milk" before they are able to speak. So, babies can ask for milk before they can say "Hey mom, can you whip out your tit please?" Then there's that whole thing about hunger cues, so, essentially, they can "ask for milk" from, you know, BIRTH.
But anyway (I promise to spare you a rundown of the benefits of breastmilk, so bare with me), the World Health Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, and continuing to breastfeed in conjunction with introducing solids for 2 years and beyond. I'm pretty sure most two year olds know how to ask for milk.
In other words, don't be surprised if, say a year and a half from now, you see me out with my daughter somewhere, and she says "Hey mom, can you whip out your tit?" and I say "Sure honey" and proceed to whip out my tit.
Whew. So yeah, I was watching The View, and realized that my pregnancy hormones must be raging out of control, because I am crying. Tears of JOY. At a montage of the most memorable moments of the season, or some such, which culminates in a clip of the cast of The View intermingled with what is apparently the current Broadway cast of Hair, singing Let The Sunshine In all together, and Barbara Walters flashes a peace sign, and I melt into a heap of joyful sobs. Because clearly, this means, THERE WILL BE WORLD PEACE.
But anyway, the whole point of me typing in this box on the internet is what happend before that, which was one of those times when watching The View really pissed me off and made me want to kill Elizabeth Hasselbeck in a slow and painfully torturous way. Usually it's the political nonsense she spouts off that makes me feel homicidal, but today, it was her comments about breastfeeding.
When she first started talking about the dream she had in which she was breastfeeding her new baby, and then her two current kidlets were also nursing, I was optimistic, thinking she was going to proclaim the joys of extended breastfeeding or tandem nursing.
But no. She goes on to say that she thinks it's wrong to breastfeed a child who is old enough to ask for milk.
Um. What?
Lots of women (I intend to be one of them) teach their babies to sign "milk" before they are able to speak. So, babies can ask for milk before they can say "Hey mom, can you whip out your tit please?" Then there's that whole thing about hunger cues, so, essentially, they can "ask for milk" from, you know, BIRTH.
But anyway (I promise to spare you a rundown of the benefits of breastmilk, so bare with me), the World Health Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, and continuing to breastfeed in conjunction with introducing solids for 2 years and beyond. I'm pretty sure most two year olds know how to ask for milk.
In other words, don't be surprised if, say a year and a half from now, you see me out with my daughter somewhere, and she says "Hey mom, can you whip out your tit?" and I say "Sure honey" and proceed to whip out my tit.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
But wait! There's more!
We actually did learn a useful thing or two at the Childbirth Preparation class yesterday.
Perhaps most importantly, we learned what the code word is for "GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF MY ROOM RIGHT NOW". And no, I won't tell you what the code word is, because what if you end up to be "these people"? Then wouldn't it be embarassing for everyone involved if I revealed here that the code word is, say "Graham Crackers", and then you're in my room while my boobs are soaking my hospital gown and I call the nurse's station and say "Hey, I need some graham crackers like whoah!"
Mmmmmm.......graham crackers......
Oh, sorry.
So the other thing is that since ALL of the regular labor and delivery rooms were occupied during the class, the tour took us, instead, to the Birth Center Suite. Which, um, WE WANT. One of the hospitals two birthing tubs (we're hoping for a waterbirth) is in this room. (The other is between two of the regular L & D rooms.) The cool thing (well, one of many) about the Birth Center Suite is that once there, you're there for the duration. It has all the comforts of the post partum rooms, and the accessibility to everything necessary for a non-medicalized birth all right in the same place (they even use simpy a doppler for occassional fetal monitoring, rather than strapping stuff to you or screwing electrodes into your babies head!). This means, of course, that you can't use the Birth Center Suite if you're planning an induction, or an epidural, or any other slew of medical interventions. (Signal sad looks and sighs from everyone else in the class, while BD and I look at each other and give each other a telepathic high five, because we know we won't have to contend with any of them for availability of the room!)
It also has a separate room with a couch and chairs (and maybe even a single bed?) so there is more room for visitors, and just, you know, a spot for you to go other than the queen size bed facing the birth tub, which I'll totally use for baths post-partum, too, assuming they'll let me.
The only other requirement for using this room (it doesn't even cost more!!) is that you've had a complication free pregnancy and no known risks such as Gestational Diabetes, Pre-eclampsia, etc., etc., etc.
So, here's hoping that our pregnancy remains low-risk and complication free, and that no one else beats us to the Birth Center Suite (WHY DO THEY ONLY HAVE ONE?!?!?) on the day of our big event.
Perhaps most importantly, we learned what the code word is for "GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF MY ROOM RIGHT NOW". And no, I won't tell you what the code word is, because what if you end up to be "these people"? Then wouldn't it be embarassing for everyone involved if I revealed here that the code word is, say "Graham Crackers", and then you're in my room while my boobs are soaking my hospital gown and I call the nurse's station and say "Hey, I need some graham crackers like whoah!"
Mmmmmm.......graham crackers......
Oh, sorry.
So the other thing is that since ALL of the regular labor and delivery rooms were occupied during the class, the tour took us, instead, to the Birth Center Suite. Which, um, WE WANT. One of the hospitals two birthing tubs (we're hoping for a waterbirth) is in this room. (The other is between two of the regular L & D rooms.) The cool thing (well, one of many) about the Birth Center Suite is that once there, you're there for the duration. It has all the comforts of the post partum rooms, and the accessibility to everything necessary for a non-medicalized birth all right in the same place (they even use simpy a doppler for occassional fetal monitoring, rather than strapping stuff to you or screwing electrodes into your babies head!). This means, of course, that you can't use the Birth Center Suite if you're planning an induction, or an epidural, or any other slew of medical interventions. (Signal sad looks and sighs from everyone else in the class, while BD and I look at each other and give each other a telepathic high five, because we know we won't have to contend with any of them for availability of the room!)
It also has a separate room with a couch and chairs (and maybe even a single bed?) so there is more room for visitors, and just, you know, a spot for you to go other than the queen size bed facing the birth tub, which I'll totally use for baths post-partum, too, assuming they'll let me.
The only other requirement for using this room (it doesn't even cost more!!) is that you've had a complication free pregnancy and no known risks such as Gestational Diabetes, Pre-eclampsia, etc., etc., etc.
So, here's hoping that our pregnancy remains low-risk and complication free, and that no one else beats us to the Birth Center Suite (WHY DO THEY ONLY HAVE ONE?!?!?) on the day of our big event.
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