Mom Question: Glucose Test Crash? July 10, 2009

Hi,

I am a mom to be in my 25th week of pregnancy. Today I had to have my glucose screen (the one with the 50ml of goo?).  The test went well (no diabetes) but when I came home after lunch I just CRASHED OUT!  I am still kind of tired and that’s after I naped for an hour and a half.  Did this happen to any one else? Is it normal? Should I tell my doctor about my crash or is this something like what happens to kids when they have too much sugar?  If anyone can give me some feed back, I’d really appreciate it!!

Thanks

PostPartum: Your Body Before & After Baby July 8, 2009

As all Mother’s know, it can be hard to shift that baby weight. There is a wonderful site called “The Shape of a Mother” that is helping women to celebrate their bodies before and after birth. If you are interested check out
The Shape of a Mother

NSFW as there is some nudity.

The mission statement of the site is as follows:

“It is my dream, then, to create this website where women of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities can share images of their bodies so it will no longer be secret. So we can finally see what women really look like sans airbrushes and plastic surgery. I think it would be nothing short of amazing if a few of our hearts are healed, or if we begin to cherish our new bodies which have done so much for the human race. What if the next generation grows up knowing how normal our bodies are? How truly awesome would that be?”

Mommy Moment: Inspiration for the Independent Mother! July 8, 2009

While I was at the clinic the other day, I noticed I was the only one there alone with my baby!!!
All the other mums there had their husband, mother-in-law or both with them.
I didn’t feel sorry for myself or lonely, though — it made me feel proud of myself that I was able to manage it by myself (with the help of my lovely baby, of course!).
It made me realize what a great job we are ALL doing birthing and raising babies in a foreign country.
It is harder without our families of origin around, baby or kids’ products we are familiar with, even easy and cheap access to our regular foods!
So give yourself a pat on the back for your awesome work taking care of your baby here!!!!! Good on YOU! I’m proud of us!!!!!!!!

Mom Question: Placenta Policy May 25, 2009

This might be a long shot, but…

Does anyone know the general policy regarding placentas here? Do they allow you to take it with you, or are they pretty firm with declaring it medical waste?

Logically, I would think they would allow mothers to take it with them given the rich history of burying the placenta here, but maybe modernization has done away with any sense of that custom…

Also, for those who found out the sex of their babies, what week did your doctor say anything (for births in Korea and outside of Korea)?

Thanks!

Mommy Moments: Inspirational: Real Mothers (A poem)! May 10, 2009

Mommy to Mom to Mother

Real Mothers don’t eat quiche; they don’t have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn’t come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don’t want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask ‘Why me?’ and get their answer when a little voice says, ‘Because I love you best.’

Real Mothers know that a child’s growth is not measured by height or years or grade…
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother…

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE – My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE – My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE – My Mother doesn’t really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE – Mom doesn’t know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE – My Mother? She’s clueless.

18 YEARS OF AGE – That old woman?!

25 YEARS OF AGE – Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE – Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE – Wonder what Mom thinks about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE – Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Mom Answer: Overdue, hmmph! April 30, 2009

Hi~

Just wanted to share this info with anyone whose caregiver is telling her that her baby is “overdue” and pressuring her to get an induction/c-section to start her birthing. Of course, we all know that normal pregnancies can last 37-42 weeks but those pesky doctors can be persistent! (I call it my guess date or guess month as suggested by the Hypnobabies program.) ^^

In addition to asking for your Bishop’s score and ignoring sonogram interpretations that you have a “big baby,” you might use the following information to help support your decision to wait for your birth time to occur on its own.

The 40 week gestation model (280 days from the first day of last menses or 266 days from presumed ovulation) was put forth by Franz Naegele more than a hundred years ago. It is based on the idea that a woman’s menstrual cycle is 28 days and that gestation takes 10 cycles.

A study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, in 1990, revealed that gestation time is not one-size-fits-all (surprise!). Factors such as age, race and whether or not a woman has birthed before can be used to factor her so-called due date.

In summary, the study found that median gestation time for 1st time mothers was 41 weeks and 1 day and 2nd/more time mothers was 40 weeks and 3 days.

I found this journal article referenced in my Hypnobabies homestudy workbook. You can purchase the full text of the study or find more quotes from it online. I have only read the abstract, which should be noted, only describes findings based on “private-care White mothers.”   I don’t know if there are significant differences for various racial groups or for White moms using other types of care. Here is the article info:

The Length of Uncomplicated Human Gestation
MITTENDORF, ROBERT; WILLIAMS, MICHELLE A.; BERKEY, CATHERINE S.; COTTER, PAUL F. Obstetrics & Gynecology . 75(6):929-932, June 1990.

Abstract:
By retrospective exclusion of gestations with known obstetric complications, maternal diseases, or unreliable menstrual histories, we found that uncomplicated, spontaneous-labor pregnancy in private-care white mothers is longer than Naegele’s rule predicts. For primiparas, the median duration of gestation from assumed ovulation to delivery was 274 days, significantly longer than the predicted 266 days (P=.0003). For multiparas, the median duration of pregnancy was 269 days, also significantly longer than the prediction (P = .019). Moreover, the median length of pregnancy in primiparas proved to be significantly longer than that for multiparas (P=.0032). Thus, this study suggests that when estimating a due date for private-care white patients, one should count back 3 months from the first day of the last menses, then add 15 days for primiparas or 10 days for multiparas, instead of using the common algorithm for Naegele’s rule.

Mom Question: Clingy after colds? March 31, 2009

My Anonykid came down with an ear infection, sore throat and chest congestion last week.  He had a very high fever for 2 days and has been on antibiotics which he hates taking for 5 days now. When he had the fever, he slept a lot and for a long time (like all day and most of the night).

Once his fever broke, he became extremely needy and clingy.  If I didn’t lay with him we would go to sleep.  When he fell asleep (and I’d try to go take advantage of the break)  he would wake up crying within minutes of me leaving the bed. He started nursing for 30minutes or longer as well! It is really wearing us out. I told the doctor but she just laughed. Does anyone have an ideas or advice? Do you think this will pass…how do I keep my sanity in the mean time? Thanks!

Mom Question: Signs of teething…at 11 weeks? March 31, 2009

Hi

So last Friday when my Anonykid woke up,  he was like a different baby.   He has always been a “high need” baby, but this time he was extremely cranky.  He’s not eating or sleeping well (though he was before).  He’s also salivating A LOT and wetting his bibs and shirts…(he did that so much he developed a chin rash).  He spends a lot of time chewing/sucking his fingers and getting especially frustrated with his itchy cradle cap.   It seems that he is teething, which is strange because he’s only 11 weeks old.  When I check him he doesn’t have a fever and his fontanel has  not dipped (we keep checking because he’s not eating well).

Our next appointment  is  coming up and I’m wondering if  should I go early and have the doctor check him out.  Maybe she could confirm if he is in fact teething (we checked his gums but don’t see any evidence).

My question is….
WHAT DO I DO??!! I feel so helpless to take away his irritation/pain

Mom Question: Pump and bottle Recommendations? March 18, 2009

Hi everyone~

Hope you are all well! Personally, I’m tired! My Anonykid was one month old yesterday. He’s so cute. I love him to bits.  I’m planning to buy a breast pump and some bottles/nipples. I don’t have to go back to work or anything. I would just like to have a small freezer stash in case of emergency and also to pump maybe one bottle worth per day for my hubby to use during feeding. I guess I don’t need a super-duper hospital grade pump.

Any recommendations for breast pumps and bottles/nipples? Also, I know practically zero about pumping, so any tips about it would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance! Enjoy the warm weather!

Mom Question: Wake to feed? March 4, 2009

Hello marvelous mummies and mommies!

I hope you are all doing well. I have been reading the posts and I need some advice about breastfeeding.

So far, I have been waking my anonykid to feed him every three hours (if he didn’t wake up by himself and want to feed). He is gaining weight (I can see him getting a little chubbier each day) and my milk supply is good, so waking him to feed has been good in that sense.  I read in some books and on the internet that feeding this often helps to ensure a good milk supply. That’s why I have been doing it.

But now, I’m starting to think that I am disrupting his sleep too much — I pretty much always have to wake him at night to feed him and often during the day too. Then, after I wake him to feed, sometimes he can’t fall asleep again and so he  stays awake too long and gets overtired. Also, it seems he is just not hungry that often! He sometimes has a snack for only five minutes or so and then I can hardly wake him again (this happens most often at night). If I persist, I CAN wake him and get him to eat another five minutes but I’m starting to feel like I am forcing him to wake/eat when he just doesn’t want/need to. He is two weeks old now.

What I think is . . . I think I want to stop feeding him by this schedule and let him set his own schedule.  On the other hand, I don’t want to do this if it would have a negative effect on my milk supply, or on him.

I want to know, if you have time to share, what you did with your baby/babies, regarding waking them to feed. I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences.

Thank you!!!! We each of you a hug and a kiss!

Anonymom