Get that baby swimming!

When I was a new mother, I was extremely cautious about keeping water out of my baby's face and ears.  Bath time took a long time!  I felt like she hated the water, even though she was really happy during bath time.  What I failed to consider, was that she had just spent 9 months fully surrounded by water, and that in reality, it probably felt very comfortable for her.

When she was 6 months I put her in a Mommy and Me swim class.  One lesson they made me dunk her, and I thought that I was the worst Mom, and that she may not survive the whole ordeal.  I was wrong.  She is now a total fish, and even on the swim team.

Recently, I spoke with a friend who is a very successful swimmer and swim teacher.  She has tough tons of kids to swim, and even had her own kids swimming by a year old.  I asked her what all parents need to know in order to help there kids love the water, and get them swimming as soon as possible.

Here were some of her tips:

~Never keep the water out of their face.  From bath #1 dump cups of water over their heads, and splash them.  This way they will always be used to the water.

~Get them in the pool as soon as you can.

~Let someone else teach them to swim.  They will have a much higher success rate with a professional who is not so emotionally attached.

Get those babies swimming, you will be glad you did.  From experience, the sooner they learn the easier it is to teach them.

Deals

In this economy we are all struggling.  If it isn't bad enough trying to find a way to pay our mortgages and car payments, we have to buy  food, add to that diapers and you might have a real crisis on your hands.  We all know that diapers are not cheap!  If you are feeling the strain like I am, you will be happy to hear that you can get diapers for really cheap, if not even free if you just look for deals.  I have searched the web and found a great resource for getting free stuff, from diapers, to food, and more.  This week I found a posting that I wanted to share HERE. Can you believe the deals that are out there?

We can survive if we are smart.  You just have to know where to look.

And the winner is...

We let Random.org select a winner for our fabulous Lia Sophia Giveaway.  The lucky winner is:

RACHEL!  Congrats.  Don't forget to enter to win the Target card!

Top 5 Fave Baby Shower Games

#1 Has to be the "Guess the Poopie Diaper". This is where you semi melt different candy bars and smear them in the diaper and the party goers guess what kind of candy bar it was.

#2 "Feed your baby" is pretty funny. You can do this in two ways. The first that I have seen done is where people pair up. One is the baby and one is the mommy. The mommy feeds the baby the baby food and which ever couple is done first wins. I have also seen this done with bottles and individuals have to drink from a bottle. Whoever finishes first wins.

#3 "Guess Who". This one takes some planning and effort but is really cute. Display pictures of the guests (include mom and dad to be) when they were babies and then have everyone try to guess who is who.

#4 "They said what?" As the mom to be opens her gifts write down a few phrases she says. When she is finished tell the group it is an old wives tale that what the mom to be says as she opens her baby shower gifts are the same things she said the night the baby was conceived.

#5 "Sock Toss" Buy several pairs of baby socks with different patterns toss them in the air onto the floor and whoever can make the most matches wins! This one can get wild and depending on the number of guests you will need to have a good amount of socks.

Tell us some of your favorite baby shower games!

Epi or No

One of your biggest decisions about labor and delivery will include whether or not you have an epidural. I found a few different sources reporting different statistics, but between 50% and 70% of women having a hospital birth receive an epidural. There are both pros and cons to receiving an epidural. One advantage is that you have a more restful and less painful labor and delivery. However, when you choose an epidural you put yourself at risk for side effects and possible nerve damage to when the epidural is placed.
This has been my experience:
Birth #1:
I wanted to go natural. I figured I was built to go through labor and to deliver a baby. People warned me about the pain, but I still felt that natural was the best way to go. I was shocked by the pain to be honest. Luckily my labor was fast and I went from a 0 to 10 in about 4 hours. However, as I started pushing it was clear that part of my cervix wasn't completely dilated and I started to swell and went back to an 8. I gave up and got the epidural. This made me throw up but at least the pain was gone. I was so relieved, it was like the relief of Heaven. It then took two hours to dilate the rest of the way again because sometimes the epidural will slow down your labor. I then gave birth to my first son. I couldn't feel anything and I had never done it before so I couldn't push. The nurse laid on my belly and pretty much pushed the baby out.
Birth #2:
I was going to go natural again (I think there is something that women have in their brains that make them forget labor so they will do it again!). As soon as my labor pains really kicked in and the memories started rushing back, I told my husband I WANT THE DRUGS!! Too bad for me though. We were on Guam at the time and no anesthesiologist was at the hospital and had to be called in. By the time he arrived I was dilated to a 9 and it was too late. I delivered my daughter completely natural and it was awesome. I felt everything as she was delivered and I thought it was really cool. My recovery was super fast too after this delivery. I felt like I hadn't even given birth. It was a great delivery and recovery.
Birth #3
As soon as the pain started and I started screaming, I opted for the epidural. I just wanted the baby to be born peacefully. My first two were hard and I worked. I felt good about my accomplishment and very empowered, but for some reason, I just wanted to be calm and peaceful with this delivery and I knew that I couldn't have that without the pain being gone. This was my best labor experience. My husband and I chatted and laughed all through the labor. I knew how to push from my last baby and even though I couldn't feel it, the delivery was fast and I didn't need any help from the nurse this time! The doctor even said I had been the best pusher of the night!! I sort of wanted a plaque or something but I guess they didn't do that!!
Birth #4
I had to be induced because my little miss was going on 11 days late. Once my labor really got going I decided again to get the epidural. This time it only worked on half my body. It was really weird. I totally felt everything on one side while the other side took a vacation. It was helpful though because it literally cut the pain in half. Delivery was the same. I felt baby move and slide out on the one side.
I found out later that sometimes and for some people the epidural may not even work at all.

So, I kind of got a wide range of experience with the whole epidural thing. As always, we say do what is best for you. I personally think any woman can go natural if that is what she wants to to, but if you have a hard time with pain, it really is a more peaceful experience when you do it painlessly.
What do you all think? Epidural or no?

Last Chance

Just a heads up, our give away will end this Thursday March 5th so get your entries in!! We will announce the winner on Monday and a new give away this Friday!! Stay tuned!! Also, if you hadn't noticed we are trying to keep our give aways listed first, new posts will be under the current give away for future reference! We hope that will be more clear from here on out.
If you have any questions or ideas for posts, please contact us and we will be happy to research or share our insights on whatever you all are thinking about!!

Womb Mates

My mom is a fraternal twin (so, not identical, in other words, was her own egg) and always refers to her twin brother as her womb mate, which I think is pretty cute. They were born in the 50's and back then they didn't do ultra sounds or anything like that, but my grandma knew she was having twins. This was her 3rd (out of 6) pregnancy and her symptoms were just different than her first two. She gained weight and her belly grew a lot faster, had worse morning sickness and she said, "I just knew!" If you can believe it, despite my grandma's concerns, the doctors didn't listen much to my little grandma. Finally, they had to admit she really was growing at an incredible rate. The only way then to know for sure back then, was by having an x-ray taken (WOW! Today that is like a huge NO-NO!! Maybe that is why my mom is a little crazy!! Just kidding mom!). Sure enough there were two little babies shoving each other around in there and my grandma got the satisfaction of being right!!

I grew up thinking I would have twins myself. They say the odds increase if you yourself are a twin, your mother is a twin or your mother's mother is a twin. So with every pregnancy I crossed my fingers hoping I would get my twins. It never happened for me, but I did get my last two babies 13 months a part and after that realized how grateful I was I never did get those twins I had wished for!

With the OctoMom, John and Kate plus 8, and all the celebrity twins there is obviously some kind of something going on in regards to multiple births. Studies show that there has been an obvious increase in the occurrence of multiple births, but no study can directly link it to fertility treatments and drugs, which I find interesting, I can't imagine what else could be linked to it?

So what if you are having a multiple birth?? Could it really be that different? Well, I would thinkYES!! First, during pregnancy you will simply get bigger than in a single fetus pregnancy and you will get bigger faster! During a typical pregnancy you can increase your calories to about an extra sandwich (300 calories) per day but with multiples you should eat about 300 extra calories per fetus! Can you imagine having to eat that much while full of babies?? You would be eating all day long!! In general most of your symptoms may just be heightened. Your morning sickness may be longer and more intense. Your aches and pains may be worse and the onset may be earlier than in a typical pregnancy. It is also likely you will have your babies early. If you are having twins, you are more likely to deliver around your due date and 70% of the deliveries recorded as early were still within normal and safe ranges. However if you are having triplets or more the odds increase by a %100 that you will deliver early.
Since I have not had the opportunity to carry more than one baby at a time, maybe some of you out there can enlighten us more. . .what were the biggest differences for those of you that had a multiple birth?