pregnancy
Growing your family, one baby bump at a time. All about the ups and downs of nature's 9 month miracle.
Prenatal Massage and Its Benefits
Pregnancy is a special time in any woman’s life. You’re carrying a new life and looking forward to a whole new chapter of your own. Though this part of women's life is beautiful, it can sometimes be a little stressful for the body. After all, your body is going through a lot of changes now to accommodate the person living and growing inside you. To make things easier on yourself, you can make use of prenatal massages.
By Lena Hemsworth7 years ago in Families
Getting Pregnant Naturally
Menstrual cycle The first way to conceive naturally is to make sure that you record the frequency of your menstrual cycle. This is one of the best things that you can do when you are trying to have a baby naturally. This is especially true if you have a regular period, where the days of the period are on the same amount of days each month. You will be able to predict better when you will be ovulating if you are tracking this information on a calendar. When you ovulate, this is when your ovaries will be releasing an egg every month.
By Paisley Hansen7 years ago in Families
The Mountain and The Mushroom
Birds sang their melodies high in the pine trees bathed in the hot sun of mid-spring. The silky strands of web connected grass to twigs, branch to branch, making a hammock for a spider who’s just looking for a place to relax, and for lunch to be served. If I had to let my imagination run wild I would accuse him of looking for a larger snack than a few flies who happened to pass through. Probably something a little more like my face wide eyed with sweat trickling down my temples, as I meticulously scan the soil for any signs of life besides more spiders and caterpillars. The ground was dirt dry, the river was roaring, and somehow the wild flowers found enough water to grow, but the mushrooms laid dormant deep in the earth without even a strip tease of what may come. It was the second time this year my boyfriend and I went Morel mushroom hunting, and found nothing. My brain tried to reason that it was still too early, and maybe the conditions weren’t quite right yet. The other half of my brain played on repeat how I had no clue what I was doing, and half the locations I sought after were merely guesses on maps I threw darts at. It was the beginning of my fourth year as an active forager, my first year as a pregnant forager, and I kind of knew the basics of what Morels needed to thrive, one of them being a recent forest fire. Since our valley is notorious for fires—every year we brace for the damage—I was not lacking in the need of fertile, scorched earth. I just wish I could put the wild in wildfire, since that would be a natural and common thing in our forests to occur on their own, but more often than not it’s caused by a stoner ashing a pipe with too hot cherries, an owl flying into power lines in an electric spark of feathers, or plain intentional arson. Whether it was caused by pure thoughtlessness of human, or a freak accident of birds, it still gave all of us foragers a reason to look forward to every spring, and whatever bounty may follow.
By Jesemynn Cacka7 years ago in Families
6 Reasons Why I'm Not Scared of Giving Birth...
Here I am, in all my 38 week pregnant glory. This was last week though, so imagine me marginally more pregnant now. This baby is very much wanted, so although I appreciate that accidents do happen, in our case it was planned and prepared for, so maybe that has something to do with my mentality. From the day I found out I was pregnant I've been excited, and haven't had many negative thoughts at all. I've had a relatively easy ride of it too, which can't hurt.
By Natalie Fairypants7 years ago in Families
A Letter to My Creations
My first real love, my precious little baby girl, I was so scared when I first found out you was growing inside my body. I was in real disbelief. I was mad, sad, and happy all at the same time. Why?! Well, firstly I was young and had a different life plan. But I guess that's why they say it's not always good to plan, cause sometimes plans don't go as planned. In short "SHIT HAPPENS."
By Born Empress7 years ago in Families
Giving Birth Again 11 Months Later
Luckily for me, giving birth for the first time had turned out to be a much more enjoyable and less harrowing experience that I had anticipated. The fact that I had such a pleasant experience the first time definitely contributed to the fact that I ended up pregnant with baby number two when my son was only three months old. Everyone thought my husband and I were nuts for having a second kid so soon, and I can’t say we planned for her to come so soon. However, I knew I wanted my kids to be close in age and it had taken a while to conceive our first baby, so I felt more excited than overwhelmed at the thought of having another baby so soon.
By Haley Peterson7 years ago in Families
Taking Care of Your Body During Pregnancy
Being pregnant is a very special time in your life that you will never forget. You will get to experience all of the stages and trimesters of pregnancy, and as they come and go you will notice significant changes in your body. The first six to eight weeks of pregnancy are a little rough as your body is adjusting to the spike in your hormones. This often causes morning sickness and there is very little you can do to help it. Eating crackers and getting up slowly in the morning will help ease the symptoms of morning sickness, but some pregnant women have morning sickness all the way through the entire pregnancy. During the second trimester, you will start to gain weight, the baby will start moving, and your breasts will get larger. You should start to feel better by this point in the pregnancy. The third trimester is the last and final one when the baby is almost fully developed and you are definitely feeling the pregnancy weight. You might even be retaining a little water at this point and it may become difficult for you to sleep at night. The baby is usually very active during this phase and it this makes it difficult for you to get comfortable. It’s important that you take extra care of your body during pregnancy so that after you have the baby you can try and get back to some sort of normalcy.
By Paisley Hansen7 years ago in Families
Pregnancy Body Shaming
It takes nine months, more or less, for a woman to grow and birth a new life into this world. That’s 42 weeks. 294 days. 423,360 minutes. In that amount of time, our bodies undergo changes unlike anything anyone has experienced before. Pregnant women go through spiritual, psychological, and physiological warfare within themselves—and more so than not do we talk about the psychological, spiritual, and even emotional portion of this experience. For the most part, we know that you can get postpartum depression, and with that, there are resources directly after birth to help combat that. For example, we are asked, and sometimes given, questionnaires as to how we are feeling emotionally. But rarely do we ever discuss the physiological effects that our society as a whole throws onto us about the way a woman should look immediately after giving birth.
By Japhia Spencer7 years ago in Families
Pregnancy
In early December last year, I found out that I was pregnant. Me and my partner had not been together long and we were already in a sticky situation due to him trying to gain access to see his daughter. Getting pregnant was such a huge shock for me and my partner, as I had previously been told that having children was never going to be an option for me because my womb was deteriorating—not only that, but we were using contraception.
By Deanna Melia7 years ago in Families
Make Room for the Baby: Your Pregnancy Symptom Guide
You're over the moon that you’re expecting, but also a little unsure about what to expect over the next nine months. From fertility facts and myths, to outlining the physical and emotional changes that may happen in each trimester, we’re here to take the guesswork out of being pregnant.
By Paisley Hansen7 years ago in Families
Pregnancy Massage: Beneficial for You and the Baby!
Are you embarking on a new journey in life? Are you starting out in the world of motherhood? Are you waiting eagerly for your little one to step out in this world? If you answered yes to the above, chances are that you are blessed with happiness, and are on your way to giving birth to a bundle of joy. But, pregnancy, as joyful as it can be, is an even more stressful and critical time for both the mother and the baby. Well, sometimes the father too, especially when he forgets to bring to-be-mommy her favourite ice cream.
By Natalie Ige7 years ago in Families
