The debate about the two options (and really there is a third, you can do a combo of both) has really heated up over on MomLogic where freelance publicist Christina Montoya Fiedler admitted that breastfeeding was not for her and then got a smattering of both positive and negative responses from moms.  One breastfeeding proponent mom went so far as to tell Christina that she was “selfish” and didn’t care about what was best for her baby.  Hey ladies… perhaps breast isn’t always best?!  Just because something works for you doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for everyone.

Be sure to check out Christina’s update on MomLogic and see what other moms had to say in response to her original blog post, “Breastfeeding Is Not for Me.”

How ’bout you mamas… did you experience Braxton Hicks contractions? Leave a comment and tell ChitChatMom all about it!

My hubby actually offered me a pair of his gym shorts this morning. It was sweet, but it certainly didn’t do much to improve my feelings of being the size of a house!  I’ve gained almost 30 pounds at this point and on my small frame (I’m 5′1″ tall and was a 6 petite before getting preggers) 30 pounds is a significant amount of weight.  

So what’s a prego to do?  Shop around for some additional affordable maternity clothes or just start wearing my hubby’s gym shorts around the house with oversized tee shirts?!  Actually, the gym shorts option isn’t bad until the day I have to leave the house for an appointment and truly have nothing to wear!

The real problem probably stemmed from a particularly greasy and bad for you lunch I’d had several days before our trip that stopped up my system like the Hoover Dam.  Anyhoo… when the now infamous hemorrhoid decided to make his presence known and unavoidable on the second night of our trip I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital.  In fact during a fit of tears (’cuz it really was excruciating) I asked my husband if we could go to the hospital.  Did he think there was anything that they could do for me?  Like the wonderful hubby that he is he looked gently into my eyes and told me he didn’t think there was anything they could do for me or my butt. 

After 24 hours of pain, tears, sitz baths, tucks pads and my husband lovingly applying hemorrhoid cream (we’ve nicknamed him the “Butt Nurse”… which he does not love) the little sucker actually ruptured.  Now when you’re preggers… the very last thing you want to see in your undies is blood.  However, when you’re preggers, with hemorrhoids and starting to wonder how you’re ever going to go through labor if a hemorrhoid hurts this bad, then when you see blood and can identify that it’s coming from your “ruptured ‘roid” and not your vajajay…. you throw a little thanks to the big guy upstairs and relax.  It’s true I actually did pray to God to help me with my hemorrhoid and praised him when He did.  Apparently He has extra special time to help pregnant mamas.

After it ruptured I was able to rejoin the family for the rest of the weekend and had a very nice time.  Since then I’ve become an everyday Metamucil drinker (at the advice of my Dr.) and am avoiding foods that could potentially clog up my system.  I am well aware that the “pushing” during labor can cause hemorrhoids to flare up and I’m willing to go through the pain again, anything for the baby girl, but if somehow I can avoid them I am totally in favor of going that route.

The mom, Elizabeth Adaney is eight months preggers and conceived using IVF in the Ukraine (clinics in the US and Britain supposedly won’t perform the procedure on mothers over the age of 50). According to ABC News, Adaney is a successful businesswoman who doesn’t think that her age is all that relative.  She claims she feels like she’s 39.  Umm… I’m not sure I can buy that.  If I’m concerned about my age, and only half hers… maybe it does (or it should) matter.  Or maybe it only matters to me.  Like I said before, I believe that all life is precious and every baby is a miracle and I certainly wish Elizabeth’s child all the blessings in the world.  I’m just concerned that this mother and child aren’t going to have many quality years together.  But who knows.  Oprah’s health guru Dr. Oz says that those of us that take care of ourselves have a shot at living much longer lives.   

So what do you mamas think… miracle or mistake to conceive at 66?

They got me in right away and hooked me up to a machine that monitored the baby girl’s heartbeat and movements as well as any uterine contractions I might be having.  Luckily… no contractions.  Amen for that!  I’m 26 weeks prego and did not want to be spending the next 13.5 weeks on bed rest or worse delivering an extremely premature baby girl.

After determining that baby was fine the Dr. did a lovely internal exam and found some old blood clots… YUCK!  But, as I mentioned before, they were old.  She’s not sure how or why they got there but seemed to feel that everything was alright.  She did however want to go ahead and have an ultrasound done so that she could see my cervix and confirm that it was still completely closed and still thick.  The result of the ultrasound was that the cervix is doing it’s job.  Way to go cervix!  (Never thought I would be cheering for my cervix.  Oh how pregnancy changes everything).  

The bonus of having the ultrasound yesterday was that the hubby and I (he rushed over as soon as I called to tell him I was going to the Dr.) got to see the baby girl and even got to see 3D pics of her.  We had our growth scan ultrasound scheduled for next week but since they were able to do it yesterday we probably won’t be having another ultrasound with this pregnancy.  Barring any complications we won’t be seeing the baby girl again until she makes an appearance at the hospital (and hopefully not the backseat of the car on the way to the hospital).

I have to say I am amazed at technology.  Getting to see her little face was so precious and helped to relieve the sudden anxiety that I was experiencing after seeing blood where I wasn’t supposed to see it.  I’ll be going back to the doc’s next week for a follow up appointment and to do the blood glucose screening.   Can’t wait to drink that super sweet sugary yuckiness that I keep hearing about from all my girlfriends.

The night before last I had a dream that I was a journalist, working in a foreign country, holed up in a hotel room reporting on the ongoing war in the streets below me.  This may stem from the fact that I am constantly wondering what in the world Richard Engel’s (NBC news correspondant) mother thinks every day when she sees her son reporting from places like Baghdad and Tehran.  My dream involved a bunch of hoodlum  kids breaking the window of my hotel and throwing a grenade in, which I promptly threw back at them.  I then opened the door to my hotel and lectured these young men about the fact that I was pregnant and just trying to do my job.  Couldn’t they go somewhere else and just leave a poor, tired, hungry pregnant woman alone? In my dream, even though they had grenades and guns, they ran away in fear.  Either the protruding belly or my wild eyes must have scared them off.  Now why in the world I  had this dream,  I don’t know.  Maybe a combination of fear about someone trying to hurt me and my baby and the drive to protect her at all costs… oh yeah, and the Richard Engle thing.  Who knows?!

Last night’s dream (at least the one I remember) was just plain wacky.  For one reason or another it took place on foreign soil again.  I think it started off in a South American country and then progressed to London, England.   Anyhoo… the gist of it was I was a fashion model (which if you knew, my measurements is a joke… I’m not even 5 feet 2 inches tall) and everyone was amazed that I had given birth just ten days ago.  They all kept commenting on how great I looked and if they were ever silly enough to have a baby that they would want my body.  They then proceeded to cover my face in tentacles (think something out of Pirates of the Caribbean) and shoot photos of my in couture gowns.  I woke up wondering if the pizza that hubby and I had ordered for dinner last night had been such a good idea. Where did this dream came from?  I’m thinking it’s a combination of the fear of being able to recapture my pre-baby figure in a reasonable amount of time (and I realize ten days ain’t gonna happen) and the tentacle thing is about the morphing that’s taking place in my own body right now. My cankles seem to be here to stay and even my watch is fitting tight.  Never thought my wrists would get in on the baby-body action.

So what about you preggers mamas out in the mom-o-sphere… are you having any wild and wacky prego dreams?  I have a feeling I’m not alone.

Want to know more about what your pregnancy dreams might mean? Check out the article about pregnancy dream meanings on BabyZone.com.

It probably doesn’t help that no matter what TV channel I switch to, swine flu is the headline.  My concern was also increased when the front page of Yahoo this morning announced that the first confirmed U.S. swine flu death has occurred in Texas and was sadly a 23-month old child. This is scary stuff.  There is no vaccine for swine flu as of yet.  The CDC is working on one but don’t expect that they’ll have it ready until May and production times would mean that a vaccine for the general population would still be a couple of months away. It is especially concerning for pregnant women (in my opinion) as the drugs (Tamiflu and Relenza) that are recommended for treating the swine flu are considered to be “Pregnancy Category C” medications and no clinical studies have been conducted about the effects they may have on pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Now, I’ve had my flu shot for the year and I’ve been really healthy.  But that “standard” flu shot isn’t going to protect me against swine flu.  So the way I see it my only form of protection is to be smart about it and do things like limiting my interaction with people that could be sick, wash my hands regularly, use antibacterial gel, continue to take my prenatal vitamins, drink lots of fluids, eat healthy and hope to goodness gracious that I don’t get exposed to it.

I work in a small office so the chances that I would come in contact with someone with swine flu is minimal.  However, some of my coworkers have kids, grandkids or live with kids… and I figure kids just aren’t as careful about precautionary methods like washing their hands and using antibacterial gel on a regular basis.  I also worry about making stops at the gas station or running out to grab something to eat at the neighborhood deli. 

Okay, now even I’m questioning whether or not I’m going overboard with this thing.  I guess what it comes down to is that my instinct to protect my child (dare I call it motherly instinct) has set in.  I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep the baby girl in my belly safe.  If getting the swine flu meant that I would guarantee that she would be protected from it, I’d head for the border of Mexico immediately.  But since it seems that doing the exact opposite is my best bet… I’ll be hiding out here at home and working from home for the rest of the week.  How funny is that?  Working from home is exactly what I wanted… I just didn’t think the swine flu would be the thing to provide it.

What about you?  Are you a preggers mama freaked out by swine flu or do you have young children that you’re worried about sending to school?

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Fortunately today is my monthly check-up at my OBGYN… and you better believe that swine flu makes the top of my list of questions that I’ll be taking into the room with me.  Here’s my entire list, for those that are curious.

1. Swine flu – How worried should I be?  What can I do?
2. What can I do to help the back pain that I’m experiencing?
3. How often should I feel the baby girl kick?  (I feel her multiple times per day now)
4. Have you ever heard of Pediatrician X?  
5. I have a couple of weekend trips planned at the end of May, is it safe for me to travel then? 

I did some research to try to find you preggers mamas some good info on pregnancy and swine flu and unfortunately there isn’t a lot of solid info out there.  There was however a list from the Centers for Disease Control for people with confirmed or suspected “swine flu” infection.  Here’s the paragraph that directly relates to pregnant women:

Pregnant Women

Oseltamivir, zanamivir, amantadine, and rimantadine are all “Pregnancy Category C” medications, indicating that no clinical studies have been conducted to assess the safety of these medications for pregnant women. Only two cases of amantadine use for severe influenza illness during the third trimester have been reported. However, both amantadine and rimantadine have been demonstrated in animal studies to be teratogenic and embryotoxic when administered at substantially high doses. Because of the unknown effects of influenza antiviral drugs on pregnant women and their fetuses, these four drugs should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the embryo or fetus; the manufacturers’ package inserts should be consulted. However, no adverse effects have been reported among women who received oseltamivir or zanamivir during pregnancy or among infants born to such women.

Now… that’s not the simplest paragraph to read, so you might want to glance over it a couple of times or read the entire recommendation from the CDC, “Interim Guidance on Antiviral Recommendations for Patients with Confirmed or Suspected Swine Influence A (H1N1) Virus Infection and Close Contacts.”

Luckily, Sunday was the day that my girlfriend and I visited the baby boutique I mentioned in my Baby Sunday post and they just happened to have adjustable rings specially intended for mommies-in-waiting.  I snagged one immediately.  It wasn’t cheap.  The rings retail for $115.00.  However, I figured it would make a great keepsake for DD someday.  I’m planning to put it in a little treasure box for her that will contain things like her first tooth, first locks of hair from first hair cut, etc.  

The ring is made by a company called Tiny Baubles and features an inscription inside the silver band.  It is appropriately called the “Waiting Band”. There were several inscriptions to choose from and I chose the “One Love. One Life.”  Waiting Band.

Again, I bought mine in a baby boutique but it is available online. I checked out the Tiny Baubles website and it looks like you can order from their online store if any of you preggers mommies (or none preggers mommies suffering with swollen fat fingers thanks to the heat) want to have one for yourself.  It would also make a great gift for a pregnant girlfriend or sister.  

I’ve worn mine every day and it is so much more comfortable than trying to fight to get my wedding ring on.

Other inscriptions include;

• Little One
• Miracle
• Always

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