Bi-Weekly Bump- Week of December 26th

The Chicago School District is in big trouble after alleged pregnancy discrimination

Find out which celebrities are pregnant and expecting in 2015

What would you do if a waitress refused to serve you because you were breastfeeding?

Must read for anyone who plans on having some spiked eggnog this year while breastfeeding

The Irish Government is looking at a young woman’s case who is brain dead and is being kept alive for the sake of her unborn child while the family wants to pull the plug

Kristen Bell gives birth to second child and you will never guess what they named their baby

And you thought breastfeeding was hard, this one mom did it for 3 years with triplets!

Apparently America helped get an imprisoned Cuban spy’s wife pregnant

  

Look at these celebrities are their bumps during pregnancy

Read our best 3 things to do before you try to get pregnant 

Gift Giving Guide- The "Difficult" Person

If you want to DIY:

Olive Oil Infused with Rosemary and Lemon – because who doesn’t love olive oil, you could even throw in a fresh loaf of bread if you have the time

Pineapple Cutting Board – perfect for all the hosting people do this time of year

An Ornament (made out of corks, clay, or fabric)  – perfect gift if you have kids that want to help with the gift giving

If you want to PURCHASE:

Cards – You can buy a nice set of homemade cards from craft fairs and online shops like Etsy. They are all homemade with love and the receiver can use them throughout the entire year

Kitchen Gadgets – You can get them the newest kitchen gadget, a pump for your lemon juice, maybe a spoonula. Wrap it up with a cookbook and the gift is good to go.

Donation to their favorite charity in their name – This is perfect for anyone who says they don’t want/ need anything and they truly mean it 

What do you give to someone who has everything already? 

Gift Giving Guide- The Husband

If you want to DIY:

Bailey’s Hot Cocoa – Easy peasy treat to make and perfect for someone who wants a more low key holiday

Photo Album – What could be more romantic than a cute photo album of the two of you (want bonus points- make it up themed) 

Fortune Cookies – because sometimes you need to write your own fortunes in life 

If you want to PURCHASE:

Watch – Perfect gift to get this time of the year with all the sales

Grill – Summer will be here soon enough (6 months for some of us though) but you can still get him a summer grill.  He might just use it now if you aren’t too buried in snow already

Set of Beer Mugs – Check out your local breweries for custom beer mugs and get him some craft beers while you are at it

What are you getting your DH this year? 

Gift Giving Guide- The Hostess

If you want to DIY:

Homemade Vanilla – Making your own vanilla is so much cheaper than buying it at the store and anyone who bakes will appreciate this gift

Wreath – Anyone would love to put a fresh wreath on their front door

Etched Glass Casserole Pan – Perfect for the hostess who always is cooking and baking for other people

If you want to PURCHASE:

Wine Holder with four glasses and a nice bottle of wine –   We love this one from Etsy

Book – Get any book that you think might suit the person. You could try cookbooks, joke books, autobiographies, or just anything that seems interesting while browsing Amazon

Kitchen Mugs  – Get a nice set of mugs to match their décor and add in some gourmet coffee to make a wonderful hostess/host gift 

Bump on a Budget- Month of December

Signing up for email lists can be great; you can get coupons, free samples, and lots of valuable information.  However if you sign up for too many emails you run the risk of getting your information sold to other companies and then the 5 emails you signed up for daily become 50 or 100 emails.

Before even getting pregnant consider creating a separate baby coupon email using Yahoo or Gmail.  If you get too many emails you can simply just ignore them or close the account when baby comes.  You also don’t have to worry about your personal account getting flooded with emails that you didn’t ask for and don’t want.

Coupons & Sales

SurePredict - 15% our 50 Pregnancy Tests Combo Pack with the code ‘Z3SDGT8V’.  Ends 12/31/2014

Amazon Mom - 20% off diapers if you join a free trail of Amazon Mom

Fisher Price - Free Rainforest Bundle. Details Apply

ViaCord - Enter to win free diapers for a year

Gerber – Free 15 minute phone call with a lactation consultant

Other Money Saving Tips

Say ‘Yes’ To Baby Showers – If your office, your sister, and your mother in law all want to throw you separate showers, let them.  Not only are showers fun, but you can get gifts that will save you money later on.

Shop Secondhand – You can grow out of your maternity clothes quickly so instead of buying a whole new maternity wardrobe, buy a few key pieces from secondhand shops.  Also invest in Belly Bands. For newborns, they grow out of their sizes quick so stock up clothes in a variety of sizes.  Try garage sales (sometimes they sell new clothes or very gently used that the baby only wore a few times), flea markets, and the clearance rack during your pregnancy. Ask your doctor to help guesstimate baby’s size.

Get samples from your OB/GYN – Ask for samples of formula, diapers, and other baby items.  Even a little bit will help you. 

Start clipping coupons – As soon as you find out you are expecting, start clipping coupons for diapers, formula, and wipes.  Stocking up with just a few every month will help you when baby comes and you go through a pack of wipes in one week. 

Avoid buying everything – You don’t need to buy everything for your child right away when you are still pregnant.  Make a budget and try to stick to it the best you can. 

Borrow from friends and family – If you have friends that are pregnant or were pregnant, see if you can borrow maternity clothes from them.  Same goes with baby goods.  Hand-me-downs can go through many children before being worn out since most clothes only get worn a few weeks to a month before being outgrown. 

Learn to love freezer meals – Start making freezer meals during your third trimester (or before if you are too tired to cook while pregnant) and then just pull them out and heat them in the oven when dinner time comes.  This will be healthier and save you tons of money on takeout when your little baby arrives. 

The 3 Best Things I Did Before Trying To Get Pregnant

By Nicole H.

Planning to get pregnant can be very empowering. In a world where so many of us unintentionally get pregnant, there is something to be said about being able to plan this one (or several) event whose repercussions literally last a lifetime.

It's not a luxury that everyone has, but those of us who do have it, have the benefit of laying the foundation of our child's development from as early as the first idea of them.  For women with that advanced notice, I offer you the benefit of my experience – the 3 best things I did before trying to get pregnant.

1.     I talked to my obstetrician/gynecologist.

One thing that may shock you about this conversation with the OB is that laying the groundwork for baby-making can take a few months.  When I walked into the OB's office and announced my intentions to get pregnant and asked what I needed to do, I was shocked to hear that I should be on prenatal vitamins for several months in advance.  What?! I wanted to get pregnant NOW. I'm not going to say whether I listened or not, but that's just one of the many reasons to check in with the doctor before you start on your merry procreating way.

Some other reasons include:

·       Making sure your hormone levels are good.

·       Making sure you're healthy.

·       Testing for risk factors of certain diseases like Tay-Sachs.

·       Checking your iron.

·       Learning your blood type (if you didn't already know).  

Nobody likes surprises, and should something come up while pregnant, it's good to have a baseline for your health pre-pregnant.

2.     I checked out the policies for pregnancy and maternity leave where I worked.

This is one of those things you may think you have down, but you might not.  Look into what kind of maternity leave, if any, there is at your office.  Familiarize yourself with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Also, look into any added benefits your office may offer such as a cafeteria plan to help you with additional expenses like daycare and other medical bills.

A word of caution, however, the workplace isn't always the friendliest place when it comes to women planning to become pregnant. For the higher ups, it means they now have the added stress of doing without you for a period of time or maybe forever.  Only you know your office climate, so just keep it in mind when you start perusing through the handbook and potentially asking questions.

3.     I did the cold, hard math.

Having a child is expensive.  And while you may have heard that money shouldn't make a difference, that you'll "make it work" regardless, that just isn't good enough for some of us.  Make sure you do the salary to expenses math. Don't forget to factor in how much it will cost to add a child to your medical, dental and/or vision insurance.  Try not to get too upset if you come up short.  All that means is that you'll have to get more creative to get the needs of your family met.  And you can.  It doesn't mean you have to give up on your dream.  

Bi-Weekly Bump- Week of November 24th

When exactly can you take your first pregnancy test?

How to deal with second thoughts while trying to get pregnant and what to do about them

The UPS has to show flexibility with pregnant workers with new lawsuit initiated

What are the real risks when co-sleeping with your baby?

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge has ‘strict’ guidelines to adhere to during her choice of clothing for her second pregnancy

Preventive care is the key to dealing with high risk pregnancies

New results in study not linking light alcohol use to low birth rate

What to do when your significant other isn’t excited about an unexpected pregnancy 

And make sure to send us your positive pregnancy tests for our Tumblr blog

Bed Sharing with your Baby

The rise of attachment parenting is on the rise.  Celebrity endorsers of this parenting method include Mayim Bialik, Alicia Silverstone, and Kourtney Kardashian.  Mayim Bialik came under fire when she stated that she breastfeeds her 3 year old son, sleeps with her 2 sons, and has never given either of her sons any antibiotics or medicine.  Alicia Silverstone fed her son Bear Blu by chewing his food and giving it to him through her mouth when her son was still a baby.  There is a fine line between attachment parenting and being a helicopter parent. The main principles of attachment parenting include: Co-sleeping, Baby-wearing, breastfeeding, birth bonding (bonding directly after giving birth), and being there almost 100% of the time for your child. 

The main question is co-sleeping safe or is it dangerous for your child? SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome  is the leading cause of death in infants from 1 month to 1 year old.   But is there a connection between co-sleeping and SIDS.  Some research says yes and some say no.  

The Huffington post reports that a new study and it's findings show an increase in SIDS with parents who co-sleep with their young children. 

"The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, relied on data from 24 states collected between 2004 and 2012 by the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths Case Reporting System. Researchers analyzed a total of 8,207 deaths.

The study defines "bed-sharing" as "the infant sleeping on the same surface with a person or animal." Roughly 70 percent of the infants were bed-sharing at the time of their death, a correlation that was especially pronounced among younger babies.

"Bed-sharing for 0-4 month old babies is extremely risky," Rachel Moon, M.D., a pediatrician and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) researcher at Children's National Health Hospital and an author on the study, wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. "In this study, this sleep situation presented the most important risk for infants in this age group."

Among babies between the ages of 4 months and 1 year, however, the predominant risk factor was rolling into objects in their sleep space.

"Although we always recommend that the infant's sleep area be clear of pillows, blankets, bumper pads, etc., many parents forget the importance of this message as the baby gets older," Moon said. "However, these items are equally dangerous as the baby becomes more mobile." 

--The Huffington Post 

 If you want to co-sleep it is important to understand the risks and how to protect your baby from the dangers.  Investing in a bed side bassinet that sits up against a bed can give you the feeling of closeness but can also prevent you from rolling on top of your baby. If you want to co-sleep please read this article in its' entirety.  

Sources: 

Baby Center 

CoSleeping.edu  

Huffington Post

Medical News Today

Chop.edu

Bi-Weekly Bump- Week of November 10th

Is Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake pregnant?

New study says that DHA supplements may help reduce stress in pregnant women

Brad Paisley spilled the beans- Carrie Underwood is having a BOY!

Veteran Women with PTSD face pregnancy risk due to high levels of stress 

How to manage and deal with those second thoughts while trying to get pregnant?  

The fit shaming of pregnant women needs to stop

Look at these cute celebrity babies all dressed up in their Halloween costumes

And finally make sure to send us your BFP’s (Big Fat Positives for your newbies out there) so we can put them on our Tumblr Page!

The risks with smoking while pregnant

Smoking is becoming less and less publicly acceptable.  I have severe smoke allergies and asthma so when I am behind a smoker on the street I usually stop and wait for about a minute until they are far enough away from me before I continue walking.  The number of times having to do this lately though has become less and less.   Another sign of the changing times is that smokers that stand right in front of entrances forcing nonsmokers to walk through a cloud of smoke to get inside are now considered a nuisance and are given dirty looks.  The number of smokers has gown down in the last 10 years reports Gallup.  Currently there is roughly 1 smoker in every 5 Americans. 

According to the CDC the number of pregnant women who smoke during pregnancy has also gone down.  So how many women smoke during pregnancy?  From the Center for Disease Control, approximately 10% of women reported smoking during the last 3 months of pregnancy. Of women who smoked 3 months before pregnancy, 55% quit during pregnancy. Among women who quit smoking during pregnancy, 40% relapsed within 6 months after delivery. 

This is good news but what about the women who relapsed or didn’t attempt to quit at all?  The 4000+ ingredients in cigarettes has been known to decrease fertility, increase risk of stillbirth or miscarriage, low birth weight,  increase risk of breathing problems for your child, placental abruption, and even birth defects. Below is a diagram that shows just a few of the ingredients that are inside that cigarette. 

How to Deal With Second Thoughts While Trying to Get Pregnant

By Nicole H.

So there you are, trying every position in the book, reading up on old wives' tales about how to get pregnant, tracking your cycle like a bloodhound on the hunt, and then you find yourself having nightmares of screaming babies. Suddenly, the idea of getting pregnant scares you to death. You've developed some sort of superpower that detects the sound of a baby's cry and a child's whiney voice from miles away. Panic has set in.

You feel like a traitor. You and your partner discussed this. You both decided you were ready to get pregnant, but now you're having second thoughts. Are these feelings just cold feet or are they something you should take seriously? Before you put the kibosh on baby-making, try these first.

Don't Ignore Your Feelings

The worst thing you can do is try to pretend that you're all right with everything. If you do that, you might make it worse, undermine your relationship with your partner, and actually make a very normal feeling into something much bigger. Take a deep breath, acknowledge that you are having doubts, and deal with them.

Communicate with Your Partner

If conception is a team effort, you need to tell your partner how you feel. One seed of doubt can destroy a relationship. It can lead to you avoiding intimacy and leave your partner feeling confused, hurt, and alone.

“Be open and honest.”

The best thing you can do is to be open and honest with your partner. Share your doubts and fears with them. They may be able to alleviate those fears and put you right back into the game, or they may share similar fears they've been having. It's OK to take a minute to regroup and reassess your feelings on pregnancy and having a baby.

Talk with Trusted Friends Who Have Kids

Who better to go to about second thoughts on baby-making than someone who already has kids?  Find a friend that you know will be honest, preferably one with older kids, get them alone, and pick their brain. They can share with you the gritty details – good and bad – of pregnancy and parenthood. And if you really want to see your girlfriend glow, ask her how she felt the first time she heard "I love you, Mommy."

Talk to Your Parents or a Close Relative with Kids that You Trust

What if you don't have a friend with kids?  Maybe you’re the first in your group to be going on this journey. Try one of your parents, a close aunt, or a cousin. The view may be a bit biased, especially if your mom is known to gush about what a darling little angel you were as a child, but they still have a wealth of knowledge to share. They can tell you how they dealt with their own fears and handled parenting challenges.

The most important thing to remember when you're trying to have a baby is that every parent becomes a parent for the first time. Everyone has had fears about it on some level. Take ownership of your fears, talk them out with your partner, and get some advice from those who have already gone down that path. Try to remember what started you down this road in the first place, and trust that with a little discussion, you can right your compass again. In the end, you'll feel more comfortable with your decision, and your relationship with your partner will be better off because of it.  

Did you have second thoughts tying to get pregnant? How did you cope?

Bump on a Budget- Month of November

Signing up for email lists can be great; you can get coupons, free samples, and lots of valuable information.  However if you sign up for too many emails you run the risk of getting your information sold to other companies and then the 5 emails you signed up for daily become 50 or 100 emails.

Before even getting pregnant consider creating a separate baby coupon email using Yahoo or Gmail.  If you get too many emails you can simply just ignore them or close the account when baby comes.  You also don’t have to worry about your personal account getting flooded with emails that you didn’t ask for and don’t want.

Coupons & Sales

BabyRUS - Select baby items are up to 60% off.  No code required
SurePredict - 20% off our SurePredict 20 Ovulation and 5 Pregnancy tests Combo. Use the code 'WZQBKR7D'.  Ends 11/30/2014

Amazon - 50% off of select baby items. No code required

Target.com - Free shipping. No Code Required

Kohls - $10 off any purchase of $40+ in women's sweaters. In store and Online

Vera Bradley - New baby collection out and free shipping on purchases over $75.  No Code Required.

Other Money Saving Tips

Say ‘Yes’ To Baby Showers – If your office, your sister, and your mother in law all want to throw you separate showers, let them.  Not only are showers fun, but you can get gifts that will save you money later on.

Shop Secondhand – You can grow out of your maternity clothes quickly so instead of buying a whole new maternity wardrobe, buy a few key pieces from secondhand shops.  Also invest in Belly Bands. For newborns, they grow out of their sizes quick so stock up clothes in a variety of sizes.  Try garage sales (sometimes they sell new clothes or very gently used that the baby only wore a few times), flea markets, and the clearance rack during your pregnancy. Ask your doctor to help guesstimate baby’s size.

Get samples from your OB/GYN – Ask for samples of formula, diapers, and other baby items.  Even a little bit will help you. 

Start clipping coupons – As soon as you find out you are expecting, start clipping coupons for diapers, formula, and wipes.  Stocking up with just a few every month will help you when baby comes and you go through a pack of wipes in one week. 

Avoid buying everything – You don’t need to buy everything for your child right away when you are still pregnant.  Make a budget and try to stick to it the best you can. 

Borrow from friends and family – If you have friends that are pregnant or were pregnant, see if you can borrow maternity clothes from them.  Same goes with baby goods.  Hand-me-downs can go through many children before being worn out since most clothes only get worn a few weeks to a month before being outgrown. 

Learn to love freezer meals – Start making freezer meals during your third trimester (or before if you are too tired to cook while pregnant) and then just pull them out and heat them in the oven when dinner time comes.  This will be healthier and save you tons of money on takeout when your little baby arrives.  

Vitamins to use while TTC

If you are TTC are pregnant, your body needs more vitamins than ever before.  A lot of the information out there can be confusing and misleading. 

Here are our top picks for vitamins that you need.  All of these vitamins are available at your local drug store or Target. 

Folic Acid – Helps prevent birth defects and increase fertility

Multivitamin – Studies have lined women taking a multivitamin to lower ovulation problems

Zinc – Zinc contributes to ovulation and fertility in women and also semen and testosterone production in men, according to the American Pregnancy Association. “It has been noted that zinc deficiency can correlate with impaired sperm production,” says Burger. The Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health recommends that men receive a daily intake of 11 mg of zinc and women take 8 mg. Oysters have more zinc per serving than any other food, but you can also consume other foods rich in zinc like whole grains, other kinds of seafood, beans and dairy products.

Iron – Pregnant women need around 27 mg of Iron per day.

Calcium – Nutrition experts recommend that women looking to get pregnant should consume around 1,000 mg a day, because when you do become pregnant your growing baby will need calcium. 

Bi-Weekly Bump- Week of October 27th

Can marathoners keep up with their training during pregnancy? One woman says yes!

Jessica Biel and husband Justin Timberlake may be pregnant says new sources as she was seen buying baby goods

Woman told to stop breastfeeding her son in her OB/GYN’s office

Lots of celebrities are pregnant right now—here is the full list

How to tell your parents and in-laws that you’re pregnant

Duchess Kate resumes her royal duties as her second trimester of pregnancy begins

How to job hunt while pregnant and why it is harder than you think

How to survive chemo and breast cancer then find out you are pregnant

Is this the end of pregnancy and the start of the ‘artificial womb’?

And finally make sure to send us your BFP’s (Big Fat Positives for your newbies out there) so we can put them on our Tumblr Page!

Halloween Safety Tips

In less than 2 weeks, another Halloween will be upon us.  This means free candy, cute kids in costumes, Hocus Pocus, and did I mention free candy? Unfortunately, Halloween is also the most dangerous holiday for children.  To be proactive and to try to prevent any injuries this year here are top tips for safely on and around Halloween.

1.       Drive Slow— drive around 10 mph maybe even less in neighborhoods where there are kids that are trick or treating.

2.       Wear reflective clothing and put reflective stripes on strollers, bags, etc— Even if your child is dressed up like a minion and wearing a neon yellow shirt, still put reflectives on them. Buy cheap reflective strips on Amazon and put them on your stroller or wagon if you are using one. You top goal is to make sure you can be seen by anyone who is driving by. 

3.       Check all candy and only eat unopened sweets— Don’t eat any candy until after you are back home and check look at it in good light

4.       Dress for the weather—Here in upstate New York, some Halloweens it has been close to 80F out and some years it is snowing outside.  Check your local weather before you go out and make any minor adjustments to costumes to accommodate the temperatures.

5.       Make sure the pathway to your house is well lit—Parents might have strollers or wagons that need to get up to your door. Make sure that they can see clearly by turning out your outside lights. 

6.       Always walk on sidewalks or paths. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible.  Children should walk on direct routes with the fewest street crossings.

7.       Don’t let children under the age of 12 go trick or treating without an adult present. 

8.       Bring a flashlight with you for those just in case moments.

9.       Put electronic devices away and pay attention while trick or treating.

For more Halloween safety tips visit the Center for Disease Control’s Halloween webpage and remember to stay safe.  

Quiz: What's Your Baby Making IQ

Ever wondered what your knowledge is about getting pregnant? Do you know everything that needs to be known or are you still a novice? 
Take our quiz below and find out where you stand...

Quiz: What's Your Baby Making IQ?  

If the quiz isn't working, take it here 

Did you do as well as you thought were going to do?

Pre-pregnancy lifestyle impacts gestational diabetes risk

Most women during pregnancy try to do everything perfect for their unborn child; they sleep more, eat healthy food, take prenatal vitamins, and they stay away from anything that could be harmful like tobacco and alcohol. Recent studies have proved that your lifestyle before becoming pregnant can be as important as your lifestyle during pregnancy. 

A woman’s lifestyle before pregnancy can affect whether or not she could develop diabetes during pregnancy.  

The Chicago Tribune reports:

"Healthy eating, regular exercise, healthy weight and no history of smoking before pregnancy were each powerfully linked to whether women would develop "gestational diabetes," according to a new U.S. study.

Women with all four healthy lifestyle factors before becoming pregnant were more than 80 percent less likely to develop gestational diabetes than those with none of them, researchers found.

Dr. Cuilin Zhang, the study's lead author from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland said that a healthy diet is essential in pre-pregnant women to reduce the risk of gestinational diabetes. “A healthful diet was one higher in intakes of vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, polyunsaturated fatty acids and long chain omega-3 fatty acids and lower in intakes of red and processed meats, sugar sweetened beverages, trans fats and sodium” said Zhang.

For instance, being a non-smoker, getting in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week and maintaining a healthy diet was associated with a 41 percent lower risk of gestational diabetes, as compared with all other pregnancies. Another factor to look at is the BMI of the women.  A healthy BMI is that of 25 of below.  You can calculate your BMI here with this online calculator. 

The study cannot prove that lifestyle factors do or do not cause diabetes directly because it is based only on observations, the researchers note in their report in the journal BMJ.

The results are also limited by the fact that most of the study population was white, and obesity rates were lower than in the general population, they add, so the findings may not apply more broadly. "

This article was summarized using information from the Chicago Tribune which can be found here. 

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1BGbV61 BMJ, online September 30, 2014.

Bi-weekly Bump- Week of October 13th

Blake Lively is pregnant and here is how the internet reacted to it

Is drinking will pregnant ever OK?

BPA exposure during pregnancy can be linked to lung problems in children 

Kelly Rowland shows off her very pregnant self in a new photo shoot for Elle Magazine

Are baby friendly hospitals hurting new mothers?

Young pregnant women need better dental care says new research

Kelly Clarkson brought her daughter River Rose on set of her new music video

Eating healthy while pregnant is a whole lot harder if you are poor

Holly Williams welcomes daughter Stella June

Here are some pre and post-natal exercises for pregnant women

Lots of celebrities are pregnant right now; here is the complete list of babies that will be born in 2015

And finally make sure to send us your BFP’s (Big Fat Positives for your newbies out there) so we can put them on our Tumblr Page!