Some of the Strange and Fun Experiences and Facts About Being Pregnant

An interesting slideshow on the Australian Mother and Baby website, which can be linked to here, talks about some of the stranger aspects of being pregnant. Some of them are very cute, so I will share some of them here.

The first interesting fact that is not widely known is that you only need 200 extra calories a day when you are pregnant in order for the baby to have enough nutrition. A normal healthy woman should gain only about 25-35 pounds, so if you are adding this amount of daily calories, it is easy to stay within the normal range. This extra caloric need can be satisfied by, for example, an extra slice of toast and a banana with your breakfast meal.

Something else not many people know is that when you become pregnant, and especially when you find out you are pregnant, it takes a very long time for your pregnancy to be noticeable. Then, if you don’t tell people, no one will ask you for quite a while, because they do not want to offend you if you are not pregnant.

Something that most people do know is that when you are pregnant, your hormones are totally crazy. You may burst into tears over nothing, or start fights with people over some perceived offense, when you normally would not act that way.

Another great article about fun and interesting facts of pregnancy can be found by clicking on this parents.com link. The first interesting fact they mention is that you will stop traffic whenever you cross the street when you are pregnant. Also, many people will look at your growing belly and smile, since your being pregnant has made their day brighter somehow. Of course, we all know this doesn’t happen with everyone, but it does happen sometimes.

When you are pregnant, you might notice that you can eat a whole pint of chocolate ice cream without feeling guilty. And you can repeat the same thing every night. You can also eat pickles with the ice cream, and think it tastes great! Or some other food combination that when you are not pregnant would thoroughly disgust you, but when you are pregnant, it sounds like heaven on earth.

You also take lots of naps when you are pregnant, and again, you don’t feel guilty or lazy when you do this. You also get to watch your husband turn into a daddy when “he kisses your belly goodnight, reads to the baby in utero, and stays up until 3 am putting the crib together – just in case the baby decides to come eight weeks early.” :-)

You don’t feel quite so embarrassed in a bathing suit, since you want to show off your belly instead of hiding it. You also get to imagine the possibilities. And my favorite from their list is the incredible anticipation. It is the most exciting anticipation of your life waiting for the baby to be born.

So these two lists had some really cute and interesting fun facts about pregnancy, and I hope you enjoyed reading them. For more cute and interesting pregnancy facts, you can visit our twitter page, where we tweet about pregnancy pretty often, as well as our facebook page, where more fun and cute pregnancy facts are often shared. Click here for our twitter account, and here for our facebook page. You can also visit our pregnancy massage page by clicking here.

Pregnancy Products Every Mom To Be Should Have

This article will present some of the best items for moms-to-be to have during their pregnancy. Some products are available on Amazon, Babies R Us, and other websites. Pregnant women can also benefit from a pre-natal or post-natal massage to help with the aches and pains that pregnancy brings, as well as to balance their hormones to make the birth easier and promote healthy lactation and nursing.

The first and most important product every pregnant woman should have is a maternity or pregnancy pillow. There are many to choose from, but some are much better than others in terms of support, firmness, and areas addressed. The most popular maternity pillow is the Boppy pillow. This link will take you to Amazon's Boppy pillow offering. This is the pillow I have used on many pregnant women. It has removable pieces, so that you only use what you actually need. The same pillow can be found at Babies R Us by clicking here. You can read reviews of this pillow by following this link or this link

Some people do not like the Boppy pillow, because it might separate at night if you are a toss and turn type of sleeper. Then you have to search for all the other parts when you wake up in the middle of the night. The concept is sound though, since some people are not comfortable sleeping on their sides, but that is all they can do when they are pregnant. So, for those who want a one piece pillow, the Snoogle might work for them. The Snoogle is a full body pillow with a part that goes behind the back to keep you on your side, as well as between your legs and next to the belly, and a separate part that goes under your head. Click here to buy it on amazon. Here is a similar product made by Babies R Us that might be slightly less expensive than the brand name Snoogle. Here are some reviews about this pillow from Babies R Us. You can also read some reviews on babycenter comparing the two pillows here.

Another must have item that has come highly recommended from both older and newer moms is the maternity support. This straps around your back, and helps to hold some of the baby's weight in a more evenly distributed manner. It can help somewhat with leg and back pain, as well as with your posture. You can find it by following this link. You can check out the reviews for this product here. Some people who used it found relief, and some just found it uncomfortable. Purchasing from Babies R Us or Amazon would give you a pretty flexible return policy if you don't like it.

This next item is by far the cutest in this article. It is a pre-natal listening system made by Summer Infant. It allows you to hear your baby's heart beat, coughs, hiccups, and any other sounds that they make. It even comes with two sets of earbuds, one for dad and one for mom! It gives you a similar effect to an ultrasound, except without the visuals. You can purchase it from Babies R Us here. You may want to buy a higher quality set of headphones than the ones included in the package, since that was the most common complaint of the reviewers.

A really cute and creative product also offered by Babies R Us is the ProudBody do it yourself pregnant belly painting kit. This kit includes everything you need to paint your rounded belly in all sorts of pretty and symbolic designs. The paints are FDA approved, water based, and non-toxic. They will not harm the mother or the baby by using them. There are eight paints in this kit, and it is a great idea for an activity your other kids can do to help them bond with the new baby before it arrives. You can find the item on Babies R Us here. You can also find it on Amazon by clicking here. The same company makes a belly casting kit, which also includes paints for after the cast has been made. This is great if you don't want to paint your belly, but still want to be creative with your growing belly, or if you want to always remember what your belly looked like as it grew. These can be linked to in the similar products area of the links above.

Psi bands acupressure wrist bands are also a mommy to be must have! They can help to relieve nausea, from motion sickness or morning sickness, or just general pregnancy nausea. The kit contains two bands, which are meant to be worn at the same time. They are no more cumbersome than a wrist watch, and have a similar design. You can find them on Babies R Us at this link (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12448402&prodFindSrc=prodCrossSell).

Another alternative to help with morning sickness are the Organic Preggie Pop Drops. They are drug free with all natural and organic ingredients that have helped some women to find relief from morning sickness and general nausea. You can find them by clicking here.

And, of course, there are the ever important pre-natal vitamins. Pre-natal vitamins can also be prescribed by a doctor, but sometimes a woman needs more of a boost in the vitamins she needs during pregnancy. Some vitamins may have less of certain nutrients and more of others, so it may be a good idea to supplement with another pre-natal vitamin. A good one to try are the vitamins made by FoodScience Laboratories, and listed on Amazon's website here. You can also try Deva Vegan Prenatal Vitamins if you are a vegetarian and would like a supplement that is not sourced from animals. You can buy them from amazon here

Many times, the vitamins prescribed for you are sourced from animal products, and also contain other fillers that you might wish to avoid. The March of Dimes has found through their research that many birth defects are caused by vitamin deficiencies, particularly folic acid and other B-vitamins. Their research has played a role in gaining acceptance in the medical community for pre-natal vitamins for all women who are pregnant.

While some of the items in this list are more important and essential than others, I hope you have found this list to be helpful in determining what items you might need for your pregnancy. One thing that is often overlooked is self care for the pregnant woman. Your body needs help relaxing, and could also use some help in balancing hormones, among other things. A pre-natal massage can help with both pain and hormone balance, both during the pregnancy and after.

It has also come to be more accepted among physicians when a woman is complaining of aches and pains, or when she has a hormone profile that is not ideal. With the products listed above, as well as several pre-natal and post natal massages, a woman can have a happy, healthy pregnancy with fewer new pains developing, and with much greater ease in both the birthing and nursing process. When planning for your needs during pregnancy, these are definitely some things to take into consideration. If you found this information helpful, or would like to contact me, I would appreciate your feedback on this topic. Feel free to suggest other items that every mom to be should have that have not been mentioned in this list.

Study Shows Benefits of Massage Are Boosted by Frequent Sessions

A recent study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, and reported in the Emory News Center, which can be linked to here, has shown that the biological effects of massage therapy are boosted when multiple massage sessions are received. The effects of massage that have been studied previously are cumulative and sustained. The persistent effects can last from a few days to a few weeks, and are dependent on how many sessions a patient received.


Read more by clicking here.

Pre-Natal Massage is Widely Recognized For Its Many Health Benefits

In recent years, many studies have been published about the benefits of pre-natal massage for all pregnant women. Some of these studies have indicated that massage therapy can bring a reduction in depression, anxiety, as well as the well-recognized pain benefits of massage. There is an article that was posted on americanpregnancy.org that talks about these benefits.

A lesser known benefit to massage therapy, but extremely important for pregnant women, is its hormonal benefits. These benefits tend to be twofold. First, it reduces the amount of norepinephrine and cortisol, which are the stress hormones. Second, it increased dopamine and serotonin levels, which are the feel good hormones which are lacking in depressed individuals. When these hormonal changes occurred, there were fewer complications during the actual birth, as well as a lower incidence of newborn complications than among the general population.

Another benefit that was described in the article was that some of the swelling associated with pregnancy (which is actually a normal part of pregnancy that is caused by some of the hormonal changes) was reduced by regular massage. The swelling that occurs in the lower limbs can often become painful when it is caused by the pressure of the uterus on vessels that supply and remove blood and lymph from the lower extremities. Massage therapy was shown to help "reduce collection of fluids in swollen joints, which also improves the removal of tissue waste, carried by the body's lymph system."

Another great benefit of massage therapy for pregnant women is the reduction of sciatic nerve pain. Anyone who has ever experienced this pain for themselves is aware that it can be excruciating. Anything that can help reduce or remove this pain would be welcome, and it has been shown that massage can do just that. While it is caused by the pressure of the uterus on the pelvic muscles and lower back, which then spreads pain to the surrounding tissues, causing nerve impingement, it can be significantly reduced during pregnancy with regular massage therapy.

In addition to these benefits, massage may also help to improve sleep in the last trimester of pregnancy. This is notoriously a time when sleep is difficult, because of the increased pressure and size of the abdomen, as well as being required to sleep in a position that is uncomfortable or unfamiliar. Regular massage therapy, likely through the same hormonal changes described above, can help improve sleep.

Unlike with other modalities and forms of massage, it is especially crucial to have a massage therapist that is specially trained in prenatal massage, for the safety of the pregnant woman and her baby. Post-natal massage is also extremely helpful, and studies regarding that will be covered in another article.

Parenting By Connecting: An Excellent Modern Concept

If you haven't heard about connected parenting, it is an interesting concept used by many parents in the modern era to raise their children with kindness instead of by other forms of discipline. Many people in this current generation of new parents can remember being raised with yelling, strong words, and shame. While we believe that this is the best way to raise a child, there are alternatives which may in the long term be more effective for raising children who are well adjusted and happy.

Handinhandparenting.com in their article accessed by clicking here talks about this new type of parenting. They talk about when you were a kid, and being reprimanded in front of others. Most often, we remember the shame, but not the actual lesson or words that our parents were trying to convey to us. The writers of this article feel that this harsh type of discipline is not very effective, and does not need to be practiced on our own children. In other words, the cycle of shaming and harsh discipline can be changed, and we can practice a new type of parenting.

This type of discipline comes from the basic feeling that our children are bad, and that they must be punished. While the punishment is supposed to have the effect of making them not repeat the same actions, all too often it simply causes more acting out, more aggression, and the need for more of the same type of discipline.

However, the type of parenting talked about in this article starts with the fundamental view that your children are inherently good. That perhaps in the heat of the moment, they have forgotten that goodness, and have chosen to act out of fear or anger. But you, as their parent, are uniquely capable of showing them love, and thus bringing them back to themselves. Perhaps it is helpful to realize that you also have moments when you are not being your best self. Moments when you lash out or act from a place of fear. Moments when you are overcome with emotion and your best judgement flies out of the window. When your children have the same situation, it might be better to realize that they are like you rather than starting to yell or try to cause them to feel shame.

When the mind of a child is overrun by emotions, then "..no amount of lecturing, explaining, or reasoning you do while he is in this state will help him access his better judgment. He hit, he kicked, ...because his mind was overrun by feelings." So, the proposal of the authors is that a connection with you will restore your child to a calmer state of mind. What this means is that a small quiet nudge with few words will be more effective. Calm words that bring a limit to the offensive behavior, without also bringing shame or yelling, can help to calm the child out of their emotional tense state. Most importantly, you bring your love and understanding. The child is not seen as bad, only the behavior. You stop the behavior, and then bring love.

When you bring the limit to your child, without reprimanding or shaming, you show them that you know that they are good, and that when the emotions have lost their grip, they will be back to their usual self. When your child is disconnected, practicing this type of parenting can help to bring connection. When your child is off-track, these actions on your part can help bring the limits to their behavior that is needed. Then, they may have a tantrum, they may cry, they may just express their feelings to you in words. In the words of the article, "You can be confident that your example, day in and day out, shows your child all they will ever need to know about generosity, thoughtfulness, caring, and sharing."

It would seem that this method of parenting holds a great deal of promise for raising children in a loving and kind way, helping them to learn to set limits on their own behavior, and getting away from the harsh discipline methods that have been used in the past. Since it is a new method, there is less reliable research to go on that this technique is effective, but it would seem that there will soon be happier, better adjusted kids who were raised in a loving, connected way, while still learning that there are limits to what they should do.

Massage therapy is also being used to help children deal with the stress of their lives and emotions. If you would like to learn more about massage therapy, please click here to visit our kids massage page.

Valentine's Day: The Origins of the Holiday

So, some people may be wondering what the origins of the Valentine's Day holiday actually are. I mean, we all know that we exchange gifts of love, we get our loved one roses, chocolate, and massages, but does anyone really know why we do these things?

According to the wikipedia entry, the holiday of Valentine's Day was actually created in honor of several saints with the name of Valentine who were martyred in early Christendom. The stories of their martyrdom may have been confused with the stories of other saints who were also matryred in the same, or even in different, periods of time.

One of the saints with the name Valentine was imprisoned in Rome, and questioned by the Roman emperor of the time, Claudius II. The Roman emperor attempted to convert Saint Valentine to the religion of pagan worship practiced by the Romans. Naturally, this was unsuccessful, and Saint Valentine was executed. He was reported to have performed a miraculous healing on the daughter of his jailer, whose name was Julia. He is reported to have written her a note that was signed as "Your Valentine." After his death, his jailer Asterius and his entire household of forty four people believed in Jesus and were baptized.

This same Saint Valentine was reported to have have performed Christian weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. According to these same legends, Saint Valentine was said to have cut heart shapes from red paper and given them to the Roman soldiers to remind them of their vows and of God's love. Saint Valentine is also said to have worn a purple amethyst ring engraved with an image of Cupid, since this symbol of love was allowable by the Roman government of the time.

Centuries later, many of these origins have long since been forgotten, but these great saints have become permanently associated with love and affection. Exchanging of gifts signifying love and affection still remains in our modern society, although in many cases the gifts have become more elaborate. Whereas in centuries past, lovers may have exchanged hand written notes and candy to show their love and affection, today lovers may exchange roses, chocolate, greeting cards, and spa or massage gift certificates. One of the more popular modern displays of love is to give your spouse or loved one a couples massage, where you both receive a massage together. Such a relaxing event is often the prelude to a romantic evening which may include an elaborate dinner prepared by a chef, a candlelit dinner, perhaps even taking in a movie either at home or at the theater, or even attending a Broadway show.

We welcome your comments below on what your idea of the perfect Valentine's Day might be. Do you have dinner out or in? Chocolates, flowers, candy, and cards? A movie at the local theater or in your home (Netflix or Amazon)? Let us know what are your favorite traditions, and we might use your contributions in a later blog :-)

Chocolates, Roses, Candy, Couples Massage? Just a Few Traditional Ideas to Make Valentines Day Special

For couples who enjoy the traditional and simple pleasures of Valentine's Day, it is rather simple to create a traditional Valentine's Day celebration at home. There is an interesting article discussing just that, which can be found by clicking here.

The first item on my list would be a romantic couples massage in your home. While all of the traditions that are below are wonderful, there is nothing like starting the evening with complete relaxation and stress relief. While this is lower on their list, I would put it to number one, and even recommend that it occur in the afternoon, so that the evening can be reserved for more quiet and traditional activities.

You can also present your loved one with a gift certificate for a couples massage, allowing you to have a quiet romantic evening on Valentine's Day, with the promise of a romantic spa day in the future.

For a traditional Valentine's Day, flowers are the most essential and number one on their list of traditions for Valentine's day. Roses, carnations, a bouquet of pretty flowers, and even nowadays a bouquet of fruit so that the flowers can be eaten instead of dying after a few days. Edible arrangements can be called upon to provide these types of bouquets, and of course, 1800flowers is the simple way to get flowers from your local florist from one central location.

On their list, the next two items are chocolates and chocolate candy. Hersheys and Russell Stovers are my favorite picks for chocolates, although the M&M's with personalized love notes that they suggest is a fabulously romantic idea! You can put all kinds of romantic little messages to your loved ones on m&m's candies.

Love poetry for your loved one, created by you, is the next traditional item on this list of traditions. While there are apps to create love poetry, it doesn't have to rhyme, and original is always better. Next on their list is mood music. There are lots of apps that can create romantic music serenades to play in the background. You already know your loved ones' favorite music, and it is easy to use an app like Iheartradio or Pandora to create a playlist tailored to your loved one.

When it comes to Valentine's Day traditional gifts for your loved one, whether you have been together a long time or a few months, jewelry tops the list of many people. A simple heart necklace, or a beautiful ring decorated with small diamonds is a beautiful reminder of the love you share that will last forever.

The last traditional activity shared by the article is to see a movie together. Many couples will go to a movie theater to see the latest romantic comedy, but maybe you are more the type who wants to spend time at home watching a movie. Amazon allows you to rent their movies for a night at a very reasonable price, and if your flat screen tv is attached to your computer, then a streaming movie would be perfect.

If you are not interested in going the traditional route, we have posted another article talking about unique ideas that you can do for Valentine's Day. They are just as romantic as the ideas here, but are more original and non-traditional. If you would like to see this article, please click here.