Posts Tagged ‘Pregnancy Tips’

Things We’ve Read – Week of October 6th

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You’re a Stay-At-Home Mom? What do you DO all day? (The Matt Walsh Blog): A husband defends the value of the work that mothers do in caring for their families.

Breakthroughs in Screening (NYTimes): A new minimally invasive prenatal test yields extremely accurate results using fetal genetic fragments found in the mother’s blood

To Medicate or Not Medicate (The Huffington Post): For moms-to-be managing anxiety/depression medication (or non-medication) during pregnancy, this article offers 6 helpful cognitive-behavioral therapy tools.

After the I.V.F., the Wait (NYTimes): Amy Klein describes the two week wait after her first IVF.

Sean Penn Film ‘Human Experiment’ Explores Potential Dangers of Toxic Chemicals in Household Products (ABC NEWS): In his new filmm Sean Penn is taking on the risk of exposures to environmental toxins in what were once considered innocuous.

Things We’ve Read - Week of September 9th

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10 Questions Everyone Needs to Stop Asking Pregnant Women: Jessica Ciencin Henriquez, a guest blogger on HuffPo implores readers to heed her advice and mind the boundaries of pregnant women by canning it on certain questions, like “Was it planned?” Good Grief.

The Unnatural Mom: We love this honest perspective and think it’s a true tribute to every mom’s freedom to do things her way. Krista (“kinfante”) discusses her decisions about what aspects of her pregnancy decisions she wanted to be “natural” and why the “unnatural” paths might inappropriately judged.

Hair Tips: Organic vs. Natural: From the hair community Bangstyle, Audrey Adrine discusses the important misunderstandings about organic haircare.

An Herbal Approach to the Cold & Flu Season: Mothering’s Amy Paolinelli and Melanie Mayo actually speak in the context of helping children through their colds and flus, but we think this is a great article for pregnant women who want to keep it all-natural when they’re feeling under the whether - think peppermint, elder, garlic and more …

Braids are Back!: Refinery29 tells us that we can channel Little House on the Prairie again when we’re doing our hair in the morning. Per observations at NYC’s recent Fashion Week and R29′s spot-on expertise in style, braids are popular this fall - tight, loose, high, hanging … And this link has 10 great examples.

 

 

Top Tips for Flying When Pregnant

Traveling by plane this holiday season? Air travel is typically considered safe during pregnancy, though we always recommend discussing your travel plans with your doctor/midwife in advance. Nonetheless, it can take some extra preparation to make the trip as comfortable as possible.

Here are our top tips for ensuring smooth and comfortable air travel:

1. Check if You Need a Doctor’s Note. Some airlines will not allow pregnant women on board flights once they are late into their last trimester unless accompanied by a doctor’s note. That said, we know that many of you are busy women – some of whom work and travel even into the last trimester. Make sure to check what the airline’s flying policy is for pregnant women and bring a permission slip from your doctor to avoid any hassle at check-in.

2. Make Use of Restrooms Prior to Boarding. One of the best pieces of advice given to our founder, Grace, during her pregnancy was to go to the bathroom right before boarding. Trying to go to the bathroom before taking off can be hectic with other passengers trying to board. Also, it avoids a crisis if the plane gets stuck on the runway with the fasten seatbelt sign on!

3. Take Advantage of Early Boarding Options. It may take you a little longer to settle in. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of early boarding options with airlines that allow them – you might as well get used to it since you’ll need it once you start traveling with baby!

4. Don’t Lift Your Own Luggage. Lifting heavy objects above your head while pregnant is a big no-no. With a shifted center of gravity and looser ligaments, joints and connective tissues from pregnancy hormones, you can risk falling or injuring yourself. If there is one time in your life when you can ask for assistance, it is certainly while you’re pregnant. Ask a fellow passenger or a flight attendant to help get your luggage up or to bring it down from the overhead bins. Travel with luggage that can be easily rolled around to avoid heavy lifting as well.

5. Consider Booking an Aisle Seat. Let’s face it, it is inevitable that you will have to use the restroom at least once while on a flight, especially as you progress later into your pregnancy. Consider booking an aisle seat so you can avoid having to climb over other passengers every time you need to go to the restroom. In addition, it will also make it easier for you to get up, walk around and stretch on longer flights to help with blood flow and circulation.

6. Wear loose clothing and comfortable shoes. Tight clothing can affect your circulation, especially while sitting for long periods of time. Pregnant women who fly are at a higher risk of developing a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), which is a blood clot in a deep leg vein. Compression socks may also be helpful, but they should be fitted by a doctor in order to be fully effective. Our favorite outfit is a long, comfy sweater with black leggings and a pair of cool, high-top sneakers (who says you can’t look stylish while pregnant?!).

7. Drink Lots of Water! Of course this is important whether you are traveling or not, but air travel can cause dehydration. Make sure to grab a bottle of water once you pass through security, or bring a bottle and find a water fountain to fill it up. Airlines like Virgin America now provide water bottle refill stations inside their terminals.

8. Pack Your Own Snacks. It is almost impossible to find healthy, organic alternatives at airports. Pack your own snacks for the flight to avoid resorting to fast food. Making your own snack mix by blending nuts, dried fruit and granola from the bulk aisle at your grocery store is a great option. We are also in love with Dr. McDougall’s Vegan Pad Thai Noodle Soup. You can carry the bowl on board and have the stewardess provide you with hot water. The packaging is BPA-free and unlike other instant noodles, these contain NO MSG.

Happy Flying!

Top 9 Free Pregnancy Apps and Baby Apps

Your iPhone and iPad can really come in handy during pregnancy and with a newborn. Here’s our review of the 8 best free apps for Pregnancy and Baby, in our humble opinion.

During Pregnancy:

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1. CineMama - This app was just recently released. It allows you to keep track of your growing bump by allowing you to store your baby bump photos by calendar day!

 

 

There are a ton of pregnancy apps out there, but we found two apps from the popular pregnancy resources - What to Expect When You’re Expecting and BabyCenter.com - to have the best content. These apps will keep you current on your baby’s growth and development in the womb. They will send you an alert every week to tell you about how your baby is growing and developing inside you. It’s fun to have this information at the tip of your fingers so while waiting in line or on your commute to work you can scan these for information about pregnancy and your baby. They’re also great resources for health and diet during pregnancy.

 

2. Pregnancy Tracker from What to Expect When You’re Expecting - Apart from providing helpful information about your pregnancy, you can keep a photo log of your growing bump through this app.

 

 

 

 

3. My Pregnancy Today from BabyCenter - Not only is there a day-by-day tracking of your baby’s progress, this app has a helpful weekly checklist to keep you on track with health, nutrition and preparing for your baby’s arrival! It also has cool videos on birth and newborn care.

 

 

 

4. Full - Term Labor Contraction Timer - Better than a stopwatch, this free app will help you time and record contractions, including start time, end time, and frequency. This is a great app to upload on your husband’s phone as well!

 

 

 

After Baby is Born:

 

5. iBabyLog - This app is great for keeping track of your newborn’s schedule - it covers feeding, diaper changes, nap times, pumping and sets reminder if you are putting your baby on a schedule. For working moms, the best part is that this information can be synced to different devices so if your caregiver inputs information, you can get updates throughout the day on your iPhone or iPad at work.

 

 

 

6. White Noise - Newborns find a lot of comfort in white noise and it helps soothe them, since it replicates the sound they heard while in your belly for 9 months. This free app provides different white noise sounds like rain falling and ocean waves, which you can play while out with your baby and you don’t have your sleep sheep handy.

 

 

 

7. iSitter - This is a brilliant free app that allows you to simulate a baby monitor. All you need are two iPhones or iPads or one of each. This app allows you to sync two of these devices so that you can leave one in the crib with the camera pointed at the baby and take the other device with you to monitor the baby’s sounds and movements. It’s great for travel when you don’t want to bring the monitor with you.

 

 

 

 

8. 23Snaps - Don’t feel like sharing your baby photos with the entire world on Facebook? 23Snaps let you create your own private social network to share photos of your baby with close friends and family.

 

 

 

 

9. Amazon Mobile - Need diapers, wipes or need to restock on Nine Naturals? Use the Amazon app to order quickly everything you need right to your doorstep.

 

 

 

 

Toxin Exposure During Pregnancy

I’m not going to lie, this week has been a particularly rough week. Everyone assured me as I suffered through morning sickness in the first trimester that the second trimester would be better - “Don’t worry - you get TONS of energy in the second trimester. You’re going to feel great!” But sometime between last week and what is now my 21st week, exhaustion and fatigue hit me like a ton of bricks. I saw my doctor yesterday for my monthly check-up and asked her if I was sick, to which she replied, “No, you’re just pregnant.”

For a minute, I was jealous of my baby, seeing her on the monitor of the ultrasound at my doctor’s office, curled up in the fetal position and sleeping. I’ve had to really push myself mentally through my workday this week even as my body has been yearning for my bed. It’s amazing how challenging, both physically and emotionally, the pregnancy can be - as I’m sure all of you out there can relate! Unfortunately, the timing for this fatigue couldn’t be worse, as we are busily preparing for the launch of our new Nine Naturals product line.

That said, there is no better motivation for Nine Naturals than bringing a life into the world. I’m constantly encouraged by the fact that we are changing the way women approach their beauty routines that help themselves, their babies and the environment around them. The latest issue of Scientific American featured an article, “Toxins All around Us” about the toxins in common consumer products and how scientists are increasingly concerned abut the impact of even small chemical exposures particularly on women and their fetuses:

 

“Scientists have become increasingly worried that even extremely low levels of some environmental contaminants may have significant damaging effects on our bodies—and that fetuses are particularly vulnerable to such assaults. Some of the chemicals that are all around us have the ability to interfere with our endocrine systems, which regulate the hormones that control our weight, our biorhythms and our reproduction. Synthetic hormones are used clinically to prevent pregnancy, control insulin levels in diabetics, compensate for a deficient thyroid gland and alleviate menopausal symptoms. You wouldn’t think of taking these drugs without a prescription, but we unwittingly do something similar every day.

An increasing number of clinicians and scientists are becoming convinced that these chemical exposures con­tribute to obesity, endometriosis, diabetes, autism, allergies,cancer and other diseases. Laboratory studies—mainly in mice but sometimes in human sub­jects—­have demonstrated that low levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in­duce subtle changes in the developing fetus that have profound health effects in adulthood and even on subsequent generations. The chemicals an expecting mother takes into her body during the course of a typical day may affect her children and her grandchildren.”

I’m glad to see that scientists are finally sounding the alarm on the impact of chemicals on women and their babies. As moms-to-be we have the especially significant and often daunting task of doing the best for our bodies so that our babies are well-nourished and supported as they develop in the womb. Consumer products companies in turn, should take responsibility in creating products that don’t pollute our bodies and our unborn children! In the meantime we do our best to avoid chemicals where we can - in our beauty products, our food, our household products and elsewhere - to reduce the levels of exposure to our babies. We’re proud that Nine Naturals can provide you with healthy beauty alternatives during pregnancy. It puts me at ease as a mom-to-be as I hope it does for you too.

Grace

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