Nursing Mamas Can Be Sexy, Too!

One of the biggest things new mothers have to combat after giving birth is their new body image. For 9 months, your body changed and developed into something entirely different than it was before. Beautifully encasing a growing baby, your body is (for most) easy to cherish during that time. Then the baby comes and it's as though your body morphed into something not-so-desirable in the snap of a finger. All of the sudden, you realize that you're overweight, have a very flabby belly, your thighs and butt are larger than they were before, and your boobs aren't nearly as perky.

While I am the first to say that mother's bodies are beautiful and the media has it totally wrong to consider the only form of beauty to be unhealthily thin models with large curves in very defined places (and forget stretch marks, or puffy eyes, right?), I am also the first to understand how hard it is to accept our new bodies once we become mothers. It's pretty tough to be sleep deprived, give of yourself so much in every way to those around you 24-hours a day, and somehow still feel beautiful.

After LoveBug's birth, it wasn't an option for me to do anything but breastfeed. I was so committed to it that I practically lived with my breast pump at all times since I had to work full time +. With breastfeeding also came the nursing bras...and boy, are they ugly! What is it with frumpy looking old-lady-beige colored nursing bras? Why didn't it occur to someone that us nursing moms need an extra boost of self confidence? I once heard a male coworker state "why would you need to wear a sexy bra after you're married? No one will see it..." I rolled my eyes.

It took me a very, very long time to find sexy nursing bras on the market that fit me (size 32huge--how would it make YOU feel if even Victoria's Secret didn't even carry your size?). Most of them are very expensive (at least to the cheapskate that I am), but I think they are totally worth it. So ladies, throw out your frumpy beige bolder holders, and stock your drawers full of these:

Hot Milk Lingerie

http://www.hotmilklingerie.com

From New Zealand, they sell matching bra and panty sets, include 3/4 cup size for pregnant and nursing mamas. Not only this, but they also have a few lingerie "nightie" selections, some pj's, and a camisole.  Bras average around $60.00 and sport dramatic names like "Her Midnight Charm Was Striking" and "Tamed By Her Sensuality." Oh, yes. I snagged an "Awakened By Her Desire" bra over Black Friday and am happy to report that the fit is pretty good, and it's a very sturdy bra. I thought the lace overlay was cheesier in real life than in the photo, but it's still 100x better than the beige. The nursing enclosure, like most nursing bras, leaves a strap in place where the cup would be when you open the nursing flap.

Cake Lingerie

http://www.cakelingerie.com

From their website: "Cake was born in 2008 when its founder; Tracey Montford yearned for beautiful lingerie during her pregnancy. All she could find was matronly, high cupped, uninspiring and unflattering product which did nothing for her self esteem and pride, during this period of vulnerability" ...Can it be said any better than this? This company is one that really gets it. In fact, they began a "Real Mums, Real Fit" campaign, using NO models and doing NO touch ups for stock photos. How much closer to awesome can a company get?! Their bras also retail for around $60 and matching panties are also available with 2 styles to choose from per bra. One exciting thing is that they're just about to launch a new line, and it looks pretty delicious (yes, pun intended).

My husband got me their "Plum Pudding" bra for Christmas and I have to say that it is the BEST fit in a bra that I have EVER had. I only wish that I had gotten a larger band size, but the cups are awesome! They're actually round and hold their shape which I can't say for most other bras (it seems that most are oblong one way or another). I also love that when you drop the nursing flap/cup, there is no strap that crosses your breast. It's just like a regular bra that will drop the cup on your command. Super comfy, very well made, and cute as all get out. I am hoping for another one come Valentine's Day and our anniversary. ;-)

International Baby Lost Mama Day

United in grief, we find love and strength

International Babylost Mother's Day

May 2, 2010

It was Thanksgiving morning, 1994, that I woke up to the voice of my Mother in our living room. I had thought it was my aunt at first--my mother wasn't supposed to be home. She and my father had gone to the hospital the night before as she was in labor with my first and only brother, Joshua. There were six of us girls already and though my parents hadn't "tried" to get pregnant with any of us nor were they ever dissapointed at not having had a boy before, we were all very, very excited to welcome a brother in particular.

When I walked into the living room and saw my parents sitting on our couch, I noticed that my mother had been crying and that she was holding a small blue hat in her hand. Joshua was born at 24 weeks--the same time that the sister right above him had been born. She had made it, though spent the first 5 months of her life in the NICU. Joshua was born sleeping into the arms of Jesus and never made it down the hall to the NICU. I was barely ten-years-old at that time.

Our Thanksgivings have never been the same. Later that day in 1994, we went to my Great Grandmother's house for dinner. My extended family was there and with the then eight of us in my immediate family, there wasn't really enough food for everyone since we hadn't planned on being there. No one knew what to say to us, so we endured well meaning fake smiles and laughter while we ate boxed stuffing off of sytrofoam plates. I don't remember anyone saying anything to me about my brother.

My parents chose not to let us see Joshua except through photographs. They came to regret this decision later, but had thought at the time that the discoloration of his skin wouldn't be a good way for us to remember him by. Instead, they wrapped him in a blanket, put a hat on his head, and my dad went to the store to buy a toy firetruck. To this day, my heart cringes at the thought of walking through a toy store to buy a firetruck for your only son who would never play with it...The firetruck was placed into the casket beside my brother.

The funeral was held a few days later and was only attended by a small amount of people. We sat up front with my parents and stared at the 2' long white box that looked more like a foam cooler than a baby casket. At the cemetary, we sang "Praise Him, Praise Him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love..." before saying goodbye. It was cold and windy, and the chairs were forest green.

There was no offering of foot prints or photos for my parents when Joshua was birthed. The hospital didn't have tiny blankets to wrap him in, nor any counseling services for "this sort of thing" to suggest. We are left with a shoebox containing a few photos, a blue hat, and a striped receiving blanket by which to remember my brother, and the term "stillborn" to describe the event by. People still don't know what to say when they ask us "you have EIGHT daughters and NO boys?!" and we kindly respond with "we have a brother, but he was stillborn."

A decade later, there is support for what we now call "babylost" parents. Beravement jewlery, grief support groups, and even post partum products specifically for the mothers of these sleeping babies are now available. In one week, there will be an international day of recognition for these women, known as "International Babylost Mama Day." As far as I can tell, this will be the first time this day is observed (to be held the first Sunday of May each year), and has been organized by a beautiful Babylost Mama from Australia who lost her only son in 2007. It is a way to honor these forgotten mothers and babies and will be held on May 2nd, one week before the traditionally observed "Mother's Day."

Do you want to get involved? If you have been affected by the loss of a baby and would be willing to share your story to support and encourage other parents, I'd love to publish your story on Life More Simply! Please email your stories to lifemoresimply at yahoo.com with the title "Babylost Mama Day" in the subject line. Your story will be subject to editing without notice for grammar, spelling, etc.. Tasteful photos are also welcome with each submission (if possible, please post them to an online photo hosting service such as PhotoBucket.com so that I don't have to download anything--just send me the links!). The deadline for me to receive these will be May 1st and I will begin publishing on or after May 2nd, continuing throughout the week depending on how many submissions I receive.

Other ways to get involved:
Contact me about products you know of that are specifically made for or can help babylost parents and siblings.

Join the International Babylost Mama Facebook page.

Check out the International Babylost Mama website at http://internationalbabylostmothersday.blogspot.com/.

Medela Tender Care Lanolin and Hydro Gel pads Review & Giveaway!

A big thanks to A Mother's Boutique for being a big sponsor of the Baby Mama Shower!

Medela Tender Care Lanolin and Tender Care HydroGel Pads Review & Giveaway!

Pregnant and new mothers: prepare for breastfeeding or pumping. Either way, providing mama's milk is the BEST thing you could possibly give to your developing child. Knowing this, many women plan to nurse and then give up after only a short amount of time because they weren't prepared. There are four major things you need if you plan to breastfeed your child:

1) someone who has done it before and can help teach you and your baby how to do it (yes, your baby AND you both have to learn!)

2) nipple cream

3) a good bra

4) breast pads

My daughter, LoveBug,  is almost 18-months-old and I had the privilage of exclusively breast feeding her for the first 6 weeks of her life. After I returned to work, I became a 7:30am-3:30pm pumper (unless I was working an ambulance shift, in which case I could pump instead of nurse for over 12 hours straight!) and nurser the rest of the time. Around one year of age (and after I was pregnant with our second child),  LoveBug refused to take a bottle and so I was able to end my pumping routine. She still nurses around once a day now, even though I'm 29 weeks pregnant. Will I be nursing my second baby? ABSOLUTELY!

Medela sent me samples of their Tender Care Lanolin cream and Tender Care HydroGel Pads to try out for this review. I've used lanolin creams from other companies (only pure lanolin) and reusable nursing pads, but never a nursing cream with anything other than lanolin in it or pads for anything other than absorbing milk. In comparison to the pure lanolin creams I've used, this one was a lot easier to apply since it's of a thinner consistency than lanolin itself. The ingredients in Medela's Tender Care Lanolin are USP Modified Lanolin, C8/C10 Triglycerides, and Beta Glucan. They do claim that these are all natural and do not need to be removed from the nipple before nursing. Other than being easy to apply, I found that it was definitely soothing to me as I have found that the hormonal changes during pregnancy are causing my nipples to be dry and more painful (similar to what you may experience when you first start nursing). This cream did soothe and moisturize them and was so easy to apply (no rubbing between the fingers here)! The only thing I didn't like about it is that it's not clear and so could stain clothing; be sure to wear a set of nursing pads to avoid staining anything important.

The Tender Care HydroGel Pads are a pretty interesting concept. There are two sets in a box (so four total) and are basically meant to put into your bra against your skin as a regular set of "nursing" pads. These pads, though, instead of just absorbing leaking milk, actually become cool to the touch after you wet them. They can be rinsed out and reused for 24-hours before loosing their coolness. I would have never thought to apply something cool to soothe any soreness (come on, wouldn't that just make it hurt WORSE?), but it's actually really good for engorgement (meaning, REALLY full milkers) and I imagine also for mastitus (inflamation of the milk ducts), though I haven't personally experienced that (thank you, God). I do think the pricing is a little high considering that these get thrown out, so I'd love to see Medela come up with a system similar to a bluebandoo product so that we could reuse it. Until then, I say it could be helpful to get a box of these and then save them for when you really need them, like when your milk first comes in and you are heavy and achy. :-)

Buy It! Medela has a "where to buy" location finder on their website, but there products are readily available at many retail and parenting stores, as well as on Amazon.

Win It! Medela will be sending one of my readers her own Tender Care Lanolin and Tender Care HydroGel Pads ($20.00+ value)! To enter, please visit htp://www.medela.com and pick a DIFFERENT product of theirs that you are interested in trying out, then tell me why here. Be sure to leave an email address and separate comment for each entry! Contest will end on May 7th, 2010 at noon, EST. *NOTE: Medela only ships to the US*

Extra Entries:

*Blog about this contest or tell people about it through a parenting forum (2 entries)
*Subscribe to or follow me (each different way = 2 entries; Blogger, Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
*Fav me on Technorati or otherwise vote me up somewhere (1 entry each)
*Grab the Baby-Mama Shower button (2 entries)
*Grab my regular button (2 entries)
*Have another great idea to spread the word? Do it and tell me what you did!

This review is based on sample products provided by Medela. No other compensation was received and I was under no obligation to give a positive review. The opinions expressed are all mine!

Tips for Freezing Meals

Being a working mom doesn't leave me with much time to spend in my kitchen. On top of that, being pregnant doesn't leave me much energy for being in the kitchen! When I got online today and saw my "pregnancy ticker" was down to 111 days before Baby Monkey is due, though, the thought entered my head again about how very important it is that I get into my kitchen--and SOON!

When LoveBug was born, a friend from church organized hot meals to be brought to us for the first 5 days after we were home. It was awesome and a tremendous help for a new mama who wasn't up to juggling a newborn and a newly post-partum body while cooking! After that, I had a few meals in the freezer that I had previously put together and also some that my Mom had made for us. This experience with ready-to-go homemade meals has been heavy on my mind since getting pregnant again and realizing that not only will I have all of the normal "new mom and baby" things to deal with in July, but an active 20-month-old on top of it! Like it or not, I need to get my freezer stocked with meals within the next 16 weeks.

Freezing meals is an easy thing to do if you're already cooking and can save any mom a lot of time. Once you're actually in the kitchen, it's easy!

• Double or triple whatever you're making for dinner, and freeze the extra
• Freeze food in tin pans, covered in plastic wrap and foil
• Don't want to use tin pans? Line your casserole dishes with foil before putting the food into it. Once the food is frozen, lift it all out by way of the foil and place it in a gallon freezer bag instead. When you're ready to use, just put the foiled food back into the casserole dish and bake!
• Label everything with the name of the food, date it was made, and any special instructions
• Stack by food type in the freezer (main dishes, side dishes, breads...or "chicken," "vegetarian," and "beef"!)
• If you freeze in a glass dish, be sure to not place the cold glass in a hot oven when baking. You might end up with a broken dish!
• Consider freezing meals in individual portion sizes so that you aren't stuck with a lot of leftovers when you use it.

Two other things that I do is always use ground turkey instead of ground beef and leave the frozen food as uncooked as possible so it is as fresh as possible when we thaw it.

Some of my favorite meals to double and freeze:

• Macaroni and cheese
• Baked Ziti
• Meatloaf (mixed and frozen; cook through before serving)
• 3 Bean Casserole
• Chicken (stuffed with a cheese mixture, left in a marinade, etc.)
• Quick breads (banana, apple, pumpkin, etc.)
• Chili

To use, I just put it in my fridge to thaw for a day and then pop it in the oven to warm up or cook! Frozen veggies are a staple in our house and are cooked by steaming over a saucepan for a few minutes before seasoning and serving.

What are your tips and recipes for freezing meals? Leave them below and help me get some food in my freezer before this baby comes!

Birthing Q&A

Six months ago today, I gave birth to my first child. She is a delight and I often revisit that beautiful day in my mind. I used hypnobirthing as my birthing method and had an all natural-no drugs-minimal medical monitering-water birth. I was able to catch my own baby and bring her up to me, sharing her first moments in this world by kissing her and singing to her of how much I loved her.

Since bearing a child, I have been asked a lot of questions by people. Both men and women have asked questions, a lot of them repeats. In an attempt to educate the public, I am sharing the most popular ones and my responses with you. This may be TMI for some people, so be forewarned.

• What did it feel like? As though my body was trying to turn itself inside out.


• Did it hurt, for real? Yes. I was able to sleep through the first part, and then relax myself through the second part when things started getting intense. During "transition," though, things were crazy. It wasn't the most painful thing I've ever felt, but it was the most intense thing I've ever felt. It just takes over your whole body. The most painful part was actually tearing, but the worst pain was the pressure in my legs during the whole thing because it was the most annoying of all the "pain". I recommend practicing deep relaxation before childbirth. I didn't scream, but I did groan loudly while pushing and I did have tremors from the pain during contractions.


• Would you do it without drugs again? Absolutely. I still wouldn't dream of using drugs during natural childbirth.


• What about tearing? The water helps a lot, and pushing slowly. I only tore a little bit, first degree. It stung, though!


• What does it feel like afterwards? First off, you still look 5 months pregnant after the kid comes out. It feels like all of your guts have no pressure on them and are just bumping around so you have a stomach ache and feel like throwing up. Putting pressure around your mid section helps. Also, the unterine cramping afterwards sucks, especially while nursing. I took Tylonal and Advil for this.


• Bleeding? This was an FYI for me: you bleed for up to 6 weeks after childbirth. After researching, I found out that this is from the area where the placenta was attached. Nursing and not doing strenuous activities helps speed up the healing process.


• Does it hurt to pee afterwards? It didn't for me, but I'm told that it does if you tear in the perinial area (between the vagina and anus) (which I didn't).


• How is sex afterwards? Let's just say that being "too loose" after childbirth is a MYTH. If anything, it's at least as small as ever. Some internal muscle tone is gone so I guess that's looser but that can be "fixed" by kegal exercises. I was woried about this though, so I did some Internet research prior to any attempts at sex and found that some women really have a terrible time with this including internal things becoming external . Yikes. Be encouraged that not all women have problems--don't be worried like I was.


• What about pregnancy side effects afterwards? Well, I haven't thrown up, had heartburn, had leg cramps, or been nearly as tired since giving birth.


• Getting back into shape: I feel like the unlucky one among women with this. I look at other new moms and they looks awesome. Me? I lost about 26 lbs. during the first 3 weeks and have struggled ever since. That whole "you burn 500 extra calories a day by nursing" doesn't help me any. I'm six months post partum and still have 12 pounds to go. *sigh*

Childbirth is something that one would think is a horrendous, abnormal and scary situation that women unfortunately find themselves in--if you watch mainstream television! Let me correct your thinking and assure you that the media is wrong. Childbirth is natural and amazing. Intense, yes. Impossible? No. Be unafraid and instead, embrace the most incredible experience that you will ever have.

What are some other questions that you have about labor, deliver, or post-partum?