A Juggling Mum

I found this on the Baby Gaga Pregnancy Calender……

Fetal development in pregnancy week 6:

A lot is going on with your little embryo this week! Their brain is still growing remarkably fast; miniature hand plates are starting to develop and the early formations of their individual fingers are visible. The lower limbs do not develop quite as fast, so they’re pretty much still flippers. Up until this point, your baby has been very curled up with the head and tail in close proximity, but this week their trunk and neck are beginning to grow and straighten as their tail recedes into its resting position in the back. Even though your little miracle is only 6 weeks old, they’re already demonstrating reflex responses to touch!

And how’s mom doing?

It’s official (grumble): if you’re going to have morning sickness, you’ll be feeling the unpleasant symptoms starting some time this week. If you don’t, then chances are you’re in the clear (but don’t blame us if we’re wrong!) There are always a handful of women who are officially morning-sickness late-bloomers with another week or two before the nausea sets in. There are several factors that can help you determine whether or not you you’re one of the unlucky ones. If you are having twins (or more), or had morning sickness with an earlier pregnancy, or experienced nausea or vomiting with birth control pills, then you might expect to have morning sickness with this pregnancy. To lessen your symptoms, you’re going to have to buckle down and focus on cleaning up your diet. Don’t eat fatty foods, drink lots of fluids, eat several small meals throughout the day, take plenty of naps, and don’t forget the prenatal vitamins! (Have you consulted with your doctor of nutritionist yet?) For those of you without morning sickness: don’t dwell on it. A certain percentage of (lucky) women never experience morning sickness, and this is perfectly normal too.

From http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/calendar

The morning (all day and all night) sickness has finally won. I went to the chemist today and got some of those sea sickness bands that you wear on the pressure points on your wrists.

For the last few days I have been feeling nauseous constantly from the moment I get out of bed until I go to sleep at night. I’ve even been waking in the middle of the night and feeling like I’m going to be sick.

So it was time to do something. I wasn’t really keen on taking any medication to stop the morning sickness so that’s why I am trying the bands first.

I have had them on since lunchtime and I still feel sick, but not as bad as I did this morning. The test will be tomorrow, I’m hoping that if I sleep with them on then I will wake up ok. That’s the plan anyway… hehehehe!

My girls gave me a lovely surprise when I got out of the shower this morning. Instead of getting out and having to tell them to get dressed or put their shoes on, I was greeted by 3 totally dressed girls (including their shoes and socks) and a lovely clean lounge room. They had packed away all the books and toys that were scattered around the floor. They had put away their pjs and put their breakfast plates in the kitchen. It made my morning, they knew I haven’t been feeling well and went out of their way to help me

I had my first baby dream last night. I gave birth to a baby girl and very easily I might add. She just slipped out with no effort on my part. I wasn’t in the hospital so I’m not sure where I actually had this baby, but I do know that we were connected by the umbilical cord for quite some time.

The next thing I remember I put her in a cradle and went about my life as usual forgetting that she was even there. Hmm that is a little scary, I hope i don’t really do that…..lol!.

At this point in time I am leaning more towards this baby being another girl, but obviously I don’t really know.

I was listening to the Manic Mommies podcast today and they were talking to a women about what to do to prevent children from getting lost and what to do if you do lose your child and I picked up some very handy hints. Some are things I already new but there were a few things that I had never thought of.

Don’t let your kids get lost without………

• Giving them your mobile phone number - We all teach our children our addresses and home phone numbers, but if a child gets lost the handiest thing for them to know is Mummy or Daddies mobile phone number. A good idea is to use a clothing label with your mobile phone number on it. Make sure that your children know where the labels are placed on their clothes.

• Dress your kids in bright colours - Bright clothes are much easier to spot in a crowd.

• Teach your children to ask another Mummy for help if they are lost - Think about who you would want your children to approach if they get lost. I know that I would feel better about my children approaching another mum. We have always taught our children to find a policeman if they get lost, but think about the last time you were at a park or shopping centre, how many policemen or women did you see?. Not many I bet!.

I was listening to the Manic Mommies podcast today and they were talking to a women about what to do to prevent children from getting lost and what to do if you do lose your child and I picked up some very handy hints. Some are things I already new but there were a few things that I had never thought of.

Don’t let your kids get lost without………

• Giving them your mobile phone number - We all teach our children our addresses and home phone numbers, but if a child gets lost the handiest thing for them to know is Mummy or Daddies mobile phone number. A good idea is to use a clothing label with your mobile phone number on it. Make sure that your children know where the labels are placed on their clothes.

• Dress your kids in bright colours - Bright clothes are much easier to spot in a crowd.

• Teach your children to ask another Mummy for help if they are lost - Think about who you would want your children to approach if they get lost. I know that I would feel better about my children approaching another mum. We have always taught our children to find a policeman if they get lost, but think about the last time you were at a park or shopping centre, how many policemen or women did you see?. Not many I bet!.

I was listening to the Manic Mommies podcast today and they were talking to a women about what to do to prevent children from getting lost and what to do if you do lose your child and I picked up some very handy hints. Some are things I already new but there were a few things that I had never thought of.

Don’t let your kids get lost without………

• Giving them your mobile phone number - We all teach our children our addresses and home phone numbers, but if a child gets lost the handiest thing for them to know is Mummy or Daddies mobile phone number. A good idea is to use a clothing label with your mobile phone number on it. Make sure that your children know where the labels are placed on their clothes.

• Dress your kids in bright colours - Bright clothes are much easier to spot in a crowd.

• Teach your children to ask another Mummy for help if they are lost - Think about who you would want your children to approach if they get lost. I know that I would feel better about my children approaching another mum. We have always taught our children to find a policeman if they get lost, but think about the last time you were at a park or shopping centre, how many policemen or women did you see?. Not many I bet!.

I’d like to think that I am an organised person. Some aspects of my life are organised and others just aren’t and probably never will be. I also have weeks of everything being organised and in order and then I’ll have days or weeks of total chaos.

The most important thing to do when striving to be organised is to use a calendar or a diary. I prefer a large wall calendar that the whole family can use. I have such a mushy mummy brain and have to write everything done on a calendar otherwise I will forget it. I also need to check the calendar each night before I go to bed to make sure I know if there is something on the following day and also again in the morning.

As soon as I get a note form the girls school or preschool, I write all the important events on the calendar otherwise I know I’m going to forget something and I don’t want my kids suffering for my lack of organisational skills.

I have also typed up a sheet that lists what the girls need for school on any given day. It includes things like who has sport on what days, when the girls library days are and a check list of the things that the girls need to take to school each day. They know that in the morning they need to check the list to make sure they have everything they need for that day.

The areas I need to work on organisation wise is in my laundry and paying bills. No matter how much I try I just can’t get my clothes washing organised. I don’t have a problem getting the clothes in the machine and washed, it’s just getting them out of the machine and onto the clothes line and then back in again and put away in the wardrobes. I tend to have baskets of clean clothes which I rummage through each day to find what we need. Inevitably that pile just grows and grows and grows until it gets to a point where I have to spend 2 hours hanging everything onto coathangers and putting them away in their designated wardrobes.

The underwear is another thing that I have a problem with. At least with this I have a plan, it’s just putting the plan into practice that I have trouble with. I have 6 small baskets each one designated and labeled with a family members name on it. I sort the underwear into the baskets and then empty the whole basket into drawers. It sounds like a good plan, but it’s just trying to find the time and energy to do it.

I have a plan for paying bills too. Each payday I grab all the bills which are held together on a bulldog clip hanging in our pantry and sit down on the internet and pay them. Sounds simple doesn’t it?. I know that this plan works, but do you think that I actually do it……… no I wait until I notice that a bill is overdue and then I pay it.

So as you can see, I have organisation in my life and I have some things that need a little bit of tweaking before I can truly say that I am an organised person.

I brought myself a Pilates for Pregnancy DVD off eBay the other day and I can’t wait to get it.

Each pregnancy for me has gotten progressively more uncomfotable than the pregnancy before, especially in the later months. So this time I’m determined to minimise the discomfort as much as I possibly can.

And I’m going to do this by doing pilates The blurb on the DVD says it will help:

• Reduce back pain
• Stretch tight muscles to reduce risk of sciatic and lower back pain
• Improve flexibility and breathing
• Improve posture to minimise discomfort during babys growth
• Maintain muscle tone during pregnancy

It all sounds good to me. It will be interesting to see in 8 months time if it has made any difference. There’s only one way to find out

Folic Acid: A must for Women

Folic Acid, a much neglected vitamin in most women’s diet, is a naturally occurring vitamin B (also called vitamin B9) that helps a baby’s neural tube, the part of a developing baby that becomes the brain and spinal cord, develop properly. Neural tube defects are defects of the spinal cord and brain. If normal development does not occur, spina bifida and other anomalies can occur. Several studies suggest that women who do not consume enough of the B vitamin folic acid before and during the early weeks of pregnancy are also at increased risk of having a baby with a heart defect.

Your body also needs this nutrient for the production, repair and functioning of the DNA, our genetic map and a basic building block of cells. So getting enough folate is particularly important for the rapid cell growth that occurs during pregnancy.

Folate is also required for a complex metabolic process that involves the conversion of one amino acid in your blood (homocysteine) into another amino acid (methionine). If you don’t get enough folate, you can end up with excessive amounts of homocysteine in your blood, which is thought to contribute to some birth defects.

Finally, folate helps make normal red blood cells, prevents anemia, and produces nervous system chemicals.

The signs of folic acid deficiency are very subtle. You may experience diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss as well as weakness, a sore tongue, headaches, heart palpitations and irritability. If you are only mildly deficient, you may not experience these symptoms, but you still won’t be getting the requisite amount needed for your baby’s development. Thus the importance of folic acid for a childbearing woman can’t be stressed enough.

Natural sources of folic acid are broccoli, legumes, asparagus, spinach, peanuts, orange juice, papayas, and romaine lettuce, among others. Folic acid is also found in most multivitamin supplements and as well as a folic acid only supplement. If you, like most people, don’t get the amount of folic acid you need from your diet, you definitely should consider taking a supplement. Research shows that the body actually absorbs the synthetic version of this vitamin (found in supplements and enriched foods) much better that the version that occurs naturally in certain foods.

Article Source: http://www.articleinterchange.com

Jack Smith writes about various vitamin, nutritional supplement, mineral, and diet topics. Please Visit Directory of Vitamins for more vitamin and mineral supplement resources.