Yuck, just the word brings back horrible memories of day and night nausea.   There are still foods from that time in my life that I will never eat again.  The best way I can think to describe it is having the flu for months.  My morning sickness started off normal enough and then progressed  to the very rare, severe and dangerous form of morning sickness called hyperemesis which was for me morning sickness for the full nine months of the pregnancy including during labor.  I was still actually getting sick during labor but the moment my daughter was born, literally within a minute, I wanted to eat a bowl of cereal – it was the first time I had wanted to eat in 9 months.  This is a long story though and a blog for another time.  Right now I want to talk about that first trimester of morning sickness that most women experience and tips for getting through it.

I would really love to get some tips and comments  that we can post for women going through it right now.  Believe me I would have tried almost anything so let’s see if we can help.  To leave a comment, at the end of the blog, you’ll see the word “comments”.  That is a clickable link, even though it’s not underlined, just click to leave your morning sickness advice.  You can also cut and paste this link in to your browser – http://miraclemunchkins.com/blog/?p=172

So on to my tips……

The first thing I tried right at the beginning when I was just feeling a little yucky but nothing too bad were those motion sickness wrist bands.  The basic premise is that the wristbands provide acupressure to help relieve the nausea.  I’ve never had problem with motion sickness so I can’t speak to the effectiveness of these bands for motion sickness or chemotherapy (another use) however I didn’t ever feel that they helped reduce my morning sickness.  That being said, I rarely removed them as I wasn’t taking the chance.  At any rate, it was hassle-free, drug-free and definitely worth trying.

The most helpful thing I was told and that I tried to do was to make sure that you don’t let your stomach get empty.  An empty stomach will make the nausea worse and I definitely found that to be very true. By the way, this is typically why it is called morning sickness.  Our stomachs are the emptiest during the morning which means you usually feel worse at that time.  I felt horrible 24 hours a day but an empty stomach was like giving me a double dose of morning sickness.   That means you need to snack and snack a lot. This doesn’t mean tons of junk food, think healthy snacks.  Fruits are recommended but to be honest I couldn’t stomach it , for me it was saltines and pretzel sticks and they really did help.  Also, try keeping some snacks, like crackers,  at the side of your bed to eat before getting out of bed in the morning.

Sugary lemon drops -  a friend said she sucked on these during her morning sickness and something about them just seems to help a little.  I have never really loved hard candy but the sugary lemon drops really were comforting and did seem to make a difference.  I haven’t had them since but I probably sucked on enough of them during the first trimester to last a lifetime.

room temperature water – Ice cold water may make you feel worse when that cold hits your stomach, it did me, so try your water at room temperature.   Whatever you prefer, make sure you are staying hydrated, vomiting frequently will dehydrate you quickly.  Besides being dangerous, dehydration will also make you feel significantly worse.

ginger tea – okay, I hate ginger and I hate tea so I this idea also didn’t appeal to me whatsoever but ginger has long been used to treat nausea.

taking a vitamin b6 supplement- of course always ask your doctor before adding an additional vitamin as perhaps you are already getting your maximum amount through a medicine your doctor is providing you.  However many women have reported that taking a b6 supplement helped.   During my pregnancy, somebody recommend a vitamin e supplement.  I tried that for awhile and I didn’t really notice any improvement.

Okay ladies, let’s hear some things that may have helped you!!

Munchkins Mom at MiracleMunchkins.com

Alyson Hannigan was on the Ellen DeGeneres show earlier this year saying that she had pregnancy brain. I realize that this is old news now since this happened at the end of January but the topic of pregnancy brain recently came up while I was talking with a customer.

She had placed her order for baby shower invitations but put a shipping address that she had not lived at  for over 10 years.  Luckily she caught her mistake in time before we shipped – you have to love a happy ending –  and she blamed her crazy error all on the massive pregnancy brain she was experiencing.   She said that putting an old address down was not something she ever would have done before she was pregnant.

She isn’t my first customer to mention pregnancy brain either. Misspelling your older child’s name that you’ve been spelling for the last 5 years, putting the wrong birth year when you just gave birth a few days earlier, completely forgetting where you have registered for your baby shower…. these are all things some of our customers have blamed on pregnancy brain.  You know what, I understand this completely.

I’ve always prided myself on my excellent memory.  One of the best things about being in the birth announcement and baby shower industry is being able to work one on one with designs for each customer.  I’ve always loved when a repeat customer comes along with a new baby because I remember them from their first child.  I have a customer who orders photo Christmas cards every year for the last 8 years and I’ve just loved watching how much the kids have grown.  She always reminds me who she is when she places her order every year but she doesn’t need to.  I remember her and I’m am grateful to have the type of   memory that has allowed me to form special bonds with customers.  I am especially grateful for this because during the 9 months I was pregnant with my daughter and for about 4 months afterwords, my memory was just completely filled with holes.

My spouse has a horrible memory and during my pregnancy it was the first time I truly understood what that was like.  I couldn’t remember doctor appointment times and I had never had to write them down before.  I had a difficult pregnancy and I became very close at that time to a nurse who help me get through it but I could never remember her name even though I saw her every day for 3 months.  I did silly things like put the ice cream  away in the refrigerator rather than the freezer.  Sure that happens to all of us but you would be shocked if I told you just how often I did things like that.

I have no doubt at all that I experienced “pregnancy brain”, “cottonwood brain” as it is sometimes know or even the cute “momnesia”, however not everyone agrees.  According to a study done by Australian researchers pregnant women are not more likely to have memory lapses or problems with attention to detail.  I am definitely not a scientist nor do I play one on television but in our own little Miracle Munchkins world filled with many many pregnant moms, I go on the records stating that I am a believer that  pregnancy brain really does exist.

What do you think? Have you ever experience pregnancy brain?

Maternity Dress from BellaBluMaternity.com

I was looking through some old family photos and came across a few from my mother’s generation where some of my relatives were wearing some “not so fashionable” maternity clothes.  I was actually going to post some photos to do a before and today comparison but for fear of being banned from future family gatherings, I’ll have to stick to just posting some today photos.

Maternity Top from BellaBluMaternity.com

They have much more than that though. With a great selection of
maternity jeans, maternity tops, and maternity pajamas, you are sure to find what you are looking for.  One of my favorite tops is pictured on the right.  I would have loved to have worn this one. 

One of my favorite categories of offerings is their maternity swimwear. When I was pregnant in my later months, swimming was one of the few things I could do to find relief from the baby’s weight.  Okay, it wasn’t so much swimming as just getting in the water and relaxing, but you get my point.  It was so hard to find a maternity bathing suit.  I actually ended up having to borrow one that didn’t fit that great.  Having a website that offers maternity swimsuits year round is priceless in my opinion.

Maternity clothes are available in both petite and plus size. Sizing charts are available to help make sure you get the right size.  Information on returns, exchanges and shipping can be easily found on the website along with their contact information.  If you aren’t in the market yourself for maternity clothes, they also have gift certificatesavailable.  I also love the fact that you can create registery and easily add to the registry what items you would love to have.

 I thought I’d leave you with one more item that they sell that I certainly could have used while pregnant. I think the image to the left says it all. 

 Don’t forget to tell them that you heard about them from the Munchkin Mutterings Blog

MiracleMunchkins.com

I hope everybody had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!  

While my family gathered around the dinner table for our Thanksgiving meal, I was quickly reminded it was cold and flu season by all the coughing, sniffling and sneezing going on around me.  Luckily everybody seemed to be in various stages of having some type of cold rather than something more serious; all except for one relative who seemed to have the flu.  As he started getting his fever, I was immediately grateful that I received my flu shot several weeks ago.

I have personally found that the flu shot has really helped reduce my chances of getting the flu during the main part of flu season.  However, as many of the visitors to this website are pregnant, what about them – - should pregnant women also get flu shots?

Did you know that women who will be pregnant during flu season are now on the Center for Disease Control and Preventions recommended list on who should get the flu vaccine?  http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm  The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) also agrees with this recommendation.

Originally the flu vaccine was recommended only for women who would be in their third trimester during flu season. That was recently changed to include all trimesters because according to the CDC, pregnant women are more likely to suffer severe complications from the flu than are women who are not pregnant.  A recent study also suggested that with the flu vaccination, protection from the flu is provided for both the mother and baby.  This study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicated that newborns whose mothers received the flu vaccine while pregnant had a 63% reduction in influenza. The full study can be found here – http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/359/15/1555

However, giving the flu vaccination to pregnant women is not without controversary.  The majority of influenza vaccines available currently contains thimerosal (mercury); see – - http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/ABOUT/QA/thimerosal.htm  While not everybody is concerned about thimerosal in vaccinations, it clearly is an issue for quite a few women. Currently only about 14% of women are vaccinated for the flu.  If you are unaware about thimerosal and why concern exists, www.safeminds.org has a lot of information.

According to the ACOG,  “there is no evidence showing that thimerosal is a danger to the health of the pregnant woman or her fetus.”  While at face value that statement is true, it is misleading because there has been no research, therefore there is no data, either way regarding the safety to the fetus. 

If you are concerned about mercury in vaccinations, the good news is that thimerosal-free flu vaccinations do exist!  You just may need to make a few phone calls until you find a doctor’s office that stocks the thimerosal-free version.  In addition, within the last several years, six states –California, Delaware, Missouri, New York, Washington and Illinois– have enacted laws that ban the use of the thimerosal-containing vaccines in both children under 36 months of age as well as pregnant women.   More states have legislation pending.

The bottom line is do some of your own research so that you have the knowledge to make an informed decision that is best for both you and your baby and talk openly to your OBGYN. 

www.MiracleMunchkins.com

Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to substitute the advice provided by your own doctor.

Back when I was in 6th grade, my teacher excitedly announced to our class that we were getting two new students in our grade and there was something very special about them — they were twins! Not only did we not have any other twins in our grade, but there were also no twins in the closest grades above or below us. If I remember correctly, you had to jump about 3 or 4 years ahead before there were any other twins. Fast forward to today… in my daughters grade in our school district alone there are two sets of twins and one set of triplets.

Did you know that according to the CDC website, the rate of twin births in the U.S. has increased 42% since 1990 and a whopping 70% since 1980. That’s a lot of twins and a lot of parents of twins who could use a good resource for twin pregnancy, twin childbirth and twin parenting. I found such a resource over the course of my internet travels that focuses on these areas: Twin Pregnancy and Beyond which is located at www.twin-pregnancy-and-beyond.com

This website was founded by a mom of twins who was having a difficult time finding good online support and information for a twin pregnancy and beyond that. There is a lot of really helpful information on this website; a week by week pregnancy guide, as well as labor and delivery information that includes a great YouTube video about natural twin births. You’ll also find some very emotional YouTube videos showing actual twin births. This is an interactive website where parents can share stories, post photos, as well as ask questions for an OBGYN to answer.  The website extends beyond pregnancy and childbirth and in to the parenting of twins as well.

I must admit though that my very favorite area was the photo gallery. There are several different photo galleries such as ultrasounds photos and breastfeeding photos but I absolutely loved those twin belly photos!

My review is really only scratching the surface of twin-pregnancy-and-beyond.com, so go check them out and if you get a chance tell them that Miracle Munchkins sent you!

www.MiracleMunchkins.com/twins.htm