pregnancy
Growing your family, one baby bump at a time. All about the ups and downs of nature's 9 month miracle.
Repeating my mother’s mistake.
I’ll never forget the summer of 2008. I had just graduated from highschool and thought my life was all planned out. I had submitted all of my college applications and knew my life was just beginning. I’d never been a rebel in school. I didn’t underage drink. I didn’t try any drugs, but I was guilty of one thing - sex!
By Chanel Zueger5 years ago in Families
Being Diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Pregnancy is not a walk in the park. I don't know who said that Pregnancy is easy, because it's not. One of the first symptoms most women will get during their first trimester is the dreaded "Morning Sickness" but for people like me, it's more like all day sickness, 24/7 sickness.
By Vennessa Jane Perry5 years ago in Families
No More Mad Mommy
There I sat, in my down town apartment, tears streaming down my face because of the pain. My everything hurt. My heart, my head, my body. I had lost all interest in anything that brought me joy. I was miserably, despairingly, and inexplicably SAD, CONFUSED and MAD.
By Alice Knight-Hawk 5 years ago in Families
Waiting for Charlotte Rose
His palms were sweaty. That was what she noticed. They left a trail of thin residue over the taught swell of her stomach as she turned away from him in the bed, hoping to ease the ache in her lower back against his own abdomen. “She’s on the move again…” he murmured and splayed his fingers to better feel. “She’s a wriggler,” she responded, and arched her back the better to get some respite from the gnawing sensation of dulled, aching pain. “She’s constantly on the move – just like her daddy.”
By Emily McRae5 years ago in Families
Last year I froze my eggs. It was strange, bruising and cost a lot, but I felt set free
The first thing I felt as consciousness returned was someone patting my leg. It was my consultant surgeon, standing beside my trolley in the recovery room of one of central London’s leading fertility clinics, beaming down into my face, which I could sense was still a blank from the general anaesthetic, along with the rest of my body.
By Charlie Nicholson5 years ago in Families
Eat Placenta
We can do what with our Placenta? That's right. The important organ that surrounds your baby to protect her and pass her vital nutrients can be encapsulated and then ingested. But why would we do this? This is a question I think all mother's to be should at least learn a little about. Advocates of placenta consumption say it combats postpartum depression, boosts milk supply, and restores iron levels. Not every mother suffers from postpartum depression. However, if you can take something natural like your placenta that is unique to your body and your baby, rather than some medicine with some possibly strong side effects, why not give this a try? It is not too expensive and usually cost around $200 for about 200 capsules and you have to find an expert who can handle (pick up) and preserve your placenta quickly. Tradition and holistic medical customs embrace a number of potential advantages which come from ingesting the placenta.
By Ashley Morrison5 years ago in Families
Wounded Womb
As a child, I've always dreamed of having a family but at 12 my family was torn apart at the age of 12. One day my parents told me and my siblings they were divorcing and the next day my mom was gone. It was time for her to spread her wings and live her life.
By Tiffany Berry5 years ago in Families
Having a baby in 2020
As 2020 ended I thought to myself, “what a bizarre year”. What a bizarre year to be pregnant and have a baby in the same year. 2020 was rough. Rough for everyone. Some a little more rough than others. For me it was extremely rough. I got pregnant and had a baby writhing the same year. 2020. My husband and I had been trying since October, 2019, so we didn’t intend to get pregnant a month before the big shut down. We had been trying 5 months prior, but I guess God has a funny way of making things work out.
By Yvonne Meeuse5 years ago in Families
Birth and Rebirth
It is May 31st, 2020 and I am watching the news at 6pm with my partner. I’m only half watching as the latest numbers dead from the virus is announced. My mind is preoccupied, constantly, as it has been for forty weeks. As I look down at my pregnant belly, immense and ripe enough to drop like an apple, emotions come filtering down through my mind. Like dappled autumn light they hover, each thought distinguished from the others yet none have any strength. Fear. It’s there, ominous and clever. Fear of giving birth of course. But another, the fear of being a mother. I can not honestly say I love my baby yet. I don’t know how I feel at all, except perhaps there is a sense of detachment for now. Doubt. I doubt very much that I’ll be a good mother. I lost my own mother at eight years old. Her cancer ripped my world apart and my childhood fled before my eyes and in its place crouched a dark new being composed of loss and wilderness. I do not know how to be a mother. How do I hold this baby, his entire world in my hands and guide him through this terrifying world so that he is not alone? Hope. I think I see it, further off, a faint star. Is there always hope? I hope that labor will not kill me, that the baby, my baby, will be well and that I will love him. He kicks inside me and I feel the thrill of the unknown, always accompanied by the oppressive weight of doubt and fear. My belly ripples and moves as he stretches out inside me and I look with wonder at what my body has accomplished. He is late, by three days. Does this mean he’ll get too big and I’ll have more pain? Is he ok in there? I am so afraid. His birth has felt like an eternity in the making and somehow it still feels like it will never happen. The imminence and unavoidable truth of it is almost surreal.
By Freda Ellis5 years ago in Families
