Signs Of Pregnancy!!

Early signs of pregnancy

For women who have a regular monthly menstrual cycle, the earliest and most reliable sign of pregnancy is a missed period.

Sometimes women who are pregnant have a very light period, losing only a little blood. Some of the other early pregnancy signs and symptoms are listed below. Every woman is different and not all women will notice all these symptoms.

Feeling sick and vomiting

You may feel sick and nauseous, and you may vomit. This is commonly known as morning sickness, but it can happen at any time of the day or night. If you're being sick all the time and can't keep anything down, contact your doctor.

Feeling very tired

It's common to feel tired, or even exhausted, during pregnancy, especially during the first 12 weeks or so. Hormonal changes taking place in your body at this time can make you feel tired, nauseous, emotional and upset.

 Changes in your breasts

Your breasts may become larger and feel tender, just as they might do before your period. They may also tingle. The veins may be more visible, and the nipples may darken and stand out.

Urinating more often

You may feel the need to pee more often than usual, including during the night.

Other signs of pregnancy that you might notice are:

     constipation

    an increased vaginal discharge without any soreness or irritation

    a strange taste in your mouth, which many women describe as metallic

    craving new foods

    losing interest in certain foods or drinks that you previously enjoyed, such as tea, coffee or fatty            food

    losing interest in tobacco

    having a more sensitive sense of smell than usual, for example to the smell of food or cooking.

Am I pregnant?

As soon as you think you could be pregnant, you should check to find out if you are. There are several ways to find out if you are pregnant:

    you can have a blood test

    you can test your urine at home with a home pregnancy test

    you can have your urine tested by your doctor

    your doctor can do an internal examination.

Once your pregnancy is confirmed, you should start thinking about the type of care you want throughout your pregnancy and the birth. If you are in the workforce this is also the time to find out about your rights at work and about maternity leave.

Blood test

A blood test will give you a reliable result, even at the earliest stage of pregnancy. Your doctor will order the blood test that will check for the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), in your blood. You can have this test done as soon as you have missed your period.

Urine test

You can buy pregnancy urine testing kits from your local pharmacy. Make sure you follow the instructions on the test very carefully to get the most accurate result. If you are taking fertility drugs or you are an older woman, you may get false results. If you first do the test soon after your missed period and the result is negative (it says you aren't pregnant), you may want to do the test again two weeks later when the results will be more reliable. Many home pregnancy test kits include two tests for this very reason.

You can also have a urine test done at a hospital clinic, by your doctor, or at family planning clinics.

Internal examination

At least two weeks after your missed period, your doctor can examine you internally to check for changes in your uterus and cervix (the lowest part of your uterus (womb)). When you are pregnant, your doctor will be able to tell that your cervix has changed colour and is softer. Your uterus is already getting bigger in the first few weeks of pregnancy. Most doctors will still do a blood or urine test to confirm your pregnancy.

Baby due date

Once you know you are pregnant your doctor or midwife will help you work out when your baby is due (the 'estimated date of confinement' or EDC). This is done by adding 40 weeks to the date of the beginning of your last period.

Baby Monitors

How to choose a Baby Monitor??

Baby monitors are one of the most important purchases you will make when preparing for your new baby. Baby monitors are the perfect answer to give parents an audio awareness of their baby's sounds, movements and safety. We have a variety of baby monitors with different product features and price range.

Baby monitors are a modern day nursery accessory many parents rely on. They really come into their own if you've got a two-story house, or your baby's room is some way from the kitchen or living areas of your home. A monitor can also be useful if you're visiting with baby and want to put them down to sleep in an unfamiliar environment.

They’re easy to use: you simply place the monitor around one metre from your baby and then make sure the receiver (parent unit) is in a place where you can hear and see it, or clipped onto your belt.

These days baby monitors do more just let you know when your child is making noise. Some models have extra features like temperature monitors, night lights, tunes and features where you can talk to your baby while you’re not in the room. One of the monitors tested by CHOICE, the Oricom SC610 Secure 610, even comes with a lightshow where images are projected onto the ceiling.

Other parents enjoy using monitors that can tell you if your child is moving. More and more now have video capabilities so you can watch your baby, too.

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But before buying a top-of-the-range model, ask yourself if you really need all those extra features – the top performing model in the CHOICE test is quite basic, easy to use, and also has a reasonable price tag.

What to look for

On the baby unit:
•    Mains operation, and battery operation if you want to use it in areas without mains power (say, out camping)
•    A night light, if you intend to use one anyway

On the parent unit:
•    Mains and battery operation, so you can take the unit with you in and around the house
•    A belt clip
•    Volume control
•    A light display to indicate the sound level, if you want to see the noise your child makes rather than hear it – for example, when you’re watching TV or vacuuming, or if you (or your babysitter or other carers) have problems with hearing

On both units:
•    At least two different frequencies to choose from
•    Power-on light
•    Battery condition indicator
•    Automatic battery back-up is useful in areas where power failures are common
•    A cord long enough for your set-up

Video below gives indepth details on Baby Monitors- 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtTzSnxXTI8

What is a Doula?

What Is A Doula?

More recently, it refers to someone who offers emotional and physical support to a woman and her partner before, during and after childbirth. A doula (also known as a birth attendant) believes in ‘mothering the mother’, enabling a woman to have the most satisfying experience that she can, from pregnancy and into motherhood. This type of support allows the whole family to relax and enjoy the experience too.

Women have complex needs during childbirth. In addition to the safety of modern obstetrical care, and the love and companionship provided by their partners, women need consistent, continuous reassurance, comfort, encouragement and respect. They need individualized care based on their circumstances and preferences. The role of the birth doula encompasses the non-clinical aspects of care during childbirth.”

Despite doulas being fairly unheard of in Australia, they have been actively supporting women for a very long time and are fast growing in popularity, as a result of positive word of mouth and the need for increased support.

Doulas are trained and experienced in childbirth and are usually mothers themselves. They have a good knowledge and awareness of female physiology, but a doula does not support the mother in a medical role – that is the job of the midwife or doctor. She works on keeping birth normal and empowering, and should the birth become complicated and require medical assistance, a doula will still remain by your side and help in any way she can. She will not make the decisions for those she supports, but she assists them through the decision making process and provides balanced information so the couple can make their own choices. 

Given the long term emotional and physical effects this can have on the mother, her partner and baby, a doula to me is like an ‘insurance policy’ – which can help protect you from a disempowering, disappointing experience or unnecessary procedures and intervention. With a doula, you know that someone is always on YOUR team, holding the space for you and your family. She works for you and has your best interests at heart, unlike hospital staff who have to abide by policies, which are not always best for a birthing woman, but best to avoid legal issues and to keep things running as a business.

Many women consider doulas to be a must for those giving birth in a hospital, due to the over-medicalisation of birth – unnecessary inductions have skyrocketed and are partly to blame for the 1 in 3 Australian babies now born by caesarean section. In Australia, some hospitals have caesarean section rates as high as 50% and higher. This is a terribly high statistic, well above World Health Organisation recommendations, which makes us amongst the highest in the world. A doula works in birth centres, private and public hospitals and at homebirths in conjunction with midwives – but never as the sole carer at birth. Birthing without a midwife or doctor present is known as free-birthing however its highly recommended at birth with at least a qualified midwife or doctor.

What Do Doulas Do?

A doula may provide some or all of the following, dependent on her training and skills (she may be more than just a doula – some doulas are also qualified in other therapies):

    Birth education and preparation

    Birth planning (including creating a written birth plan/birth preferences document)

    De-briefing previous births

    Massage and other comfort measures

    Optimal fetal positioning

    Suggest positions and changes to help ease pain and facilitate a smoother, more effective labour

    Provide reassurance and encouragement

    Talking through emotional blockages which may come up in labour

    Keep your ‘environment’ going – aromatherapy, music, candles etc

    Assisting you with negotiation of your preferences for birth if what you want and the hospital wants differs

    Photography and/or video if you wish to have momentos of your partner supporting you, the birth itself and those precious first moments as a family, together

    So much more

But I believe the biggest bonus of a doula is that fact that she is a professional birth support person – she has been trained in the art of birth support and has a keen eye and intuition on what a labouring mother needs. Things which a hospital midwife unfortunately does not have time for, and things which partner may not pick up on (or situations he may not know how to deal with). She has a mind that is caring and nurturing, yet able to remain calm and focused even if things go off the rails. Family and friends tend to have an emotional connection that can mean in the event of a problem or at the peak intensity moments, they can buckle not knowing what to do, say or think. A doula can think clearly, see pros and cons of any situation and relay them to the couple to make their own decision. When we’re stressed, we don’t make the best decisions, and in hospital, that may make your partner/mother etc. completely agreeable to what’s being put on the table, because they are uncertain or scared. A doula can help explain what’s happening with compassion and without judgment or medical jargon, so its easier for you to understand.

There are two types of doulas, birth doulas and post-natal doulas, with many doulas performing both roles. The difference is that the role of the post-natal doula is to nurture the mother at home after childbirth. This may include further breastfeeding support, light home duties, massage, emotional and physical support for the mother and so on. Post-natal doulas are particularly in demand as support for new mothers has reduced in modern society. Needless to say, studies show that post-natal doulas make a huge impact on the well-being of mother.

What Are The Proven Benefits Of A Doula?

A recent review of many studies from around the world have concluded that a doula’s support is more effective than hospital staff, friends or family. You can read the review here.

Studies (and reviews of the studies) consistently demonstrate very impressive benefits for the mother, father and baby, including:

    50% fewer caesarean sections

    Reduction in the use of forceps vacuum by 40%

    60% fewer requests for epidurals

    40% reduction in the use of synthetic oxytocin for inductions or augmentations

    30% reduction in use of pain medication

    25% reduction in labour length

    Increased rates of breastfeeding at 6 weeks post-partum (51% vs 29%)

    Higher self-esteem (74% vs 59%), less anxiety (28% vs 40%) and less depression (10% vs 23%)    

   These are not misprints! The benefits are significant. Most of the women in the studies were  accompanied by male partners, however study results show that women who had the support of a male partner and a doula fared best, for example, the caesarean rate of women supported by both a male partner and a doula was significantly lower (15.4%) than the caesarean rate for women supported only by their partners (24.4%). The studies also clearly show the positive benefits of doula support occur regardless of a woman’s economic status or whether or not they were privately insured. Its simply about having the right support with you at birth.

Doulas in action - Check this video out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16uFf02NYb4

Natural Birth – Tips For Natural Birth Success

Most pregnant women I speak to express some level of desire, be it overwhelming or wavering, to give birth naturally.  NATURAL meaning no drugs or interventions.

However, what many of these women have found to be lacking in today’s society is enough support, education and encouragement to help them achieve the natural birth they hope for. Labour pain has become something that has been seen by many as ‘unnecessary’ when it is, in fact, a very useful pain. Given time, our body even responds by sending out natural pain killers – but interventions at birth interfere with this. So it makes sense to work with labour pain as best we can, seeing pain as power and not an enemy.

A normal physiological birth without drugs reduces possible risks and complications for mother and baby and reduces the need for further obstetric interventions that may follow as a result of having those drugs.

So how does one go about increasing their chances of a normal physiological birth? Here are a few suggestions below.

Tip #1 – What Are Your True Motivations For a Normal Childbirth?

Firstly, it helps to make sure that you want a normal physiological birth for the right reasons, in order to stay motivated during your labour and birth. Ask yourself why you want to birth this way and what your motivations are.

If your motivations aren’t something deeply meaningful to you, it’s probably not going to hold you in labour. For example, when you’re in the height of contractions, knowing that you have chosen a natural birth in order to prevent your baby from being exposed to drugs and their side effects is more likely to keep you on track and focused on your goal. You’re less likely to hold steady if you’re trying to get through without drugs because you want to show a support person ‘how it’s done’. It’s important you labour and birth for you, for real and important reasons – not someone else!

Tip #2 – Write Out Your Birth Plan

Some believe birth plans aren’t worth writing because things may not go as planned. I think the opposite. Writing out a birth plan can generate important discussion between yourself and your partner/support people and raise important questions and points to think about. It doesn’t need to be pages long if you don’t want to go into too much detail, but make sure there is enough key information so that your support people know what your preferences are for your birth.

Your birth plan can encourage thinking about tools and ideas that might be useful for you in labour. For example, noting various positions you might like to try for labouring and birth can be discussed and practiced (ideally upright and off the bed, reclining and semi-reclining can slow labour and may even make it more painful).

A good birth plan should also touch on your preferences for various outcomes. If a medical reason arises for an emergency caesarean during labour, it’s a good idea to note or think about what you would like to do in the circumstances surrounding that e.g. dad to be present and with the baby at all times. It’s great to have your mind set on a normal physiological birth, but it’s also important to remember that there will be some instances where intervention may be needed for the safety of yourself or your baby, so seeing such an outcome as failure can be devastating – especially if you aren’t prepared for the slight possibility it may happen. Whichever way you end up birthing your baby, you’ll be a success.

Tip #3 – Find a Midwife/Obstetrician Who Will Support Your Choices

Make yourself a list of questions to ask your midwife/obstetrician on your first meeting with them, to ensure they will support your choices for labour and birth. Don’t feel embarrassed asking lots of questions and providing a copy of your birth plan to them – you need to feel comfortable with the main caregiver you choose for your care and be able to trust them. You may find it more difficult to find an Obstetrician who will let you attempt a normal physiological birth in some instances, for example a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) or even multiple births, however there are obstetricians out there who will support these births if all is going well, so do a little homework to find them.

Natural Birth Tip #4 Find Appropriate Support People For Labour

The support people in your labour are more important than you think. Before asking them to be a support person, ask them how they would react if you went to them in labour, begging you to stop your pain. Would they tell you that you should get some pain relief? Or would they encourage you to keep going and tell you what a great job you are doing? If your support people start to panic, you are more likely to panic too – and that’s when you might be looking for the next exit to the epidural. Be sure your support people are STRONG because they are going to have to be there for YOU and not for THEM.

Tip #5 Hire An Experienced Birth Attendant/Doula

A recent study showed that doulas (also known as birth attendants) were able to provide more effective birth support than hospital staff or family members.

Birth Attendants/Doulas are not only there to support the birthing mother, helping her to work through the pain, but also to help your carers to work with your birth intentions. They can be particularly helpful if you have little or no support, or if your birth support person is unsure of what to do or if they will cope. You need encouragement in labour and not sympathy – something our mothers can be very guilty of seeing us in pain! Our partners may also just want to ‘fix’ our pain for us, because they don’t realise that the pain is normal and everything is going beautifully despite these painful contractions.

Based on known studies, having a birth attendant or doula present for your birth can decrease the need for pain medication, shorten labour by an average of 98 minutes, decrease the chance of a caesarean section by 50 percent, increase breastfeeding success and much more.

Tip #6 – Attend Independent Workshops and Classes

There are some fantastic privately-run workshops and pre-natal classes available for couples by some very experienced, qualified birth educators. Attending these are a great way to not only find encouragement and information, but also to spend time with like-minded people and build friendships. It’s a great idea to take your birth support people with you to these classes if possible.

Tip#7 Most important Trust Your Body, Trust Your Baby

Have confidence and faith in your amazing birthing body, follow your instincts in labour and allow your body and your baby to do exactly what they know to do. Surrender to the power of birthing energy…

A few more helpful tips click the link below.

<a href="http://49307r7cmbpdpxdfpfo8z09s43.hop.clickbank.net/" target="_top">Click Here!</a>

(if it doesn't work copy and paste into the url bar)

Top 10 Most Popular Baby Names

I was speaking to my husband the other day about baby names. We were running off names that we both like a few we agreed on and the others got crossed off the list. Mostly because we associated the name with someone we know!  Someone we went to high school with or a family friend that was a pain in neck!! So now when I hear a name I like I write it down in a section of my phone because most likely you will lose that piece of paper, there’s nothing worse than straining your brain to remember what it was. You can always refer back to the list when the time comes to look at names again!! Below you will find a list of the 10 top Boy and Girls names. 

Boys:

1. Jacob

2. Mason

3. William

4. Jayden

5. Noah

6. Michael

7. Ethan

8. Alexander

9. Aiden

10. Daniel

Girls

1. Sophia

2. Isabella

3. Emma

4. Olivia

5. Ava

6. Emily

7. Abigail

8. Madison

9. Mia

10. Chloe

What are the names you have heard that you like??

Hi Everyone!! 

Welcome to Kidlets Corner Blogging page!! My page will be about products I sell on my website, parenting, handy hints and general life!! 

I started Kidlets Corner only earlier this year with the inspiration of being able to sell baby furniture,  clothing, toys and everything else in between to anyone in the world as its a huge part of all our family life!! A very special moment in time!!

Check my website out  http://kidletscorner.com/home.html. I hope you enjoy!!