My Reaction to 4 Pregnancies Discoveries at Different Time Periods in My Life

Baby What!? - 1999

Oh no, so not ready!  I am 24 but feel like I'm 18!  I have plans--lots of them!  This can't be happening.  God do something, you know I'm not ready!  I didn't want to have a baby right now and not with this guy--he was supposed to be a friend--(sigh).

Baby Why? - 2000

Yes, why?  What was I thinking isn't this the guy--my so-called friend--who I caught creeping (he had been cheating and hiding his pagers at the time--yeah I just dated myself).  So why did I use the calendar method again!?  I married him, I really married this guy, so this is supposed to make things alright?  Still pregnant...still settling.

Baby When? - 2006

Newly divorced, new life, new guy.  Uh oh, I think I remember when.  I felt odd that night after our love-making.  Something was different, I felt like I didn't like him much afterward.  Yep, I remember when (oh boy!) That reaction turned into "not now" I really didn't feel like I knew my new boyfriend that well. Besides, I met him on the Internet.  Were we ever going to take that trip we both planned?  Nope.  I think I feel sick.   Baby two was supposed to be the last one--stupid doctor knew I was out of it when he asked me about getting my tubes tied--he said a long name--hell, I didn't know what he was saying!  Of course I would have said yes! I am a bit angry...what's up with the red tape...Baby three was supposed to be it--but they couldn't perform the fallopian tube removal surgery that August, so back into my room I went, crying--money, money (sigh).  I can feel it, another baby in my future--I don't want a daughter, God.

How? - 2007

April 2007 expect to deliver baby December 2007, you gotta be kidding!  God we had this talk already.  Seriously, how?  I took 28 birth control pills for 28 days and was on my way to the CVS to get my refill when I noticed my stomach was a little puffier than usual.  Doctor said he put me on a low dose birth control pill since I was breast-feeding and I forgot about back up protection (sigh).  Dad's reaction (same father of "When?"), attitude, lots of attitude.  The next nine months was interesting to say the least--had last baby successfully.  Thank God, future pregnancy complications if I don't get surgery, says nurse--yes!  Fallopian removal surgery a success.  I told you I didn't want anymore children.  Four sons is enough, thank you Jesus!

Nicholl

8 Ways to Minimize Labor and Delivery Pain by PregnancyChat

Monica talks about " Ways to Minimize Labor and Delivery Pain" Enjoy.

As eager as you are for the day that your baby will arrive, you may also be experiencing some anxiety regarding the birthing process and any pain that you may have to go through.

This is completely normal and it is important to remember that you are not alone.

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Morning Sickness Tips

How To Prosper in Your Pregnancy

Sometimes, Pregnancy Is Rubbish. And That’s OK

There’s a prevailing myth that we’re supposed to ‘bloom’ when we’re pregnant. Ripe with the joys of the life growing inside us, we pregnant ladies waft through the world, trailing a warm glow of love as we go. Our skin shall be radiant, our hair shall gleam, and our bodies shall revel in their proven fecundity. Of course, we shall have the odd minor moment of discomfort as the due date approaches, and sometimes our hormones may get a little uppity, but in the main we shall be glorious beacons of maternal femininity.

As many of us know, the reality of pregnancy is often quite, quite different. How can pregnancy make you feel utterly horrible? Let us count the ways…

• Morning sickness. Ugh. Doubly ugh as it often occurs early in pregnancy, so you have to cope with it while working and trying to conduct your life as normal.
• Swollen ankles.
• Swollen everything else.
• Mood swings. One moment you’re sobbing with love at a puppy on the television, the next you’re threatening to eviscerate your partner because they breathed in an irritating manner.
• The sheer, sometimes agonizing impracticality that is a vertical biped hauling a small human around in its belly. Humans are very poorly designed indeed when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth.
• Braxton Hicks. A cruel, cruel trick.
• The perpetual worries about the birth, the baby, and everything in between and beyond.
• Backache. Often permanent.
• Sore breasts.
• Sore everything.
• Insomnia.
• Fatigue.
• And much, much too much more.

The reality is that, far from being the magical experience that we are often expected to have, pregnancy can be hellish. This is particularly true for those with mental health problems, especially if those problems are related to body image. The huge changes one’s body goes through at pregnancy can cause some very serious issues for these people, potentially making both mother and child very ill indeed. But even when we’re otherwise pretty healthy, pregnancy is frequently not the joy we’re supposed to believe that it is. So, if you’re pregnant, and feeling pretty rubbish, don’t worry. Don’t feel guilty, don’t feel like you’re in some way deficient, or unfeminine, or letting your child down by not enjoying your pregnancy. You’re not. What you’re experiencing is perfectly natural. What is unnatural is this bizarre insistence on pretending that pregnancy is all smiles and rainbows and that elusive ‘glow’. Don't fall for it, and don't get guilt about how you feel!

Dr Christina Hibbert Motherhood TV - Pregnancy & PPD Mood & Anxiety: Wha...

My Top 8 Must Have Products During Pregnancy

Skincare Safe Products During Pregnancy

When you’re pregnant, your body undergoes dozens of changes, and your skin might experience some issues as well. Luckily, many skin issues that you encounter during pregnancy are temporary and disappear soon after you give birth; however, for the more uncomfortably skin issues, there are several pregnancy-safe skincare products that you can use for common skincare issues during pregnancy. For example, if you encounter melasma (the darkening of the skin on your face), you can suppress skin pigmentation with prescription products containing azelaic acid and topical vitamin C.

Soy-based sunscreens have been shown to have some effect on lightening the skin. Similarly, for stretch marks, which 90% of women experience during pregnancy, moisturizer can improve the appearance and reduce itchiness, while it’s been suggested that topical creams containing glycolic acid and/or green tea might prevent stretch marks. Increased blood circulation during the third trimester may cause pregnant women to have puffy eyelids and faces, especially in the morning. In this case, DIY treatments work well; ice and cold packs can be applied, as well as the use of an eye cream with aloe and vitamin E. Women experiencing puffiness can also increase their vitamin and mineral consumption to relieve the puffiness; however, while the condition is usually harmless, puffiness and sudden weight gain may signal problems that you should discuss with your doctor.

Pregnant women often experience itchy skin, acne, and rashes as well. Itchiness can be relieved by using over-the-counter mentholated or oatmeal-based moisturizers without artificial scents, while rashes can be treated with over-the-counter topical moisturizers that are fragrance-free. Meanwhile, women who experience acne while pregnant can treat acne by washing their face frequently with fragrance-free facial soaps and using some over-the-counter acne products such as astringents. However, when treating acne and other skin issues, pregnant women should be careful to avoid products containing benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, or retinoids, which are unsafe for pregnant women to use and have been linked to birth defects or pregnancy complications.

Learn more here.

Safe Skincare Products To Use During Pregnancy - An infographic by the team at Skinfo

Birth Simulator - Men Get to Experience "Some" of the Pain Women Go Through

Here's another video...

 

Pregnancy Must-Haves || Best Products & Favorite Tips!

In Remembrance of New Mothers…

No one knows a mother like another mother; however, there is very little empathy given from the “know-it-all” type of mother. The one who thinks she has motherhood figured all out, when behind closed doors she suffers like the rest of us.

Comments like “why would she do that to her children” and “I would never do that to mine” fall quickly from mother’s lips when they don’t bother to understand, nor reach out to help their sister in need.

From mental illness to poverty, young, old and new mothers everywhere try to make sense of their relationships with loved ones, financial issues, and other challenges while trying to appear as if they are really happy with their lives to avoid public scrutiny.

A decision to give her cheating husband just one more chance, because he is the baby’s father only to find out he has cheated yet again has contributed to many mothers losing it! The idea that he has abused her trust yet again can be too much for any woman’s mindset.

Sometimes you have to stop and think about that woman passing you by with her whining children in tote. Does she have a man in her life who has done something to her that affected her mental well-being why she suddenly snaps out on her child, throws him in the car seat and speeds out the parking lot like a raging bull?

After carrying a child for nine months, some new mothers find out that their husbands aren't interested in being fathers --just one more thing to add to the symptoms new mothers feel during postpartum depression. Then there is the menopausal mother over 40 with 20 plus years of marriage behind her who finds out that her once loving mate is no longer interested in her or the children, because he is having a midlife crisis of his own.

These situations are real and they can send any woman over the edge. If you have ever wondered why the children end up drowned in the bathtub, left in a garbage dump, or dropped off at someone’s doorstep, consider this, the mother’s mind has retired, it's no longer in service.

She didn’t just check out the day the children were crying and fighting too much. She exhibited signs of losing control way before she did something to her children. Check her paper trail. She was mentally drained from her unhappy life when she called her friend sobbing uncontrollably.

She complained that her children’s father was never home. Her anger was brewing when she tried to get someone to watch her children, but her husband used manipulative tactics to make her feel guilty about leaving the house to get a job, go to church, take some time for herself, or go out with her friends.

So is abusing or murdering a child an excuse for a mother burdened by life? Of course not! However, when organizations tell women not to murder their unborn child, these same organizations are not their on the postpartum depression floors of every hospital in America. They are not escorting these women home and assisting them around the house for a week or more until the blues passes.

There are challenges awaiting at home when the new mother leaves the hospital: a disgruntled husband or boyfriend, an elderly relative who can’t handle baby cries, more children, an unclean home, and unpaid bills, are all issues that a new mother is still expected to handle while being bent over from a C-section operation or struggling from a vaginal delivery.

My sisters, where is the refrigerator magnet with the 1800# included with her free diaper bag that says, “Call us when you are feeling like you want to hurt your child?” It would be nice to see a pretty colored envelope with a letter inside stating, “We understand the crying at times will get on your nerves, call us and we will get someone to come to your home right away!”

So consider all of these things the next time you see a new mother walking by you with her belly stuck out ready to deliver any day now, or being pushed in a wheelchair with a new baby in her arms...please say a prayer for her, she will need it!


Written by Nicholl McGuire
http://www.associatedcontent.com/nichollmcguire