Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts

Thursday, November 2, 2017

New Mom Survival Bins | Postpartum Care Kit

I am sharing another survival kit that I feel is the most important for all moms after giving birth and that is the postpartum care kit. Having everything you need in one place to properly take care of your lady bits makes everything easier and having the kit near the toilet is also a good idea. You don't want to have sat down on the toilet to realize you forgot to grab something out of the kit so be sure you set the kit up within arms reach of the toilet.

As the same with my breastfeeding kit, I am using a small tub from the hospital. It isn't the most aesthetically pleasing sight but it is free and it holds everything perfectly.

Most of these items I keep in my postpartum kit, I brought home from the hospital so be sure to check out my post on what to ask for before leaving the hospital.

Mesh Undies

I love love love mesh undies and take as many as I can get from the hospital which was six pairs both times. I just hand wash them immediately after using them and air dry so I can use them for up to two weeks. You could use them longer but I only needed them for two weeks after giving birth to Sophia and one week after baby Anthony.

Bed Liners

If you have read my post on what to take from the hospital, I shared some photos of how I combine bed liners and the pads to get a more secure protection from leakage depending on how heavy your bleeding is. This time around, I didn't need the extra protection but it's better to have them on hand just in case.

Perineal Wash

This little squirt bottle makes the clean up easier and what better is that it is free from the hospital.

Pads

I think this should, at least, be the most obvious thing you need after giving birth since you will have bleeding for a few weeks. I like to have extra heavy overnight on hand as well as my normal pads but again it just depends on how heavy your bleeding is. Also keep in mind that you cannot use tampons for about 6 weeks so have those pads handy.

Dermoblast

Another freebie from the hospital. After cleaning everything up, spray this all up and down there for some nice numbing effect.

What do you keep in your postpartum kit? What is your absolute must-have?

I hope these posts have been helpful for you in creating your new mom survival kits. Please feel free to pin and share these posts with your friends and family as you see fit.

Read the rest of the story »

stormieariel

0 Comments

Monday, October 23, 2017

Pregnancy

Bump Date | 39 Weeks with Baby No. Two

Posted by stormieariel

I decided to document our pregnancy as a way to get all my feelings and emotions out and to later look and remember this beautiful time in our lives while noticing the differences and similarities with our first pregnancy. I hope you enjoy if you decide to follow along on this life changing journey.

We made it to 39 weeks which if you actually calculated my pregnancy based on my last period I would technically be 40 weeks but my doctor calculated my pregnancy based on the size of the baby at my first appointment. However, due dates are a mere estimation and can be off by about two weeks so I could even be 41 weeks. Nevertheless, we are still waiting on baby boy. We did have our weekly appointment earlier this week and I was still 3CM dilated and blood pressure is still doing good. Baby boy's heart rate was a strong 142 and my doctor said he felt higher up, I guess he is as snug as a bug which I don't doubt with how much he balls up into my left ribs. I am still have Braxton Hicks randomly that I really think I'm going to think my body is crying wolf when real labor actually starts.

Another thought to cross my mind while we wait on our little guy is what if I am that 5% or whatever of women who actually go into labor on their due date. Of course, no matter how anxious we are for baby boy to make his arrival, we trust in the Lord's timing and are just happy we have gotten this far without medical interventions. Here is to praying that baby boy won't be stubborn and cause us to have interventions because he is taking too long now though, haha.

More Bump Dates from this Pregnancy:

First Trimester

Second Trimester
28 Weeks
29 Weeks
30 Weeks
31 Weeks
32 Weeks
33 Weeks
34 Weeks
35 Weeks
36 Weeks
37 Weeks
38 Weeks

Read the rest of the story »

stormieariel

0 Comments

Monday, October 16, 2017

Pregnancy

Bump Date | 38 Weeks with Baby No. Two

Posted by stormieariel

I decided to document our pregnancy as a way to get all my feelings and emotions out and to later look and remember this beautiful time in our lives while noticing the differences and similarities with our first pregnancy. I hope you enjoy if you decide to follow along on this life changing journey.

We have made it to 38 weeks of pregnancy and does it seem to be taking forever, haha. At our appointment on Tuesday, my doctor did another pelvic check and this time I was 3cm dilated and she said there was a possibility of having the baby within a week. At the time of me typing this, it has been 6 days... so we are still waiting. Ultimately, I know the Lord's timing is perfect and I am so thankful we have made it this far without any interventions and I am praying that we still won't need any.

Baby boy is still somewhat active although he mostly seems to curl up into my left rib which makes it hard to breath and then he stretches out completely and I look deformed. Sometimes I can feel the outline of his little limbs and I just can't wait to hold this sweet little babe.

We have been trying to do morning walks as much as possible to help jump-start my labor naturally which obviously it got me from 0 cm at 37 weeks to 3 cm at 38 weeks. We have an appointment this Tuesday at 39 weeks so I am curious as to if I dilated anymore. Although it has been an episode of crying wolf with all these false contractions I am feeling, at least my active labor should be shorter since my dilation is getting knocked out now. Gotta find the positive somewhere, right?

Friday night, I did think I was finally in labor as I was contracting for 3 hours with contractions about 8 minutes apart lasting for a minute or less. That is the longest and most consistent I have ever felt the contractions but nothing since then. Since I was induced with Sophia due to preeclampsia (read her birth story here), it is kind of hard to know what to expect and when it is real. Although I am told that I will know when it is finally real contractions so we shall see.

More Bump Dates from this Pregnancy:

First Trimester

Second Trimester
28 Weeks
29 Weeks
30 Weeks
31 Weeks
32 Weeks
33 Weeks
34 Weeks
35 Weeks
36 Weeks
37 Weeks

Read the rest of the story »

stormieariel

0 Comments

Monday, October 9, 2017

Pregnancy

Bump Date | 37 Weeks with Baby No. Two

Posted by stormieariel

We had an appointment earlier this week that included an ultrasound and baby boy looks really chunky with a huge nose, haha. My doctor also did a pelvic check to see if I have made any progress especially since having false labor last week but so far I am not dilated at all but baby boy is at least head down. Blood pressure is also still doing good, praise the Lord! However, our ultrasound did show that I have extra amniotic fluid and that baby boy's tummy is measuring big which is a typical symptom of gestational diabetes so my doctor told me to be strict on my sugar intake and carbs from here on out which honestly has been extremely hard.

We also now have our hospital bag 90% packed which I shared our checklist with you all here on the blog last week. I also started having back pain again so I used my ring sling as a support belt for a few hours and that seemed to help quite a bit.

Baby boy is still moving but it seems his movements are more so to stretch out as my stomach looks deformed but there are also times where he still balls up into my left side and that is where I have gotten majority of my stretch marks. With my pregnancy with Sophia, I barely got any stretch marks and they were all below the bikini line but this boy has stretched me out so much that I have a ton on the left side and a few on the right side. I have mixed emotions about them honestly but I am trying to be confident in them hence so many bare belly shots lately.