Expectant Mum Freak Out: Keeping Baby Safe

All expectant, new, and veteran Mums know how hard it is to keep your baby safe. You just never stop to consider that you might be the one putting your baby in danger. As a first-time expectant Mum I have already begun my baby proofing process. I have considered all the frightening things out there to deal with once my baby is born, strangers, suffocation, sleepless nights, and those are just the "s's"! I never stopped to consider that I was already putting my baby at great risk by simply living my own life. I have cut out all bad habits in pregnancy, stopped drinking coffee, stay off my back while I sleep, I do not eat lunch meat, soft cheeses, or sushi. But no matter how many things I cut out I still managed to put my baby at risk, and all I did was go to work.

As a special education teacher I know more about my students than most teachers. I have a rapport with their parents, I know their health background, and their likes and dislikes. When you work with Autistic, disabled, or learning challenged children you spend extra time with each child. It is a wonderful environment and I have loved my job, and refuse to give it up. I help each of my kids everyday, and I cannot imagine not being there to help them when they need it. However, I did not ever consider that being with my students would risk my own child. Since the school system where I live works in many different districts each school goes back at different times of the year. My own classes do not start until the 26th of September. But other schools have been back for several weeks. As a way to stay active in summer months, and keep a steady paycheck, I substitute for other schools. And this summer I put my own unborn baby at risk by substituting for a special needs class that I was not familiar with. A new school that does not disclose past medical history about students to substitute teachers other than vital classroom needed information put me in a position I never assumed I would be in. I had a child come to school that has never been vaccinated, and this child had a severe case of Chicken pox. Of course the case was not discovered until mid-day at school. When it became apparent that not only the other students and the three teachers were exposed, but so was my unborn baby.

As a first-time expectant Mum I freaked out, I will admit to a full-fledged freak out. After reading the March of Dimes information about exposure to chicken pox while pregnant I was very concerned. Many birth defects can result from exposure including blindness and miscarriage. After carrying my miracle baby for so long, almost 20 weeks, after being told I could not conceive, I was terrified that I had caused irreparable harm to my baby. Reassurance from my husband, and my family was not helping. I knew if something were wrong I would feel guilty. For two weeks I have waited and waited for test results and signs of infection. But thankfully I seem to have evaded the danger. I have an ultrasound this Thursday for a final look at the baby and I know I will feel better after that, but I am still terrified that I have been the one to cause my beautiful precious gift some sort of harm. At least I know this is only the beginning of the unending fear, love, and guilt I will feel over my precious baby, perhaps it is the best reassurance to know that I am not the only mother experiencing all of these emotions on a daily basis.

New This Month at Mums2Be

This month at Mums2Be you can find some great new items available for purchase from Top Secret Maternity as well as a few of your favorites at a 50% discount. Now you can stock up on a few favorites and browse some new styles, simply head on over now to see the great new items at Mums2Be. You can find great nursing dresses that will keep you cool and comfortable in this changing temperature and even get a look at the new Eva Nursing Top style with its new mid-sleeve look.  

Skye Breastfeeding Maxi Dress: This fantastic dress will make you feel like a beauty even on those days when you feel uncomfortable in most everything. The maxi dress features a shaped built in bra for maximum support for a nursing mum so no matter what time of day it is you will feel supported and comfortable. It is a built in privacy layer for discreet nursing and offers the drop-down layer for easy one handed nursing. We only wish everything was this simple and beautiful. Available in black and grape. And made from the softest organic cotton. 

Sienna Maxi Nursing/Maternity Dress: This great dress from Top Secret Maternity will have you looking like a runway model even when you have a child on one hip and a diaper bag in another. Why look like a drab mum when you can look like a fab mum? This maxi nursing/maternity dress offers a shaped built in bra for extra support for nursing mums, and adjustable straps for a changing size and shape that goes hand-in-hand with being a nursing mum. Available in a fantastic hula pattern you will feel happy and tropical every time you see it.

Sahara Nursing Singlet Top With Inbuilt Bra Support: Now available in new and fabulous colors this favorite of nursing mums is now even better. As always it offers the best shaped built in bra support that does not require a maternity or nursing bra. It offers an incredible privacy layer and can be worn throughout your pregnancy, and now with its extra long length you can wear it postpartum to cover any areas that are not quite back to their usual shape yet. The new colors are fantastic and include black, white, ruby, Baltic, puddle, candy, grape, and dusty pink. 

Eva Nursing Top with Inbuilt Support Bra Mid Sleeve: An incredible mid-sleeve nursing top with a shaped built in bra that does not require a maternity or nursing bra for added support. Now available at half the price, for only $41.00 you can have this beautiful and functional top that will support you all through your pregnancy.

Eva Nursing Tee With Inbuilt Support Bra: Like it's mid-sleeve sister it has incredible support but in a short-sleeve tee. Also available at only $41.00, half its regular price this beauty has some incredible style! Available in pool puddle, black and cherry pink.

Sahara Nursing Singlet Top with Inbuilt Bra Support size 18 only: A favorite of nursing mums this top is perfect for larger breasted women with its high cut neckline. It provides such incredible support it can even be worn to the gym or to bed. Get it at half off its normal price, now only $31.00.

So head on over to Mums2Be and check out these great new styles and prices. Not only will you be stylish and comfortable, your wallet will too! 

Playing with Baby: An Expectant Mum's First Kicks

After weeks and weeks of feeling absolutely nothing when it comes to the child growing within me it was heaven on Earth to have my first real interaction with my precious little baby. Friends have told me how wonderful it would be when I first felt my baby kick, terms like wonder, magic, and unbelievable were bandied about. But my first interaction with my baby did not bring wonder or awe but instead brought laughter. I could not stop laughing at the little kicks and thumps I felt each time I poked my abdomen. With every little prod I gave a little kick was given in return. I felt giddy with relief that I could suddenly feel this little being inside of me reacting to something I did. Suddenly my baby was not just this image on an ultrasound or a sound in the doctors office. Suddenly my baby was a real life little person and I couldn't wait to have the chance to play with my precious little baby in person without a womb standing between us.

As the weeks are going by faster and faster I find myself imagining the face of my little angel. Will the baby look like me, like my husband, or one of our family members? Will the baby have a little of us all? What characteristics will my baby show in those early days after birth. I remember watching my niece after she was born two months early. She spent the beginning of her life in the NICU, buy her strength was apparent immediately. Whenever a nurse came to check her or take blood she would kick those little froggy looking legs and flail those arms and cry as loud as her one stable lung would allow. Despite a chest tube and a hole in her left lung she was prepared to fight for her little life. Will my baby have that same spark? My mother tells stories of my willfulness as a baby and toddler. Will my child have that same willfulness? While some would say it is too early to tell I think I know for certain. With a strong heartbeat, and a love to kick, my baby has already shown one large personality, and I cannot wait to see how big it gets over the years.   

Maternity Wear 5-60% off at Mums2Be

Mums2Be has some amazing deals going on this month. Right now you can find some of your favorite winter pieces on sale starting at 5% off all the way to 60% off regular price. With deals this great you can pick up a few of your favorite things, and maybe even try something new you have had your eye on. Take a sneak peak at some of the great items on sale now.

Black Footless Opaque Hosiery Tights by Ripe 5% off at $21.00: These great tights are footless and extremely comfortable and go with just about everything. Pair them with a great dress, a skirt, wear them under pants for support in those last long months of pregnancy. Your legs will thank you!

Marion Long Sleeve Breastfeeding Top 30% off at $30.00: This round-neck nursing top is comfortable and adorable. The double-layer bust provides easy nursing access and privacy, the bamboo product of viscose/elastane keeps its shape perfectly so you can wear this shirt during and after pregnancy without worry of stretching ruing the blouse. The vibrant grape juice color is bright and fun to wear.

Astrid Feeding Dress 50% off at $49.47: A beautiful dress for anyone, it is designed especially for an expectant or nursing Mum. The 3/4 sleeve dress has easy nursing access and privacy, but it looks like an exquisite cocktail dress. The scoop neck takes advantage of all those new expectant Mum curves and will help to make you feel exceptionally beautiful on your night out.

Denim Maternity Jeggings by Ripe Maternity 40% off at $47.95: These knit style jean leggings are the hottest thing in fashion right now, so of course it is great to see a maternity line carry the great style. Now it doesn't matter if you are expecting or not, you can still rock your skinny jeans! The knit jean leggings are comfortable and soft, and sit on the underside of the tummy so they do not interfere with baby growth or Mum's comfort. Wear them with a great blouse and look great no matter how far along you are! 

An Expectant Mum's Joy: The Ultrasound

Today marks the official first day of my second trimester and I am incredibly happy to see the changes in my body and my days. I no longer start my morning cursing my husband, myself, and my precious baby for that awful feeling I wake up to. Morning sickness is not the best memory to first associate your growing baby with. But I have been morning sickness free for over a week now and enjoying every minute of it, every minute that I am not staring at my growing belly that is.

While I still look fairly small the growing bump is shouting "baby on board!" and less "ate too much at lunch!" Which actually has leaving me with mixed feelings of joy and confusion. While I was prepared for all that comes with a newborn baby I somehow forgot all the different things I would feel in the growing process. As someone who once gained nearly 90 pounds in three months due to a failing thyroid gland I expected changes in my body. But these changes are much different than the changes I experienced before. Before I knew that what was happening to my body was not a result of something I was doing, and I felt as if I were a prisoner in my own body. Not in control of it or even aware of it, just sort of passing from one day to the next wishing that I were in fact not the person I was seeing in the mirror. Now however, the feelings I am experiencing are altogether different. My body is growing much more slowly. I do not feel trapped in my body, but I also do not feel alone. I feel as if there is some other force controlling my movements, my hunger, and my discomfort. As my skin tightens and stretches I feel like I am watching something incredibly strange yet normal happen to me. As if my body were indeed meant to do this, which of course it is. I am slowly realizing that I am sharing my body with someone else, and that person is not quite in control either, but we are along for this ride together.

This all became so much more apparent to me when I was sitting at the Doctor's office at the beginning of the week having my first real glimpse at my growing baby. The way that the baby moves inside of me was incredible. The little hand brushing past the face so quickly made my husband and myself almost cry. Especially when we heard the heartbeat. Now I spend most of my days staring at the printout of my little baby on my refrigerator, as the background on my phone, and computer. I cannot help but look at the beautiful little baby every chance I get. And I sincerely hope that feeling never goes away. 

I Am Crap At Dealing With My Cluttered Email

I admit it! I am CRAP at dealing with my email clutter. You may be thinking oh sure she has a few emails unread or left unsorted. Sorry, but I WISH that was the case. I am so terrible at dealing with my email clutter it has almost become a phobia. I wake up thinking, "I should check my email," the very idea almost makes my skin crawl. IF I check it, I will be bombarded with all my unread, unsorted, ungodly mess of an inbox that I actually shrink in fear. I hold on to 100's even 1000's of emails unsure of how to deal with my issue. At the moment my inbox is so overcrowded I am shocked it does not spit out incoming emails in disgust and simply decline to accept any more refuse, as it must see all the contents shoved within it as nothing but waste.

I almost feel as if I must join EA (Emails Anonymous) and own up to my inability to deal with my email. I should stand up in front of a crowd and admit my inabilities to attack a simple task like de-cluttering my own email. But unfortunately I never do. I once waited 6 months before deleting a single email. My inbox was so full that when I went to download a new email I had time to check on my kids, make sure they had finished their homework, planned a meal for dinner, and folded a load of laundry. All of this while one email loaded. I know I have a problem. I actually believe the reason my computer runs so slowly is the simple fact that it is wading through too many emails. I have this vision that there must be a woman living in my computer, acting as its brain, and she has this long hallway full of doors and behind these doors is each program I use on my computer. She must walk daily down this corridor and hear the rumbling, clattering, raucous noises coming from behind the door marked inbox. She too is afraid to stand too close to this door for fear of being a casualty of the worst avalanche ever recorded in the history of the world. And as a computer brain she must know all the avalanche histories.

Perhaps I should just sit down right now and tackle this beast and try to delete whatever I can. It would be a simple task, I just need to click that very important button marked "delete." Or perhaps I should simply buy a new computer and get a new email. It may be less invasive.

Save 30% on Some of Ripe Maternity's Favourite Fashions

Who said that an expectant Mum cannot look fabulous in a great pair of jeans? Well it certainly was not Ripe. The people who bring you some of the best maternity and nursing fashions are making life easier for mums-to-be once again. Now you no longer have to give up your favorite pair of skinny jeans when you are expecting. Sure these aren't exactly the pair you wore before, but the end result is just as satisfying, possibly even more satisfying when you realize how comfortable you are despite your protruding baby bump.

Ripe offers an amazing pair of full length jean style leggings, or jeggings as they are being called round the world. They fit perfectly to your curves and feature a soft and comfortable wide waistband that sits under your ever-expanding belly. Now you can wear your skinny jeans up until delivery and still look fabulous. In order to create a more jean-like quality they feature a stitch detailing along the seams for that true-denim look. They are made of rayon/polyester and come in a beautiful dark denim indigo wash.

Pair them with some of Ripe's favorite maternity tops for a fantastic and fashionable look like the Ripe Stripe Drape Cardigan. This great cardigan is a cotton long-sleeve stripe-knit top that will keep you warm and comfortable and can be worn with any top or nice blouse for a dressier look. It comes in a hazel and coal stripe for a great winter look.

What is better than finding these great looks that you can continue to rock throughout your pregnancy? How about discovering that they are all 30% off now at Mums2Be? Right now you can save 30% on some of your favorite items like Ripe Maternity fashions at Mums2Be. So hurry in a scope out the sales and great fashions available for fashionable mums-to-be before they are all sold out!