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6 Ways to Own Your Planned Cesarean

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:16:53 +0000

So you're having a planned cesarean birth for you baby. While there are certainly some things on your typical birth plan that might not work for your cesarean birth plan, there are a number of things that you do have control over! Here are six things you can have control over when you've giving birth in the operating room. Did you experience any of these?

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Smell Aversion in Pregnancy

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:30:00 +0000

One of the first things you might have noticed is that there are some smells that set you off when pregnant. The odd thing is, this doesn't have to be something terrible (like a garbage can). In fact, many moms are surprised it's often something they love (like coffee). Did you suffer from smell aversion in pregnancy?

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What can dads do?

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:05:40 +0000

I saw a Facebook post the other day asking the question: What can a dad do other than breastfeed? It made me think of all the times society answers that with: Change diapers! That's sort of sad, isn't it? I mean, no one really wants to change diapers. So I started coming up with some fun things that dads can do with babies.

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Mothers' Day Pregnancy Announcements

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:00:20 +0000

Did you get a big fat positive this morning for Mothers' Day? If so maybe you're looking for some fun ways to announce your pregnancy to others, perhaps with a Mothers' Day theme. Here are some specific for today:

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Fastest Falling Baby Names of the Year

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:16:13 +0000

Okay, I feel like I did the requisite report on the most popular baby names of the year according to the Social Security Administration's look at last years baby names. Honestly, it's a fun report to look at and one I really enjoy, but lots of people talk about the top names. I'm really a data geek and I like looking at the numbers from lots of angles. I think that the SSA must know that because over the years, they've added more and more features, including the ability to see how fast names are gaining or losing on the scale.

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Great Tool for Moms-to-Be

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:19:01 +0000

If you haven't yet signed up for Text4Baby, check out this free text messaging service. It's available in English and Spanish. It is designed to provide you with healthy reminders via text message for you and baby from pregnancy through baby's first year. This Mother's Day, give you and baby this free treat!

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Top Baby Names

Thu, 09 May 2013 19:10:06 +0000

The Social Security Administration (SSA) releases the top baby names from the birth certificate data. It's always neat to look at it overall, but there is also the interesting part of looking at it from year to year and state to state. A name that might be in the top ten overall, might not be a popular name in your state and vice versa.

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Pitocin Puts Healthy Full Term Babies at Risk

Thu, 09 May 2013 08:51:07 +0000

This isn't news to most people who work with laboring women with any frequency, but at a poster presentation this week at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' (ACOG) meeting, these were the findings that were reported. When the study looked at over 3,000 full term newborns who had had either a Pitocin induction or an augmentation. Induction with Pitocin was more likely to see a newborn spend more than 24 hours in the neonatal intensive care (NICU) and augmentation, or the speeding up of labor was seen to have infants with lower APGAR scores (newborn assessment).

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Cleaning Pacifiers with Your Mouth

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:43:21 +0000

When it comes to having a baby, let's just say that there is what you expect to do as a parent and reality. I think this news falls into the reality category. You have a crying baby and the pacifier falls... You pray as you watch it tumble that it will land handle side down. The slow mo fall ends... not as you would have hoped. You invoke the five second rule and then realize that this strategy might not be good enough, so you... quickly pop the pacifier in your mouth, assuming you're getting the majority of the nasty germs off and then pop it back in baby's mouth, praying no one saw you do it.

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Very Few Moms Request Cesareans

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:53:42 +0000

I'm seeing a lot of news articles recently about cesarean birth, particularly in regards to mothers who request a c-section without having a medical need for one prior to labor. Childbirth Connection, in Listening to Mothers II found it to be about 1% and an article released from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) believes it to be about 3%. Still, I think many media outlets make it seem like it is a much higher number than either of these numbers.

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