Full Term! 37 Week Update

Head on over to Running With Tongs to read my 37 Week update and then head over to our Facebook page to check out photos from my 37 week photo session (there are some pretty entertaining photos).
Head on over to Running With Tongs to read my 37 Week update and then head over to our Facebook page to check out photos from my 37 week photo session (there are some pretty entertaining photos).
One of the topics we discussed in our Natural Baby Care Class was the benefits of babywearing and the various babywearing options. There are so many great benefits to discuss as well as a variety of babywearing options out there, it can be really overwhelming to figure out which style is best for you. In our class our doula brought along a few different carriers for us to try out and show us how they actually work.
Did you know?*
Fitted Pouches- A simple tube of fabric that does not have any rings, snaps or buckles. The wearer choose the proper size based on their height, weight, chest and shoulder-to-hip length. This may require you to purchase two different fitted pouches if both you and your partner plan to use one and you are not the same size. At this time we have chosen not to go with the fitted pouch but our Doula Sarah, highly recommends the Hotslings brand and loved to use it with her daughter.
Adjustable Pouches- These are similar to fitted pouches however they can be sized via snaps, zippers, drawstrings or a product similar to Velcro but much stronger called Aplix. These are great because they work well if you loose or gain wait however they can be much bulkier than a fitted pouch.
(Source: Hotslings)
Ring Slings- A ring sling is a a long loop of fabric that is set through adjustable rings. There are two types closed-tail and open-tail. Closed-tail slings such as the one seen here the fabric ends in a strap that can be adjusted, they are usually much more padded and can be bulkier. Open-tail slings have a wide length of fabric that are passed through rings and has an open tail of fabric. The tail can be used for shade, breastfeeding cover, a blanket or burp cloth.
(Source: Maya Wrap)
Sarah brought her Maya Wrap for us to see and test out during our class and both Neil and I really loved it so we decided to add it to our babycarrier stash. Things I loved about it: how you can easily adjust it with one hand, the extra piece of fabric that can be used as a cover when breastfeeding, how you can easily loosen the sling and breastfeed, it’s lighter for summer time, the padded shoulder and how natural it seems to wear it.
Asian-style Carrier (onbuhimo, podegi, hmong, bei (these use 2 straps) or mei tai (uses 4 straps)– These style carriers use square/rectangular panels of fabric and two or four straps to secure baby. The mei tai (may-tie) style of carrier is the most popular. Our friends have the Babyhawk mei tai style carrier and absolutely love it. For now we are going to stick with the carriers we have/registered for but are considering getting a Babyhawk some day.
(Source: Babyhawk)
A Wrap- A wrap is basically a really long rectangular piece of fabric that your wrap and tie around your body. It is the least structured and can be used by any body type and you can tie it so you are able to carry in a number of positions. It can be rather tricky at first to get used to and to make sure you are doing it correctly but after a few tries you’ll get it. It is great for newborns and smaller children (under 20 lbs). As you can see in my photo at the top I have been practicing with our MOBY wrap.
Soft-pack Carriers- These are actually based on the Asian-style carriers are little more structured with buckles and extra padding. These style carriers generally allow for limited positions which include front, back and side. We purchased the Ergo Options Carrier off of Babysteals after being highly recommended by a number of people and fellow bloggers.I have also heard great things about the Beco Baby which is a similar style.
(Source: Ergo)
Do/did you practice baby wearing? What kind of carrier do/did you use?
We not only learned about the various types of baby carriers but also how to correctly use them. Sarah demonstrated the proper position for the baby in each of the carriers she had, neither of us had a mei tai so we did not get a demonstration of that carrier, however we were provided handouts with photos that discussed proper and improper wearing of each baby carrier.
*Source: From Babywearing: The Benefits and Beauty of This Ancient Tradition by Maria Blois, MD (Pharmasoft Publishing, 2005) found in excerpt from Mothering magazine.
**Source: Mothering magazine– article Babywearing 101
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Disclosure: We are not babywearing experts. All the knowledge above is based off of materials and discussion provided in our Natural Baby Care Class.
A few weeks ago we had our Natural Baby Care Class with our Doula Sarah.
In this class we discussed a variety of topics which included:
We had initially planned to write one big post about what we learned but honestly this post would be a mile long even as a condensed version of our four hour class. So, instead of putting this all in one post we decided to go ahead and cover the bigger topics in individual posts*. These post will include: Attachment Theory, Breastfeeding Basics (this will be covered more in our breastfeeding class post), Newborn Sleep, Cloth Diapering and Babywearing.
We took our natural baby care class from Doula Sarah Campbell of Mother Rising Childbirth Services.
Downs
Ups
This past Saturday our friend Cate hosted our baby shower and what a beautiful day it turned out to be! It was sunny, warm and the perfect location. Right on the lake.
We enjoyed a spectacular spread of salads, chips, veggies, dips, and stuffed grape leaves.
We also dug into this bassinet of fruit, complete with an orange baby, that our hostess Cate and friend Abbey created for the party. These proud mamas were so happy to show off their sightly jaundiced baby.
We sipped on Vignette Wine Country Soda (non-alcoholic) which was really delicious. I have had, and really enjoyed, the rose, chardonnay and pinot noir but I think the brut was my favorite. There were also mimosas available, juices, coffee, and Mighty Leaf iced teas.
For dessert and as a parting gift for our shower guests, there were a variety of flavors of macaroons (my new favorite snack) from Pure Sweets. The flavors included The Sphinx (rosewater cardamon), The Poodle (Lemon Lavender), The Elephant(Cashew Butter and Caramelized Nuts),The Owl(salted almond vanilla bean macaroons dipped in organic single-origin dark chocolate) and The Panda (single-origin chocolate chunk macaroons). Pure sweets were really accommodating and every flavor was delicious! You can read my full review of Pure Sweets over on RWT.
CHEERS!
Our guests all took turns writing messages to the baby on a chalk board and having their photo taken with it so that we can create a photo guest book for a shower keepsake and to show our baby.
We, and the baby, were spoiled rotten with amazing gifts from all of our friends and family.
We loved everything and are so excited for the baby to arrive so that we can start using everything!
We had a wonderful shower and it flew by so fast! Now we are on to the next step of washing items, organizing the nursery and getting everything ready for baby’s arrival.
When it came to creating our registry I must have created, deleted and re-created our registry at least four times before finally settling on items we really wanted/needed. At first I just went by what I liked and then I started to do more and more research. Reading tons of blog posts and recommendations from other parents which caused me to re-think what we should register for. Finally we decided what to register for and set up an Amazon Universal Baby Registry and a Babies “R” Us registry (they do online registries which are also available at the store for those family members who aren’t comfortable with the internet). Below we’ll share some tips for creating your registries and examples of items on our registry.
Tip:
Feeding Gear:
Bath Gear:
Changing Gear:
Travel Gear:
Books:
What are your baby registry tips?
Related Resources:
I just received an e-mail in my inbox from TheBump.com informing me of the 10 must-dos before labor. Now, we already have a list of our own but I was curious to see what they had to say. Here are their 10 must-dos:
What is on your list of things to do before labor? In addition to those listed above we also want to get the house as organized and clean as possible, work on a number of blog posts and find time to do a few more “just the two of us” things.
[babymoon] n. last big child-free getaway
When it came to deciding on whether or not we would have a babymoon, we flip-flopped back and forth for awhile, trying to decide whether we needed to take one and if it would be financially responsible to take one. Just when we had decided against doing a babymoon for financial reasons (it’s so expensive to travel in February/March!) an opportunity to travel to South Carolina came up. My parents had made a last minute decision to rent a condo in South Carolina for the month of March and invited us to stay with them for a week. Now this was not what I had imagined our babymoon would be (beach front, just the two of us, romantic), but it was an opportunity for us to get away, take a trip to a new place and do it inexpensively.
Since we would be spending our time sharing a condo with my parents we decided that we would make sure to make a little time for ourselves. We ended up decided to have a ‘babymoon date’ to Charleston, just the two of us. We rented a car and drove the two hours south from Myrtle Beach to Charleston. It was a beautiful day and we spent it walking around the downtown, enjoying the sites, the water and a romantic and delicious lunch at S.N.O.B.
Although our trip wasn’t what we had envisioned our babymoon to be it was a wonderful last big child-free getaway.
Babymoon Tips:
Babymoon Links:
Our Babymoon Gallery
When it comes to birthing classes, there are a variety of options. From hospital based classes, naturally focused birthing classes, and those that are combinations of both. Some specific types or methods taught in birthing classes include the Lamaze Method, Bradley Method, Hypnobirthing, Birthing From Within, BirthWorks and The Alexander Technique. We were really interested in taking the 12-week Bradley Method class, which teaches natural childbirth and partner-coached childbirth, but unfortunately there is no one who offers these classes in our area (or even the state). What we did have for options was pretty limited and many of the classes that were available focused more on hospital births (ones with medical intervention) or were really focused around the procedures/what to expect at the local hospital (Fletcher Allen, which we won’t be going to).
Left feeling frustrated and not wanting to drive the 75 minutes to the hospital we will be giving birth at for childbirth classes (each way for six weeks), I finally reached out on twitter for some ideas on what to do. To my delight, a few people came back and suggested that I look into local doulas, as many offer childbirth classes in addition to their doula services. The next day I was at Healthy Living Market perusing the local services board and ended up taking home four doulas’ business cards to contact about classes. One doula contacted me back to let me know she was available to teach birthing classes and we signed up for two four hour sessions. We also signed up for her natural baby care class (and also eventually hired her as our doula). In addition to taking private birth classes I also read Birthing From Within, and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth and Neil read The Birthing Partner which we will discuss further in future posts.
So what did we learn? Since we spent eight hours discussing a variety of topics I’ve decided to condense what we learned into the top 10 things we learned, here they are:
What others are saying:
We took our birthing class from Doula Sarah Campbell of Mother Rising Childbirth Services.
I was planning to write about my Top 10 Labor & Delivery Fears but as I began to write this post I found that only three fears really stood out for me.
What were/are your labor and delivery fears?
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