Mothering Corner

I have some friends who got pregnant before they are married. It is more common to be single mothers in western countries, but it is not a popular norm in ours yet. So, most of the time, the new mothers will rush for a wedding as soon as possible, before their bumps are getting obvious.

Even if you are rushing for a wedding, don’t forget to get a nice wedding ring for yourself. If you are wondering where to get the rings from, White Flash has a lot of nice rings to be offered. I love diamonds, especially those above one carat and nicely cut. No matter which type of stones you are looking for, White Flash is dedicated in helping you to get the stones at your preference.

Since I’m already married, I can’t get another wedding ring. *touch wood* I don’t want another wedding ring! But then, I am browsing through the website, looking at the nice rings and I’m thinking, will hubby get me one of those anniversary rings every day for many years to come?

I’m lucky to have a girl and a boy by coincident. Most of my friends said that I don’t have to worry about getting baby no.3 because I have a pair of “hao” (means good in Chinese), and it doesn’t matter anymore if I stop having babies. Some of the parents are very particular about the gender of their babies. If they have 2 girls, they hope to get a boy for the 3th pregnancy. If they have 2 boys, a baby girl will complete the picture of their family.

So, if you Google for methods on how to determine the gender of the baby, you will ended up with a long list of methods that may not be 100% effective, except for IVF. So, if you are willing to try out, check out here and here. I’m not going to list the methods here as I don’t think the gender of the baby is important. No matter if the baby is a boy or a girl, he or she is still your fresh and blood. We should be loving them the same.

While some mothers are trying their best to have babies, others were messing up the lives of the babies in their wombs. Some women are alcoholic and they might get pregnant accidentally. However, sometimes they may not be aware of their own pregnancy and still continue drinking as usual. Thus, their babies are at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome which may result in birth defect that affects brain development and growth.

Thus, these women should quit alcohol before pregnancy, if possible. But if the pregnancy is unplanned, then they will have to stop taking alcohol immediately, if they want to have healthy babies. It’s not easy to quit an addiction, but many addicts have done it by admitting themselves into Alcohol Rehab. At the same time, it helps to as well if they can share their experiences and gain motivation from others who have made it and stayed clear from alcohol. You can find those articles from blogs like alcohol rehab mobi which gives personal experience and reflection on alcohol abuse and treatment. Most of the addicts were in denial at first, but they healed from the addiction after proper and professional treatments. Besides alcohol addictions, you can find some articles related to drugs and substance abuse as well.

So, if you really want to be a mother, get rid of those bottles. They are not doing your baby nor you any good.

Before I was pregnant, I used to play golf with hubby. But I stayed away from the game when a few months before my wedding because I wanted to look fair and radiant. It’s nice to walk 18 holes at the course, even if I’m a lousy player. I only know how to whack the balls, but don’t ask me about the skills, I have no clue about it. Besides, I can’t putt, I just tee off, drive the ball on the green and that’s it!

When I was pregnant, I did some swing, but MIL and SIL was against that idea. They said golf is not a game for pregnant woman. Then when I walked to walk with hubby at the golf course, I was not allowed too because I wasn’t playing. Even if I told them that I would be hubby’s caddy by pushing the trolley (I lied, I just walked, no pushing. LOL!), they still didn’t allow me too. But never mind, if hubby need a caddy, he can always get EziCaddy, the electrical buggy. He doesn’t need me or any caddy huh? Ha!

But still, maybe golf is not a good idea for any expectant mothers. So, I stopped the game for more than 3 years already, and I can’t even find my gloves and golf shoes now!

I opt for epidural for both deliveries because I was very afraid of labour pain. I am fully aware that fear will make the matter worse, and if the mother is not relax, the contraction will be more painful. However, I didn’t want to go through that at all. I wanted to have an easy pain free delivery, so I put it down in my birth plan that epidural is a must after 4cm of dilation.

What is epidural? Epidural is a form of anaesthesia in which impulses in the nerve roots of the spinal cord are blocked by a painkiller drug. It is not only given to mothers with natural birth, but also those who are undergoing a Caesarean. But in most cases, it’s called a spinal block.

Thus, if someone tells you that you will get backache if you opt for epidural, that means all those mothers which Caeserean will be suffering the same too! My hubby even told me that epidural will make me suffering from memory loss. LOL! Well, unless the myths are proven, if not, I will not believe them.

However, please bear in mind that like all pain free methods, epidural has its pros and cons too.

For mothers, you will have a less stressful labour because you are not experience the pain, and this will make it easier for you when you are bonding with your newborn baby. I experienced this feeling twice because I didn’t go through the pain, the labour process was very anticipated. So, when baby came out, I felt energized instead of exhausted.

But your labour process may be longer as the contractions are less effective and you can’t get down from the bed to move around. I read about mobile epidural, but it is not available in our hospitals yet. Thus, the first and second stage of labour will take longer, and the labour process will be delayed.

On top of that, I had a bad drop in blood pressure for my second labour. My pressure was so low, I was too drowsy to pay attention to what was going on. I almost felt asleep! But luckily, Isabelle’s head appeared without pushing, and since her umbilical cord was around her neck, the doctor helped me a lot in pulling her out with just one or two pushes. It’s probably due to the fact that she was a smaller baby too.

After labour, you may experience some difficulties in urinate for a few hours, but keep trying. One of my friends was too afraid to pee, she needed catherisation into the bladder, and imagine all our stitches down there, it’s a painful experience for her!

Oh ya, before I forgot. I have one more point to add. During my first labour, I couldn’t push Justin out because he had a big head. Besides, with epidural, the pushing might not be well synchronized with the contraction and you only push when you are told to. So, he was delivered with a ventouse. So, there is a risk of aided delivery. So, just take note of this.

I went shopping for some skincare products at a cosmetic counter today. I stopped using their products because it was not suitable for my skin at pregnancy. During pregnancy, I have simple pimples, dull skin, and super sensitive. Most of the products were not suitable for me, so I didn’t use anything much on my face. Luckily, I had some pregnant bloom, if not, I would look very ugly.

I guess not every woman looks her best during when she is pregnant. Some have skin problems like me, and also stretch marks, rashes, thick hair, darker skin, and etc.  To make matter worse, if you can’t use some of the beauty products, then you will just have to wait until baby comes out to get back to your original condition. My skin improved a lot after my baby was born. Now, I’m almost back to my normal skin condition, but my dark circles are getting worse. LOL! It’s a price to pay for motherhood and blogging.

When I was working as an engineer, I told myself that if I would to be a mother, I would quit that job. My job involved a lot of direct contact with acetone, epoxy, solder paste and etc, which contain some amount of hazardous compound to pregnant mothers. Thus, I quit my job the year I planned to get married as I know I wanted to have baby soon.

When it comes to workplace hazards, not many women are aware of it especially those working as operators. Thus, it leaves to the management staffs or the company policy to reinforce the rules on protecting pregnant women from being harmed by the chemical sustains at their work place. If you are working in EMI field, make sure you put on the EMI Shielding to protect yourself too. I used to wear high quality gloves and face masks when I’m handling those chemicals. After that, I made sure that I washed my hands thoroughly before I left the production line.

Gee, those were the good old days of my work in engineering. Sometimes, I miss that job a lot, but thinking about the work load and pressure, I am glad that I’m a WAHM now.

During my first pregnancy, I put on maternity dress as soon as I was 3 months pregnant. No, my tummy was not big, but I was too eager to put on the dresses! However, I look awful as most maternity dresses tend to make pregnant mommy looks like a whale. LOL!

For second pregnancy, I try my best to dress casually, until my late pregnancy. I was in tops and jeans too most of the time, as I found a few nice fitting maternity jeans. But in actually fact, you can still wear your normal jeans, but you need to have a belly adjustable band. If I’m not mistaken, it can be found online, but I’m not sure if there is any store selling it now. I change my bra too. However, if you don’t want to buy too many bra every 2 months, you can try bra expander, if only your cup size doesn’t change much. If your breast has gone bigger, you will need nicely fitted bra for better support.

So, before you dump your true religion jeans away when you are pregnant, get these nice expanders first. You can still look hip and modern when you are expecting, you know?

When I was pregnant, I wanted to go for a vacation in Langkawi, but hubby was not every keen about it as that was my first pregnancy, so he was really protective over me. Actually, as long as your have a smooth and safe pregnancy, you can always travel, especially during the second trimester. Most mothers will suffer from morning sickness, thus first trimester may not be a suitable time for vacation. As for the 3rd trimester, I feel that my tummy was really big and bulky. I felt tired most of the time and I would prefer to stay at home than having a vacation too.

If you feel like going for a vacation before the baby comes along, try to plan one in second trimester. Just go to some relax beach resorts, after while, what you really need is just some relaxing moment of sunbathing with your husband. Oh ya, don’t forget to get the sunblock, nice sunglasses from CTS Wholesale Sunglasses, a nice book and a maternity swimsuit.

Hopefully, both of you will be enjoying your vacation. It may not be so easy to have one later when baby comes along.

I didn’t have any Maternity Health Insurance when I was pregnant, but if possible, I would advice all mothers-to-be who can afford it to get one. Giving birth to baby sometimes needs a lot of money, and if you have an insurance, it can help to cover part of the expenses.

If you are interested to know more, check out Maternity Savings for more information.