Naming a new baby is hard. Not only are there family traditions and individual preferences to consider but there is also the added stress associated with not giving our children a name that will haunt them forever. No pressure.
So how can parents choose the perfect name for their children? Here are some fun ways to test whether your name will lead your child to a life of success or doom them to total failure.
As many of you know, I recently gave birth to fraternal twin girls in February. Also, like many of you, before I had the twins I had no idea about what life is like with twins. I am no expert (mine are still pretty new) but I am answering twin questions from the Newbie Mom Facebook page today on the blog. This is part 1 of 2, because some things are just better in pairs. Continue reading
As my son’s 2nd birthday approached, my husband and I began to talk about adding another baby to our crew. The dog was not enthusiastic, but we had always wanted two kids, so we decided to go ahead with it anyway.
This time, we decided to attempt to time the pregnancy so that the beginning would fall when I was off work. This proved to be wise, as my Hyperemesis Gravidarum returned, much stronger than the last pregnancy. I spent most of the summer in and out of the hospital, depending on IV fluids to keep me going.
But I’d better back up a little bit. Before the hospital, before the first ultrasound even, we we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves. We were going to have our two kids, 2 1/2 years apart and it was going to be great. Okay, I would be sick again, but I had lived through HG before, and I could do it one final time. It was all going to be fine. Then we were thrown the curve ball. Continue reading
As many of you know, I have had very severe hyperemesis gravidarum with my current pregnancy. In case you haven’t heard of it, hyperemesis or HG, is severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy that leads to significant weight loss, dehydration and general misery. (If you would like to read more about it, please click here.)
Unfortunately, I am quite familiar with HG, as I had it for the entire 41 weeks of my pregnancy with my 2 year old son. So, you might say that I am a bit of an HG pro now. My HG prevents me from doing a lot of ordinary things, like cooking, going to stores and even opening my fridge, which makes my life is a bit more complicated. Since my symptoms show no signs of going away any time soon, I found that I had to figure out a way to deal with these every day hurdles. (Without hurling in the process.) This has lead to some rather strange new habits. Continue reading
Today is a big day at Newbie Mom Site: It’s my 100th post! I decided to celebrate by collecting 100 pieces of advice from parents.
I know what you’re thinking: “Uh, Newbie Mom, isn’t your blog tagline about how you DON’T do advice on the blog? And now you’re giving out advice?”
Oh, you read that, huh? Well, um, yes. But, it is a special occasion, after all. Maybe the tagline should be no advice except every hundred posts, when I’ll throw out all the advice I can think of. That’s catchy, right?
Anyway, I talked to many of the wonderful people in my real and virtual life, and they gave me a wealth of great tips for life as a parent. The names of these terrific people appear next to their advice. Any advice without a name is mine.
Or anyone who likes advice, really. Continue reading
It has been a year since the birth of Baby MB and I am finally ready to write about it.
First, he was super late. Super, unbearably late. You can read my other post on that part here.
I began feeling contractions for 3 days before his birth, which were irregular and got my hopes up, but each day passed with no baby. Finally the day after my own birthday I woke up feeling pretty sure I should call the hospital. When I did, I was absolutely shocked at what they said. Continue reading
I don’t know about you, but there is a charity coming to my door at least once a week asking for money. As much as I genuinely support these worthy causes in spirit, it is impossible to support all of them financially. The person at the door may assume that I am selfish or don’t care about the cause. They don’t know that I have chosen two causes to support which mean a lot to me. Even though I feel terribly guilty telling the very nice representative that I can’t help the refugees/children/animals that their charity supports at this time, I know that it doesn’t make me a bad person.
I think parenting, especially in the early stages, is a lot like this. I wish I had known that going in. Continue reading
Before I had a baby, I thought that once you got the hang of breastfeeding, it was all the same from there. Not so, my friends!
Turns out that feeding a newborn is vastly different from breastfeeding an older baby. I decided to compare the highs and lows of breastfeeding a baby at different ages. Let me show you what I mean.
Positives: Ugh, are there any? Keeping baby alive is one. Cuddling is sometimes another. Also, you can watch TV while feeding without distracting the baby. Continue reading
I still remember going to visit a friend a month after having her first baby. At the time, she was one of the first of my university friends to have a baby and most of us in attendance were childless. Someone asked the new mom what was different about her body after the baby, and she responded with, “What’s not different?” At the time we laughed, thinking that she just didn’t want to talk about it. We changed the subject. I now realize that this was one of the truest answers she could have given.
Even though I had done the requisite research about recovery from childbirth, I was still surprised by some of the changes my body has gone through since my son was born. During a recent mom’s night out with the mom squad, it became clear that I was not the only one.
So, I asked the mom squad to tell me what surprised them about their post-baby bodies:
Most women I know experienced some type of morning sickness during their pregnancies. For many, this means aversions to favourite foods and vomiting for a few weeks. For me, pregnancy meant 41 weeks of IV fluids, anti-nausea pills, dehydration and barfing discretely at work.
Why? I had a condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. You may have heard this term in connection with Princess Kate of England’s recent pregnancies. For those who haven’t, hyperemesis is extremely severe nausea during pregnancy which results in significant weight loss and dehydration. It is rare, happening in under 2% of pregnancies. (Yay! Lucky me!)
Though most people were very supportive during this time, I heard quite a few ridiculous comments ranging from simply uninformed to downright rude. These are a few of my favourites and the things I wish I had said in response: Continue reading
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