Search Results for: blog who should deliver your baby

Should You Create A Birth Plan?

Should you create a birth plan?  It can be a helpful tool for making your wishes known both to your healthcare provider and the labor & delivery staff, but it also seems a little silly to plan something like one’s labor: after all, if we could control it, we would all have easy births. When I first heard about birth plans, I decided that they weren’t for me.  I’m a very Type A person; I get stressed if even my silliest of plans get messed up, if they’re ones I’m excited about.  Trying to plan my baby’s birth, and everything … Continue reading →

The Dirty Diaper and Your Child’s Health

According to a New York Times article, “In a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers led by Anita Kozyrskyj found that babies born by C-Section vaginally, and that infants who were breast-fed had a different recipe of bacteria in their guts than those who were given formula.” And when it comes to health, specifically digestive heath and the immune system, it is the bacteria, or bugs, that count. Studies have long shown that children who have been delivered by C-Section have greater risks of certain illnesses, such as asthma, diabetes and obesity, as do children who were … Continue reading →

Pack Your Bag It’s Time To Go

If you are getting close to your delivery date, it is time to pack your bag for the trip of a lifetime. Before you drag out your suitcase and start tossing in your sunscreen and beach blanket, I should tell you that it’s a different kind of trip. That all important trip to the hospital (if you are planning to give birth at a hospital) where you will give birth to your baby. In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that with both pregnancies I did not pack my bag for the hospital until right before I left. … Continue reading →

Oh Baby!

Imagine if your little bun in the oven came out as a whopping loaf of bread. That’s sort of what Janet Johnson experienced a few days ago. The Lone Star State mom got a Texas-sized surprise last Friday morning when she delivered a 16-pound, 1-ounce baby boy measuring two feet long. Within hours of her son’s birth, the mom of three older children (ages 10 to 18) became an instant celebrity. According to news reports, Johnson’s fourth child landed in the record books as the largest baby ever born in the state of Texas. Baby JaMichael was born at 9:05 … Continue reading →

Bonding Moment with a New Baby

I hate to say this, but I was not excited about my second pregnancy. My first baby was only seven months old when I took the pregnancy test, and I was not prepared for another baby at home. I mentally ignored the fact that I was pregnant as my belly grew. It was a completely different experience than my first pregnancy, which my husband and I had planned for five or six months. My water broke at six am, and we headed to the hospital. I remember I was reading Eat, Pray, Love through the beginning of the labor. The … Continue reading →

Is It Post-Partum or Just Baby Blues?

After the births of my first two children, I had typical emotional responses. I felt overwhelmed, sleep deprived, stressed, but relatively normal, in the whole scope of things. But with the birth of Johnny, in November, things were a little different. First, I left the hospital too early. Johnny was born at 6:45 AM on a Friday, and they gave me the option of leaving on Saturday, after all, this wasn’t my first baby and I knew how to take care of a new baby and myself after delivery. I missed my girls, so I went home. I was not … Continue reading →

Reasons to Fire Your Doctor During Pregnancy

With my first pregnancy, I hated my doctor. With my second, I loved my doctor. I had female OBGYNs both times. First, let me tell you what I loved about my doctor during my second pregnancy. She was calming. She did not overreact about things. This was exactly what I needed. I am a worrier, so having a doctor that was not was very helpful. It was easy to schedule appointments and I never waited more than 10 minutes. She listened to me ramble. Never once did I feel like she was going to rush out of the room, or … Continue reading →

Photos in the Delivery Room

I got a few pictures in the delivery room when my son was born, but most of them were from when we were waiting and then there were several afterward. I wish I had some more pictures of the actual delivery. I don’t necessarily want pictures of the birth itself, front and center, but I would have liked to capture the look on my husband’s face when my son first emerged, or my son’s first moments on my tummy. In the weeks following my son’s birth, I would often repeated ask my husband to describe the scene for me. I … Continue reading →

Preparing Your Health History

One of the major components of your first prenatal check up is the health history interview. It should feel somewhat familiar, since many doctors do this on your first visit, but the prenatal version is a little more detailed. To prepare, it may help to look over some of these questions beforehand in case you need to make a few phone calls to your mom or relatives. What is your history with pregnancy? Have you been pregnant before? Have you ever had a miscarriage? Have you ever had an abortion? If you have had a baby before, how did you … Continue reading →

Why You Should Take Gestational Diabetes Seriously

Today I took my glucose test for my monthly pregnancy check-up… you know that gross orange sugar drink they make you swallow down without any food or drink before or after. Well I failed my test. I had failed it during my first pregnancy, but then passed the actual test a week later. This time I failed by a greater margin, so much so that they aren’t even sending me for the actual gestational diabetes test, they are just assuming that I have gestational diabetes. So now what? Turns out there’s a lot more at risk than just having a … Continue reading →