Oh, swell!

What I am about to show you is very disturbing! But I show you this because I want you to know that I'm speaking for experience. Painful, experience. And to let you know that if you are in the same boat I was, that you really aren't alone. But I still have to warn you that it's disturbing.

My feet and ankles...when I was 7 months pregnant with my first child:

How come no one warned me that my feet, toes, and ankles would swell to the size of Connecticut? If this has never happened to you during pregnancy, I have to admit that I'm feeling a slight bit of resentment!

Swelling of the feet and ankles during pregnancy is called edema. It happens because excess fluid is collecting in your tissues. Also, as your uterus grows, it is putting pressure on your pelvic veins and your vena cava (which is the large vein on the right side of your body used to carry blood from your lower limbs up to the heart). The pressure from your uterus slows the return of blood from your legs, which in turn causes it to pool, then forcing fluid from your veins into the tissue in your feet and ankles.

If you are finding yourself in the same uncomfortable situation that I found myself in, here are some things to try to help:

-Keep your feet up. If you're at work, try to have a stool under your desk to keep them up. When at home, you can do as I did and have a pile of pillows at the end of your couch that you put your feet up on. Putting my feet up always helped with the swelling.

-When sitting, don't cross your legs or ankles. This is a habit of mine that was tricky to break, but it definitely helps!

-Stretch out those legs! Heel first, gently stretch your foot to stretch our your calf. Also rotate your ankles around and wiggle your toes.

-Take breaks from sitting. If you have to sit for long stretches of time, make sure you get up and walk around for a little bit to help with blood circulation.

-Don't wear socks or stockings that are tight around the ankles or calves. (I made that unfortunate mistake while on a long flight. OUCH!) Try waist high support stockings. If you put them on before you get out of bed in the morning, blood won't have the chance to pool around your ankles.

-Drink lots of water! This will help your body to retain less water. (More trips to the bathroom=less water retention)

-Regular exercise helps! Especially walking, swimming, or riding and exercise bike. Oh, the joyous pool! I was so lucky to have access to a pool during my first pregnancy, and it felt so good to get my big ol' swollen feet and ankles into the water!

-And of course, the answer to almost everything, eat well. So hard to say when pregnant, and sometimes all you want is junk food. But avoiding junk food can help with the swelling!

With all that said, I promise, it does go away. I remember SO clearly as soon as my son was born, I was laying in the hospital bed and I looked down and said to my husband "I have ankles again!!" It was nearly as exciting as my son being born!

***Call your health care provider if you notice swelling in your face or puffiness around your eyes, more than slight swelling of your hands, or excessive or sudden swelling of your feet or ankles. This could be a sign of preeclimpsia. Also call if you notice that one leg is significantly more swollen than the other, especially if you have any pain or tenderness in your calf or thigh.

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Adults vs. Babies

There are things that adults do that drive me nuts/annoy me/gross me out. Then, when I became a mother, I suddenly found myself loooving those same things when my sweet babies do them. Examples:

Drooling. Few things are grosser than being spit upon. Yet, somehow, baby drool is completely and totally ok. I don't mind it one bit!

Messy eating. You know how some people can have a big blob of food on their face, and you are looking at them thinking "How do they not know that's there?!" It can be quite concerning. Unless of course it's a baby. Messy food faces are one of the best photo ops with babies!

Footsies. Oh man. Just ask my husband. After nearly 5 years of marriage he still tries to play footsies with me, and I still want him to keep his feet as far away from mine as humanly possible. But oh how I love sweet little baby feet. Not only do I not mind if their feet touch mine, but I'm completely fine with them being all over me!

Heavy breathing. Biggest.pet.peeve. However, I think there is no sweeter sound than the sound of a baby, sleeping peacefully on your shoulder, deeply breathing. Makes me melt every time!

Loud walking. Sometimes I just want to tell people to put a little air into their step! Do they really have to be so loud when they walk? But one of the happiest noises in my house is that of my 14 month old heavily slapping her bare feet on the bare floor.

Sloppy kisses. Just...ewww! Not my cup of tea. However, I have been hard pressed to find moments in life that surpass that of a baby wrapping their arms around you and planting big, wide mouth, sloppy kisses on my face. It's absolutely one of the best moments of motherhood!

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What I Wish I Had Known #5

So, you know how you hear about things that happen during pregnancy, but when you experience them you don't connect the two and you wonder what in the heck is going on and if you are ok? (No? Just me?) I felt that way about the baby having hiccups. So many people mentioned babies having hiccups in the womb, and I just assumed that I'd know it when I felt it. Or that it just wouldn't happen.

I remember SO clearly being pregnant the first time and feeling the baby have hiccups, but having NO idea what was going on! I don't remember how far along I was, but I know it was before the 20 week ultrasound. I wasn't showing much at all, and I remember feeling this slight pressure really low in my stomach that kept coming and going quickly. I was freaking out, but embarrassed by it for some reason, so I never asked anyone what it might be. I wish I had known it was the baby having hiccups so I didn't have to worry! It was such a weird feeling and being pregnant for the first time, I of course worried about everything. But as the baby got bigger, I soon realized there was no denying it was hiccups and that everything was all well. Why didn't anyone explain to me how it would feel!?

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Don't worry, you're not alone!

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A trick of the trade #3

I think one of the best baby inventions was the bumbo! I absolutely loved having them for my babies, but it turns out that they have a great use beyond babyhood.

When our son started sitting at the table with us instead of the high chair, inspite of him being big for his age, he was still a little too short. So it's a good thing we still had the bumbo around because it is making a great booster seat. It puts him at just the right level at the table.

So if you are thinking it's time to get rid of your bumbo because your baby is too big and doesn't need it anymore, perhaps you should hold on to it a little longer to really ensure you get your moneys worth out of it!

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Just a little heart attack.

This video absolutely cracks me up. BUT it's sad but true that we sometimes give our families so much attention we forget/neglect to take care of ourselves. February is American Heart Month. This should be something us women pay extra special attention to since heart disease is the #1 killer of American women. As funny as the video is, I think it's important that we take it seriously!

Visit www.goredforwomen.com for more information. I especially found this myth vs. reality information eye opening.

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All about potty training

I potty trained my first child 3 weeks ago, so I am obviously an expert (at nothing, but I like to pretend).

Here are my thoughts and opinions on the matter. (Really, they are simply thoughts and opinions...take it for what it's worth)

--Thanks to the influence of my mother (who successfully potty trained 7 children) and seeing other people struggle through trying to potty train their child multiple times, I knew it would be key to wait until he was ready to be potty trained. I think that sometimes as parents we try to "keep up with the Jones' " in the parental sense and think that if someone else has potty trained their child that is the same age, we need to potty train ours as well. Every child is different and what one child is ready to do, another may not be.

--Now that's not to say that I didn't try to gently nudge him in the right direction. Once he turned 3, I made it a point to point out other children that he knew that were potty trained. I would say things like "Did you know that she uses the big potty?" or "Do you see he's wearing big boy underwear?" I'd also take him by the underwear sometimes at the store and show him all the cool ones he'd get to wear once he started using the potty. Most of the time he'd just say "Oh." and that was that, but he was still taking notice. In fact, him seeing that one of his good friends was potty training was what made him decide on his own. He said "I want to wear underwear, I don't want to wear a diaper. I want to use the potty." all on his own. And he was very adamant about it.

--If that is the route you choose to go, be prepared! Like I said, I had no set time in mind, and was waiting for him to give the go-ahead, and he gave the go-ahead way before I expected him to. So on a Saturday, I was stuck at home with my husband gone and really nasty weather outside and my son insisting I put underwear on him. So very luckily, I happened to have some that my sister gave me for him a long time ago. Who knows what would have happened if he'd been ready then and I wasn't prepared for it. The moment could have passed, and I might have had to wait even longer.

--Because I waited until he was ready, I have to say, potty training went quite smoothly. The first day was rough, but that was mostly because he was upset my husband wasn't around on a Saturday and he thought he needed to keep throwing tantrums. There were a few accidents the first few days but after that, we were pretty much good to go. But like I said, the first day was rough...very rough. I soooo wanted to give up and wait until I had time to really "get ready" for this, but we'd started, and I knew once we started, we had to follow through! I knew that if I gave up, we'd have to start from square one (back to waiting until he was ready to be potty trained) and I didn't want to take that chance because I didn't know when he might possibly be excited about it again. And I'm so glad I didn't give up because after the first few days, it was so much better!

--I think most people know that when it comes to potty training you have to reward, reward, reward. Know your child, though. I made the mistake of telling him about the sticker chart and getting a prize at the end, and then showing him the prize. He decided the prize wasn't worth it. Luckily, I had a better prize up my sleeve. I told him about it, but wouldn't show it to him. So consider your child and know if it would be better to keep them in suspense or show them what they are working towards. So every time he went in the potty he got to put a sticker on his chart, and get 2 m&m's. He filled up the sticker chart in a little less than a week, and was really excited about getting his guitar!

--After I'd been potty training for almost 2 days, I read that you aren't supposed to ask "Do you need to go potty?" but rather say "Make sure you tell me when you need to go potty." about a million times a day. He responded to this much better than me asking if he needed to go. And it really did work. When he needs to go, he tells me, and although do ask sometimes, like before we are leaving the house, I will still remind him every now and again to let me know when he needs to go.

--I think training toilets are over-rated. I didn't want to get my son one, but my husband ended up getting him a "Cars" one that he was super excited about...for about 2 hours. I guess maybe it helped in the excitement, but I mostly feel like it was a huge waste of $25 when he ended up being more interested in using the toilet anyways.

--As some of you may have seen on the Milan Maternity facebook page, I was having the internal pull ups/no pull ups debate. Everything I read was saying NO PULL UPS!! When it came down to it, thanks to the advice of everyone, I decided pull ups are ok. He only wears them at night, and sometimes during nap time, depending on if he goes potty before I put him down for a nap or not. I never put him in pull ups any other time, and he has been able to grasp the concept pretty well. Sometimes in the morning it can be a little bit of a struggle to get him back in underwear, but I just distract him and let him know he can't have his morning orange juice until he gets them on, and we are good to go. It's definitely one of those "Do what's best for you." situations.

--Stay positive! Not just for you, but for the potty trainee. Reprimanding a child for not using the potty never goes over well. It will probably be a rough road, but it will get better. And if you are happy and positive about it, it will help them be happy and positive about it.

--When it comes to poop, I really have no room to give advice. I also mentioned on the facebook page that my son has issues in this department. Over a year before potty training, he started holding in his poop, and it's still a major issue that we are working on. The only thing I can say with a certainty is that everyone I've talked to that has potty trained has mentioned that their child does great with potty training, except when it comes to pooping. Rewarding, consistency, distraction, encouragement....all those things are needed, and will probably be hard to do when frustrated, but I know it will pay off eventually.

**Photo from google images.

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