The Phases of Pregnancy

I have realized that I have very clear phases of pregnancy. And it seems, from seeing and talking to other women, that they go through very similar phases.

#1, The "Oh my gosh" I'm really pregnant Phase

This phase is the briefest of all phases. It happens every time I've taken a pregnancy test, and the test was positive. As soon as I see the positive sign, my first thought is something along the lines of "OH my gosh! I'm actually pregnant!!" It happens every time. Even though all of my pregnancies have been planned and hoped for, I still have that brief moment of anxiety. This phase lasts anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 minute, then is immediately followed by Phase 2.

# 2, The Excited Phase

You've just taken a pregnancy test, you are indeed pregnant, and you've gone through Phase 1. You are now feeling all of the joy and excitement in the world. This phase usually lasts a couple of weeks. It's the phase where you look up everything pregnancy related on the internet, and want to soak in everything. It's a fabulous phase.

# 3, The I Am Soooo Pregnant Phase /Am I Really Pregnant Phase

Phase 3 has two different phases, depending on if you are the kind of person that gets sick or not. The I Am Soooo Pregnant Phase person is the person who gets sick and is reminded every single day that they are pregnant because they constantly feel sick or keep getting sick. It is not a fun phase of pregnancy.

The Am I Really Pregnant Phase happens at the same time other people are going through the "I Am Soooo Pregnant Phase." This is the people who don't get sick at all during pregnancy, and feel just like they always feel. They aren't sick and they aren't showing at all, so the pregnancy seems kind of unreal. It's not unusual for these people to forget that they are, indeed, pregnant.

# 4, The Good Phase

This phase typically coincides with the second trimester. Most of us are feeling better by this point. (I'm so sorry for those of you that don't!!) You have energy again (or a little more) (if you lost it) and you're usually starting to show soon after this phase begins. And it's also sometime during this phase that you usually start to feel the baby move, making it feel super real that there is a human life growing inside of you. And it's during this phase you usually get an ultrasound, founding out the gender if you so choose. Which means those that went through the Am I Really Pregnant Phase have proof that they are, in fact, pregnant. This phase is just....good and exciting.

# 5, The I Have to Actually Birth A Baby?!?! Phase

This phase seems to come at the end of the second trimester/beginning of the third trimester. It has finally set in that now that this baby is in there, it also has to come out. You've probably read too much information about the birthing process and are freaking out about all of it and wishing that the baby could magically go from being inside you to outside of you with no birth necessary. Or, if you've already had a baby, any of the scary memories that you have blocked out so well come flooding back to you. You're freaking out.

# 6, The I Want This Baby Out of Me Phase

You go from comfortably pregnant to uncomfortably pregnant. You are huge, you have to pee 10 times in an hour, and just can't seem to figure out how to feel comfortable. You want the baby OUT so you can just feel normal again! And you want it out soon, and by any means possible. Depending on how large and uncomfortable you get and when, this phase can last anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months. (I'm pretty sure this phase started at 6 months during my first pregnancy, but came much later during my second more comfortable pregnancy).

# 7, The Anticipation Phase

You are now full term and the baby can now come "at any time" and be healthy and every day you wonder if it's going to be the day, and every night you go to sleep wondering if you are going to wake up in the middle of the night in labor. Every day feels like the longest day ever, and you do everything you can to fill your day and stay busy because the anticipation is killing you.

# 8, The Reality Phase

You are in labor, and this baby IS coming. There is no turning back now. It is only a matter of time before you will be a mother (again...). It is only a matter of time before this newborn baby that you will be fully responsible for will be in your arms and the constant feeding, sleepless nights, uncontrollabe crying (you and/or the baby) begins. It is only a matter of time before you get to hold that sweet, most perfect little baby in your arms that you have been dreaming of for months. You are going to have to really birth this baby, and you aren't sure if you can, but it's happening, and it's real, and you're scared, and you're excited, and your nervous, and...and...and...and... And even if you've already had a baby, you go through these feelings of excitement and doubt every time.

#9, The Unreal Phase

Your baby is here, your baby is perfect, and it feels like everything is a dream. You can't possibly put into words how you feel or what you are thinking, but nothing feels real, yet it all somehow feels utterly and completely perfect.

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Celebrity Baby Bumps

I've decided that one of the things in life that just aren't fair is how cute celebrities (usually) look when pregnant. Check out some of these famous baby bumps from the last few months.

Molly Sims always looks great and her and her baby bump look amazing!
Reese Witherspoon is too cute, especially with her baby bump.

Adriana Lima is a better model pregnant than I could ever dream to be when I'm not pregnant.

Alyson Hannigan looks so lovely with her little bump!
Seinna Miller looks so cute just strolling down the street. I wish that's how I looked on a daily basis.
I don't think Vanessa Lachey ever has a day where she doesn't look cute and put together. I love how she rocks her baby bump.
And of course Kourtney Kardashian can pull of dresses when she's pregnant that I couldn't have ever in my life have pulled of.

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Confessions of a Mother

I have some confessions to make. I think it will make me feel better. I figured what better place to do it than in public to really get it out there.

-My daughter is 17 months old, and I still swaddle her when I give her a milk bottle and rock her for bedtime.

-My son owns about 25 pairs of underwear, just so that I could continue my infrequent laundry habits even after he was done with diapers.

-I turn to chocolate (and let's be honest, other food) to relieve my frustrations...a lot!!!

-I record General Hospital daily, and the first thing I do when the kids are in bed is watch it. It is my one guilty pleasure tv show that I'm ashamed to admit I watch.

-I'm constantly worrying what others think about my mothering abilities and worried they are judging me and think I'm not a good mom.

-I count it a huge success any day that I accomplish just one chore.

Ahhhh, it feels so good to get all that off my chest. C'mon...you know you want to make some confessions, too.

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Foods to Avoid While Pregnant

I had no idea before I started having children that there were so many foods I had to avoid. It was all new to me. Here's a list:

-Soft cheeses--During pregnancy, try to avoid Brie, goat, Camembert, feta, queso blanco, an blue or other veined varieties of cheese. The reason is that they may be unpasteurized and might contain listeria, which can trigger food poisoning. Cheeses like cheddar and Parmesan have been aged, which process kills bacteria naturally.

-Eggs--Don't avoid eggs, but we all know that can be contaminated with salmonella, which is more dangerous for pregnant women. Just make sure you eat refrigerated eggs that don't have any cracks and or have unclean shells. And, avoid runny eggs. We also aren't supposed to sample the cookie dough, but I have to admit, it is very, very hard for me to resist!!

-Deli and prepacked lunch meats--I somehow completely missed the memo on this one during my first pregnancy. Turns out they can also be contaminated with listeria if they aren't handled properly. Before eating deli or prepackaged lunch meats, make sure you heat them until they are steaming hot so you can kill the bacteria. Some meats can also be infected with toxoplasma. If the meats aren't fully cooked, it's one of the infections that can cross into the placenta.

-Some fish--There are fish that contains high levels of mercury, which is obviously bad for fetal brain development. Fish to avoid are shark, tilefish, king mackerel, swordfish, and albcore tuna. Don't think you have to stay away from all fish though. Canned tuna has very low levels of mercury and is ok once or twice a week. And salmon doesn't contain mercury. It's actually great for you during pregnancy, when your body needs a lot of omega-3 fatty acids, which it has!

-Caffeine--A 2008 study from Kaiser Permanente confirmed that high doses of caffeine daily during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage. It found that women who consumed more than 200 milligrams or more of caffeine per day had twice the risk of miscarriage than women who didn't have any. So beware of coffee, tea, soda, cocoa, and energy drinks...especially during the first trimester.

-Alcohol--I think almost everyone knows this by now, but let's cover our bases just in case. Did you know that alcohol crosses into the placenta immediately? Women who drink frequently while pregnant put their child at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome, which can have mild to very severe side effects. In 2005, the US Surgeon General urged all pregnant women to avoid any alcohol.

-Soft serve ice cream--I just heard about this one a few weeks ago! I had no clue. It poses another danger when it comes to listeria. It can live in the machines that hold and serve it. Listeria can affect the placenta, amniotic fluid, and the placenta if you are infected.

With all that said...if you've had these things, don't stress. I can tell you I have enjoyed large amounts of chocolate, soft serve ice cream, cookie dough, and unheated lunch meats while pregnant, and it's all been ok. Just use caution in everything!

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The Things I Took For Granted...

Turns out that before I was a mother, I took a whole lot of things for granted.

In fact, I realized that there is a long list of things that I most definitely won't take for granted again.

-Sleep.

-Not just sleep, but sleeping in. (I can't believe I'd stay up all hours of the night and get to sleep in until almost noon!)

-Silence.

-The ability to shower whenever I wanted for however long I wanted.

-Sleep. Oh, beloved sleep.

-Getting something to eat and not having to share it.

-Being able to make a "quick trip to the store".

-Going to the bathroom in peace/without an audience.

-Adult conversation.

-A clutter free car.

-Napping.

-Deciding at the last minute to go on a date with my husband.

-Only having to buy one or two plane tickets.

-Sleep.

-My body.

-Washing my hair.

-Only having to make one dinner per night.

-Free time.

-The ability to have children.

-A clean house.

-Sleep.

-Clean clothes.

But given the choice, I'd give up all of these things again without a second thought for my sweet kids! I just won't take them for granted anymore. What would be on your list?

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The Sleep Book That Saved My Life

(This title might sound like an exaggeration, but I promise, it's not.)(And this post might seem a little long, but I promise, if you need sleep, you should read this post.)

Ahhhh...our babies. So sweet. So angelic. So adorable and perfect. So awake at 1 a.m. And 3 a.m. And 4 a.m. And 6 a.m.

Lack of sleep when you have a baby is just something that you don't fully comprehend until you are right there in the thick of it. I was warned about it, but how was I to really know until I was there? I was one of those mothers that said I wasn't going to let my baby sleep in our bed....until I brought him home and I was soooo tired and the only way he would sleep was if I held him. And there he slept, in our bed, until 7 months old. When he started waking up every hour to nurse during the night, I knew it was time to figure out a better solution. Not to mention his naps during the day lasted about 20 minutes. I was tired. Scratch that, I was a walking zombie.

Figuring out how to solve this problem best is one of those personal decisions that everyone has to figure out on their own. Cry it out, no cry sleep solutions, attachment parenting...so many choices to look at. There seems to be no right answer, just what works best for your child's individual needs.

Someone recommended "On Becoming Babywise." I read it, but it just didn't have all of the information I needed, and I didn't completely agree with all of it. When I was done reading it, I was left feeling like I needed to know a little more, given my child's age and temperament. I know many people swear by it, but it just wasn't for me.

Then someone suggested Dr. Ferber's "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems." With the lack of sleep I was getting, the book appeared to be about 4,572 pages long, and I just didn't know how I was supposed to make time to read it.

So I went to the bookstore and looked through every single baby sleep book they had in stock. I read several pages of each, weighed my options, thought long and hard, and finally decided to buy "The Sleep Easy Solution" by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. It turned out to be everything I needed and more.

Their approach is referred to as "The least cry method". The book was sympathetic to how difficult it was going to be to get my child to sleep through the night, in his own crib.** It let me know how much my child should be sleeping and it had step by step instructions on getting him there. It walked me through everything, step by step, and let me know that as hard as it might seem, I would get through it. I read it, (It helped that it wasn't a huge book that I felt too overwhelmed to read.), I read what I thought was most important to my husband, and we put the plan in action.

The very first night, he cried for approximately 20 minutes, and then fell asleep....FOR THE ENTIRE NIGHT!! I don't know if that is normal, and it didn't happen that way every night, but now I knew it was possible.

The napping part was a little trickier to get a handle on, but it walked me through all of that, too. And even let me know that this would be the trickier part, but that it would get better. After about a week/week and a half, both night time sleeping and nap time were all worked out and we were all finally able to sleep again. No joke, I would have gone absolutely insane if it weren't for this book and getting the sleeping schedule worked out.

I liked that this book had an age by age guide, not a one size fits all attitude, on training your baby/child to sleep. I like that it doesn't start the sleep training process until 4 months, which seemed a much better age to me than from birth. I like that it covers different scenarios. I like that it talks about how to best handle time changes, traveling, etc. And it doesn't just cover sleeping for babies, but talks about a wide spectrum of things up to the age of 5. How much sleep they should be getting at each age, transitioning to a bed, nightmares/night terrors, separation anxiety, birth of a new baby, potty training...it covers it all and more!

So if you are having problems in this area, I HIGHLY recommend this book! I have recommended it to many people, and everyone that has read it and used it has absolutely loved it, too. Good luck!! We all need our sleep!

**The book did have a section on slowly transitioning a baby from co-sleeping to sleeping in a crib in their own room, involving sleeping on their floor. I choose to fore-go this and dive right into getting him in there on his own, and it worked out just fine.

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Mother's Day Giveaway Winners

We hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day!  Thank you for sending in your nominations for our Mother's Day Giveaway!  The winner of our first giveaway has been notified, but we need to announce the winner of our second giveaway!  Here is the winning entry:

E-mail us at service@milanmaternity.com to claim your $100 MM E-gift card!  Thank you to all who participated and again, you are so appreciated!!

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A Mother's Dictionary

Don't forget to enter the 2 Mother's Day giveaways!!

Giveaway #1: We're hosting our Mother's Day Makeover again and want your nominations. One lucky mom will be surprised this Sunday with a $100 Milan Maternity gift card! If you know someone who deserves a little pick-me-up, needs a maternity/nursing wardrobe update, or works hard and never takes time for herself, let us know! Tell us why you think this special woman deserves our Mother's Day Makeover giveaway. E-mail your nominations to service@milanmaternity.com.

Giveaway #2: $100 gift card for yourself! Click here to enter!

Mother's Day is THIS Sunday. So I thought I'd share A Mother's Dictionary for the special occasion.

Bottle feeding: An opportunity for Daddy to get up at 2 am too.

Defense: What you'd better have around de yard if you're going to let the children play outside.
Drooling: How teething babies wash their chins.

Dumbwaiter: One who asks if the kids would care to order dessert.

Family planning: The art of spacing your children the proper distance apart to keep you on the edge of financial disaster

Feedback: The inevitable result when the baby doesn't appreciate the strained carrots.

Full name: What you call your child when you're mad at him.

Grandparents: The people who think your children are wonderful even though they're sure you're not raising them right.

Hearsay: What toddlers do when anyone mutters a dirty word.

Impregnable: A woman whose memory of labor is still vivid.

Independent: How we want our children to be as long as they do everything we say.

Look out: What it's too late for your child to do by the time you scream it.

Prenatal: When your life was still somewhat your own.

Preprared childbirth: A contradiction in terms.

Puddle: A small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes into it.

Show off: A child who is more talented than yours.

Sterilize: What you do to your first baby's pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby's pacifier by blowing on it.

Storeroom: The distance required between the supermarket aisles so that children in shopping carts can't quite reach anything.

Temper tantrums: What you should keep to a minimum so as to not upset the children.

Top bunk: Where you should never put a child wearing Superman jammies.

Two-minute warning: When the baby's face turns red and she begins to make those familiar grunting noises.

Verbal: Able to whine in words

Whodunit: None of the kids that live in your house.

Whoops: An exclamation that translates roughly into "get a sponge."

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers!

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MM Mother's Day Makeover Giveaway! Two $100 Winners!

We want to wish ALL of you a Happy Mother's Day this weekend! We having two fabulous giveaways this year! 

GIVEAWAY #1: We're hosting our Mother's Day Makeover again and want your nominations. One lucky mom will be surprised this Sunday with a $100 Milan Maternity gift card! If you know someone who deserves a little pick-me-up, needs a maternity/nursing wardrobe update, or works hard and never takes time for herself, let us know! Tell us why you think this special woman deserves our Mother's Day Makeover giveaway. E-mail your nominations to service@milanmaternity.com.

A few rules/details:

-Nominations must be received no later than this Saturday, 5:00pm PST.

-You cannot nominate yourself (but read on, you're eligible for giveaway #2!)

-You can remain annonymous if desired (we can e-mail the gift card to your nominee if you have an e-mail address for them)

-The winning nomination will be notified by Saturday, 7:00pm PST.

-You may nominate more than one super mom

In addition to your nominations for our Mother's Day Makeover Giveaway, we're giving away an ADDITIONAL $100 gift card to one of our current fans! 

 

GIVEAWAY #2:  Here's the deal... we'd love your help spreading the word about our Milan Maternity and our Mother's Day Giveaway! Here's how to enter:

1. Share this post with one of the share buttons below and comment for each way shared.  (1 entry per share method, and for every day shared.) 

2. Bring us more facebook fans! Get two additional entries for anyone that "likes" our facebook page and comments with who sent them.  For example, if we see a comment on our FB page "Jane Doe sent me!", we'll add two more entries for each person that you refer! 

3. Have you seen our new summer styles that will be available soon?  Find them here, and comment on what you love.

Giveaway #2 open through midnight, Saturday 12th, PST.  Winner will be chosen by random.org.

 

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What I Wish I Had Known #8

I don't remember feeling this way with my first pregnancy, so I wish someone had warned me: Pregnancy makes you tired!! I wish I had known that for the second pregnancy (and now my third). I always have tried to limit my sons t.v. time, but when I was pregnant with baby #2, I'd turn on the t.v. for him, lie down on the couch, and be out like a light...I was SO tired! Now that baby #3 is on the way, all morning long I can't wait until the kids nap time because all I want to do is sleep, because I am just SO tired!

I wish I had known that growing a baby inside of me would completely zap all of my energy! (Not that it would change anything, but knowing what's coming is always nice.) So make sure you plan time for naps!

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Mother's Day Sale and.....that awkward phase

I'm at that stage in pregnancy when my regular clothes don't fit right, but maternity clothes are too big. This phase of pregnancy seems to be occurring earlier and earlier with each pregnancy. I am only 13 weeks, after all, and I'm already hitting the awkward clothes phase.

Luckily, Milan Maternity has some clothing options that are PERFECT for this phase. These options are ones that are good because most people probably wouldn't even notice that they are in fact maternity clothes. And they aren't huge on you during the early stages of pregnancy when your stomach is just starting to grow.

The Gisella is perfect. It fits well even in the early stages. It comes in two colors: coral and emerald. (And they happen to be on sale for $23. It's a win-win!)

I LOVE the Vittoria dress. And one of the most awesome things about it is that when I wore it, no one had the slightest idea it was a maternity/nursing dress. Which means when you are trying to cover up that teeny tiny baby bump, no one will know you are actually covering it with a maternity/nursing dress.

Another top perfect for those early stages of pregnancy that is also a favorite of mine is the Gabriella. It comes in both royal fuschia and vintage blue. And another one of my favorite things about it is that it can be worn with the detail in the front or the back.

The Carissa is yet another perfect option. The ruched sides are perfect for your growing belly, making it look good even when you're in the early months. It also comes in two colors: honeysuckle pink and nautical blue.

And last, but certainly not least is another favorite of mine. The Nicola is yet another top that doesn't look like a maternity top. In the early months it fits a little loosely, and no one would even know that it's a maternity top. I also LOVE both colors it comes in, berry and seafoam green.

See, Milan Maternity has you covered in every single stage of pregnancy and after. Even that fun phase when other maternity clothes are just too big.

And in case you're needing an additional incentive, our Mother's Day sale is going on through Monday!  Get 15% off everything with code "15FORMOM" and free shipping on all orders over $50. 

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