First Time Mom

Have you taken time for yourself lately?  Believe it or not you deserve a break.  I remember when I was sitting around in the NICU last year with my baby and one of the nurses told me, “You have to take care of yourself in order to take care of your baby.”  In other words take a break.  That phrase has stuck with me since then and it has lifted me up.

There are plenty of ways to take time for yourself.  Even if it’s just for five minutes; a break is a break.  For me, my break normally comes after I’ve put my baby to bed.  I’ve set up recordings on my favorite shows and once she is asleep I plop down on the couch and catch up.  Although once I get done watching a show, I have to get up and resume mommy responsibilities such as washing bottles and making milk but that 45 minutes feels so good.

Another way I take a break is to let my hubby take care of our daughter while I go shopping.  Sometimes it’s just to Walmart to pick up a couple things but I always find myself in the baby section no matter what store I go to (Go Figure!).  Other times Nana or Auntie keeps her so hubby and I get to go out and have alone time.

If you haven’t taken a break, work on taking one.  It does a body good and frees your mind.

The $25 Gift Card to BabiesRUs winner is Salie!  Congratulations!  Please check your email.

May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month!

What is Preeclampsia?  I didn’t have a clue what that word meant until I had to deal with it myself and believe me, it’s no fun!  But what is it?  Well, it’s a disorder that occurs in pregnant women and can affect the mother and baby.  Some of the main signs are Swelling, High Blood Pressure, Headache, Protein in the Urine and Vision Changes but some women don’t recognize the symptoms.  From my understanding, it’s not known what causes it but there are researches out there.

Now what about HELLP Syndrome?  HELLP Syndrome is an extension of Preeclampsia and the letters mean this:

H (hemolysis, break down of red blood cells)
EL (elevated liver enzymes)
LP (low platelet count)

The only treatment for either of these is to deliver the baby.

I am a Face of Preeclampsia.  With all that being said, I am taken back to when I was diagnosed.  I had went to the OBGYN about two weeks before I had emergency C-Section.  My blood pressure was slightly elevated so the doctor said I had to do a 24 hour urine sample which I did and protein was not detected in it.  So, here I am thinking everything was good and I just needed to relax.  Wrong!  When I woke up with a splitting headache and throwing up I knew this wasn’t going to be good.  So off to the hospital I went.  My blood pressure was so high that they were surprised I hadn’t had a stroke.  Me on the other hand, was so confused on what was going on.  I can remember the nurses running around like they were crazy…oh wait…that was probably me!  Any who, I was finally sent up to the Labor & Delivery floor where one of the doctors told me, I was going to deliver today.  All I could think was, “this isn’t happening to me!”

The hospital I went to wasn’t equipped to handle a 27 week baby so I was transported to a bigger facility that could handle it.  I remember the doctor coming in telling me that my blood pressure was some what under control but my blood work had come back and my liver enzymes were elevating.  The doctor said it’s go time and they were prepping the surgery room.  That afternoon, my baby girl was born.  Not exactly how I had pictured it but there wasn’t a choice for me.

For all the pregnant ladies out there, please watch out for the signs.  Make sure you go to your doctor visits and if there is anything out of the ordinary contact your doctor.  I believe doctors should go more in depth about this disorder because it truly is life or death.  Preeclampsia can occur in any pregnancy, not just the first and it can occur after delivery.  African -American and Hispanic moms are disproportionally affected by it.

If you would like to find out more about Preeclampsia or HELLP Syndrome Click Here and you will be directed to the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Mother’s Day Giveaway!
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I know you all have seen the gallon jug of water in the baby section that says Nursery Water but did you know it’s not sterile water?  I didn’t know until I actually read the labels on the jug and the label says, “Not sterile.  Use as directed by physician or by labeling directions for use of infant formula.  For mixing with infant formula, the FDA recommends boiling non-sterile water for one minute and cooling before use.”

I stopped using the nursery water and started boiling water for one minute straight from the tap.  You can check out FDA Consumer Health Information for more information on Infant Formula Protection.

I am a Proud Parent of a Preemie.  Last year on Parents of Preemies Day (May 3, 2015) I was sitting at the hospital with my baby wondering how it was going to turn out.  Let’s just say the NICU journey was hardly fun and had plenty of ups and downs but the day did come we got to go home (94 days after her birth).  I found Graham’s Foundation on Facebook and learned about Parents of Preemies Day and found it comforting to see I wasn’t alone in this journey.  Each story is different but it brings you hope to know you are not alone.  Stay strong my fellow Preemie Parents!

This Parents of Preemies Day, I will be celebrating with my little miracle!

Please support Parents of Preemies Day, a worldwide day of awareness produced by Graham’s Foundation. Parents of Preemies Day recognizes the courage and commitment it takes to stay strong and resilient when premature birth turns a family’s world upside down. Each year, 13 million babies are born prematurely across the globe and though medical breakthroughs continue to improve outcomes for preemies, experts are only now beginning to understand the intense psychological effects that premature birth has on moms and dads.

Here are just some of the ways you can celebrate Parents of Preemie’s Day, whether you’re a preemie parent or someone who cares about a family with a preemie:

Check grahamsfoundation.org/resources/parents-preemies-day/ to find out if there is an event happening in your area and if so, register. The first Sunday in May is going to be a great time!

Share your family’s story on the Parents of Preemies Day Facebook page.

Connect with other parents of preemies at the next #ParentsofPreemiesDay Twitter chat! Jump into the conversation using hashtag #ParentsofPreemiesDay to talk about how moms and dads can celebrate being parents of preemies.

Have you checked out Baby TV?  I love it and my baby loves watching it.  We love it so much, I made her First Birthday party theme Baby TV.  Now since there isn’t a lot to buy already made, I had to get creative.

I started off by going to Baby TV’s Website and researching what I wanted to use.  I found a lot of neat stuff there.  They have pages you can download for coloring with all the different characters.  I got creative with this because I knew I would have kids at the party so I wanted to make a coloring book for them.  I picked out 22 pages from the website and downloaded them.  I had to put them in Adobe so I could make 8.5 x 11 folded booklets.  This is the finished product:  Coloring Book

The next thing I did was find a party kit that was Baby TV themed on Etsy.  It came with invitations, thank you cards, a banner, welcome sign, favor tags, bottle labels and party circles.  I had to print all of it and cut it so it did take me some time to do all of it.  For the party circles, I had to order a 2″ circle punch to make them neat.  This is what they looked like after I was done:

For some of the characters, I found images and printed them off.  I then cut them out so I could place them on the tables and around the food.

I ordered party supplies from Party City and used Walmart Bakery for the cake and smash cake since I was running out of time.

Before I was set up guests were showing up.  Go figure, right!  =)  Anyway, I hope this helps anyone looking to do a Baby TV Theme Birthday Party!

I’m sure some of you are like, what is a smash cake?  I used to be in the dark about it but a smash cake is just a little cake made so your 1 year old can dig into it by themselves.  It’s normally for their First Birthday.  Can you make your own smash cake for your baby’s first birthday?  Well, of course you can!!! I had thought about making a smash cake for my baby’s birthday party but time wouldn’t allow that.  So, I did the next best thing:  made it for a smash cake picture session!  WooHoo!  To be honest, I thought I was going to have a hard time making the cake and decorating it.  But it turns out, I’m not that bad.  Which I’m sure you won’t be either!

So let’s get right to it!

This is what I used:

1- box of Pillsbury Purely Simple White cake mix

1- tub of Betty Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting

2- 6″ round cake pans

1- Star decorator and icing bag

Few drops of Red Food coloring

So, you will mix up the cake mix and bake as directed on the box which the timing could be a little less or more depending.  But the sure way to tell if they are done is to take a toothpick and insert it into the cake center and if it comes out clean, it’s done.  Let them cool.  In the meantime, I scooped my icing out of the tub into a bowl and put a few drops of red food coloring in them.  Mix it up and add more food coloring until you have the color you desire.  Set it to the side.  Get your bag and tip  (I used the star tip) ready to use.

As you can see, my cakes ended up with the high tops but that’s OK.  All you have to do is turn them sideways and cut the top off.    Now this part is up to you but I put icing in the center before I put the two pieces together.  Then put your left over icing in the icing bag. Once you have the pieces together, you will take the star tip and start on the top about an inch or two from the edge and start icing from the starting point making small circles til you reach the edge.  Lift up and start again about an inch or two beside the one you just did.  Continue until you have the top done.  Then start on the sides at the top doing the same thing as the top.  Then wallah!  You just made your first smash cake!

Pregnancy – It’s a wonderful word but there are some things I wish I knew before I was pregnant.  I can remember when I found out I was pregnant, I started searching the internet for helpful tips on what to do and what not to do.  I don’t recall seeing these things:

1.  Short Term Disability (STD), needs to be put in place before you start trying to get pregnant.  Once you are pregnant (and you will not know about it until you are at least 4 to 7 weeks) you are not covered under a STD policy for pregnancy.  The goal is to get paid while you are on maternity leave so there isn’t a big financial burden on you while you are out of work.  I had signed up for STD and the day it was suppose to start, I found out I was pregnant.  I asked the company if I had complications if they would cover that and their response was if it has anything to do with the pregnancy it will NOT be covered.  So I had to cancel my policy because that was the reason I signed up for it.

2.  Health Insurance –  Oh my!  This is a big one for me.  I am so thankful that I had health insurance.  I was in total shock when I received my hospital bill  for my child.  So please get coverage before you are pregnant.  Once again, Health Insurance will not cover you if you are pregnant before the policy starts.

3.  Savings – My suggestion would be to start saving as soon as you are thinking about becoming pregnant.  What are you saving for?  Well lets look….you will need to find out how much max out of pocket is through your health insurance and don’t forget you will be adding a child to your policy so your rate and max out of pocket will go up.  So start there.  Next, figure up how much your bills are monthly.  Save up at least two months.  If you have the Short Term Disability policy that’s even a bigger help!  I don’t know if all hospitals will but I know the hospital I went to set me up on a payment plan but other bills are not that friendly.

Those are the top three suggestions I have about finances for pregnancy!  Hope this helps some of ya’ll out!