Belated Reviews: Labor and Delivery Tips

Wow, it's been 6 weeks since I was discharged from the hospital! Time really does fly and every week (sometimes in just a few days) you discover something new, for example the other day, Max started following the toys on his musical mobile!

Anyway, thought I'd post a few reviews of things/products that helped me during labor and delivery. First up, the Elle Tens Machine. It's a drug-free method of pain relief that involves attaching electrodes and sending electric pulses to your back.

Not sure if it's different in the US, but here they tell you not to call or even go into the hospital until your contractions are regular and between 5 and 7 minutes apart. The Tens Machine def helped me through the initial stage of labor, which I found EXCRUCIATING! Sorry to scare any pregnant women out there... the Tens Machine has a burst function which ups the pain relief during a contraction. I was def able to sleep better through the night by using it. However as I went from latent to active labor, it didn't help as much because the pain was just that much worse! I didn't actually use it through active labor in the hospital because I disconnected the wires on the way to the hospital and then completely forgot about it!

The Tens Machine is not cheap. I kept trying to get a used one on Ebay (they advise you to buy new electrodes anyway) but they all seemed to hover around the £40 area and a new one is about £50-70. I ended up buying mine from Babies R Us when it went on sale and I had a 20% coupon! I figure I could always lend it to anyone who wanted to use it but have it for any future children!

In terms of other tips that helped me through the labor pain, the movements we practiced during pregnancy yoga were great! I was basically on my knees leaning over the back of the hospital bed (which was reclined at about a 50 degree angle) and I would circle my hips as well as move my hips backward and forward. It didn't completely take the pain away of course, but combined with gas and air, it helped a lot. That being said, I didn't think gas and air would help at all because it just sounds really weak but I was able to get through labor and delivery with just gas and air and pethidine! (And really, the pethidine just helped me sleep through the night, since I got to the hospital around 11 pm Friday night!)

Overall:
5/5 for usefulness, especially if you have a long latent stage of labor like me (Over 24 hours!)
3/5 for cost - you can rent them, although it's difficult to gauge when to order them in case you're early or late! If you plan on having more than 1 child like me, it's def a worthy investment!

2 weeks already?!?

I haven't updated in a while because I gave birth 2 weeks ago - my little man is finally here!

The running total for labor and delivery:

• 24 hours in the latent stage of labor (they don't count this as true labor but it hurt like hell - I'll be posting a review of the Elle Tens machine, which helped me A LOT!)
• About 11 hours in active labor (by the time I went into hospital, I was already 7 cm dilated!)
• Less than 2 hours of pushing (included in that 11 hours of labor)
• Air and gas throughout labor, excluding when I started pushing, and 2 injections of meptid

So my little man Max was born on 5 November 2011 at 10:10 am. He was 3.24 kg (roughly a little over 7 lbs).

Pregnancy Style

A lot of my friends who have had babies said that they didn't have to buy pregnancy clothes until the very end of their pregnancy. But let's get real: this is me! I love shopping, so pregnancy was definitely not going to stop me from getting my shop on! Luckily for me, a lot of high street stores like Top Shop, H&M, and Dorothy Perkins carry a maternity line. Current trends like tunic tops and leggings have also helped me find clothes that fit, even if they weren't necessarily from a maternity line. Living outside of London however made shopping difficult, so my go-to retailer for maternity clothes quickly became ASOS, especially because if you spend £100, you get free next day delivery and free returns! I also became a fan of Mamas & Papas. I feel like it gets a rep for being uber-expensive, but you can find great deals at both ASOS and Mamas & Papas when their clothes go on sale. They have sales ALL the time, as long as you're a bit patient.

Here are some of my favorite pieces:

Jeans - It looks super dorky, but as soon as my bump started expanding, I realized how great 'over the bump' pants are! I found that stretchy jeans would get pushed down by the bump and the cloth that goes over the bump helps to keep them up! I thought I would hate it because I always favored low-cut jeans and never felt comfortable with high-waist styles, but they ended up being super comfy!

These skinny jeans from Mama.licious were the first pair I bought from ASOS. I think I got them for about £20, too!

I also bought the boyfriend jeans on the right from Mamas & Papas. They retail for £40, but I think I had gotten either a £5 off voucher or 20% coupon through e-mail. They're also an 'over the bump' style and because these are loose fitting jeans, they def help keep them up!

Not quite jeans, but I love these pleather-panel leggings from TopShop! They make them in normal leggings as well as maternity leggings. They cost £28.

Tops - Tunic tops and long-line wifebeater tank tops have pretty much saved me, but for dressier looks, I turned to sweaters! It's been a pretty mild summer and autumn in England, so I've definitely been on a knitwear kick!

I pretty much live in this cardigan right now! It's so comfy and just thick enough to substitute as a jacket. Because of the pregnancy, I def feel overheated much quicker than before! It's a bit pricier than my other pieces at £40 from ASOS, but well worth it, considering how often I wear it!

(Sorry for the tiny thumbnail image!) I love this sweater from Mamas & Papas. It works as a long dress (on shorties like me!) or a long sweater with jeans. The square neckline also means it can be pulled to one side for a more '80s off the shoulder look! I got it for about £30, but it retails for £48.

I usually don't like 3-in-1 styles because why buy one top that looks like 3 when you can just buy 3 and layer yourself? However, I've gotta admit that I had my eye on this top since the 'Nordic Tales' line debuted at Mamas & Papas. It retails for £40, but I got it for £24, I think.

Dresses - Although I was made redundant shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I continued working as a contractor until the end of September. As such, I needed some more business formal pieces and for this, I turned to dresses! It was 'summer' but a very cold summer in London this year!

This '60s-inspired swing dress is super comfy and super cute paired with a bright cardigan and flats! I got it for about £20 but it retailed for £45.

I also got this dress for a bargain on ASOS. It looks great on its own, with maybe a long or multi-chain necklace or scarf, or with a blazer. It went on sale for £17 from £38!

(Again, sorry for the small thumbnail!) This is one of my most recent purchases and also one of the most versatile. You can wear a long-sleeve shirt under it or pair it with a blazer or cardigan. It does land a bit short, so you'd have to either wear it with leggings or skinny jeans. Then of course boots complete the outfit! The dress retails for £45 but then it went on sale for £15!

While the above pieces weren't the only things I bought, they were some of my favorite! The bonus is that I'll be able to wear most of the clothes again because they don't overtly look like maternity clothes! The jeans will have to go into storage, but they have been well-worn for the last 9 months! That's about it for now. Hope it helps to let you know that while you don't have to buy a whole new wardrobe to accommodate your growing bump, you can still buy a few statement pieces to liven up your closet!

Week 39 - One Week to Go! (Bump Watch Update)

Another 'Bump Watch' List update, as I am now 39 weeks along with only a week to go until my official due date! I don't really have much new to report since my last update 2 weeks ago. I'm obviously feeling really restless and anxious for the baby to arrive but I'm also scared to death of the idea of going into labor! As such, I think I've been psyching myself out and there were a few times I thought I was going into labor but it was just Braxton Hicks contractions! No one can really describe to me what labor feels like, and everyone says that you 'just know' when you're actually in labor! How frustrating!

B and I are in 'nest mode' right now, just continuing to clean the house and get things ready for the baby. We finally moved the dresser that my friend Melissa gave me and put away all the baby clothes. It has a changing table on top, so we put it in our room next to the crib. We also bought a small lamp that's not as bright as the ceiling lamp to reduce disturbances during night time diaper changes and feedings. All in all, everything is pretty much set. We bought a travel cot so the baby would have somewhere to sleep when we go to B's parent's house. It was slightly easier to put together than when we had to figure out how to strap the car seat in the car!

Last weekend, B and I went to his cousin's baby's baptism. It was near Stourport, which is about 2 hours away by car - however, we got there late because the church is in a rural area and the GPS brought us through some tiny country roads and our way was blocked by a tractor! It was nice to see B's extended family because the last time I saw them was Easter 2 years ago. Two of his cousins had babies this year: Kevin had a baby girl named Olivia 4 months ago in Spain and Nicola had a baby boy named George 3 months ago. It was George's baptism that we went to.

Considering how similar B and his cousins look, Olivia and George don't look as similar! Obviously, everyone was asking about our baby, which would make it the 3rd of the year for the family! Crazy times! Bobbie looked terrified carrying George, which was pretty funny.

Forced smile, much? 

Remember the scene in the beginning of 'Mr and Mrs Smith' when someone hands Angelina Jolie a baby and she just holds it out at arms length with a look that said, 'what am I supposed to do with this?' I wish I had gotten a picture of Bobbie holding Olivia because that's the stance and expression he had! Lol He's not bothered because he says he's just scared of breaking other people's children but he'll get plenty of practice with ours! Haha

This weekend, we thought about going to Aylesbury for the beer festival, but there really isn't much point, obviously. Plus, there's the ever ready chance that the baby could come early. It's been a pretty quiet Halloween. I can't remember if we did anything last year. We had some trick-or-treaters come by, but we were completely unprepared and I think we ended up giving away cans of coke... We went to a Halloween-themed pub quiz at the mess last Thursday. I wanted to go as Brangelina, but Bobbie insisted that Halloween is for scary/supernatural costumes, not just 'fancy dress'! So we ended up going as pregnant Bella and Edward Cullen. It was kind of a cop out for me because I was just dressed like an emo teenager! Bobbie put on some of my concealer to make his face paler and put a bit of dark red lipstick on. I thought he really looked like Edward and had the constipated face down!

Tomorrow, we're off to Cambridge to check our paper work to change my visa over to 'indefinite leave to remain'. Fingers crossed everything goes well! Other than that, we've got dinner with friends this week, another midwife appointment, and my parents arrive on Friday! Still trying to stay busy so we don't keep staring at the clock/calendar! I've been sleeping really badly - partly discomfort from my growing belly and partly from anxiety... Here's hoping this week doesn't drag too long, although who's to say the baby will arrive on his due date! Nicola was 3 days overdue and Kevin's gf went into labor on her actual due date (but gave birth the following day). My baby will likely be on Filipino time and come a bit late, but hopefully not too late!

Reviews: Stretch Mark Cream

Another product review - must be a slow day! Haha This time around, I am reviewing a great stretch mark cream that was recommended by my friend's cousin, Kim, who has trained as an aesthetician. Now, there are a lot of myths about stretch marks, so it's difficult to know what's true and what's not. I've heard that the more flexible you are, the more likely you are not to get stretch marks. Then again, I used to have really great skin and I've realized that the older I've gotten, the more likely I'll get things like acne scars! I haven't consulted a professional, but I thought I'd take on the recommendation of a friend and try the Mustela Double Action stretch mark cream.

Right off the bat, I'll let you know that Mustela is by no means cheap! I wasn't able to find it in the UK, but luckily I was meeting friends in Greece in June, which was around the time that my bump was starting to become more apparent. My friend Jessica was able to find it in Nordstrom for $39 per 5 oz. bottle. Like I said, not cheap! Fortunately for me, I told her to get 2 bottles and at the second Nordstrom, they only had the Tester bottle, which hadn't been opened because they didn't have a back stock of it and there was no point putting out a Tester bottle. So all they did was take it out of the box and put a 'Tester' sticker on the bottle. When the salesperson rang it up, the register said it cost 1 cent! Woot! I basically got 2 bottles for $39.01 (plus tax)!

I applied the cream once a day (although the instructions advise twice a day) after a bath or shower to my bump, boobs, and butt - anywhere that stretches! The two bottles lasted me 4 months, which means I only ran out of it last week toward the very end of my pregnancy. So far, so good! I can happily say that I've managed to avoid stretch marks! However, like I said, it's hard to tell what is the result of a cream and what is the result of genetics. For me, this cream worked!

So what now, now that I've run out of it? I've switched to my 'back-up' cream: Palmer's Cocoa Butter Massage Cream for Stretch Marks.

Compared to the Mustela Double Action cream, Palmer's is a bargain! It can also be found at most drug stores such as SuperDrug in the UK and probably even more in the US. SuperDrug sells this for only £5.77. I'm not sure how much it costs in the US because my mom actually bought this for me and shipped it over along with some baby clothes that my uncle and aunt had bought me. It's hard for me to review this product because I've only started using it and I had previously been using Mustela. I haven't noticed any stretch marks anyway (knock on wood!) The only thing I don't like about this product is the smell. It's not as sickly sweet-smelling as Palmer's Cocoa Butter lotion, but it does smell a lot waxier than Mustela. It also has a much thicker and creamier feel to it than Mustela. The Mustela cream felt more like a lotion and it did take a bit longer for it to be absorbed by my skin. I didn't mind the time though, because applying it felt like giving the baby a mini-massage!

Overall for Mustela Double Action Stretch Mark Cream:
5/5 for the product itself. I didn't get any stretch marks, although the feel of the cream is more like lotion and it took a while for it to absorb into my skin.
Cost: $39 per bottle (less if you can get the 'Tester' bottle!)

Overall for Palmer's Cocoa Butter Massage Cream for Stretch Marks:
Tentative 4/5 for the product. It feels more like a cream and absorbs well, but I don't like how it smells!
Cost: Less than $10

Pregnancy Fitness

One of my friends asked me how people (both friends and strangers) have treated me since finding out about the pregnancy. I think most people assume pregnant women are delicate creatures who need help with carrying their bags and up the stairs. While lifting heavy objects in my current state is a def no-no, I have never considered myself a delicate flower! (Unless you are my husband and I don't feel like doing the dishes or cleaning!...) I think I've done a good job keeping my life as normal as possible throughout the pregnancy. I haven't let 'my condition' keep me from doing anything I wouldn't normally do (except eating certain foods like blue cheese and raw sushi!). I even climbed a freaking volcano in Greece during my 2nd trimester. However, B got super protective and wouldn't let me ride a quad bike for fear of falling, but that's a dad-to-be's prerogative!

I've always been the sporty type and finding out I was pregnant meant having to change up my usual workouts. I was by no means a super skinny type (hello, swimmer's shoulders and huge biceps!), but I found exercise a good way to help with stress as well as keep in shape. Rather than give up exercising altogether, I just had to tweak it a bit. Full disclosure: I haven't been to the gym in months!!! The experts say you shouldn't raise your heart rate above 140 beats per minute (bpm). It is amazing how little effort it takes to bring your heart rate up - I couldn't even do a slow jog or go on the elliptical! So basically, I stopped going to the gym because the only thing I could do is a brisk walk on the treadmill or ride the bike and it got too boring... although I can't remember exactly when I stopped going to the gym...

(Off-topic true story: The day I took the pregnancy test, B and I were heading to the gym. I had noticed that the last few times I'd been, I had to go at a slower pace on the treadmill than usual. I hate running outside and I think it's part of my Type A personality that I like knowing how far I've gone, how long and at what speed! So I took a test that evening before the gym and it came out positive. However, I was sure that the two lines were there already there. Yes, I went old school and got a cheap Boots double pack with the one or two lines! We went the gym, I drank a load of water (which they advise you not to do...) and took the 2nd test, which also came out positive!)

So anyway, I decided to try out pregnancy yoga around my 20 week mark. (Disclaimer: Experts warn that while it's important to exercise while pregnant, it's also important that you not do anything new that your body won't be used to! I have been attending yoga classes on and off for the last few years, so I def wouldn't consider myself a newbie to yoga! Also, consult with your doctor or midwife before trying out any new exercise regime!) Here in Huntingdon, there was a sheet about yoga in my pregnancy pack that I got from the midwife after I confirmed my pregnancy at the Brampton surgery.

Barbara Moorby is the instructor and she runs the pregnancy yoga class at the Oak Tree Centre on Wednesday night. Her classes cost £7.50 each, but she asks that you commit and pay for 5 classes at a time until you get close to your due date. Since I could pop at any time now, I pay by the week. At first, I thought the class was pretty slow compared to the Ashtanga/Vinyasa flow yoga I've done in the past. I like holding difficult poses and when yoga makes me sweat! However, because my most previous job involved publishing on Wednesdays, there were some weeks that I missed class because I was working late. I definitely felt the difference when I didn't attend for a few weeks! I think my back has been the most affected. As my bump has grown, my lower back has carried the weight and attending yoga def helps me loosen up and stretch my muscles! There are usually only a handful of people that attend each week, but I also like the camaraderie that comes with talking to other expectant mothers. I def recommend it!

The other way I've been exercising is through a fitness DVD: Complete Pregnancy Fitness with Erin O'Brien. I got it for £11.99 (including free delivery) through Amazon.

The pregnancy workout consists of two parts: a 40 minute normal workout and a 20 minute additional partner workout. There's also a postnatal DVD, but I obviously haven't tried it yet. The workout itself uses a lot of pilates/ballet moves and works the arms, legs, and core without straining yourself. It's a great low-impact workout that still manages to make me sweat (but not in the way that an aerobics class would). I tried the partner workout for the first time and my limbs felt it for the next 3 days! I try to do the 40-minute workout at least three times a week. So far so good! I would def recommend it for people who get bored at the gym easily but don't have access to a gym or studio class like me. I wanted to try aquanatal, but because it's during the middle of a weekday, I couldn't attend while I was working in London. This DVD has def been the next best thing!

Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe

Since I'm not studying for the driving theory test anymore, I thought I'd try my hand at baking something appropriate for October: pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap base!

The recipe is from the Food Network although I was lazy and didn't have all the ingredients so I adapted it to what I have (read: I left them out...). I also had too much filling, which I put in a separate pan and placed in the oven separately! I'm leaving it to set overnight, so I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow! :D

Ingredients

Crust:

• 4 cups finely crushed gingersnaps
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (Didn't have...)
• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (Used dark brown sugar instead)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of grated nutmeg (Didn't have...)
• Pinch of ground allspice
• Pinch of ground cloves (Didn't have...)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup fresh or canned pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. To make the crust, combine the gingersnap crumbs with the melted butter and toss together until the mixture holds together when pressed. Add an additional tablespoon of melted butter if necessary. Pat evenly over the bottom and halfway up the sides of 8 ( 4 1/2-inch) tartlet pans. Bake about 7 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Put the grated ginger in a fine sieve set over a small bowl and press against it to extract the juice. Set aside the ginger juice and discard the pulp. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, brown sugar, spices and salt. Beat until creamy and wellcombined. Beat in the ginger juice and the pumpkin puree. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until blended but being careful not to overbeat. Pour the filling into the tartlet pans and bake 25 to 35 minutes, or until the center is just firm to the touch. Cool to room temperature then chill at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.