Week 37 of pregnancy

Time seem to fly, can't believe it's already 37 weeks, my baby is 'officially' full term, only 3 more weeks (more or less) to go. Emotionally, I want to meet my baby sooner, and get rid of the back pain, carpal tunnel, leg cramps....anything that comes in the third trimester out the way, but on the other hand, I don't feel I'm ready yet. My hospital bag is not packed, and although have briefly read the stages of labour, still feel a bit not sure what will happen. I guess it's just the uncertainty that cause the worries.

Have jotted down some notes from Pregnancy without pounds to remind me of an easy labour:

- Let go of the idea that labour is painful
- Deep Breath, this will give oxygen to the baby
- Breath out to RELAX during pain
- Connect to your body, listen to your body
- Each contraction is one step closer to meeting my baby
- Don't strain your face when pushing
- Don't have any expectation (eg. natural birth), nothing but delivering a healthy baby matters
- Leave your dignity on the way into the labour room and pick it up when you're out, midwives/ doctors have seen it all



Hypnosis for a Joyful Pregnancy and Pain-Free Labor and Delivery

Also some ideas for the boredom at babycentre

Nappy Expo

A friend just send me a website about a Nappy Expo: http://www.thenappynetwork.org.nz as I still haven't decided whether to use cloth or disposable nappies. Have asked for some advices, cloth nappies seem to be a more environmental & economical option, some cloth nappies can last up to 2 years old, it's good value for money. One friend suggested to use disposable for the first 6 months, as newborn normally uses around 6-8 a day, and said I'd rather spent more time resting than washing nappies, especially in the first few months. And having seen that the weather is not very good lately, it'll be hard to dry the cloth nappies too, as we don't have a dryer.

Feeling so itching on the stomach last night, and found out this morning I have stretch marks all over, no....!!! My advice, girls, we can't be lazy once we reach the third trimester, the tummy will grow so big so fast, have to apply oil every single day! I'm putting Bio oil every day now, hopefully can make the mark less obvious later. All the best for your pregnancy & take care.

Epiderm Professional Strength Microdermabrasion Treatment Kit 60gm NZ$89.95

More on infant education

Wow, this is powerful...

"Every time you gently hold a baby who has been fussing, you are teaching her that the world is a safe place to be.

Every time you feed her when she has been crying, you are teaching her that she can get her needs met by letting others know what she wants.

When you respond to her needs quickly and sensitively, she gradually learns how to comfort herself.

When you talk with her as you change her diaper or put her in the car seat, you build on the language capacity her brain is programmed to develop."

- from the childhood affirmation program


Talking about responding to baby's need quickly & sensitively, I think of the Dunstan Baby lanuguge (also on Opera), I watched it with my mum & her friend and it's really useful. It's for 0-3 months infants based on the sound they made on their reflexes, total of 5 sounds for different needs. The author Prisilla pretty much can pick up what the baby need (even not her own baby) instantly and settle the baby instantly. That's amazing. I found watching the baby's body language gives me a clue too. Video sampler on youtube.

My mum's friend just had a grand-daughter and said that her grand-daughter has 7 different sounds, she could even distinguish between when the baby wants milk or wants water! Good ear! Also pick up some tips from her as well:

- only put the baby to sleep when it needs to ('owh' - tiredness), never hold her and swing her to sleep, otherwise he/she won't sleep unless you hold her.

- wrap baby or put him/her in the cot when he/she feels tired, so that he/she associate the cot to sleep

Every little pieces started to come together and started to make sense now, I was so confused at some of the concept in antenatal class and other classes I've attended. The class about raising independent baby said the same thing, the Gerber approach (Your Self-Confident Baby: How to Encourage Your Child's Natural Abilities— From the Very Start) says that to watch the baby's signal and attend to their needs instead of according to ours, for example feed them when they're hungry ('neh', hey I'm getting good at this) rather than according to our schedule (need to feed the baby every 2 hours or need to go out so better feed the baby first)

The baby will be more likely to raise to be independent individuals by the Gerber approach or the 'respect the baby's needs' approach.

Also recommended in the antenatal class, The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer, have some settling techniques, the 5s:

- Swaddling
- Side or Stomach
- Shhhh
- Swinging
- Sucking

Play and learning for infants

Just been to a talk about play in early childhood, it presents a lot of ideas and set me thinking. It was interesting to find out something about child's play that maybe I need to change some mindset about playing & educating.

I've learned:

- Play as a response to life
- Play is a child's way to understand their surroundings, body, relationships, feeling and developing ideas
- A lot of toys may not be necessary for the child to learn
- Adults is better to let the children play amongst themselves rather than supervising
- Adults don't need to teach everytime the child pick up a toy, the children will learn by playing
- Play promotes creativity


Online infant game

Learning, playing & your newborn


Some ways to play & stimulate learning for the baby, as in the above website:

- Gentle caresses, sing with a soothing lullaby
- smile, poke out tongue, making different face expressions
- put baby on their tummy to strength neck/shoulder, always supervise & be ready to help.
- put on sothing music, hold the baby and sway to the tune

Preparing for the baby

Just finished my antenatal class, this week basically is preparing for my new baby & labour, reading other's birth stories, and reviewing the labour process in What to Expect When You're Expecting, chatted with some friends, we all agree that this is really a good book, I'm planning to get their second book too for my baby's 1st year.




Birth Stories Revisit

ohbaby birth stories

Home birth, NZ

With some ads, but some collection on birth stories

A blog on NZ birth stories

US Childbirth org

Have also signed up for the Plunket PEPE course, "Your New Baby", after ringing several nearby plunkets with answering machine, I finally found a number that can go directly to the one who's responsible for the course, it's 09 849 5609 (also need to leave a message, but they reply quite promptly) and also for the car seat if you don't want to get an answering machine, the number is 09 623 8357.

Also a good week to start shopping, and can exercise at the same time, however, after shopping around, finally found that the bargains are all online!

Baby Shopping list for this week:

Baby massage oil/ gel

Bath Toys


Shampoos & baby lotion

Baby Wipes

Bottles

Teats

Bottle Brush

Bottle Warmer

Pacifier

Sterilizer

Breast Shields

Expressor

Baby Brush & Comb

Will check trademe for other larger items, a good website with article on the price and what to look for when shopping for baby stuff, like safety standards, whether to choose cloth or disposable nappies and what to look for & price...etc:

kiwifamilies.co.nz