Labour: The Early Signs, What to expect and when to call the doctor or midwife as birth approaches.
As you reach the 36th week of your pregnancy, the long-awaited arrival of your baby is very near……knowing the early signs of early labour and the signs of well established labour will help you decide when to call your doctor/midwife and when to go to the hospital. (And how much more shopping you can squeeze in before the birth. Just sayin’.)
While baking in our house is not reserved for special occasions, I do like to bake up special holiday treats, whether it be Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. Though St. Patrick’s Day is not necessarily a big celebration with us, it’s fun to spread a little Irish cheer and a good excuse to bake up something yummy. Plus, if green beer isn’t your bag, this perfectly moist pistachio cake will be totally up your alley.
When it comes to doing arts and crafts with my 4yo daughter, I aim for projects to be KISS-able: Keep It Simple, Sweetheart! With that in mind, I organized materials we had already and together we whipped up a handful of shamrock projects that were fun, fast, and can even be a little educational, too.
“Here comes Peter Cottontail….hoppin down the bunny trail…” The popular Easter song echoes through my mind as I walk through my local grocery store, observing the pastel coloured chocolates, the brightly packaged plastic eggs, and the plethora of bunny-themed paraphernalia littering the aisles. It can only mean one thing: Easter is on its way.
How are you feeling?” I ask my friend Christine. She sits next to me in the cozy dining room of The Pantry Vegetarian Tea Room in the Glebe. Her large belly presses up against the table as she leans forward.
“I’m doing great!” she says. “But I could do without the kidney stones!”
When my toddler’s bedtime hits, it’s MY turn to watch TV. Unfortunately, I usually realize this I have been chugging sipping an adult beverage and watching Heidi… alone… for the last 20 minutes. I have Netflix to thank for helping me feel like an adult again and removing (however temporarily) The Wiggles earworms from my brain.
There are few treats in life as precious as a photograph that communicates instantly with a viewer, and Annie Griffiths does this with every shot. One of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic, Griffiths has photographed in more than a hundred countries during her illustrious career.
Swaddling has been used with newborns since the dawn of time. A nice, snug swaddle replicates the warm and cozy environment of the womb, meaning a calmer baby who often sleeps better and longer. Hospitals typically send babies home wrapped in a standard issue, pink or blue blanket. Some nurses refer to it as the ‘burrito wrap’. But if you’ve ever cursed your baby’s swaddling blanket after she’s wriggled out of it in the middle of the night (yet again), this list is for you!
I had a million thoughts running through my head as I sat in the hospital waiting room. My husband was undergoing major heart surgery, and I was trying my best to stay strong. I knew that I had to; if I gave into my worries, I would be a mess. I think that the very thing that kept me going or that caused me to find strength was my kids. What you don’t realize is that your kids help you to find strength that you didn’t even know that you possessed.
My most despised chore used to be laundry. Mostly because, with three small kids, it was such a never ending story. The monotony of sorting, washing, folding and getting it all away just in time for it to be pulled out and dirtied again was super demoralizing. When our third baby was born we actually hired someone to come and do laundry everyday for a year. True story. It ate up all our disposable income, but I still refer to that year fondly as my “laundry holiday.”