Friday, July 10, 2009
My New Site is Up and Running!
Hi everyone! Please go to my blog at http://www.mommasinthehouse.com/. From now on, all my posts will be up on that site. If you are following me on Blogger, please subscribe to my feed on the site, as well as add me to your Blogroll!!! Thank you and I look forward to seeing you on on the new and improved Mommas in the House site!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Update!!!!
My blog is currently undergoing a huge social media makeover! Don't be surprised, I am aware that my blog is looking better by the minute! ;-) There are a lot of things that I want to blog about, but I am waiting for the Grand Re-Opening of my blog, so please keep coming back to check back at www.mommasinthehouse.com. Also, if you haven't already done so, follow me on Twitter. I've gotten a facelift on Twitter as well. Thanks for all your support! BTW, no baby yet, she is still pondering the day to make her grand entrance. I definitely like the early signs to a strong female who knows what she wants!!!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Body Butter does a Momma's Body, Oh so Good!
I love body care products that make you feel special and loved. For me, my body is my temple. That being said, I like to nourish, embrace, and baby my body. When I came across, Earth Mama Angel Baby, I had to see what they were about. Especially their trademark, "Gift from the earth for your gift from heaven." I mean just reading that makes me melt and want to take an extra glance at my belly and smile. A name says a lot about what the company is about and clearly when reading their name, all I felt was warmth, love, and happiness.
When I came across Earth Mama Angel Baby, I had to try out their products. Primarily because they fit my description in what I look for in a skincare. Even if I like the name, if the product is full of toxicity, chemicals, and anything bad, I'll turn my nose up and look the other way. Sometimes you just have to be stuck up when it comes to you and your body. When you are pregnant, you are making decisions on behalf of your unborn, so there is nothing wrong with being super picky, super paranoid, and super super-mommy. I don't like to put on lotions, potions, or concoctions that have ingredients on the label where I am like, umm...dictionary please?
I wanted to try out the Earth Mama Body Butter because it looked like a good overall pregnancy lotion. The label says, "Herbal Shea Butter Lotion for Expectant Bellies, Breasts, and Way Beyond." The body butter combines organic calendula and organic chamomile with essential oils in a shea butter body lotion. It works with your growing belly and encourages the belly's natural elasticity. I love that it will not aggravate morning sickness and it's the purest lotion for your pregnancy stretch marks, made with 95% organic ingredients. On top of that, it's completely vegan, cruelty-free, and toxin free. Can you top that?
At first, when I saw the words "Body Butter," I was a little afraid because for some reason my brain associates body butter with greasy, thick, oily, slab of lotion. Don't ask me why. After my shower, I pumped the Earth Mama Body Butter on to the palm of my hands and started to rub it on my belly. Let me tell you, the Body Butter was creamy, non-oily, and went on like smooth butta! I thought it would be super thick, but it was more creamy than thick, and had such a airy consistency on top of it. My belly did not feel greasy or stuffy. It felt more refreshed and enlivened. I read the ingredients on the label, and there was nothing in it where I had to refer to a medical dictionary. It's just heaven in a bottle and you can quote me on that. I loved it so much, I went to Whole Foods and bought 2 more bottles.
I also wanted to try something else in their line, which happened to be the Breastfeeding Support Kit. Since I am going to breastfeed this would be super essential to my breastfeeding ritual. The Breastfeeding Support Kit has four of their best all-natural necessities for the breastfeeding mother. The Milkmaid Tea is USDA certified, 100% organic, Certified Kosher, and helps support healthy breast milk production. The Natural Nipple Cream is lanolin-free and helps prevent sore, cracked nipples. The Booby Tubes are gel-free breast packs that help ease sore breasts, and the Bosom Buddies, an herbal breast compress to help ease with engorgement or mastitis. Now that's taking caring of me, so that I can take care of my baby! You just have to constantly refer back to their name, Earth Mama Angel Baby. Their products really stand by their name.
For more information on Earth Mama Angel Baby please visit them at: http://www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/
When I came across Earth Mama Angel Baby, I had to try out their products. Primarily because they fit my description in what I look for in a skincare. Even if I like the name, if the product is full of toxicity, chemicals, and anything bad, I'll turn my nose up and look the other way. Sometimes you just have to be stuck up when it comes to you and your body. When you are pregnant, you are making decisions on behalf of your unborn, so there is nothing wrong with being super picky, super paranoid, and super super-mommy. I don't like to put on lotions, potions, or concoctions that have ingredients on the label where I am like, umm...dictionary please?
I wanted to try out the Earth Mama Body Butter because it looked like a good overall pregnancy lotion. The label says, "Herbal Shea Butter Lotion for Expectant Bellies, Breasts, and Way Beyond." The body butter combines organic calendula and organic chamomile with essential oils in a shea butter body lotion. It works with your growing belly and encourages the belly's natural elasticity. I love that it will not aggravate morning sickness and it's the purest lotion for your pregnancy stretch marks, made with 95% organic ingredients. On top of that, it's completely vegan, cruelty-free, and toxin free. Can you top that?At first, when I saw the words "Body Butter," I was a little afraid because for some reason my brain associates body butter with greasy, thick, oily, slab of lotion. Don't ask me why. After my shower, I pumped the Earth Mama Body Butter on to the palm of my hands and started to rub it on my belly. Let me tell you, the Body Butter was creamy, non-oily, and went on like smooth butta! I thought it would be super thick, but it was more creamy than thick, and had such a airy consistency on top of it. My belly did not feel greasy or stuffy. It felt more refreshed and enlivened. I read the ingredients on the label, and there was nothing in it where I had to refer to a medical dictionary. It's just heaven in a bottle and you can quote me on that. I loved it so much, I went to Whole Foods and bought 2 more bottles.
I also wanted to try something else in their line, which happened to be the Breastfeeding Support Kit. Since I am going to breastfeed this would be super essential to my breastfeeding ritual. The Breastfeeding Support Kit has four of their best all-natural necessities for the breastfeeding mother. The Milkmaid Tea is USDA certified, 100% organic, Certified Kosher, and helps support healthy breast milk production. The Natural Nipple Cream is lanolin-free and helps prevent sore, cracked nipples. The Booby Tubes are gel-free breast packs that help ease sore breasts, and the Bosom Buddies, an herbal breast compress to help ease with engorgement or mastitis. Now that's taking caring of me, so that I can take care of my baby! You just have to constantly refer back to their name, Earth Mama Angel Baby. Their products really stand by their name.
For more information on Earth Mama Angel Baby please visit them at: http://www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/
The Earth Mama Angel Baby What’s Your Score? Challenge and Giveaway
One of my readers will win a travel sized and clinically tested A Little Something for Baby.
Main Entry into the Giveaway, you must answer the questions below:
Gather some of the most common personal care products you use regularly on yourself or on your baby. Personal care products include shampoo, lotions, soaps, diaper cream, stretch mark oil, etc.
Go to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ Skin Deep database (http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/) and enter a product name in the search field. Add up the Skin Deep toxicity rating for all the personal care products that you use on a daily basis to find out what your score is. When you have your score, post your answer to three quick questions (below) in the comments area.
Your post in the comments section with your three answers is one entry into the contest. Don’t worry – there are no right or wrong answers, but we think you’ll be surprised at how high the toxin score is, even for those products you are using that are labeled “natural” or even “organic”.
What was your Skin Deep toxicity rating score?
How did you feel about your score and/or ingredients?
Were you surprised at how high the toxin score is for any products labeled "natural" or "organic" ?
Most women are truly shocked at the toxin scores of the pregnancy or baby products they thought were safe. All Earth Mama Angel Baby products are rated a 0 (lowest possible rating). Also, all Earth Mama Angel Baby products are toxin-free and contain no artificial ingredients. Just pure, natural products for pure, natural mamas and babies! As Gold Members, and one of the earliest compact signers, Earth Mama Angel Baby® is fully compliant with all levels of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. We are one of only 6% of compact signers who can make that claim. At Earth Mama Angel Baby, we are just as serious about taking care of the Earth and her resources as we are about taking care of mamas and babies. That even extends to our packaging and office practices – learn more by reading our sustainability statement.
For helpful advice and safe, natural products that work, women can trust Earth Mama Angel Baby. After all, if Mama wouldn't use it for her own family, then she doesn't sell it. Mama's Promise™.
What was your Skin Deep toxicity rating score? 3
How did you feel about your score and/or ingredients? Well, I only use three products on a daily basis because of my pregnancy. One of them happening to be Earth Mama Angel Body Lotion which has a 0, Novena face wash which came up as N/A, and then the shocker, my Avalon Organic that came up as a 3.
Were you surprised at how high the toxin score is for any products labeled "natural" or "organic" ? OMG, yes! My jaw dropped open. The Shampoo that I have been using all throughout my pregnancy, which was recommended by the people at Whole Foods, is cancer causing. I would have never bought it, or have used it, if I knew this fact. I like to think I am a purist when it comes to products and this was quite disturbing. This is shocking and I am pretty upset about it because I have been avoiding so many things during this pregnancy because of its negative impact on the fetus, and now come to find out, my shampoo was cancer causing. Yuck!
Main Entry into the Giveaway, you must answer the questions below:
Gather some of the most common personal care products you use regularly on yourself or on your baby. Personal care products include shampoo, lotions, soaps, diaper cream, stretch mark oil, etc.
Go to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ Skin Deep database (http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/) and enter a product name in the search field. Add up the Skin Deep toxicity rating for all the personal care products that you use on a daily basis to find out what your score is. When you have your score, post your answer to three quick questions (below) in the comments area.
Your post in the comments section with your three answers is one entry into the contest. Don’t worry – there are no right or wrong answers, but we think you’ll be surprised at how high the toxin score is, even for those products you are using that are labeled “natural” or even “organic”.
What was your Skin Deep toxicity rating score?
How did you feel about your score and/or ingredients?
Were you surprised at how high the toxin score is for any products labeled "natural" or "organic" ?
Most women are truly shocked at the toxin scores of the pregnancy or baby products they thought were safe. All Earth Mama Angel Baby products are rated a 0 (lowest possible rating). Also, all Earth Mama Angel Baby products are toxin-free and contain no artificial ingredients. Just pure, natural products for pure, natural mamas and babies! As Gold Members, and one of the earliest compact signers, Earth Mama Angel Baby® is fully compliant with all levels of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. We are one of only 6% of compact signers who can make that claim. At Earth Mama Angel Baby, we are just as serious about taking care of the Earth and her resources as we are about taking care of mamas and babies. That even extends to our packaging and office practices – learn more by reading our sustainability statement.
For helpful advice and safe, natural products that work, women can trust Earth Mama Angel Baby. After all, if Mama wouldn't use it for her own family, then she doesn't sell it. Mama's Promise™.
For additional entries:Please leave a comment for each additional entry you complete. (current followers and subscribers count as well)
- Follow my blog.
- Subscribe to my blog.
- Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway (with a link to this page) on Twitter. Please leave a link to your tweet.(2 entries)
- Blog about the giveaway and link back (2 entries)
- Add me as a favorite on Technorati
The giveaway will end on Sunday July 19th at 11:59pm(PST).
Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. If there is no email address provided, to contact the winner, another person will be chosen. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email notification with their complete mailing address. If this information is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open for US mailing addresses only.
What was your Skin Deep toxicity rating score? 3
How did you feel about your score and/or ingredients? Well, I only use three products on a daily basis because of my pregnancy. One of them happening to be Earth Mama Angel Body Lotion which has a 0, Novena face wash which came up as N/A, and then the shocker, my Avalon Organic that came up as a 3.
Were you surprised at how high the toxin score is for any products labeled "natural" or "organic" ? OMG, yes! My jaw dropped open. The Shampoo that I have been using all throughout my pregnancy, which was recommended by the people at Whole Foods, is cancer causing. I would have never bought it, or have used it, if I knew this fact. I like to think I am a purist when it comes to products and this was quite disturbing. This is shocking and I am pretty upset about it because I have been avoiding so many things during this pregnancy because of its negative impact on the fetus, and now come to find out, my shampoo was cancer causing. Yuck!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
My Fourth of July Weekend!
My weekend was mostly spent at home resting as well as trips to Labor & Delivery. On Saturday, it seemed as though my water broke, but I wasn't one hundred percent because it was more like a leakage rather than a gush. With my first, I definitely knew my water broke because it was a super gush, like a huge waterfall.
On Saturday, everytime I stood up from using the restroom, I would have a leakage. I wasn't sure if it was urine or if it was amniotic fluid. I monitored it for an hour and it kept consistently happening, so I decided to call my midwife. I called and waited for about another hour and did not hear back. So i decided to go into L & D to make sure everything was fine and it was not a ruptured sac.
I went in that evening and they did a test on me. The strip test came out to be positive, but the other two tests came out negative. They said in order for it be a positive that my sac ruptured was if 2 out of the 3 tests came out positive. I only had one positive, which meant it was negative. They did an ultrasound on me to see the fluid level. The first time around, it came out 7, which is borderline low, and the second time it came out 9, which is really good. They had me walk around for about 15 minutes with a pad, to test the leakage on the pad. After that was done, they sent me back home and told me to come back within 24 hours.
Today, which is Sunday, we went back to L & D to check on fluid level, as well as do another test to make sure there was no amniotic leakage. The fluid level was at a nine, and the test came out negative. So everything checked out fine. I am super relieved and expect to deliver soon. I just hope that I don't have to go back to L & D until I actually deliver . They say that this Tuesday is a full moon, so I guess we will see!
On Saturday, everytime I stood up from using the restroom, I would have a leakage. I wasn't sure if it was urine or if it was amniotic fluid. I monitored it for an hour and it kept consistently happening, so I decided to call my midwife. I called and waited for about another hour and did not hear back. So i decided to go into L & D to make sure everything was fine and it was not a ruptured sac.
I went in that evening and they did a test on me. The strip test came out to be positive, but the other two tests came out negative. They said in order for it be a positive that my sac ruptured was if 2 out of the 3 tests came out positive. I only had one positive, which meant it was negative. They did an ultrasound on me to see the fluid level. The first time around, it came out 7, which is borderline low, and the second time it came out 9, which is really good. They had me walk around for about 15 minutes with a pad, to test the leakage on the pad. After that was done, they sent me back home and told me to come back within 24 hours.
Today, which is Sunday, we went back to L & D to check on fluid level, as well as do another test to make sure there was no amniotic leakage. The fluid level was at a nine, and the test came out negative. So everything checked out fine. I am super relieved and expect to deliver soon. I just hope that I don't have to go back to L & D until I actually deliver . They say that this Tuesday is a full moon, so I guess we will see!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Debating to call my Midwife
I woke up at 2:09 am this morning with menstrual-like aches. I dismissed it and went and refilled my water bottle to drink more water. I laid back down on the bed and changed positions. The feeling did not go away. Around 3:40 am, those menstrual-like aches were then followed by this surge of energy that went through my body, and then I would feel weak, nauseous, and short of breath. It felt like an onset of a flu. The odd thing is that they came in intervals like contractions, every 5-6 minutes. But the feelings that I were feeling were not at all contractions, just major discomfort.
I went and laid back down at 4:05 am and nothing went away. After that, I just got paranoid, and started laying to the side to see if I could feel the baby moving. I counted how many times the baby moved, and if the baby only moved a little, I got a little freaked out. I tried changing positions, drinking more water, going to the bathroom, checking to see if I leaked amniotic fluid, and everything and anything I could think of. I woke up at 6:01 am and went online and googled all sorts of labor tags and came across other mothers who went through this when they were in labor, as well as false labor.
After my false alarm last week, I just wanted to make sure I had all the grounds covered before I went rushing to L & D or made a call to my midwife on call. Right now, I feel nauseous and completely drained, like the wind was blown out of me. This pregnancy is so different from my first, I don't know what to expect anymore. I just made a call to the midwife and am now anxiously waiting for her to call back.
I went and laid back down at 4:05 am and nothing went away. After that, I just got paranoid, and started laying to the side to see if I could feel the baby moving. I counted how many times the baby moved, and if the baby only moved a little, I got a little freaked out. I tried changing positions, drinking more water, going to the bathroom, checking to see if I leaked amniotic fluid, and everything and anything I could think of. I woke up at 6:01 am and went online and googled all sorts of labor tags and came across other mothers who went through this when they were in labor, as well as false labor.
After my false alarm last week, I just wanted to make sure I had all the grounds covered before I went rushing to L & D or made a call to my midwife on call. Right now, I feel nauseous and completely drained, like the wind was blown out of me. This pregnancy is so different from my first, I don't know what to expect anymore. I just made a call to the midwife and am now anxiously waiting for her to call back.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Officially FULL TERM today!
After last weekend's false alarm, we were just all praying that the baby would stay put in my stomach until it reached it's full term date, which is today. The baby is now 37 weeks and as of now, she is still in my tummy!
I have not done much in the last week, so that I wouldn't provoke any unnecessary contractions. My husband has been taking our daughter to pre-school every morning, and my mother and I have been picking her up late afternoon.
I went to my midwife's appointment on Tuesday and every looked great. The baby's heart beat was right on target and she also measured really nicely too. After last weekend's semi-scare, my midwife believes that I will be going into Real Labor soon. I guess we will see if I end up with a Fourth of July baby!
My last cervix check up, I was a good 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and -2 station. That was last Saturday. The midwife did not do another check at this appointment, probably not to irritate anything. I still feel cramping and tightening, here and there, so hopefully that means I am continually thinning out and dilating.
I have not done much in the last week, so that I wouldn't provoke any unnecessary contractions. My husband has been taking our daughter to pre-school every morning, and my mother and I have been picking her up late afternoon.
I went to my midwife's appointment on Tuesday and every looked great. The baby's heart beat was right on target and she also measured really nicely too. After last weekend's semi-scare, my midwife believes that I will be going into Real Labor soon. I guess we will see if I end up with a Fourth of July baby!
My last cervix check up, I was a good 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and -2 station. That was last Saturday. The midwife did not do another check at this appointment, probably not to irritate anything. I still feel cramping and tightening, here and there, so hopefully that means I am continually thinning out and dilating.
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