Couples turn to GoFundMe to raise funds for IVF Treatment

Posted on July 21, 2015

A Utah couple were able to become parents for the first time thanks to the kindness of strangers who contributed to her crowd source fund campaign.

Last year Lori Linford launched a plea on the GoFundMe site for help in funding the cost of her IVF.

This past May, she welcomed her daughter after years of fertility struggles.

Linford described her story this way:

One year ago my husband and I started our IVF journey. At the time my husband, Jason, was 42, and I was 37. Our ages, plus a dream I had had indicated that we could no longer delay having children. We had been saving money for years, but did not have the $25,000 needed to begin IVF, so we turned to GoFundMe. There, we were able to raise $5,000. It was what we needed to pay up front the cost of IVF. July 20, 2014 was the beginning for us. It is when I started medications to prepare my body for IVF. Then came shots, egg retrieval, sperm retrieval, and then on September 10, 2014, 2 embryos were implanted. 10 days later I got the phone call that I was pregnant. I couldn’t believe it. I took a pregnancy test (which I had done many times before) but this time it was positive. I immediately knelt down and thanked my Heavenly Father. October 9, 2014 is when we had our first ultra sound where it was confirmed that one embryo had attached. I was devastated that both hadn’t taken, but delighted that we had the one! Fast forward many months and doctor’s appointments later came May 12, 2015, the day our little Lloklan was born. She is absolutely beautiful.

I am delighted for this opportunity to come back on to the show to raise awareness of infertility, the blessings of websites like GoFundMe where people can selflessly give to others in need, and to thank those who personally helped me get my little Lloklan. I am determined to pay it forward. I give a little money monthly to help others and sometimes a little extra when I see causes I feel prompted to help. I am not at this time able to give much since our savings is depleted, but even a little can go a long way.

They aren’t the only would-be TTC couples using the popular fundraising site to gather funds.

Folks like Stacy and Mike Musgrave (pictured above) have successfully raised enough money for their IVF treatment. The Musgraves got close to 100 people to donate almost $10,500 in 4 months for their fertility treatment.

Good stuff! Congrats all!

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Celebrity

Inside Fantasia Barrino’s recent Yacht Wedding (PHOTOS)

Posted on July 21, 2015

Our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alum, the soulful songstress Fantasia Barrino formally wed on a yacht off the coast of North Carolina to her beau Kendall Taylor last Saturday, July 18 in North Carolina.

It was an elegant intimate affair on the water to celebrate their union with a small group of family and friends.

The American Idol winner chose red, black and white for her colors for the event that took place aboard the Queen’s Landing yacht on Lake Norman in Moorseville, North Carolina.

The very happy bride has been teasing her fans and followers in social media about the blessed event for a while now, she posted this a few days before the ceremony.

Father I Thank You

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How to Get that Smoldering Balmain Smoky Eye for Date Night (VIDEO)

Posted on July 20, 2015

The iconic couture brand Balmain is coming to H&M this November as part of a collaboration with lead creative designer Frenchman Olivier Rousteing and the ready-to-wear modest price point chain store. I can hardly wait to see what will be made available to everyday women and young girls this fall.

The line is a fave among its latest spokes models including our Bellyithch Bumpwatch alum Kim Kardashian, her sister Kendall Jenner, model Joan Smalls, pop singer Rihanna and others.

A recent provocative campaign from the line which features Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Joan Smalls and her sister and others have been much buzzed about lately since it was released last week.

It featured famous sisters wearing the brand’s exquisite structured pieces and smoldering sexy smoky eye make up to really set off the look.

It’s a really hot eye if you can pull it off. I found this tutorial from Maya Mia that everyone seems the love that shows you how to achieve this fab look. It’s great for date night, an evening out with the girls or any night time event.

Check it out and try it out for yourself:

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Celebrity

Jaime King welcomes second son

Posted on July 20, 2015

Congrats to Hart of Dixie actress Jaime King on the birth of her second son with producer Kyle Newman.

The ex-model took to Instagram to announce the news.

“We are SO happy to welcome to the world our new baby boy!” she captioned the photo which featured Newman, their 1 1/2 year old son James Knight and King nursing the new arrival. “Born Thursday, July 16th! Xx.”

Congrats!

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BumpNews

10 Back to School Kids’ Closet Organization Tips

Posted on July 20, 2015

As you prep to send the kids back to school, you may want to reassess what’s in their closet now and consolidate uneeded clothes, give away some, fold away some for younger children and basically get organized. Here are 10 tips to help you do that from a past post:

1.Take inventory: Go through the clothes that you already have for your child and see which items fit and which items don’t. Take the items that they have out grown to a resale shop or donate them to a worthy cause.

2.Assess how your child dresses: Don’t buy a bunch of dresses if you have a tomboy who doesn’t like to wear dresses. This may seem like common sense, but for some reason people love to buy pretty dresses and then they hang in the closet with the tags on them. Or they are worn once for that special occasion and that’s it.

3.Buy separates: Instead of buying a bunch of dresses you need to buy separates so that you can mix and match tops and skirts. You can also wear the tops with jeans or other pants. A dress is one outfit, but if you buy three skirts and three tops that can be mixed and matched then you can get nine outfits out of those items.

4.Buy basic colors: When buying pants or skirts think about buying basic colors, black, blue and brown. Those will go with a lot of different things you may already own. The more combinations that you can make the better off you will be.

5.Don’t buy outfits: Stores are great about putting together outfits, like pink and green striped leggings with a matching pink and green top. This is a one trick pony. You might be able to wear the top with jeans, but otherwise you can wear the pants with that one top and that’s it. Plus it’s such a bold color choice that you don’t want to repeat it in the same week.

6.Teach them to wear things more than once: The biggest thing that they can wear more than once is pajamas. There is no need to have seven pairs of pajamas. They can get up in the morning and fold them up and put them under their pillow for the next night. Having three to four pairs of pajamas should be plenty.

7.Add leggings to an outgrown dress: Do you have some dresses that are getting too short but they fit otherwise? Just add a pair of leggings and you can still get some more mileage out of those dresses.

8.Jeans, jeans, jeans: Most of the time jeans can be worn more than once in a week so teach your child to hang or fold them up after the first wearing unless they know they got a stain on them. Jeans are very versatile and can be worn dressed up with a nice shirt or sweater or worn with a T-shirt.

9.Buy basics: Buy a sweater in white so that you can take those short-sleeved dresses into Fall and Winter. Buy a white shirt that will go with anything or under any sweater to make an outfit warmer for winter. Black pants are always a good idea because they can be worn with any shirt and can be dressed up or down depending on the circumstances.

10.Take pictures and make a fashion book: Boys are especially bad about grabbing the shirt that is on the top in their drawer and wearing it over and over. For boys you might want to hang shirts so that they can all be seen. With girls, make a fashion book. Take pictures of all of the separate pieces and then mix and match them in a fashion book to show the different outfits that can be put together. Even young children can pick out an outfit and pull the pieces out of their closet and put a matching outfit together. Accessories for girls are also great to stretch a wardrobe. A great colorful scarf can be added to a basic black or brown top and you have a completely different look that how you wore it last week. Accessories are cheap and this is a good place to allow your kids to follow the trends, but not break that bank.

Good luck!

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BumpNews

The New Normal: Ridiculous Before & After Celebrity Pregnancy Photos

Posted on July 20, 2015

Emile Livingston’s Pre and Post Baby body two weeks after giving birth

*le sigh.*

So it looks like this is a trend…a mildly disturbing one at that; women in the public eye who are naturally thin posting before and after pregnancy photos that are waaaaay beyond reasonableness for the average woman.

It begs the questions, what is the point? Are you seeking validation? Do you want other women to feel jealous? Are you interested in further skewing the minds of the average person who has never been pregnant before or douchebag dudes who expect women all women to snap back and who call those who don’t fat and lazy?

This time, actor Jeff Goldblum‘s wife Emile Livingston posted an Instagram photo to commemorate the two weeks since giving birth by posting a before and after photo. The incredibly thin Livingston barely looks as if she had given birth. Livingston and Goldblum welcomed their son Charlie Ocean on July 4th.

It reminds me of fitness Blogger and Health Reporter Caroline Berg Eriksen and her before at 38 weeks pregnant and after 4 days post birth photo that she posted in 2013 on Instagram.

Caroline Berg-Eriksen

And just this April, lingerie model Sarah Stage, mad popular for bearing a six pack overtop her baby bump, shocked the net when she too posted shockingly thin and flat-bellied pic 4 days after giving birth.

Sarah Stage

I realize it is their normal because either they work out a lot and/or are genetically predisposed to be thin and to bounce back quickly. Also, many of us probably have heard unsubstantiated rumors of some Hollywood actresses getting their surgeons to conduct tummy tucks right there after their C-section. Of course that would be grossly unethical and it hasn’t ever been proven.

Notwithstanding all of that, it seems the rush to quickly show off a skinny post-baby photo is just ridiculously wrong and misplaced given that time should be spent nurturing a newborn and not mom’s ego.

At least fitness professional Hilaria Baldwin is taking a different approach by deliberately posting her belly post partum but whilst it is still bulbous and slowly shrinking. She’s still amazingly thin elsewhere so while I get the gesture, she too is not a realistic. And she too is taking a lot of heat from the public as well.

It’s all a bit too much and many people blame social media and our new selfie-obsessed culture.

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Parenting

Tips To Help New Stepfamilies Start Out Right

Posted on July 19, 2015

Guest Post

Any new marriage has its hurdles. But when the newlyweds also bring children from previous marriages, they face the additional challenge of trying to balance the needs of the relationship with the needs of the kids.

It’s rarely as easy as the Brady Bunch made it seem.

“Too frequently, partners imagine that because they love each other, their children will jump on board and will also love this new partner as a stepparent,” says Dr. Anne Brennan Malec, a clinical psychologist, marriage and family therapist, and author of the book “Marriage in Modern Life: Why It Works, When It Works.”

“In reality, children are often confused and have contradictory emotions about the new family setup.” Frustration can set in when the union fails to create instant family unity.

Try not to let it, Dr. Malec says. Everyone needs time to adjust and it’s up to the new couple to develop strategies for making this blended family work.

For starters, she says, each parent should be responsible for managing his or her children’s schedules, providing discipline and communicating with the ex-partner about any parenting issues.

“You should expect that it’s going to be a rocky ride, and you can be pleasantly surprised if it’s not,” Dr. Malec says. “Remember, the kids did not get a vote in this, and they very well may dislike the stepparent or stepsiblings.”

But, as with many things in life, patience mixed with a trial-and-error approach can get you where you need to be. Dr. Malec offers a few tips for easing the difficulties, if not eliminating all the pain:

• Manage expectations. When creating a blended family, managing your expectations will decrease the odds of being disappointed, Dr. Malec says. Discuss your ideas for how the transition will go and set a reasonable bar for how you, your spouse, the children and any former spouses will respond to the new arrangement. Plan for a slow transition into this “new normal.”

• Keep communications with former spouses cordial. Some relationships with ex-spouses run more smoothly than others. Ideally, former spouses would communicate respectfully and keep in mind the best interests of the children. That doesn’t always happen, though. If an ex-spouse gets under your skin too much, you might try self-soothing techniques such as meditating, exercising, taking a walk or journaling. You may also want to consider seeing a therapist. “It will benefit your current relationship if you can minimize the conflict with a former partner,” Dr. Malec says.

• Nurture your romance. With so many challenges balancing parental and relational responsibilities, you will need to give extra effort to setting aside kid-free time. “Making time for just the two of you is critical to the success of your relationship,” Dr. Malec says.

“Without proper attention, the new relationship can drop down the priority list as you get caught up in smoothing the transition for the children, creating a blended home and growing comfortable with your role as stepparent.” Make it a point to prioritize dates, whether over coffee, lunch, dinner or during a walk together.

“Forming a blended family is a long-term process, and it is reasonable to expect some pushback from children, who had no voice in your choice to marry,” Dr. Malec says. “Be patient and try to see it through their eyes.

“Knowing in advance that it is likely to be tough and keeping your expectations dialed down goes a long way toward making sure your relationship doesn’t fall apart under the stress.”

About Dr. Anne Brennan Malec

Dr. Anne Brennan Malec is the founder and managing partner of Symmetry Counseling , a group counseling, coaching and psychotherapy practice in Chicago.

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BumpNews

Actress sues Manhattan doctor for Multiple Misdiagnoses and her temporary Fertlity loss

Posted on July 19, 2015

An actress and part-time teacher is suing a Manhattan gynecologist for $50 million after the doctor misdiagnosed her multiple times, leaving her incapable of having children, court papers say.

When 44-year Mihaela Mihut arrived at Kips Bay Gynecology, in 2012, the Romania-born actress was profusely bleeding, had severe pelvic pain, and lethargy.

A doctor there, Dr. Neema Agarwala, who claims to specialize in pelvic pain and fertility conditions such as endometriosis, allegedly told Mihut her pain was due to ovarian cysts

According to court documents, Agarwala recommended that Mimhut get a hysterectomy which would involve the removal of her ovaries, uterus, cervix and part of the vagina, the suit claims.

Mihut declined but was then recommended by Agarwala that she undergo radiation to reduce the cysts, the lawsuit continues.

After the treatment and Minhut was still in pain, she returned to Agarwala only to be told to give the treatment time to work and then finally told later that she was pregnant.

When Minhut went into a follow up tests, Minhut alleges Agarwala then told her that she was not pregnant but instead had ovarian cancer and that what she thought was a baby was actually a tumor growing in her womb!

Finally, taking the advice of her sister who is also a doctor but not a gynecologist, Mihut went to another facility where she learned she had an ecoptic pregnancy.

She would have to terminate it and wait an additional two years to get pregnant again while the extensive radiation worked itself out of Mihut’s body.

By that time, Mihut will be 46 and her chances to conceive again would be even harder.

Mihut later learned that Agarwala’s license to practice medicine was revoked then reinstalled in Nebraska earlier and she was subject to another lawsuit from a 2007 claim for malpractice.

‘The loss to Ms. Mihut is incalculable, and her pain indescribable,’ Mihut’s lawyer Thomas Mullaney said in a complaint filed to Manhattan Supreme Court.

‘No words can capture the despair to a woman of being stripped of her ability to bear children. And no excuse can correct it.’

He adds: ‘To say she was misdiagnosed by would be a massive understatement.’

h/t Daily Mail

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BumpNews

Volunteer to Get FREE Stretch-Mark Prevention Cream

Posted on July 18, 2015

A female founder has developed a stretch mark preventive butter which she says turns into silky absorbing, non-staining oil which is unlike anything being sold today. Sounds good?

Greta Moretti has asked Bellyitch to refer to her pregnant volunteers to test market one of 10 nutrient-rich creams she says is 99% natural. All 10 contains restorative omega 3 antioxidants, are high in omega 6 (linoleic acid) and omega 9 (oleic acid), have tons of vitamins including A, C, & E, and over 20 essential amino acids and natural peptides, Moretti says.

The main target market, Moretti tells us, is women whose sense of smell is off during pregnancy. That’s why she is doing this test is to help her narrow down the ten fragrances and colors of the product down to four. In addition, she would like general feedback before the upcoming product launch.

” I want them to feel smart about what they’re putting on their skin, and not be swayed by fancy marketing techniques for worthless products containing useless ingredients,” Moretti says.

The test market will be limited to about 20 women, but in all stages of pregnancy.

If you are interested in volunteering and receiving the products free of charge, including free shipping, give Moretti a call at 845-735-3300 and leave a message. She will call back to follow up with you.

Do let us know if you volunteer and make the final cut! Tell her Bellyitch sent you!

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BumpNews

Writer suggests society bans ‘Bump Watch’

Posted on July 18, 2015

Jennifer-Lopez-Absence-in-2014-World-Cup-Ceremony

In 2007, I wrote a blog post about the “Bump Watch” phenomenon, generally, discussing it in context of when the tabloids, public and media are wrong. In 2010, I wrote about how Jennifer Aniston is the most bump watched female celebrity even though she’s never been pregnant. At the same time, I was one of the early blogs that speculated in a post as to whether Jennifer Lopez was pregnant given her choice of dress during a concert. (I was right).

I am in that space so I get the fascination. And we here at Bellyitch have a long-standing ongoing “bump watch” tradition of following and covering celebrity preganancies.

I do, also, recognize that people hate the term “bump watch” as well as “bump” and “baby bump.” It’s cool. No scene.

However, I think writer Rachel Kramer Bussel was going a weeee bit too far in her recent Salon commentary where she called bump watch anti-feminist and suggested we, as a society, should ban bump watch.

*Clutch the pearls!*

Bussel’s piece was a bit rambling and read like a stream of consciousness rant but I understand her thesis: the incessant watching of and obsession over a woman’s pooch is offensive and reductive of her value to society outside of procreating.

In her post, Bussel bemoans how insulting it is when women are asked if they are pregnant when they may have just had one too many chicken wings the night before.

I can dig it, right. I support women’s liberation and rights. I am a woman after all and I do and have benefited from all the work that my feminist and womanist sisters have done over the years.

Notwithstanding all of that…. I still think Bussel goes overboard in her rant.

I dunno. Head over to Salon and have a read and let me know your thoughts.

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Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt