Are you in your last month of pregnancy and flustered about what you need to do and worry if you have the time? No fret, cousin JJ is here to give you a checklist of crap you need to haul ass and get done.
A list should ease the stress:
What to Pack in the Baby Bag:
1. A warm and comfortable blanket but one you don’t mind getting ruined with all the juices, balms and secretions that accompany labor. It won’t be the same after. errrr.
2. Mint or lollipops – You may be restricted from eating. The sugar in the lollipop can help curb hunger pangs and keep you from stink breath. Stink breath is no bueno.
3. Lip balm – You may get dehydrated. Keep your lips moisturized. I like ESOS!
4. Moisturizer – Get a very thick tube of moisturizer. I recommend Aquaphor because you don’t need a lot to do the trick.
5. Smart phone camera or digital camera – No explanation necessary
6. A couple pair of granny undies – But no more because you will get the mesh disposable undies plenty at the hospital. You can even take home extras the nurses bring in your room. They’re the best!
7. Baby going home outfit – This is the outfit you dress baby in when the hospital photography company comes by. 8. Gifts for the nurses – Some go above and beyond to make your short stay pleasant. Purchase a box of candy, or a mini spa kit or a journal or cards. I love Steep Seep’s Grapefruit Bergamot gift set which costs under $20!
9. Music – have a playlist of soothing music on a CD or on your phone’s portable speaker that you can plug in and help you calm down and get through a long labor.
10. Breast pad – You may leak so breast-pads and some Lansinoh Nipple Cream may come in handy for cracked or sore nipples from nursing.
LAST MINUTE NESTING
11. Get the carpets cleaned and get rid of any cat or dog hair and other allergens.
12. Create a music playlist for labor and delivery.
13. Buy all the creams, lotions, medicines, and miscellaneous items you need for yourself and baby.
14. Buy clear plastic containers to organize baby clothing, accessories, toys and a label maker
15. Organize baby’s clothes and label the bins: newborn, 0 to 3 months, 3 to 6months, 6 to 12 months.
16. Create a “call list” on your smart phone so your hubby, spouse or partner knows who to contact after you give birth.
LAST MINUTE GROOMING
You have to make sure you are presentable for labor and delivery, photos after baby arrives and just for feeling good about yourself and the end of the 40 week journey. Don’t know who said letting yourself go was okay during pregnancy, but they lied. If you feel fresh, clean, primmed and prepped, you will feel energetic and ready for pushing out that baby.
17. Get your nether regions waxed. You really don’t want doctors and nurses seeing your business looking like the Brazilian rain forest. Opt for a Brazilian wax instead. If it’s out of the budget, consider going with Nair Bikini removal gel which will not require you to use a razor and nick yourself, but be careful.
18. Wax your eyebrows. You’ll feel better and look great in the post birth pics. But if you’re going for the Anastasia the Russian Gladiator look, then no.
19. Get a Mani and Pedi – A mani because your hands will be in pics and you don’t want to cut baby with your hang nail. Not good. A pedi because your toes may be in the air and/or in stirrups during the pushing stage and you don’t want to be embarrassed by crusty and ashy hammer toes in people’s faces.
20. Get a hair appointment and get your hair in braids and/or cornrows. You need a low maintenance style bc you will not have time to do your hair after baby arrives and braided styles look great in pics.
A jury 20-year old ex cheerleader from Ohio was just acquitted of crushing the skull and killing her newborn baby daughter and burying the baby’s body in her family’s backyard.
On Thursday, Brooke Skylar Richardson, known as “Skylar”, learned the jury believed her claim that the baby was stillborn and thus she was only convicted of “abuse of corpse” and will likely not see additional jail time, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Her defense team convinced the court that she was manipulated by police to confess to killing a live baby, said she was sexually abused at age 12 by an older boy and suffered from an eating disorder and another personality disorder that caused her to want to please authority figures. A few media accounts of this popular story painted Richardson’s mom as the source of the anorexia for putting a lot of pressure on her daughter to get and remain thin.
What also made the story fascinating and become a press magnet was the fact that Richardson was told about the pregnancy in April 2017, a few weeks before she gave birth but she wore a red sparkly dress, obviously revealing quite a big baby bump, to prom with her new boyfriend who is not the baby’s father.
She had a brief fling with another boy who is the dad that resulting in the pregnancy in March 2016.
Per PEOPLE:
Prosecutors allege that Richardson did not want to be a single teen mom with college only a few months away. In the weeks after learning of her pregnancy, Richardson didn’t return for an ultrasound, bloodwork, or any other treatment, while also ignoring calls from the doctor and assistants, prosecutors have said.
In a police interview played in court last Thursday, Richardson allegedly told police that she didn’t return her doctor’s phone calls because she was scared. “I didn’t really want to have my baby,” she told police. “I really don’t know what I planned to do.”
The abuse of a corpse crime Richardson was convicted of this week is a 5th degree felony, which typically carries a sentence of six to 12 months in prison. But Richardson could get probation as a first-time offender.
A “rainbow baby” is a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, or passing away of an infant. These babies signify hope and healing after a loss. For parents, these babies are “the rainbow after the storm.”
Yesterday, August 22 was National Rainbow Baby Day and offers mothers a chance to share their experiences, grieve, reflect, and celebrate the joy for their rainbow babies.
Rainbow maternity and newborn maternity shoots are trending ways to honor an “at last” pregnancy or baby after a miscarriage, stillborn, neonatal death or infant loss.
The term is symbolic to a rainbow that appears after a storm. People are even incorporating the theme in their pregnancy and birth announcements as some examples can be seen here. There are more and more articles about couples that are capturing their rainbow journey in the media like this touching story about one woman we spotted in PEOPLE magazine last year.
Along the way, we have also spotted some wonderful and heart-warming photo shoots out there that have captured our hearts. Here are a few:
Last week, TLCCounting On stars Joy-Anna (Duggar) and Austin Forsyth revealed that their second child was stillborn at 20 weeks.
The little girl was due this November, however, when the pair went for their second trimester ultrasound and gender reveal, they learned the sad news that the baby’s heart had stopped beating.
Ali shared a tender moment celebrating her wedding anniversary last year on her Instagram account with 1.1M followers.
“You are an honorable man,” Rah captioned a photo with the two of them but featuring only his silhouette. “One of principle and character that can never be questioned. When I stand beside you and hear you speak, I feel honored. Words can’t begin to express my gratitude and appreciation for you being an amazing man and provider each and every day. Thank you for all that you do. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in life.”
She has not revealed any other information about him and keeps private the identity of her husband.
I speculated that perhaps Duchess Meghan of Sussex had given birth at home because she was not captured by photographers leaving her home or arriving.
However, last week, Kensington Palace revealed that the Suits actress, formerly Meghan Markle, gave birth.
Baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born at Portland Hospital, a private hospital on Great Portland Street in London, a copy of the baby’s birth certificate revealed.
With the baby overdue and her somewhat advance maternal age at 36, a hospital was probably better in case of an emergency.
Also, I was wrong about the name Kim Kardashian and Kanye West would have given their newest child, a son, born via surrogate last week.
I and other speculators the baby would be named Robert for two reasons. One, Kim showed an image of the name Robert during a Snapchat and during a recent episode of her reality TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashian a psychic in Bali told Kim and Khloe Kardashian their dad, Robert Kardashian, would be reincarnated in her son.
The couple named the newest arrival Psalm which is a Hebrew word for song and is the name of one of the books in the Bible. A source to E! News told the site that Kanye chose the name “and is a representation of their spirituality.”
The sources explained, “it was a very important to him, and Kim wanted the name to have a significance that held a true representation of their family, so she agreed on the name.”
Overshadowed by the birth of the Royal Baby, Comedian Amy Schumer gave birth to her first born child, a son she and hubby Chris, named Gene Attell Fischer.
“10.55pm last night. Our royal baby was born,” the actress wrote Monday on Instagram, sharing a postpartum photo of herself, husband Chris Fischer and their new baby boy.
Before this week, Schumer suffered with extreme morning sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum,throughout her pregnancy, a condition that gained wide public attention when another Royal Kate Middleton suffered with it during her pregnancies.
The I Feel Pretty star had talked about being overshadowed by a Royal pregnancy.
“I’ll tell you who it’s not fun to be pregnant at the exact same time as: Meghan Markle,” Schumer said in her recent Netflix stand-up special, Growing.
When you are trying for a baby and you get those all-important positive results when doing a test, you life changes right then. You become so much more aware of your body and the amazing things that it is doing. You read every book or subscribe to every application about pregnancy, and you track things week by week. Those scans are exciting, the preparation is all part of the fun, and then when your baby does arrive it changes you once more.
Those first few weeks and months can often feel like a blur. One day merging into the next as you soak up that newborn bubble. Family visit, friends text, but once the initial excitement has calmed down, you are left with the baby and trying to create this whole new life and routine based around having someone else’s needs to cater for. It can be overwhelming. This is why it is so important to raise awareness of your mental health during this time. Being a new mum, or even being a second or third timer, it is still isolating, and every baby is different. Becoming a mum changes you beyond what words can describe, but there are some major benefits that you can take advantage of. Here are some of them. Hopefully it will inspire you to make some great changes in your life and to bring your family along for the ride.
1 Change your career
One of the big questions that you may be faced with now that you are a mom is wondering whether or not your career was all it was cracked up to be. Some women only have a certain amount of maternity leave before they need to head back into the workplace. Is this right for you and your baby? Of course, some people don’t have a choice, but often being a mom changes the way you see things and you decide that perhaps now might be the time to do something different. Here are some of the things that you could consider to change your career and how being a mom may help you do it.
2 Work from home and start your own business
Not everyone has the desire to leave the home after they have had a baby, work long hours and then subsequently not get to spend anytime with their little ones. It can often be the case for successful professionals when they return to work. However, why not use the skills that you have developed in your current job to start your own business? Maybe you have had an idea for some time, or perhaps since becoming a mom you have spotted a gap in the market for a product or service. So many mothers use their maternity leave to start up something from home, and have it become a real possibility that they don’t have to return back to work as it becomes their jobs. Working from home can give you greater flexibility around your family, and can often be the dream position for many mothers. You could make it your reality.
3 Use your empathy skills to help
When you become a mom you develop empathy and caring feelings like no other, and so it might be great to use this to your advantage in terms of a career. Counselling or helping people through traumatic times could now become a career option for you as you learn to listen more and empathize with certain situations, especially with things like postnatal depression. This is when getting skills and knowledge such as taking on a bs psychology online degrees could work in your favor. This could definitely be a rewarding career change, and it may work around your family such as taking on part time hours, or even looking into things such as starting your own business in this field.
4 Help other women go through pregnancy and giving birth
Lastly, you may have absolutely loved giving birth and your whole pregnancy and might want to help others have a positive experience as well. So a career change could see you doing things such as training to be a nurse or midwife, or perhaps just being a doula who is present at the birth and becomes a birthing partner for a mother to be. It could be a very rewarding role and while it can be demanding, and often requires you to work shifts, it could certainly change your life and enable you to share in the positive experiences with others.
5 You learn to prioritize
Now that you are a new mom you certainly learn how to prioritize in different ways, and so it may be worth thinking about how this could be effective when it comes to your life day to day. Not only do you ensure that your child has a schedule and routine in place, but this can also work for you as a mom as well. So here are some of the ways that you can learn to prioritize and make some changes along the way.
6 Get a cleaning schedule going
When it comes to cleaning, it can often be put on the back burner when you become a mom, and for good reason. You have other things that you want to be doing instead. However, cleaning is something that you will still need to do, so it might be worth ensuring that you do all that you can to get yourself a schedule going on. Often little by little you can come up with a plan that enables you to stay on top of things, without it being a big deal to you. There are so many different methods you can follow online that could help you get something together yourself. Whether that is tackling a different room each day, or just doing specific jobs daily to keep on top of things. You will feel better for getting things in order.
7 Meal plan and batch cook
It might be time to start thinking about a meal plan and batch cooking. This can really help you out on those days where you feel lethargic, are running on low energy and need to concentrate on your little one. Having a home cooked meal already cooked and frozen makes things so much simple, and you know you are getting a nutritious meal. It might be worth ensuring that you can meal plan which helps you to be more aware of what it is you and the family are going to eat. It helps to avoid the temptation of convenience food or take away, and also enables you to save some money on your food shop. It makes it easier to do things such as online shopping, which frees up your time for other things.
8 Become strict with the finances
Of course, part of being on maternity means that you may not be bringing in as much money as you normally do, and while this can cause you a bit of stress and worry, there are also things you can do to help you take advantage and make things a bit easier. You can prioritize and become a little stricter with the finances. Meal planning is one of the ways but you can also do things such as ensure that work on things like electricity usage and shop around for the best deals within your budget.
9 You are still you
Finally, as a new mom you are still the same person as you were before you got pregnant. While things may have changed for you, and while you may be thinking about some of the other things that have become more important in life, it is still important to take care of yourself. Here are some of the things that you can do.
10 Give yourself time for self-care
Self-care is so important as a new mom and there are many ways that you can do it. It might be as simple as a hot bath or a chance to read a book, or it could be something like getting your hair done or your nails. It might seem like a small thing, but it can make the world of difference to your mindset and how you feel.
11 Work on your mindset
On the subject of your mindset, it is also very important for you to ensure that you work on your thought process and your outlook on life. It can be easy to feel negative and down in the dumps when you have just had a baby, and this is when you can be at your most vulnerable. So take some time to be more aware of your thoughts and try and actively be more positive.
12 Make your lifestyle a focus
Finally, make your lifestyle more of a focus for you. It can all be part of your self care, but if you can, be aware of your diet and the food that you eat, how much exercise you take and also ensuring that you drink plenty of water. These may be the basics, but combined they can help you to feel so much better in yourself.
Let’s hope these tips help you when it comes to the changes you feel as a new mom.
The University of Georgia women’s basketball coach, Joni Taylor, takes the prize for shortest maternity leave after returning to the game floor two days after giving birth to her second child, daughter, Drew Simone.
The Lady Bulldogs’ head coach is 79-42 in her fourth season and also has a 2-year old named Jacie Elise with her husband Darius Taylor.
The newborn arrived weighing a healthy 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long last Tuesday, just one day after her mom coached the Bulldogs to a 78-56 victory over Ole Miss.
By Thursday, Taylor was back on the bench, watching the girls beat Arkansas 93-83 while assistant Karen Lange actually coached the team.
The young women on the team took notice of their coach’s dedication.
“I realized that she can really do it all,” Maya Caldwell told the Macon Telegraph. “She has (lived life) at 110 percent every day.
“She’s superwoman to me. She’s such a great coach, mom, wife and friend. That’s a lot to do, and especially in this program.”
Point guard Taja Cole also told the Telegraph:
“It shows her fight, because she never lets us see that she’s down. I know sometimes days aren’t the easiest, but you’ll never know something is wrong. I try to take that from her and learn that.”
Bravo TV host and Real Housewives franchise co-creator Andy Cohen celebrated the impending arrival of his soon-to-be born surrogate child at a baby shower at the The Palm Beverly Hills last weekend.
The theme was ” A Star is Born” and featured ornate decorations, blue and white balloons, white and yellow florals, candles and a white floral wall.
Kyle Richards from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills hosted the event at Cohen’s BFF Bruce Bozzi’s restaurant and enlisted the aid of the OG Housewives Nene Leakes from Real Housewives of Atlanta, Teresa Giudice from Real Housewives of New Jersey, Ramona Singer from Real Housewives of New York and Vicky Guvalsen from Real Housewives of Orange County to get the women from their respective franchises there.
Many of the Housewives from the network’s Real Housewives series attended including newer ones from the Real Housewives of Potomac, and Real Housewives of Dallas.
Attendees included Ashley Darby, Brandi Redmond, Bruce Bozzi, Camille Grammer, Candiace Dillard, Cynthia Bailey, Danielle Staub, Denise Richards, Dolores Catania, Dorit Kemsley, Dorinda Medley,Emily Simpson, Erika Jayne, Eva Marcille, Gina Kirschenheiter, Gizelle Bryant, Jackie Goldschneider, Jenni Pulos, Jennifer Aydin, John Mayer, Karen Huger, Kyle Richards, LeeAnne Locken, Lisa Rinna, Margaret Josephs, Marlo Hampton, NeNe Leakes, Phaedra Parks, Ramona Singer, Robin Dixon, Shannon Beador, Sonja Morgan, Stephanie Hollman, Tamra Judge, Teddi Mellencamp, Teresa Giudice, and Vicki Gunvalson.
The Tea:According to the tattles at Tamara Tattles and her comment section snitches who have all the tea:
When the Real Housewives of Atlanta arrived, the place fell silent and everyone was stunned by their fabulousness;
John Mayer, who is Cohen’s buddy, was impressed with Leakes who kept everyone in stitches;
Cohen was surprised to see Phaedra Parks who he had fired there and who Leakes probably invited in a rumored attempt to keep the RHOA franchise amidst falling ratings
Beador was reportedly wasted
Grammar and Rinna had a little fight and Cohen went over to them and said save it for the Reunion show
Rinna was the life of the party and got everyone to dance on tables
Notably absent were Bethenny Frankel (who had a speaking engagement) and Countess LuAnn from RHONY; Monique Samuels from RHOP (who is a brand new mom); Lisa Vanderpump from RHOBH (who is rumored to be leaving and feuding with Richards); Kelly Dodd and Heather Dubrow from RHOOC; Tinsley Mortimer from RONY; Porsha Williams and Kandi Burruss from RHOA (though she is on Celebrity Big Brother right now and Williams is heavily pregnant and maybe couldn’t get on a plane); Melissa Gorga of RHONJ
Marlo Hampton was not an original invited guest but came to surprise Cohen who picked her up and twirled her around when he saw her.
Ashley Darby from RHOP looked pregnant and having just peeped her Instagram, it looks true.
Leakes was caught on her phone amidst all the hoopla
Most got along.
Danielle Staub manipulated the media to get a last minute pity invite and showed up with a gift and glammed out…allegedly
They noshed on Chinese chicken and lobster Cobb salad, Salmon with Mango Salsa, Filet Mignon, Chicken Paillard, grilled asparagus, fried potatoes, spinach and grilled polenta cakes.
