You just heard the news. You went for an ultrasound, and you are expecting multiples! Your first response may be shock, fear, and an undeniable cry for help! Here are 10 surprising facts that moms carrying multiples need to know.
Lana Kelly
Editor, momstown Guelph
New research into child development demonstrates that parents and caregivers can play a critical role in ensuring their child’s individual success in all areas of development. In order for that to happen, we often need extra support, wisdom, and encouragement along the way, so that we can feel confident in our ability to give our child a healthy start and provide early intervention. This is why Dieticians of Canada and Alberta Health Care Services have created a free video series called ‘Raising Our Healthy Kids’.
Lana Kelly
Editor, momstown Guelph
Developing good oral health habits at an early age is essential for a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums. So, did you know that a baby’s healthy tooth development can actually begin before birth? As a mom-to-be you can actually get your child’s teeth off to a healthy start during pregnancy. And, once baby is born, your job is to promote the healthy development of gums and those first baby teeth, in order to ensure good oral health into adulthood.
Lana Kelly
Editor, momstown Guelph
February can often be called the month of LOVE. Really, though, for all married couples, each month should be full of love and love-making initiatives. After all, isn’t that what a healthy marriage should consist of? Sure it is! First comes love, then came marriage, and, I think we all know what came next. Marriages include those beautiful times of love, intimacy, and then, sometimes and somewhere along the line, pregnancy happens. If marriage begins with love, followed by a sexual relationship (which is a wonderful way of showing your love for one another!), why should pregnancy be sans intimacy for many married couples? According to some marriage counsellors, and experts, one of the core challenges many expecting couples face is how to stay intimate during nine months of physical and emotional changes you may have, as your baby prepares for arrival.
Lana Kelly
Editor, momstown Belleville
Let’s face it. As a new mom, you feel overwhelmed. Your once peaceful world is now filled with anxiety, chaos, dirty diapers, feeding on demand, and the big one – sleepless nights. These sleepless nights take a wear and tear on our bodies (especially on our faces!) and are accompanied by suitcases ( a step up from ‘bags’) under the eyes. The old cliché still stands: We need our ‘beauty sleep’ to truly be at our best. This is why our momstown pass holders and new moms all over the Guelph area would not have wanted to miss the Walmart ‘ Every Little Step’ Sleep-themed Session!
It was the coldest night of the year – a record breaker, as the news reporter said. My contractions were getting unbearable (although I have low pain tolerance, so, probably pretty mild). We got into the van, in a mutual decision to head to the hospital. To our dismay, it wouldn’t start! I’m kidding. That would have made for a more interesting story, though! Very interesting, indeed. You see, I don’t see my husband as one who could solely deliver a baby (although he would say he could, as he has delivered many a farm animal in the past).
So, as it would happen, the van did indeed start. We live in a rural community, and the drive should have taken us about forty-five minutes. My husband took about fifty minutes to get there, since he was calmly admiring a pack of wolves under the midnight moonlight. How dare he! As the wolves were standing in the snow-covered fields, I wondered if they were really ice-covered fields on this particular, frosty night. Although, I didn’t think so, since if it was that cold, it would have numbed my body from the waist down, and that just wasn’t happening.
Incidentally, we arrived safely at the hospital, and six hours later (it seemed much longer), we (or, I, rather) delivered an eight pound, fourteen ounce, beautiful, baby girl.
Overnight, the temperature dropped to an all-time low. Although, one would not recognize the coldness outside of a hospital, considering the geriatric, balmy, warmth inside the doors of the health centre environment.
So, yes, we brought our newborn home in the frost-bitten cold of that brisk January day. In fact, if you googled January 17th, 2003, the headline would probably read: “Well, folks, it is the coldest day in history. As such, we warn infants and seniors to remain inside where it is warm for health and safety reasons.” We brought our newborn home anyways. But, the big question on everyone’s mind, is: “Were we prepared?” The answer would most definitely be: “Sort of.”
If we only had of known then, what we know now. So, if you are one of those parents who plan to bring a newborn baby home from the hospital in those cold winter temperatures, here are a couple of tips, as well as a list of what I would advise you to pack in your overnight bag.
Turn your favorite bra into a nursing bra!
