A “natural” review from a real mom

Recently we sent our special “New Mommy Package” to the popular parenting blog site Natural Mama so they could “kick the tires” so to speak.  One of the interesting things is Vivian thought the Bosom Baby pillow was “multi-functional” which is something we’ve been trying to promote for years.

To clarify “multi-functional” – Vivian says:

“…it also fits every waistline, a great maternity sleeping pillow, it has removable washable covers, it’s good for twins, and it has a soft, luxurious covers. This nursing pillow is multifunctional, and is designed for you and your baby. The pillow was really nice, wish I had that nursing pillow when I was still breastfeeding my daughter.

> Read the Natural Mama Review of Luna’s products

Enter to win a FREE pillow or blanket

As part of their review, Luna Lullaby is sponsoring a giveaway of either of a blanket or pillow to one lucky reader of the Natural Mama blog.  So hurry on over to their site to find instructions on how to enter and win.

> Enter to win FREE stuff from the Natural Mama

Yes you can!

It seems like the myths and misconceptions surrounding pregnancy are never-ending, and one of these misconceptions that seems to last through every generation is this idea that women cannot get pregnant while they are menstruating.

Although it is true that women are less likely to be fertile while they are menstruating, it is not impossible to get pregnant during this time.

The how and why?

To understand why this myth exists and why it is not true, you need to have a basic idea of how the female reproductive system works.

• A woman’s cycle begins on the first day that she menstruates, this is referred to as day 1.
• On average, ovulation takes place fourteen to sixteen days after day 1.
• During ovulation, an egg is released from the ovary into the fallopian tube.
• For the next 24 hours or so, the woman is fertile, and if the egg encounters sperm it will be fertilized.

However, if the egg is not fertilized in those 24 hours, the egg and the uterine lining will be shed during the next menstruation. For this reason, menstruation and ovulation are usually separate and non-overlapping processes, which is why many people think that it is impossible to get pregnant while menstruating.

Results will vary

Remember, there is a great deal of variation from one woman to another, and all ovulation/menstruation does not follow the same timeframe. Depending on how long a woman bleeds during her menstruation and when her actual ovulation takes place, there can be some overlap in menstruation and fertility.

Pregnancy can occur at any time, so it is important to be conscientious in your family planning.

Fresh take on our bouncy ball

Our Bounce A Bye Baby Ball is an interesting product.  Originally designed as a birthing ball, it also serves double duty as an exercise ball for mothers post-partum as it includes a safety stand for extra stability.

However, one of the things we love with blogger reviews is the new perspective they give on the products after they test them out on their own.  And this week, we had some new ideas from Holly at Mommies with Cents.

After the baby is born, the ball is still quite useful. Bouncing the baby on the ball is soothing and once they are ready to practice “tummy time”, the ball is an excellent tool.  Now there is a product made specifically for these uses that is not only cuter, but safer as well.

> Read the Mommies with Cents Review of Luna’s products

Enter to win a FREE Bounce A Bye Baby

OK so on to the real reason you’re reading more – the giveaway mentioned in the headline!  As part of their review, Mommies with Cents is sponsoring a giveaway of a FREE Bounce A Bye Baby to one lucky winner.  Hop on over to their site and checkout the simple contest rules where you can enter to win today:

> Enter to win FREE stuff from the Mommies with Cents

Third trimester to birth

In a previous post, we explored what happens to your body during the first two trimesters of your pregnancy. In this post, we talk about changes in your body during the third and final trimester as well as the changes you might notice after you give birth.

The Third Trimester

In the third trimester, you will see that the signs of pregnancy become more obvious to other people. As the baby continues to grow, your uterus continues to stretch to accommodate the growth and your stomach protrudes further. You may also see stretch marks on your breasts, stomach, thighs, hips, and/or buttocks as your body changes and grows.

Many women also notice that they are sweating more and attribute this to their larger size, but in reality the additional sweat production is probably a result of changing hormone levels and not physical growth.

After Pregnancy

In many ways, your body will begin to return to pre-pregnancy form almost immediately after childbirth. But the changes that took nine months to occur cannot be undone overnight, so you will notice gradual shifts in most cases.

Between the baby, the placenta, and the water weight lost during childbirth and the following five to seven days, you will see that you have lost a significant amount of weight.

However, it will take your uterus a little longer to begin contracting back to its normal size, so your stomach may appear pregnant for several weeks. Exercise (when doctor-approved) and breastfeeding have been shown to help the uterus contract more quickly.

• Read more about losing weight during breastfeeding

Changes in the first – third trimesters

Pregnancy is a truly miraculous event. The ability to conceive and carry a baby as it develops is an amazing process, and in order to facilitate this process, your body goes through a number of changes. As there are an almost infinite number of discussions that can take place on this topic, we will cover some of the basics in two posts, starting with what happens to your body during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.

First Trimester

During the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy, it may not be apparent to others that you are actually carrying a child. Due to the vomiting and nausea that accompany morning sickness for many pregnant women, you may not gain very much weight or you may even lose weight! However, you will probably notice that your breasts feel tender and swollen. Additionally, although you may not be able to feel it, your uterus wall is thickening and your cervix is softening.

Second Trimester

The next three months will bring changes that are apparent to both you and others. You will experience weight gain and your stomach will protrude to accommodate the growing uterus and child, although when this occurs exactly varies from one woman to another. Your breasts will become even larger as the milk glands begin to function and will continue to feel tender. You may notice that your skin is glowing. This is a pleasant result of the increased circulation of blood throughout your system.

One of the things we love about product reviews is that we’re never sure what we’ll hear.  Of course, we love when people say great things about us!  But we also love it even more when people find something unique or different to say about our products.

So this time, we sent our “New Mommy Package” to the popular parenting blog site Connected2Christ so they could get a close up look at the products for themselves and tell everyone what they think.  And their review was a little different than what we normally hear as their main blogger is expecting, but doesn’t have a newborn.

Bosom Baby as a sleep aid

Here is a sample quote from the review:

“I’m around 25 weeks pregnant now and have been using this pillow daily! It’s been an extremely great companion to helping me position myself in bed better, giving me the much needed sleep I’ve been lacking.

The Bosom Baby Pillow is a little larger than other nursing pillows I’ve used but its generous size allows for woman on any size to comfortably wrap it around their bodies.  Its cover is super soft, very, comfortable, and easy to just throw in the wash. I love that this cover also just slips over the pillow, no zippers necessary which as a fantastic safety feature!”

> Read the Connected2Christ Review of Luna’s products

Contest Winner Announced

This time around, the contest winner is Canadian Emily B who won a Sage Dot Bosom Baby Pillow.  Congratulations to Emily and please make sure to come back and let us know what you think about your new product!

Every woman wants to know when!

When a woman is trying to get pregnant, it can be tempting to want to take a pregnancy test as soon as you think it might give a positive response. However, although today’s pregnancy tests are incredibly sensitive and can, in some cases, indicate a pregnancy several days before you miss a period, it is hard to know when you should take a pregnancy test.

The 5 main factors that influence when a test will give an accurate response:

1. Test sensitivity. Some of the tests on the market are more sensitive than others, and a more sensitive test will be able to detect pregnancy at an earlier stage than one that is less sensitive. Both are highly accurate, so a positive reading on one is just as reliable as a positive reading on another, but more sensitive tests can be done sooner.
2. Liquid Consumption. If you have had more fluids than normal when you take the pregnancy test, it will be harder for the test to detect the hormone that indicates pregnancy (hCG).
3. Time of day. Tests taken in the morning are less likely to be influenced by factors such as liquid consumption, but if you wait until later in the day the fetus may be producing more hCG as it grows.
4. Rate of hCG production. Some fetuses produce more hCG than others. If yours is a little slower, it will take longer to get a positive result on a pregnancy test.
5. Ovulation timing. Unless you know exactly when you ovulate each month, counting the days since your last ovulation can be an uncertain calculation.

Understanding the link

Implantation is a word you have probably never heard before, or if you have, certainly not something that you actively think about when considering your potential pregnancy.

However, if you are wondering when you can take a pregnancy test and get an accurate result, implantation plays an important role in determining the answer. Whether you are worried you might be pregnant or trying to conceive, knowing how a pregnancy test works will allow you to approach the process with more clarity.

How it works

After a woman releases an egg during ovulation and it is fertilized when it meets sperm, the egg travels to the uterus. The uterus will be home to the baby while it develops.

However, in order to move on to the next stage of development, the fertilized egg must attach to the wall of the uterus, a process referred to as implantation because the egg is implanting in the uterine lining. Once the egg has implanted, it is a developing fetus, and it releases a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. This hormone is only released once a fetus has implanted.

Since it is such a unique hormone, it is the one that pregnancy tests are looking for, whether you are using an over-the-counter urine test or your doctor is testing your blood in his office.

What does this mean for pregnancy?

So what does this mean for your pregnancy test? Basically, if you take a test before the fetus has had a chance to implant and to start producing sufficient hCG, you can get a false negative. This means that either the egg is still floating around the uterus or that there is not enough hCG production yet to trigger the positive response on the test. In either case, the test will say you are NOT pregnant even though you ARE!

Luna Lullaby Earns “Bragging Rights”

A few weeks ago, we sent our “New Mommy Package” to the popular parenting blog site Bragging Mommy so they could get a close up look at the products for themselves and tell everyone what they think.  And this week, they released their review of our 3 product lines and the good news is they didn’t just like they, they LOVED them!

> Read the Bragging Mommy Review of Luna’s products

Enter to win a FREE pillow or blanket

OK so on to the real reason you’re reading more – the giveaway mentioned in the headline!  As part of their review, Bragging Mommy is sponsoring a giveaway of  either of a blanket or pillow to one lucky winner.  Hop on over to their site and checkout the simple contest rules and enter to win today:

> Enter to win FREE stuff from the Bragging Mommy

About the Bragging Mommy

The Bragging Mommy is a popular parenting blog written by a group of 5 moms with 8 kids.  They work hard to provide “mom and kid tested” reviews of products that parents can and should be using by testing each product on their own and offernig their reviews to readers.

They also do great giveaways from time to time where readers can win a product they’ve reviewed.

Every woman wants to know when!

When a woman is trying to get pregnant, it can be tempting to want to take a pregnancy test as soon as you think it might give a positive response. However, although today’s pregnancy tests are incredibly sensitive and can, in some cases, indicate a pregnancy several days before you miss a period, it is hard to know when you should take a pregnancy test.

The 5 main factors that influence when a test will give an accurate response:

1. Test sensitivity. Some of the tests on the market are more sensitive than others, and a more sensitive test will be able to detect pregnancy at an earlier stage than one that is less sensitive. Both are highly accurate, so a positive reading on one is just as reliable as a positive reading on another, but more sensitive tests can be done sooner.
2. Liquid Consumption. If you have had more fluids than normal when you take the pregnancy test, it will be harder for the test to detect the hormone that indicates pregnancy (hCG).
3. Time of day. Tests taken in the morning are less likely to be influenced by factors such as liquid consumption, but if you wait until later in the day the fetus may be producing more hCG as it grows.
4. Rate of hCG production. Some fetuses produce more hCG than others. If yours is a little slower, it will take longer to get a positive result on a pregnancy test.
5. Ovulation timing. Unless you know exactly when you ovulate each month, counting the days since your last ovulation can be an uncertain calculation.