How to survive this heatwave in Sydney with a newborn?

*** Mamaway Store is oferring $15 off to all my followers and friends with the discount code
MMW0119JULIANE on their website - Dont miss it www.mamaway.com.au  *** 

The Department of Child and Family Health Nursing released some ideas on their facebook which we can follow: https://www.facebook.com/1164259383603267/photos/pcb.2454762391219620/2454759431219916/?type=3&theater 

But I also have another tip from a store which I am a big fan off called Mamaway which has many items with the technology that balances temperatures and help babies feel cool:

-          Pram/capsule liner that keeps the baby cool and is NASA certified ( https://www.mamaway.com/au/product-detail/13404WF)

-          Mattress which I use specially during the day in the baby box (I will talk about the box more below)

-          Baby sling with the same material inside (which I will buy when my baby is 4 months), but is on special now for $99, so I am really tempted to buy now. (https://www.mamaway.com/au/product-detail/A405160892ZM)

-          Maternity Pillow – Which I used while pregnant to help me sleep and now I use as feeding pillow and it keeps by baby fresh while nursing. (https://www.mamaway.com/au/product-detail/A509180401YF)

Those items are really helping us survive this heatwave.

Also, about the baby box, in Finland when the baby is born the government offers a free box for the family and Mamaway brought this idea to Australia and is giving this same box to all newborns. You just need to bring your Yellow card to any Mamaway store. I got mine and it is very handy as I can have my baby sleeping anywhere in the house. When the baby grows older the box can be used as playpen and later as storage, so it is useful plus it is FREE 😊

This store is inventive and a trip there is worth as you can also find pregnancy and post birth belts ( which I have both too )  and clothes that are fashionable but very useful while pregnant or breastfeeding. ( Have a look at their winter range with the jacket that you can keep baby inside.  I have 3 from my last pregnancy is it is very nice - https://www.mamaway.com/au/product-detail/M104172062C1S)  and you can see my post about the jackets 2 years ago here: https://www.facebook.com/momafter30/photos/pcb.306705496336333/306705279669688/?type=3&theater 

Mamaway have stores at Burwood, Chatswood, Hurstville, Castle Hill and Silverwater but you can also shop online 😉 www.mamaway.com/au/

By the way I am not related to the store, just a big fan of new things 😊

*** Mamaway Store is oferring $15 off to all my followers and friends with the discount code
MMW0119JULIANE on their website - Dont miss it www.mamaway.com.au  **

Tips on how to make your baby sleep more since they are newborn without using a cry out method

I have been to many classes, read many books and even being to Karitane with my 1^st baby and I learn many things I did wrong and I know how much I suffered with her. For the second baby I am using many ideas of what I think would be helpful to make my baby boy settle on a better way.

First thing we need to remember is that babies are born knowing how to sleep, what they learn is how to stay awake and what they like or not on the word out here, so we are the ones teaching them to like for example “rocking to sleep”. With this in our minds here are my tips:

Since the baby is born, we need to let the babies sleep, I would say the maximum waking time of a newborn need to be 1 hour and we should be able to feed, clean and put the baby to back to sleep in this time frame. This will make a very happy baby as sleeping well during the day will mean the baby will be rested to sleep well at night too.

During this 1 hour awake we should be able to feed the baby well to make him full, change his nappy and have 10-15min wake time doing tummy time or playing. When the baby wakes up if the baby is very hungry, ideally, we should change him first, so he doesn’t associate waking up with food, after that we can feed the baby and have time for a little play, the worse thing we can do is to let the baby sleep while feeding or in our arms. ( Yes it is nice but if we do that over and over again, guess what he will need when he wakes up in the middle of the night?)

The goal is to put him awake in his bed, so he can learn to self-settle. The “dream” is for him to find a way to learn how to sleep by himself. Same as us, we don’t just lay down and sleep. and babies are the same, so we need to find a clue that helps them to sleep. There are many things we can try: music, wrap, tapping on his bottom, rocking the cot, essential oils, dummies, comforter toys etc, but here is the tricky thing, whatever they get used to they will ask when they wake up, so I would recommend to try to find something for them to rely on that doesn’t depend on you.

I try to use music (that can keep playing whole night), wrapping (at least until he grows older) or a comforter toy that he can look at and reminds him is time to sleep and some essential oils smell in the room. It doesn’t mean I don’t try other things on emergency days, but as much as possible I try to rely on those self-settling clues.

The whole idea behind it is that after they start to grow older they start to sleep longer and as they wake up see/hear/feel/smell the “clue” (music, comforter, wrap) and go back to sleep by themselves so they will only wake you up if they are really hungry or need a nappy change as for settling they will not need you anymore.

Sometimes the baby doesn’t want to sleep that easily so I just get him and try again, talking to him, rocking him a bit (without sleeping) and when he is drowsing again try putting him on the cot with the clues and at some point he will recognize the message, it may take some days and tries as he is already used to other clues, but the persistence will really pay off when they start to grow up.

So here is my quick guide of what I am trying to do with the second baby:  

Wake up

Change, Feed, Play (1-hour maximum)

Back to Cot Awake

Clue to sleep

Sleep 2-3 hours or longer 😊

For bath time I try as much as possible to follow a routine too, with bathing at the same time ( on the 6pm – 8pm time frame) and feeding right after it and this is the only time I do feed just before putting my baby on the cot as I want him to be very full to have the longest sleep at this time which usually starts to happen at 2 months old. (Sometimes I even squeeze 2 feeding one before bath and one after so he is really full and sleep longer, this is the only time he can go up to 90 min awake).

So far things are going to plan as much as possible and he is self-settling most of the time. I hope to give very good news soon when he starts to have longer sleeps but just to have him sleep 2-3 hours solid sleeping without needing my help, I am already quite happy.

A mom after 30 looking forward to good sleep

1st baby and 2nd baby labor – Differences and similarities

After having such an easy labor for my first baby birth I was very hopeful to have an even quicker one for the second time but also scared as we never know what is in store for us, we can make plans but the reality is that we should take things as it comes when talking about labor.

One my 1^st labor as I wrote before all happened quickly and I only had 1 hour and 40 minutes in the hospital before meeting my baby girl. I didn’t have to use any analgesia but did have a 3^rd degree tear, which is far from ideal, so the weeks after it were quite painful with stiches and taking antibiotics to heal. Still I considered it to be perfect as all was even better than I expected.

On the 2nd labor I planned to do all the same, labor at home as much as possible and go to the hospital at the very end just to deliver the baby. I booked the birth center, as I didn’t see the need of a delivery suite, so the plan was to have all as natural as possible.

But as plans are only plans at 40 weeks my baby was not giving many signs of coming out and the doctors worried about his lack of movement, so they booked an induction at 40 weeks +1 day (My birthday, what a gift 😊 ). The plan was to make the body start labor as I was already 2cm dilated they broke my water at 9am and made me walk, I went to have some coffee and little shopping around the hospital for 2 hours, but unfortunately this didn’t start the labor so I had to start taking the drip and at this time the birth center was out of question. They started giving me the hormone for contractions ( Syntocinon ) at 11:30am and until 1pm I didn’t feel a thing.

At 2pm the contraction started to be regular and very constant every 1 -2 minutes and that was the biggest difference, I didn’t have the 3 minutes rest between contraction they were very intense and very quick. I did the same as I did on my last labor and didn’t stop moving having a very active birth but the pain was really strong so I asked the midwife to check how many cm dilated I was and she said 4cm, so I still had some time to go so she put a little clip on baby’s head to get the baby’s heart beat while I was moving around the room.

At 3pm I was tired but started to have the urge to push, the midwife was quite sure was too early but let me try but when she checked I was still only 6cm dilated so she told me to stop pushing but unfortunately, I could not stop pushing. For that reason, she tried giving me gas which I refused, and she called the OB, he came at 3:30pm to try to calm me down but I told him the baby was coming. He decided to check again and “voila” I was 10cm dilated and ready to have the baby ( I told so)… so I started pushing but having irregular contractions did no help much as they were only 30sec long, so I could not push the baby out all the way, after 2 pushes things changed the doctor just told me: “Baby is coming out but it is stuck, his heart beat went flat so we have to do a episiotomy and vacuum him on the next contraction”. I had no way to say anything other than “DO IT” if his life was at risk, I could not deny anything. He gave me some local anesthetic, did the cut and another contraction came so he said: “push for your life” …or something like this and I did push even after the contraction stopped and at 3:52pm my baby was out without even the need for the vacuum.

My baby boy was immobile for a couple of seconds and the whole room stopped with him, the doctor said to give him a chance to recover by himself and couple of seconds later he started coughing and was able to spit out some water and started crying. This was the biggest relief of my life.

After an very eventful and quick labor I had another baby in my hands. This time I all I wanted was to go home so the next day in the morning in less than 24 hours after having my baby I was going home relief and accomplished for being able to have another baby healthy and without much intervention ( just an episiotomy which I would do it again as it made my recovery much easier than my 3rd degree tear from the first baby) 😊

I can’t thank enough the midwifes, doctors and staff of St George Hospital, they were as good as the staff at Royal Randwick. Both are amazing (PUBLIC) hospitals and I am very proud of being in their hands.

A mom for the second time after 30 and now even closer to 40 :)

How am I preparing for my 2nd labour and how I did on the 1st one:

I had a very good 1^st labour and I am unsure what exact made it so good, or if was a combination of all but I will try my best to have a very similar one now. This may not work for everyone but if you want to give it a try here are my tips and ideas I used last time:

Watch for signs of the labor approaching:

I had all the signs below, some people may not have it, but here they are:

-          Baby movements can slow down 1-2 days before the baby is coming as he is saving energy for the task ahead

-          The mucus plug can come out couple of days before the labor which means the passage will be open

-          Diarrhea and vomiting is normal on the day that the labor is starting, which is your body trying to clean up to make more room for the baby to come out.

Help your baby come out:

There are many theories on what to do when you start your labor, I used the active birth techniques ( Birth Skills - http://www.jujusundin.com/), combined with some other ideas I heard before labor and had my own plan on what would work for me:

-          My main focus was to keep moving and match the pain. In the beginning as the pain was not strong I just moved slowly, tried to go to sleep and had long hot baths. As it progressed was my time to match the pain, so I started moving more, bouncing on the yoga ball, had my hips side to side, stumping the floor and pressing stress balls. All this specially during the contraction time. This was the time where the baby was pushing to come out, the body was pushing to come out and I had to help. But when the pain was gone after 1 minute I would just rest as I could not waste my energy. So it was 1 minute active, 3 relaxing. That is the only reason why it is possible for us women to birth, if this was a constant pain we would not be able to handle as much.

-          Be calm and secure, have a good environment. I brought many of my favorite music, oils, pictures so I could feel like I was home. I had the baby at the delivery centre but I didn’t want it to look like a hospital as this could make me scared and it could stop labor.

-          But also laughing really helped me so we kept it all very informal. I had my whole family in the labor room with me (husband, mum and sister) and by making jokes and being not stressed I was able to also help the labor by releasing good hormones on my body. The funniest moment was when the midwife gave the gown to change, so here I come out of the toilet with my gown and undies on and the opening to the front and the midwife says on a joking voice: ”Please have some dignity the opening is to the back” – How would I know? I never had a baby before, in my mind they had to access the belly somehow… so I just replied joking too: “Are you asking a pregnant woman to have dignity? Sorry I lost mine long ago” We all laughed so hard and 30 minutes later my baby was already in my arms… Not that this was the reason, but it was quite funny, and I am quite sure it helped 😉

-          Be mentally prepared to help. This is an interesting one, but I do believe it 100%. At every contraction I had to move but also think: “My body is opening; my baby is coming down and turning the correct way to come out” This was my mantra and I kept believing it 100%. Every contraction was making my baby come closer to me and I was there for her all the way.

I hope some mum can use at least some of those ideas to help them have a good labor I would be happy 😊 Here is also a link for those amazing drawings from the picture ( affirmations) that I found from a doula that can resume a lot of what I used on the day.

https://www.etsy.com/ca-fr/shop/RoxanneMarcouiller

A mum after 30 planning her next labor 😉

2nd pregnancy – Vomiting and Ligament Pain

I hear from everyone that every pregnancy is different, and I now agree. I had a very uneventful 1^st pregnancy, not much pain, worked until last days, an easy delivery and all. But this pregnancy has been different:

-          First 3 months I was vomiting all the time, to the extend of going to the GP as it was non-stop and with very low blood pressure they had to keep me in the infirmary and if I was not good in 1 hour they were going to call the ambulance. I got better came home and only after week 14 I started feeling like myself again.

-          On week 20 I started feeling a very strange sharp pain under my right side of the belly and by week 23 it developed to a constant pain. After being to the hospital 4 times because of the pain (sometimes even with high blood pressure) they decided to do many ultrasounds ( renal, stomach and pregnancy) only to find out all is normal so I must be having ligament pain, which is quite unberable.

-          I am now 25 weeks the pain continues and I have to deal with it by using a belt, which has been helpful (I got Mamaway the one in the picture which is ergonomic and can grow with my belly - https://www.mamaway.com.au/maternity-belt ) also my belly is big and pointy which people say is a sign of a boy and as it is really a boy I now think for each gender the pregnancy can be very different.

An eventful 2^nd pregnancy of a Mom After 30 😉

Molar pregnancy was back or was I really pregnant now?

After my D&C in November where I found out I have had a Partial molar pregnancy the doctors said I had to monitor monthly for 6 months where I would need to have my HCG as 0 to make sure the molar would not be back.

I was doing all my tests and they were ok but on March/18 I got the call requesting me to return to the hospital as my HCG was up again. They sent me directly to an early dating scan but could not see anything. The risk of pregnancy was small as I was on the pill but because I changed pills in February the risk was not 0, but the risk of the molar be growing again was what really worried the doctors.

After 1 week I did another dating scan and now they could find a n egg, but it was an empty one which still was still not good, so I kept being monitored and my HCG kept increasing week by week too.

One more week passed and I did another ultrasound and on this one they could finally see a fetus… it was amazing to hear that, they could not find a heartbeat but just the fact that the fetus was there gave us hope that the molar was not back so they sent me to do a Harmony test as there I would be able to see more and make sure all was ok.

The Harmony test is not a cheap test (AU$650) but can show genetic disorders and also the sex of the baby so I decided to find out at this point as well. There was a quick ultrasound at 10 weeks with a blood test and a more complete ultrasound at 13 weeks and at the end we could even hear a heartbeat.

We found out we were having a beautiful baby BOY so we ended up doing a reveal the sex on my daughters’ 2^nd birthday (which was only 3 days away) and announced all together.

We got so excited, the doctors were also happy but gave me a bit of a lecture of how I should have waited, but luckily it all worked out at the end.

Full video here: https://www.facebook.com/juliane.gold/videos/10160474414690125/ 

I now a happy MOM after 30 with a second baby due 14/Dec/2018 😊

Pregnant again – Lost the Baby – D&C procedure - Partial Molar

The month of September 2017 was quite a hectic one. I had a trip to Brazil planned for 01/Nov, one of my best friend’s wedding to attend in Wollongong at the end of the month plus all the regular day by day routine with my toddler. At the middle of the month I realized I missed my period and went to the GP thinking I was too stressed and found out I was pregnant.

It was completely unplanned, but we got quite happy and started making all the plans, from my calculations I was going to have another June baby (June/18). And as it was my second baby I already started telling many people without worrying too much. On my first dating scan the doctor said that baby would either be too small or I even had a chance of being pregnant of twins, as my mom is a twins we didn’t think it was strange and the excitement continued to grow.

On a second dating scan, 1 week later I found out things were not as good. From there I was sent to the St. George Early Pregnancy Clinic which I had to come almost every second day, doing tests and ultrasounds, until they decided that I had to do a D&C as there was a very small chance that I had a partial molar pregnancy.

I went to my friend’s wedding on the weekend (had to break the news there as I could not drink as my surgery was booked Monday) and had my D&C on Monday morning at St. George Hospital. The whole system was amazing. I am very afraid of any procedure, but they made me calm and before I knew it was all over and by 5pm I was out of the hospital. My trip to Brazil was booked for Friday so I had 3 days to recover from the general anesthetics and I was completely fine to travel with my toddler 😊.  While in Brazil I received an email from the Hospital that a biopsy was done on the fetus and I did have had a partial molar so I would have to monitor for 6 months to make sure any left over tissue would not keep growing inside me.

So what is a partial molar? From www.babycenter.com.au:

“In most partial molar pregnancies, the fertilised egg has 23 chromosomes from the mother but a duplicated set from the father. This means there are a total of 69 chromosomes instead of the normal 46. This can happen when chromosomes from the sperm are copied or when two sperm fertilise the same egg.

In a partial molar pregnancy, a placenta will start to grow. This means an embryo does begin to develop. There may be a fetus, or some fetal tissue, or an amniotic sac. But even if there is a fetus, it is important to understand that it simply doesn't have the right genetic make-up to survive.

Doctors sometimes describe a molar pregnancy as a hydatidiform mole. Molar pregnancy is one of a group of conditions called gestational trophoblastic tumours. Although they are called tumours, they are usually not cancerous. They may spread beyond the uterus (womb), but can be cured.

Molar pregnancies are rare. About one in every 1,000 pregnancies in Australia is a molar pregnancy”

I am happy that at the end all was good and I had such a great support from my family, friends and the hospital staff. Now all I had to wait was 6 months of good hormone results ( until May/18) to be able to start trying to get pregnant again. So yes we waited and were careful… until I got the call from the hospital in March/18… but that will be for the next post 😉

A MOM learning about loss after 30...