Getting pregnant, being pregnant, and even nursing your newborn takes a lot more work than a first time mother can imagine. For some women, there is a whole process happening even before they attempt to conceive, while other women need a little help. Or perhaps you’re attempting to try for just a girl or a boy and need to know when your cycle is! And once you are pregnant, how do you keep yourself and your unborn child safe? It’s not always obvious that a woman is pregnant. What about nursing? Some women, like myself, have issues with producing milk or not enough. There has to be a way to help with that, right?
Now that I have sufficiently worried you, I’m here to ease some of those questions with three amazing products that can help ease some of your worries or even to gift to your friends or family who are first time moms themselves.
CycleBeads is a string of color coded, plastic beads with a black movable ring, that represent a women’s monthly menstrual cycle. This method of tracking your period to either help plan or prevent pregnancy is best for women who have a cycle that last between 26 and 32 days. If your cycle is longer or shorter, then the beads will not be able to track your cycle properly.
The beads have four different colors. The red bead is the day you start your period/cycle. The brown beads that follow, are the days you are less likely to get pregnant or your non-fertile days. The white beads represent the days you are most fertile. This will be the point you are most likely to become pregnant. Following the white beads are another row of brown, or your non-fertile days. There is a darker brown bead as well. If your period starts prior to reaching this bead, your cycle is shorter than 26 days. If you keep moving the ring and reach the end of the beads and your period does not start the next day, your cycle is longer than 32 days. On average, a women’s cycle is 28 days.
I suggest if you plan on using CycleBeads to plan or prevent pregnancy, you try them for a few months first, with a back up method, so you can see how regular your cycle is.
Once you are pregnant, it’s important to keep yourself safe. For most women, the big reveal doesn’t happen until the 8-12 week range, when you’re less likely to miscarry. But for those crucial first weeks, usually only the mother and father know that a woman is pregnant. Sadly, 3% of pregnant women, that’s roughly 120,000 women world wide, get into car accidents each year. Some cannot tell the medic they are pregnant and those moments after an accident are crucial in saving your unborn child. So what can be done to help?
The m*a*m*a Maternity Alert Jewelry is a stylish necklace or bracelet featuring a stork holding a bundle with your due date. With an understated look, you can wear it with any outfit and any where you go. The shape is a standard medic alert shape, but, m*a*m*a Jewelry has a distinct three colored print, making it noticeable and visible for a medic or even a little brag worthy when you are ready to share with the world that you are pregnant! Every women should go out and get one of these once they know they’re due month. I believe it will help not only with car accidents, but in times of stress, like recent Hurricane Sandy.
Once the baby has arrived, you might find that breast feeding doesn’t come so naturally. I had the worse time to begin with, my son wouldn’t latch due to being “tongue tied”, or a shorter frenulum. Instead of clipping, which was a big no for me, we allowed him to stretch it out over a few months with a combination of breast feeding and formula feeding. In turn, my milk supply went down, drastically and I could have used something like Divine Mama bars!
The bars come in two flavors, Macnut Chocolate Chip and Datey Apricot Cashew. They’re both filled with natural goodness, like organic oats, organic flax seeds, and dates. Plus lactogenic ingredients such as apricots, oats, and a variety of nuts. These ingredients encourage a healthy increase of your milk supply and taste great! These bars are a healthy treat and replenish the body with what it needs after a marathon nursing session or pumping at the office!
Since we stopped nursing earlier this year, I handed the bars over to a friend who had her first child in September. She thought they were amazing, the Datey Apricot Cashew being her favorite. Being a first time mom with a husband who had to go right back to work, she’s found her hands full and time short. The bars were perfect for a snack while nursing or when she realized it was well past lunch time. I know I’m buying a case or two when the time comes.
These three products are must haves for any women planning on becoming pregnant or who already are!
Connect
You can connect with CycleBeads on their website, Twitter, and Facebook pages
You can connect with m*a*m*a Maternity Jewelry on their website and Facebook pages
You can connect with Divine Mama on their website, Twitter, and Facebook pages
Buy It
You can purchase CycleBeads on their website for $13.95
You can purchase m*a*m*a Jewelry on their website starting at $19.95
You can purchase Divine Mama Bars on their website starting at $2.99
