Be Nice Prenatal Giveaway

Did you miss my show today? If so, shame shame!! We talked about the importance of drinking LOTS of water while pregnant, and the importance of getting your vitamins.

I've had a few fainting spells myself cause I've been dehydrated and it's been pretty scary. Water can be a little bland but Be Nice Prenatal drink mix is a yummy way to get your water AND your prenatal vitamins.

It's an ALL NATURAL drink mix.

"Each packet of Be Nice contains 25% of the doctor recommended supply of folic acid, vitamins, and minerals, along with DHA. When you take the packets throughout the day, your body can better retain and utilize nutrients, while you and your baby stay hydrated. Be Nice uses life'sDHA, a plant-based DHA that is free from ocean-borne contaminants, mercury and hexane. Be Nice contains all the best for you and your baby."

Cynthia was a guest on my show and once I figure out how to get the replay up I'll post it. I basically shared why I drink it. I've been drinking it since before we were trying to get pregnant to help stock up on my vitamins! So this is great for people who are TTC or soon to be TTC as well as for women who are breastfeeding, and of course, women who are pregnant.

Want to try it? You can request a free sample here. Or order it here on sale for $12.99.

OR you can also WIN some a few different ways! Cynthia gave away a BIG prize during my show and two box prizes. There's still 3 more ways you can win.

To win a box of Be Nice Prenatal with 10 packets (you get to choose the box flavor either Berrylicious or Lemonade) be the 100th person to tweet: "Tweet to win some all natural prenatal vitamin drink mix from @beniceprenatal and @futuremama ReTweet #100 wins!!"

OR... You can win a box by clicking "Like" to my Fan page status update about Be Nice Prenatal. You have until Wednesday night 2/17 to enter that one.

Or, win a BIG prize pack including a box of each flavor, or two boxes of one flavor, PLUS a BPA-free bottle to drink it in! To enter to win that: Leave a comment on this post! That's all!

For extra entries:

-Follow my blog

-NEW: Vote for which stroller I should get on TheRealMomTV

-Comment on one of my posts on The Real Mom TV (2 entries!)

-Follow @BeNicePrenatal on Twitter
-Become a Be Nice Prenatal Facebook Fan
-Follow me on twitter and tweet "I'm trying to win an all natural vitamin drink mix from @BeNicePrenatal! Check it out on @FutureMama's blog. " (2Xs per day)

-Give me a pregnancy tip!
-Comment on non-giveaway related post of mine during the duration of this giveaway (1 entry per comment)
-Become my Facebook Fan
-Add my button to your blog!
-Add my Full Terms of Giveaway button to your blog.
-Post about this giveaway on your blog.
-Email Subscribe to my blog (don't forget to confirm your email!) OR Subscribe to my blog through one of these feeds (let me know which one in comments).
-Vote for me on Top Baby Blogs (per day/computer) (just click the link)
-Vote for Baby Makin(g) Machine as top 50 Mommyblog on Babble (once per day)
-Tell me how you heard about this giveaway (you read my blog regularly, saw it on Twitter, etc.)

You have until Feb 24 11:59pm to enter for this prize! Good luck!

*Opinions expressed in this post are my own. I was not compensated by Be Nice Prenatal for writing this post. I have been given samples for the purpose of conducting the reviews*

Birthing from Within - A wonderful approach to labour

My prenatal class did not really prepare me emotionally for my labour or the post natal period. What it did was intellectually prepare me for delivery but we did not discuss what our labour plans looked like and how we would deal with a labour that did not go as planned. This cursory approach would be fine for someone who had a textbook delivery but for me, my worse case scenario happened and I was not prepared emotionally for this.

I believe that if I had done additional research into prenatal classes in Toronto and the different philosophies out there, I would have been in a better frame of mind.

I recently came across The Nesting Place http://www.thenestingplace.ca/ which is run by Amanda Spakowski who is also a doula. I met with her and we discussed her philosophy of Birthing from Within. As it says on her website "Birthing naturally means birthing in the way that comes naturally to you". This was a refreshing thought as Amanda prepares her parents-to-be for their ideal birth but also for the unexpected. The question of "How would you deal with your worst case scenario" is asked and parents have time to answer this question which in turn prepares you to handle the unknowns of labour.

What was also interesting in my conversation was Amanda's deep understanding of the difficulties of the post partum period and I was happy to learn that this is discussed in her classes as well.

Amanda addresses what you need to know about your delivery including:

•The stages of labour and labour support
•Specific techniques for pain coping, including compassionate use of epidurals and other medical support
•How to communicate with your health care provider
•Handling the unexpected during childbirth, physically and emotionally
•Birth art to explore feelings, fears and positive intentions
•Becoming a parent – the partner’s perspective
•Preparing for postpartum
•Caring for your new baby

I wish I had found her classes before I had my girls.

For more information on the Birthing From Within philosophy please visit http://www.birthinfromwithin.com/.

RAW Prenatals: Garden of Life Giveaway!

It's still Thursday right? Ok good... I'm on a roll with these Thursday giveaways and I hope you're liking them as much as I am! I'm trying to keep them pre-pregnancy and fertility related, so if you here of something cool you'd like to see featured and try to win let me know!

Today I want to share with you some AWESOME prenatal vitamins I got from Garden of Life. I did a post awhile ago about prenatal vitamins and about how I wanted to get some. I ended up buying the $4 kind at the grocery store, and I think they were better than nothing, but after doing some more research I've found that sometimes it's hard for your body to process all of the chemicals and products (and ingredients you can't pronounce) used to make the vitamin.

For instance the ingredients in my old by Spring Valley vitamin: Calcium Carbonate, Cellulose, Ascorbic Acid, Ferrous Fumarate, Corn Starch, and Zinc. Interesting, no?

The main ingredients of my new vitamin: Organic Strawberry, Organic Cherry, Organic Blackberry, Organic Blueberry, Organic Raspberry, Organic Beet Juice, Organic Carrot Juice, Organic Spinach Juice... etc etc. You get the idea right?

Of course the best way to get the vitamins and nutrients you need is to EAT them raw, but let's face it, sometimes that's just not possible... Especially if you're as busy as me! And here's info off of their side about it:

"With Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal, you can rest assured that our vitamins are uncooked, untreated and unadulterated, with no binders or fillers, no soy allergens and always vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free. These factors alone should make Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal your multivitamin of choice. But there’s even more to Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal making it even more valuable. Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal contains clinically studied probiotics that not only enhance the immune systems of mothers, but that of their babies as well. Vitamin Code Prenatal is also a wonderful multivitamin for newly lactating mothers—with the immune support extending to that of the newborn, breast-fed baby."

And if you're as busy as me and trying to get pregnant, or thinking of trying to get pregnant soon, now is a good time to start taking prenatals.

The wonderful people at Garden of Life hooked me up with two kinds of prenatal vitamins which I've been trying. Vitamin Code RAW Prenatal Immune Support for Two ($39.95) and Oceans Mom Prenatal DHA ($17.95). They also hooked my husband up with some Viamin Code RAW for Men, which has great stuff for him!

They have all of the Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 you need... Which is both important for mom and baby. I've heard taking vitamins when you're trying to conceive can help with that as well.. So we'll see if that's the case for me pretty soon!

I've been using them a few weeks now and can honestly say my nails seem like they are growing a little faster... I can tell cause I was mad when I accidentally broke one last week thanks to Snoop. It's not looking that bad anymore! Also... You know how come vitamins give you stomach aches? The Oceans Mom kind is so small it's not hard to swallow at all. The Vitamin Code RAW kind is in capsules that can be opened and poured in a drink or your food.. Though I haven't even had to do that!Don't take my word for it though... Win your own set! They sent me an extra bottle of Vitamin Code RAW and Oceans Mom (Together about $60 worth of vitamins) for one of my lovely readers! So if you want to win just visit their site then leave a comment telling me what other product you think you'd like OR your favorite thing about these prenatal vitamins! And if you follow my blog you get an extra entry (out of curiosity, tell me if you're new too!)!

Want more entries? Leave additional comments if you:
-Subscribe to my blog
-Become a Facebook Fan for my blog
-You favor my blog on Technorati
-Vote for me on Top Baby Blogs (per day/computer) (just click the link)
-You Tweet/ Facebook about this contest (every day you tweet is an extra entry!) Please say: "I just entered this #giveaway on @futuremama's blog for great prenatal vitamins from @growbone http://tinyurl.com/mewqm7 (Please RT)!"
-Leave a comment on one of my posts for Conceive Magazine (2 entries)
-You have my blog button (3 entries, so leave 3 comments)
-You post about this contest (3 entries)
-Vote for my blog in the 2009 Bloggers Choice Awards (worth 5 entries! So leave 5 comments- NEW: EACH email account you vote under is 5 entries :) )
*new*- Vote for my Blog in the Love this Site Awards- (5 entries)

Contest ends Monday September 14th at 11:59pm! I'll use Random.org to choose a winner! Good luck!

Birth Story - Ainsley

Birth stories are very powerful. Every mom I know has shared their's with me and I have shared mine with them. There is even a TV show that revolves around the birthing experience.





When I was pregnant with Ainsley, my eldest, I fantasized about her delivery. I dreamed about going into labour, calling my loved ones to come to the hospital, and delivering her naturally and quickly. I figured it would hurt and that I would have my epidural, push her out and then cuddle her and all would be well.





I started to get an inkling that my dreams would not come true when I had my 32 week ultrasound which indicated that she was face up. I googled this and found out that being face up during delivery made a natural delivery more difficult and often came with back labour. I read this and thought that won't happen to me. The baby will turn.





When I finally went into labour 2 days before my due date I was so excited!!! My water broke at 10:30pm just as we were getting ready to go to sleep. I then googled what this meant. The website said my contractions would start probably 12-24 hours later. I decided to have a shower and then try to go to sleep. Well, 40 minutes later my contractions were 4 minutes apart and Brett and I were heading to the hospital.





Thank goodness we went when I did because within 20 minutes of arriving at the hospital the contractions went from uncomfortable to down right unbearable. I was having contraction on top of contraction (they never told me about this in my prenatal class) and I couldn't get away from them. Yes, I was having back labour.





When the doctor came to check if my water had indeed broken, I asked if my baby was face up and she confirmed that indeed that was the case. That is when I had a sickening feeling that a natural delivery may not take place.





Soon after this I was begging for the epidural and as soon as it went in about 45 agonizing minutes later I started to feel much better. I was also 8cms. I was hopeful that maybe things would go as planned and quickly. However, when I was 10 cms, Ainsley was not making her way out and no matter how hard they tried to turn her she wouldn't budge.





I pushed for two hours and would have kept going but when they came in to check on me after pushing I could see in their faces when I asked if they thought I could deliver her naturally, that they really didn't think so.





So my dream scenario did not happen. In fact, my worst case scenario happened and I was not prepared. I had come into the hospital saying that my birth plan was to avoid a c-section and that was what I ended up having.





The c-section was not great for a number of reasons (other than having major surgery). I didn't get to see Ainsley for about an hour after the delivery which is a long time to wait to see your new baby. My milk didn't come in right away so she lost a lot of weight and so breastfeeding also did not go as I had fantasized. My body felt alien to me. I was swollen and in pain. It was hard to not be able to get up to change my new baby's diaper because it hurt so much. I felt inadequate.





I mourned the loss of a natural delivery for months and to this day I still feel a little bit sad that I will never experience that. I intellectually know that I am lucky to have had a healthy baby and to have recovered well from the experience. However, emotionally I was not prepared for this eventuality. We never talked in our prenatal class about how we would feel if our births did not go according to plan. We didn't discuss what would happen in the post-partum period (other than depression) and how we could deal with these situations.





If I could do it all over again with what I know now, I would have searched for a prenatal class that talked about our hopes and dreams but made us look at our fears and how we would deal with them should they happen.

The Birth Stories and Bellybars: Blogher Road Trip

We are back on the road again. Yesterday was a blast, we ordered food and chatted about our lives. It was nice getting to know these ladies even more. We were quoting movies and laughing our heads off about wedding stories, the funniest thing is we were so loud. Hotel management came up to our room to tell us people were complaining we were too loud. I’m not sure why they couldn’t just call but whatever.

As we were falling asleep we got on the topic of worst fears. Mine, without a doubt being spiders, and MyBrownBaby feels the same. Wifey and Chatterbox have weird fears if you ask me. Chatterbox is afraid of mascots and people who don’t talk at haunted houses and fairs and Wifey is afraid of pigeons of all things! She even told me she almost left her kid in his stroller to be taken away by them when they got too close.
They’ve all been married longer than I have, and as they shared stories of their lives it made me realize just because you’re together longer doesn’t mean you’ll always get closer, it’s something I’ll be working at forever.

This morning we got to McDonalds right before 10:30 and we really wanted breakfast. Wifey ordered first and the people there switched the signs to the lunch menu before the rest of us ordered. I don’t really understand that--30 second after 10:30 it’s time for lunch. That’s way too early for lunch. They almost didn’t let us get breakfast but luckily they hooked us up with some biscuits.

After that and a few Zzzs on my part, I started asking them about their labor stories. All of them told me they were not playin’ and went with the epidural. Wifey had a couple of false alarms before the real thing, and the night she was going into labor she didn’t want to go to the hospital before she ate her Copelands for dinner. Chatterbox didn’t want to go until she was done watching Lost. She also said she went to an Italian restaurant that guaranteed the eggplant meal would put you into labor within 24 hours.—And it worked!! I’ll have to research this topic when I’m pregnant and see if there’s any place like this near me. You heard of anything like that?

Hearing their stories about being mothers makes me excited to be one. I in no way think it will be easy, but I am glad I’m going into it with my eyes wide open.
Oh, and you know how I’ve been taking prenatals? Well, I have for a couple of months because I heard it gives your body a chance to stock up on the nutrients you need before you get pregnant. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my vitamins for this trip, which isn’t a big deal since it’s just a week—But then I realized the Bellybars I’ve been eating are still giving me a lot of the vitamins in prenatal vitamins. I told you they were one of my sponsors, and if you’re following on Twitter you know I’ve been munching on the bars and chews this whole trip and I’ve been sharing them with the ladies I’m riding with.
I know some people at first may be thinking “isn’t that a pregnancy bar?” but it’s not! It’s a nutrition bar with vitamins important before, during and after pregnancy, and in my opinion they taste better than a lot of other snack bars, and it’s not like chocking down a huge vitamin everyday. So, if you’re pregnant, or like me and thinking of getting pregnant you should check these out! My favorite flavors are the citrus chews and the yogurt crunch bars (it’s in the blue box). I’ll be giving away some prize packs when I get back, and giving more details about these yummy snacks. Oh, and if you’re at Blogher come find me, I’m giving away some chocolate belly bars (among other things... Check this pile out I put together).As far as the blog conference, I am SO excited to meet all these women., we’re almost to Chicago so I’ll start to meet people today. I am a little worried I won’t know anyone else at the conference, or know the best way to make the most out of it, but I’m just excited to be here and learning as I go.

The mommy fact learned today: Switch boobs when you breastfeed, or pump out the other one after you feed from one to avoid uneven boob sizes. Believe it or not, I didn’t know that, though it makes sense.