to top

Defying the Halloween Birthday

How much does psychology come into play when it comes to the day a woman gives birth? As it turns out, more than what you might expect. Using 11-years' worth of U.S. birth certificate data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, Yale researchers have found that there are higher instances of birth on Valentine's Day, a holiday traditionally linked with positive symbolism, while Halloween — a holiday which traditionally conveys negative symbolism — has lowered birth rates. Take a look at the following graphs, provided by Try Nerdy:       While the overall increased likelihood of giving birth on Valentine's Day jumps by 5%, a whopping 11.3% decrease in births was seen on Halloween across these years! Although I know quite a few women who say that...

Continue reading

36 Weeks

There is now officially less than a month remaining until my due date. HOLY EFFING HELL! I also had a minor freakout last night, when I discovered that Bee, whose due date is a few days after mine, went into labor and had her daughter early in the morning. As happy as I am for her and her family that both mom and the baby are doing well, I couldn't help but FREAK OUT over the announcement, knowing that my own BebeDeux can come at any moment. I barely slept last night. And BebeDeux didn't help either — she was kicking up a storm, as if to tell me, "Mommy I want to come out NOW!" (On a related note, my mother had the...

Continue reading

My (Almost) 1-Year-Old, and 35 Weeks Pregnant

Exactly one year ago today, I began to go into labor with Claire. Sure, we were sent home from the hospital at first, but we returned 10 hours later to be immediately admitted and our Claire Emmanuelle was born at 9:35pm on September 30, 2010. I can't believe my little girl will be turning 1 tomorrow. J and I have been astounded by Claire's growth — both physical and mental — in the past couple of weeks. J's parents, like most grandparents, were concerned that she was not eating enough when they arrived. As a result, they have been feeding her like crazy...

Continue reading

On Sleeping Positions [Pregnant Edition]

Most pregnant women — as well as BTDT (been there, done that) mothers — are well-aware that the recommended sleep position during pregnancy is "SOS" (sleep on side). The left side, in particular, is favored by doctors because it helps increase the amount of blood and nutrients that reach the placenta and the baby. Sleeping on your back should be avoided due to the extra weight that will be put on your intestines and major blood vessels. And sleeping on your stomach is not recommended either, for obvious reasons. Well, it's confession time again. During my pregnancy with Claire, I hardly ever slept on my side. I continued to sleep on my back and stomach, and only stopped sleeping on my stomach during...

Continue reading

Family Help

It has been exactly one week since J's parents arrived from Hong Kong to help me with the last few weeks of my pregnancy. They will stay in the U.S. and continue to help out for the next few months which will undoubtedly be tremendously difficult with two babies that are only 13 months apart. I have stated before that I don't have the best relationship with my in-laws. It's not that we don't get along — we do, but we are far from being BFFs and I still feel a bit uncomfortable around them. Add to that the language and cultural barriers, and the fact that I am a highly private person...

Continue reading