Last month, I stopped by our local Vitamin Shoppe and picked up a couple of items to help prepare my body for labor. The first up is red raspberry leaf tea (RRLT). RRLT is proven to strengthen the uterine and pelvic muscles, and is said to "focus" and improve your contractions when labor starts and help shrink the uterus after giving birth. RRLT is rich in various vitamins and minerals such as iron, calcium, and vitamin C so many claim that taking it regularly can also help increase milk production, decrease nausea, and ease labor pains. There is some debate as to when RRLT can be safely taken during pregnancy. Some say that it should not be taken during the first trimester while...

I am now officially in my 9th month of pregnancy. Only ~4 weeks left to go! I have a friend who gave birth at 36 weeks and I keep thinking back to visiting her and the baby at the hospital. Sure, the baby was tiny (about 5¾ lbs) but he was still pretty darn cute with chubby rosy cheeks, and was able to breathe on his own with no complications. All I can do is smile, knowing that at this point, our baby is at a similar stage and that even if I were to give birth right now there would most likely be no complications to her health. I also learned something new yesterday while reading Baby 411 — if the baby...

I was all set to do a regular 34 week update, but got a bit discouraged after this morning's OB appointment where the doctor lectured me about my weight gain and asked me exactly what I have been eating.   I know that my eating habits can be better, but I haven't been eating any differently since the beginning of the pregnancy. As such, I can't attribute anything to the rapid weight gain in the past month aside from my body just doing whatever the heck it wants to do. My blood pressure is fine (it has hovered in the 100/60-range for the majority of the pregnancy and today it was 96/56), all my bloodwork has been normal, and aside from...