Pregnancy 101

There is a book by Doc Harvey Karp that claimed that babies are born a trimester sooner because it is the only way our species could survive given the size of our tremendous brains. Had we stayed in to stew just a few months longer to learn a few more things, mothers would not have been able to successfully deliver us to the planet.
And so, it was decided that human babies would come a little earlier and be a little more immature than others, says animal- a giraffe, who can stand and walk and run and do all of these other cool things within seconds of being born.
The functions hardwired into our baby brains are much simpler - keeping the heart beating, sucking, crying, and pooping.
Unlike an animal that requires brawn to survive in the wild, our babies require brains to succeed, so our babies arrive with brains that are as big as they can be and still fit through the birth canal.
Then, during the next three months - or what Dr. Karp calls the "fourth trimester" a baby's brain grows an additional twenty percent in size.

He also argues that some babies are natural self-calmers, meaning they just aren't fussy babies because they have some capability to monitor their own situations and keep themselves from getting over stimulated or bored. These babies are the ones you hear about that adjust well to being outside the womb, that may become fussy but hardly ever break into the red-faced wail, they can be put down to sleep without problems, and stay that way for longer blocks of time. When your baby isn't one of these self-calmers, when your baby needs more time to adjust to being outside your belly, this is when you need to mimic the environment of the womb. You do this by using the 5 S's
As outlined many, many, many, many, many times throughout the book, they are as follows:

Swaddling
Side or Stomach
Shhhh
Swinging
Sucking

And briefly, here's what he claims they do:
Swaddling calms the baby by stopping the flailing arms and legs and focusing the baby's attention. The secret to a successful swaddle is that it is tight and does not allow the baby the opportunity to break free from the bundle. When to stop using the swaddle depends on the baby but Dr. Karp's research shows that most babies are ready to be weaned off swaddling by three to four months of age.

Side or stomach is about positioning the baby so it turns off the Moro (falling) reflex, which the baby experiences when he/she is lying on her back, and turning on the calming reflex, which imitates the baby's position in the uterus. It should be noted, however, that while the side and stomach positions are incredibly soothing, once the baby is calm and put to bed, he/she should only sleep on his/her back.

Shhhhing is a great tool for continuing to trigger the calming reflex.
Shhhhing imitates the whooshing sound your baby heard while snugly packed in your womb. The secret for this tool is that it must be loud enough to pierce through your baby's crying. Translation, the volume of the shhhhing must match the volume of the crying in intensity. It might sound too loud and not comforting at all to us but the baby is used to the loud sounds he/she experienced when camping out in his/her mother's belly. The baby must be confused by the relative quiet into which he/she is born. The good thing is we've got plenty of other noisemakers we can utilize around the house and beyond to help save our voices - vacuum, hair dryer, automobile, static from a radio, etc.

Swinging is another tactic to try to switch on that calming reflex that is built in to your baby. This technique should not be confused with shaken baby syndrome, which can result from abusive shaking of a small baby. This technique uses small, vigorous jiggly movements to calm your baby, again, by mimicking the type of movement the baby experienced in the belly.

And finally, sucking.
Now that you've got the baby's attention and his/her calming reflex has been activated, you can give him/her a nice hearty meal. Or, if they aren't hungry but are just looking for attention - remember, they are used to getting it 24/7 because they were so well taken care of in the womb - you can use a pacifier to help the baby drift into a peaceful rest. Dr. Karp recommends waiting a few weeks before introducing the pacifier to prevent nipple confusion if you are breastfeeding.

Source: Internet

Laundry day

Today is not an ordinary laundry day.

It is your laundry day.
We washed 2 huge loads of all your mini little clothing.

Some bought new, some hand-me-down.

Your clothes look so cute hanging out there under the bright sun.

Can you believe they made such small clothes, mitten & socks for tiny little human being like you.

Seeing your face

We see your face today.

Hi there Little person!
You were blinking your eyes.

You were awake.

We see your tiny face, nose, lips and your hand that is covering your chin.
Resting and thinking pose (that's my thot) but not sure what you were doing exactly .

Isn't it amazing how we already can get a glimpse of you when you are still there incubating in me.

Pa & ma are totally so overjoy to see you, not in person yet but this is good enough for now.

If you ask me, same thing I'm telling you: Can't wait to see you!

p/s: till we meet, be well, stay healthy, swim and groove baby

luv always,

mom

Pregnancy 101

Things I learn from watching Astro today:

....The hormone relaxin softens the bones in the pelvis to allow more room for the baby to descend during delivery.
....The placenta looks like a jellyfish.

Conclusion: Pregnancy is scary business