Congratulations, You're Pregnant! Now What?

It is so fun to see that deep shade of blue on the stick for the first time. It's an exciting day - kind of like standing in line for a fun, but somewhat scary roller coast ride. Anticipation, happiness, hopes, fears and questions may start rattling around in your mind all at once. And there are many decisions to be made; here are some you may want to start thinking about to begin with:

Who do you tell and in what time frame? (work, family, friends)

What kind of care do you want? (hospital, midwife, home birth, birthing center)

What kind of lifestyle, diet or exercise habits may you need to change?

What are the best resources for you as you learn about pregnancy?(internet, books, movies, family members, friends, classes)

There is a lot to learn which can be overwhelming. Narrow it down to a few things to focus on especially if, as most women do, you are in the middle of a full and busy life that continues to march forward with responsibilities to attend to.

The first thing we usually think of when we think of pregnancy is feeling sick. Actually, everyone is different. Early pregnancy feels much like pre-pregnancy days for some. For others nausea may begin even before you miss your period! Each has its pros and cons. Those who don't feel sickness are lucky in that they don't feel sick, but may be concerned about the health and well-being of the developing baby because they don't feel any differently. Those who are sick are probably thrown immediately into the game of trying to fend off nausea and second appearances from their swallowed meals (even brushing your teeth might make you gag if you find yourself in this category), but can rest assured that something is going on in there. Meanwhile those in between these two extremes may just feel more fatigued, have a few headaches or just occasional bouts of nausea. Here are a few suggestions of things to remember whatever your situation:

Make sure to get plenty of folic acid in your diet - directly from food is best, but most health care providers also suggest a pre-natal vitamin.
Eat as nutritionally as possible (smaller meals more times a day may help if you're nauseated).

Try to keep exercising, even if it's just a 30-minute walk 3-5 times per week (this may help with nausea).

Remember you may feel more emotional than usual, especially in the third month, so be aware of your stress levels and the fact that you probably have a few expectations that will have to be discarded (for example: being pregnant may not bring you and your partner closer at first like you expected; if he wants to celebrate at a nice seafood restaurant, and the thought of fish - or any food at all - makes you want to hurl it may be difficult for him to understand your lack of enthusiasm. His experience of pregnancy may be quite different than yours in general, so find ways to help him feel involved and learn about pregnancy in a way that works for him).

If you're sick, don't be too hard on yourself; just do the best you can; it's typical for your second trimester to be easier on the stomach.

A woman's situation, experiences, goals and her unique body all contribute to making this experience wonderfully special to her. Thankfully she will have many things in common with other women as well which can help her build relationships with other women in her same situation and allow her to make some educated guesses about the exciting, but unknown path ahead of her.

Information about the Author:

Art Gib writes and contributes for many baby, child, family and parent online publications including HugaMonkey. Art is an avid baby sling supporter because of the positive impact it can have on families. For more information regarding baby slings, visit www.hugamonkey.com.

List Building Tips

"List building is everything!", or "the money is the list", your fortune is in the follow-up". You have heard it all before but do you really understand exactly what list building is and why is important to your future?

What is List Building?
In its simplest form, list building a two step process: the one step is the act of "capturing" a potential customer's name and email address and the second step is to use that information to create a relationship with that person. Notice I said "create a relationship" not to sell. I'll get back to that in a minute.

You want to use your list building process to collect the names and email addresses of as many people who have shown an interest in you and your business as possible or visit to www.build-own-list.com Basically you want to put a list building link (subscription form or something like it) in front of as many visitors as you possibly can. Put subscription forms or a link to a subscription page on every page on your website.

List Building and Relationships
Old time sales guys love the saying, "Nobody likes being sold, but most everyone likes to buy." And this is true for the most part. People have become very immune to hard sells and fast ball pitches. They don't like being pressured and will put up a lot of resistance to the idea of being "sold" something.

Now on the other hand, almost everyone loves to buy things, myself included. If you look at the national consumer debt figures, spending money is not most people's problem. They want to buy things that remove pain, increase pleasure or make their lives a little bit better and they want to enjoy themselves while doing it! That's why shopping with friends is so much fun!

That is what you want to happen with your list. You should think of your list as a community of like minded people looking to "buy" things to solve their problems or make their lives more pleasant (like a virtual shopping center). And they want to buy those things with the input of their trusted friend and advisor, "YOU".

List Building for the Long Term
List building should be renamed relationship building. People like to buy things from people they know, like and trust. You want to create an environment of trust for your list members. Trust is the cornerstone of all business interactions or go to www.autoresponder-money.com. No one is buying anything if they feel they are going to lose money or be tricked. So creating trust is vital to the welling being for long term list building.

So how do you create trust? Just like in face-to-face interactions; be honest and be yourself. Being honest is simple; don't lie to people to get them to do something. They will find out, get angry and they will go away...and bad mouth you in every email and forum they can find. They may even start up a "YourNameHereSucks.com" website. Seen it happen. Be real, be yourself. Let folks know who you are and what your business stands for.

List building is one of the most important elements of any online business and now that you understand why it so vital, you should be ready to start work on list building on your own.

Information about the Author:

www.build-huge-list.com www.autoresponders-unlimited.com

Are You Considering Reversing Tubal Ligation?

Women who make the decision to have a tubal ligation reversal do it for a number of reasons. Some women complain of discomfort or pain after a tubal ligation and believe a reversal would ease this, others might believe they acted hastily when making the decision in the first place, for some women, a decision made while in an unhappy relationship, or thought they would not want any more children. Other women just want to feel ‘whole’ again.

Above all these reasons, the foremost motive that makes a woman choose to reverse a tubal ligation is simply because she wants to conceive again. Reasons vary for this, she may have lost a child, or remarried and her new partner either doesn’t have any of his own children or they want to have a child together. Tubal ligation reversal is a highly successful treatment for women who want to have children after they have had their fallopian tubes tied.

Tubal ligation is a procedure that blocks the fallopian tubes to prevent you from getting pregnant. This tying of the tubes is generally seen as unreversable. However, as it is quite normal for people to make decisions they later regret, there are procedures where, in most cases, it is possible to unblock these tubes for those women who want more children. The tube that has been tied is removed and the two parts will then be re-attached.

There is more than one method to perform tubal ligation or tubal occlusion. A common method is to loop a surgical ligature around the fallopian tube; this is the section that is then removed thus separating the two parts of the fallopian tube. Another method quite similar is when a surgeon uses two ligatures to seal a section of the tube; the part in-between is then cut out. Other methods use different burning techniques to seal the tubes, or clips and rings to close the tubes up.

Tubal ligation reversal is a relatively straight-forward operation and able to be performed on an outpatient basis, this enables the treatment to be more cost effective and makes it possible for you to go home the same day. The operation should only take about one hour; the procedure can be carried out in a hospital or outpatient clinic. Some women prefer to go to a specialized clinic as the staff can be more experienced and skilled in tubal reversal surgery. After the reversal it can take your body between 5 – 10 days to recover and you are able to start trying for a baby 3 - 4 weeks after the surgery.

The advantages of choosing tubal reversal surgery compared to IVF treatment are that the procedure is less expensive, and has a higher success rate.

If you are concerned about the tubal ligation reversal cost, then check out your insurance as some companies may cover part of the cost of tubal ligation reversal. Feel free to ask your surgeon any questions and always check out the clinics and surgeons experience and credentials. A surgeon who works at a tubal reversal clinic will be doing this every day and have gained a lot of experience. What you also could ask is as to their success rates following tubal reversal surgery. From the answers, you will have to take in consideration factors such as age group and the type of tubal ligation.

Finally, but important is to check the type of aftercare a clinic will give if you go ahead with the reversal. There should always be help on hand after tubal ligation surgery and a number where you can turn to if there are any complications. They should also check your progress over the coming weeks/months. Look online for further information regarding tubal reversal surgery.

Information about the Author:

Michiel Van Kets provides article services for Dr. Gary Berger, who is widely known as the tubal reversal doctor with the most experience reversing tied tubes and tubal ligation and works in the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. For any information on reversing tubal ligation, tubal occlusion or tubal reanastomosis, visit the website.

Good Advice On Planning A Baby Shower

Every woman's pregnancy deserves to be rewarded with a baby shower. After months of nausea, back pains, hundreds of trips to the bathroom, and craving for the craziest combinations of food imaginable the expecting mother has a right to celebrate. And the father and the future grandparents should have an opportunity to show all the love inside them just waiting to be poured upon the new life soon to arrive. What better way to show how much this happy coming event means than to shower the unborn child with gifts.

There are people who specialize in planning baby showers and if it fits the budget hire them. However, it's hardly necessary to take that path. With a little planning anyone can do what they do and probably better. Here are some suggestions to follow to help make ones own baby shower a grand memory.

All major celebrations and events that turn out successful have one important thing in common. They have a theme which is incorporated throughout the entire affair. Choosing a theme for ones baby shower doesn't have to be complicated. One of the first things to do is decide on who you wish to invite to the party. Is it going to be for the ladies only or is it going to be a mixed gathering.

Regardless of who is coming keep it simple. For example, if it's going to be a girl you can make it a "Think Pink" theme. If the new family member is a boy then choose perhaps a masculine theme like "Gun's and Roses". Now we're just kidding of course. You get the drift. It could be something simple like," Toys for Baby Day". Anything you want the theme to be is ok. Then be sure to include the theme on the baby shower invitations. This will let your friends and family members have a chance to add their creative talents too.

One way to keep the baby shower from being a flop is to plan some games. It's supposed to be a time of rejoicing. And it's easy to come up with great ideas for baby shower games. For example, you can have diaper changing races or stretch a string around mommy's tummy and try to guess the length. Stay away from guessing mommy's weight. Perhaps you can have a betting pool on what day, what time, and how much the baby will weigh.

Don't forget to take pictures and shoot videos so one day you can show the new child how happy their being born was to everyone. The bottom line is it might be a baby shower but it's grown ups that'll be playing.

Before having the baby shower make sure you considered the obvious things every party requires. Make sure that you have enough beverages and snacks. Be sure to plan on the unexpected guest showing up too.

If there's going to be alcoholic beverages arrange to have designated drivers to aid folk's home. Choose the music ahead of time to help set the mood.

Planning a good baby shower takes work. However, if you take the time and exert the effort to make it a success you'll find when it's over and done the only regrets you'll have will be waiting for the next one.

Information about the Author:

Mr.Rodgers is an independent Freelance article writer. Specializing in SEO web content. He is also the owner and webmaster of www.I-Like-Writing.com

Are You Using The Best Pregnancy Diet?

Now that you have a new baby in your house, you probably have another less welcome problem too. You might still be carrying some excess weight left over from the birth of your baby. Now is the time for it to go. The best pregnancy diet will show you how to get rid of it by changing your lifestyle. There are three main ways to lose that post-baby weight. By eating a healthier diet, getting plenty of exercise and choosing to breastfeed your baby, you are using the best pregnancy diet plan. These three methods are the most successful techniques used to lose baby weight. They are simple, flexible and relatively cheap. And they will work for you too.

To begin, when you got pregnant, prenatal advice was to gain weight. After your delivery, you found that there was something left over. The best pregnancy diets tell you how to get rid of it. You must eat fewer calories every day. The object is to change what you have been eating for the last nine months. Postnatal advice is to eat a high fiber, high protein diet loaded with vegetables and fruits. Protein can be found in lean meats, skinless chicken and fish, among many other choices. Pick those with fewer calories. Salads are good, but avoid the dressings. Go with vinegar and oil. Low fat dairy products like yogurt contribute protein and vitamin D. But your best overall advice from the best pregnancy diet is to drink lots and lots of water. It gives you a full feeling and it flushes your system of toxins while rehydrating you.

Women used to believe that they had to wait for six to eight weeks before doing any exercise. But these days are different.The best pregnancy diet requires that you burn more calories than you eat. Doctors say that if you had a normal vaginal birth, then there's no reason to wait. You can get going with an exercise program any time you like. What most new mothers do is start by pushing a baby stroller around for a few minutes every day. They are exercising their arms, legs and abdominals when they do. After a short time, they get a fair idea of their physical condition. Then they can add exercise as they see fit. The best pregnancy diets offer options for determined mothers. Some new moms join a health club for their special programs. They usually offer day care for the baby while mom works out. Afterward, she gets the advantage of a hot tub to help relax after her workout.

It's welcome knowledge when the new mom learns that she is losing weight just by breastfeeding. That's why it's included in the best pregnancy diets. Breastfeeding is Nature's way of effortless weight loss. When the new mom begins during her postpartum phase, her body starts a hormonal change that breaks down her body fat into nutrients used for her baby's milk. That will result in a 500 calorie loss every day. Combine that impressive loss with diet and exercise, and you can expect to lose a pound or more every week. Now that's the best pregnancy diet.

To wrap things up, the best pregnancy diet will include eating a healthier diet, getting enough strenuous exercise and breastfeeding to achieve the best results. It must be said here, that if you are breastfeeding, you must eat a minimum of 1500 to 1800 calories each day to insure that your baby gets all necessary nutrition. But that's not much, and there's lots of room for improvisation. These three techniques will work for you as they have for countless others. You can do this.

Information about the Author:

Of course this is just a few tips on the best pregnancy diet. Many people ask us how they can lose that baby belly and we help many by sharing what worked for us. More questions? losing-baby-weight.com

Think about of Home Cooking for Your Dog

With the recent recall of many brands of pet food, pet owners are thinking twice about feeding their pets commercial pet foods.
Not only do we have to worry about what we are feeding our families; we now have the added worry about our cat or dog’s diet.
What is a pet owner to do?
The first thing you don’t do is “jump right in and start cooking.”
Why. You ask?
Simply because there are many things to take into consideration. Feeding your pet means providing the proper nutrition in order to keep him/her healthy and fit.
The first suggestion is read a book or two on a proper diet for your pet be it cat or dog for the help www.bread-bakers-assistant.com. I have listed a few titles at the end of this article that I feel will be beneficial to read.
Secondly, you need to find more than one recipe to feed your pet as variety is not only the spice of life, but necessary in order to get the right combination of nutrients into the pet’s body.
Thirdly, you have to decide if you have the time and energy to devote to the task of cooking for one or two more members of your family.
What are the benefits?
The benefits are many, it has been proven that a homemade diet has helped many dogs with various conditions regain their health. Many pet foods are of poor quality, over processed, filled with artificial ingredients and many other chemicals, just read the labels. Carbohydrates are often more than 50 percent of the main ingredient in most pet foods. For dogs, carbohydrates are harder to digest and can cause inflammation to the body. For cats, carbohydrates are not an essential ingredient for their diets, proteins are. Thus a home cooked diet can provide less carbohydrates and more protein making the food easier to digest and keeps the body’s immune system from becoming over reactive. Feeding your pet, fresh or lightly cooked foods helps to supply nutrients in their natural form, which over processed pet foods does not.
There are several types of homemade diets, which include, raw and cooked foods, diets that contain little or no grains; diets mixed with commercial food, and diets that either include raw or cooked bones for the help www.tailgating-recipe.com. There are many choices and variety is the important ingredient.
Dogs are known to eat most anything, whether it is good for them or not.
There is no “one” diet that is good for all dogs or cats.
Every pet is an individual and the diet is dependent on physical condition, size, activity level and age. What is perfect for one pet may not be good for another.
That is why variety is stressed so much. Constant feeding of one recipe may not supply all the necessary nutrients, but changing food groups and content can easily fulfill your entire pet’s needs.
It is not known exactly what nutrients are needed in a dog’s diet; the USDA Nutrient Database uses figures to determine only average nutritional values. Nutritional studies are going on all the time and there are still gaps in their determinations of proper nutritional values.
Even if you were to follow a diet determined by your vet or a pet nutritionist they would advise adding a vitamin/mineral supplement, as no one really knows exactly what your particular pet needs.
A homemade diet should provide the following: variety, balance over time, and calcium.
The variety can come from feeding such foods as chicken, turkey, beef, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, and some pork. Some vegetables, fruit (no grapes or raisins) and some grains can be added. Organ meats such as liver, kidneys or heart should be added at different times.
Raw meaty bones are very good for teeth and gums and provide calcium. When considering bones do not feed cooked chicken bones. Raw chicken backs and leg quarters are considered acceptable, those bones will not splinter, along with lamb necks and breast and pork riblets and necks.
Chicken necks and turkey necks are considered okay also, but large dogs tend to choke on the turkey necks and little dogs on the chicken necks, so I would be very careful offering those items unless you were close by.
You can cook bones and grind them, if feeding raw bones makes you feel uncomfortable. Large meaty beef bones are good too,
If bacteria from raw foods scare you, don’t be, a dog’s insides were meant to handle bacteria. Unless your dog is stressed or ill, bacteria from raw meat or chicken will have little if any effect on your dog. The same goes for raw eggs, though you can lightly scramble or soft boil them if it makes you feel better.
There is no danger in feeding your puppy or older dog a high protein diet, as protein is beneficial to the immune system, the central nervous system and helps the your dog have healthy skin and coat. Dogs that are fed a high protein diet seem calmer and less hyper than those fed a high carbohydrate diet.
If you do not have the time or desire to prepare completely homemade meals for your dog there is no problem in adding fresh food to your dog’s dry or canned food. However, the percentage of fresh versus commercial should be kept down to about 25 percent in order not to upset the nutritional balance.
When adding food to your pet’s commercial diet try to stay with more protein than carbohydrates as the commercial food is already high in grains, Best bets are eggs, meat, fish (canned with bones like salmon, sardines or mackerel), yogurt, cottage cheese and small amounts of vegetables.
There are companies that sell a pre-mixed dry food that
is ready for you to add fresh food to complete a balanced meal for your dog. Some companies such as www.thehonestkitchen.com and www.solidgoldhealth.com offer great products you can add to your pet’s food or feed directly.
The following books are some available as recommended reading:
• Barker’s Grub by Rudy Edalati
• Real Food for Dogs by Arden Moore
• Feeding Your Dog for Life by Diane Morgan
• The Whole Pet Diet by Andi Brown
Should you decide in the light of the current pet food situation to start home cooking for your pet, please do yourself a favor and your pet, read and learn before you make the attempt.
If you do not feed your pet the correct amount of nutrients it needs for survival you are only not only defeating your purpose for doing it, but you are affecting your pet’s health and your pocketbook with extra vet bills.

Information about the Author:

www.300-chicken-recipe.com www.thanks-giving-recipes.com

Pregnancy and Various kinds of Ovarian Cysts

One woman described how she'd had two miscarriages already. The first one was at 21 weeks, the second was at eight weeks. And she found out during her second pregnancy that she had a dermoid cyst on her right ovary. And she writes in that we consulted a doctor that said it wasnt the cause of my miscarriage, and can I still try getting pregnant? It was almost a year passed since I had my second miscarriage, and I'm trying to get pregnant, but what I just observed with myself now is I can't get pregnant as easily now like before, any advice?

First of all, the first advice is she had two miscarriages, miscarriages are extremely common. Twenty percent of all pregnancies miscarry before 12 weeks, it's nature's way of ridding vaginetic products.

The miscarriage at 21 weeks was rather unusual. I'm assuming that this was something that was looked into, and probably was not a cause of anything that would repeat itself. The dermoid cyst on her right ovary, well if she knows she had a dermoid cyst on the right ovary, that must have been removed.

We were probably given part of the information because no doctor's going to leave a dermoid cyst. As far as her so-called - her concerns about infertility since that dermoid cyst, pregnancy is not as easy as one thinks.

Pregnancy - the average couple who have intercourse the average number of times, which is 2.5 times per week will conceive 90 percent of the time in one year, in two years 95 percent. But you still have ten percent that are not going to conceive in one year. So one year of lack of conception is not an infertility concern in my mind. So my advice is just continue trying, dont worry about the cyst, and hopefully pregnancy number three will be absolutely normal.

Let's see, there was something else here. Oh, there is an increasing number of women - since we mentioned some drugs, we should mention Tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is an anti-breast cancer drug, the most commonly used. Women are often on it five years, very effective. The good news is Tamoxifen works, being an anti-estrogen effect on the breast, it stops the estrogen receptors.

Because breast tumors many times have - they like estrogen. So this particular anti-cancer drug works by blocking estrogen. But it has some good news too, it has a positive estrogen effect on bone and on the heart. And we know that estrogen can be good for bone growth, that's why many women are given estrogens after menopause. And it can be good on bone growth and prevent heart disease. The one problem with women on this particular drug though is that it causes in some cases a slight increase in uterus cancers, because it has the positive estrogen effect on the uterus.

And it can in some cases increase any cysts that are there. But to my knowledge there is no evidence that it can cause ovary cancers. So we have some effects from this powerful anti-breast cancer drug that are positive, no ovary bad effects except it can cause an increased size in the cysts. And these would be managed like any other cysts.

I think one thing here is - one woman writes in and she says is surgery a must for a cyst measuring 20 centimeters? 20 centimeters is huge. Greater than 10 centimeters is huge. The answer is unequivocally 20-centimeter cyst is in risk of torsion, it should be operated upon, no questions asked. And we dont know the age of this woman, but the odds are most likely in her favor because it's a cyst. And the other one here is -

I have one question I think is very good. Is a hysterectomy the best option for an ovary cyst on a 68-year-old woman, any other options? I'm going to answer that because I'm from the school of thought that says if you're going in for a hysterectomy in the menopausal years, I believe those ovaries should come out. Now this is Doctor Christopher Frevilles philosophy, many colleagues agree with me, some do not. But the ovary has very little function after menopause. At menopause it doesnt have any except it can serve as a place for bad tumors and bad cysts to grow.

So if for some reason one has to have a hysterectomy at the menopausal time in life, my strong recommendation would be discussed with your doctor should the ovaries come out. Because unfortunately, ovary cancers, which are not really the topic of this discussion, often dont show up and have symptoms until they're somewhat progressed. That's something I wanted to throw in there.

Information about the Author:

Hillary Templeton gives advice to women of all types of ovarian cysts on her website. Click here for more information on ruptured ovarian cysts www.ovariancystshelp.com