It’s hard to explain why, because I didn’t particularly feel any different. No tingling, bloat, or weird dreams or thoughts. Nothing. We were sitting eating dinner in our little one bedroom apartment in Yonkers, New York, and I told Joe I was thinking about taking a pregnancy test. He laughed and told me it was […]
Read MoreWe were out in New York City with friends when we decided we were ready. A packed bar downtown, the kind of place you forget. We’d both had way too many nights like this one: too many watered down vodka sodas, nights spent shoving through the crowd, competing for the bartender’s attention. This wasn’t the […]
Read MoreMaternity leave is the sort of issue you don’t really think or care about until you’re a few months pregnant and need to apply for it. But recently, paid leave has been receiving a lot of attention in the media: Clinton and Sanders have been advocating for paid maternity leave in their campaigns and Obama has also called […]
Read MoreTwo of my close friends announced their pregnancies this week – yay! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I get when I hear about a new pregnancy. I can see myself finding out all over again: shaking that pee stick in the air at 6:30am on a work day, jumping around like a […]
Read MoreWe’ve all been there: treating parenting books like bibles, worshipping them as if we don’t already know that in the end, they all have conflicting, “one size fits all” advice. Having strict, unbendable opinions about what you will never ever let your son or daughter do (like watch TV), but then realizing that some things aren’t so […]
Read MoreAlthough we did stock up on a lot more things for Liam’s nursery, these are our favorites out of everything we’ve tried so far (the list will most likely be updated as Liam grows and we try out more products). We try to aim for as many natural/organic products as possible and do a lot of research to […]
Read MoreYou will be here tomorrow, or three weeks from now. The toughest waiting game. I stop at the slightest jab in my abdomen, waiting, hoping. Could it be? I hold my breath as you sleep, waiting for your next move to know that you are okay, that you are breathing, that you are still there, […]
Read MoreI’ve written about Ina May Gaskin (the author of Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth), my feelings about midwives, and my yearning to have a natural, vaginal birth. This film, directed by Abby Epstein and produced by Ricki Lake, covers it all, including the many myths surrounding hospital births (is all the additional technology really always for the […]
Read MoreAs my pregnancy comes to an end (38 weeks and waiting not so patiently…), here are a few things I wish I’d known before I got pregnant. Oh well, they’ll come in handy for baby #2! 1. That an OB/GYN might be great for yearly pap smears, but not for my ideal birth. I am a prime example […]
Read MoreWhen my husband and I decided to stop birth control, we never expected to get pregnant within two weeks. I’d been on birth control for many years and assumed that it would take my body some time to start ovulating again. Three months at least… Wrong. For those two weeks we “tried” to get pregnant […]
Read MoreAlthough I am already well into my third trimester (time flies!) I realized that some of the things I had during my first trimester were true life savers. I mean it. Worth the investment, believe me — most of these also apply to your second and third trimesters too! 1. Gin-Gins Hard Candy – Although […]
Read MoreI can already hear you thinking, “yeah right…” but believe it or not, I am really not afraid of giving birth to our baby boy. Why? Here are four reasons why you shouldn’t either: 1. Giving in to fear (and the stress associated with it) is the most negative thing you can do to your baby. According to Web MD, […]
Read MoreIn honor of our beautiful baby shower, here are five of our favorite gifts. I will of course write more in depth reviews when we actually try them out with Baby Riehm (every baby is different and we may return some of these), but in the meantime, here are a few of our favorites: 1. Ergobaby Four Position 360 […]
Read MoreAll pregnant women are familiar with the “infamous” hospital bag. Early on, our childbirth instructors remind us we need to pack one, our smartphone app sends us alerts every week, and our friends constantly ask us if we’re all zipped up and ready to go yet. But wait — don’t I still have a solid two months to […]
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Mama Naturelle 