To all readers in the United States, Happy 4th of July (and to everyone else, I hope your day is happy too, just not for the same reasons!)
Here I am at 36 weeks and 3 days of pregnancy. The baby has dropped even more than it looked in this picture, and I feel like she could arrive at any time! So from my experience, here are five ways you can tell you are about to have that baby!
1. You have to lift your belly to shave your bikini line.
2. You are not shaving your bikini line because you have any …read more

I was tagged for a pregnancy meme by Marijke at Womb Within. She asks the following six questions:
1. How did you find out you were pregnant?
2. How did you tell your partner (if you have/had one)?
3. Did you secretly hope for a girl or a boy?
4. Did you feel ready to have a child?
5. What bit of advice did you get that you hated?
6. What bit of advice did you get that you appreciated?
1 and 2. The first time, I quietly crept out of bed early in the morning and took a home pregnancy test following months of infertility …read more

Welcome Carnival of Breastfeeding readers! For Pregnancy Awareness Month, this round of carnival entries focuses on pregnancy and breastfeeding. Because I have already shared my stories of breastfeeding during pregnancy and of tandem nursing, I want to share ten tips on how a pregnant woman can prepare for breastfeeding.
1. DO NOT let anyone tell you it is necessary to toughen up your nipples for breastfeeding.
2. DO some reading about breastfeeding. Good choices are:
~ The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning
~ The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Seventh Revised Edition
~ The Nursing Mother’s …read more

I am not even 20 weeks along in this pregnancy and already I am focused on the birth. After two unsatisfying hospital births, this time I am working with a midwife toward a home birth. I am curious about your thoughts on birth choices and whether or not they affect breastfeeding success rates. Do you think birth center and home births are more conducive to breastfeeding success? Do breastfeeding women tend to choose birth center or home births even if they gave birth at a hospital the first time? How successful do you think hospital lactation support is? Do the …read more

When polled, “Do you ask pregnant women if they plan to breastfeed?” many readers said it depends on how they know the pregnant women — are they friends, acquaintances, strangers, or clients? Several readers left thoughtful comments with advice on how to bring up the subject of breastfeeding. Here are the complete poll results from all 90 voters:

Please take a moment to vote in the new poll in the sidebar!

Well, if a woman can’t talk about her breasts on a breastfeeding blog…. I have to laugh at my own astonishment at my growing cup size. I thought after nursing two children (and still nursing through pregnancy) that my breasts had done all the “preparation for breastfeeding” that they were going to do, and they wouldn’t swell up quite as much this time around. No such luck though. My breasts are so tender and sensitive I don’t want anyone getting within 10 feet of them, and that includes me (which, as you can imagine, is a bit problematic). Nursing doesn’t …read more

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