New Mom | Real Tech Mom

Expecting a baby?

November 6, 2008 By erincarrasco 2 Comments

When we were expecting, we were one of the few who decided to not find out if it was a boy or a girl. I remember going for my ultrasound at the hospital at around 21 weeks and being so curious but not looking in the “area” that i was supposed to.

It became a big thing in my family.. would it be blue or pink. Yes many people asked me to turn around, asked me what the heart rate was, was my hair dryer then usual. I had heard that carrying low, or high, front or wide was supposed to be a boy/girl depending on who you asked.

So after my ultrasound, I went on my message boards and announced.. It’s a ….. Baby!

Man were people miffed I then wrote we thought we were expecting kittens and low and behold it was a human baby! go figure!

So i thought a cute thing would be for people to guess, so I came across something called expectnet.com

Here are the guesses from my poll called BabyC08

Any ways my due date was March 29th.. and I ended up going into labour March 4th! But besides my business partner I was the closest!

It lets you select if you think it will be a boy or a girl, what day, what time and how much baby will weigh. It’s quite neat. After you have baby you can update it and it emails everyone!

Happy guessing!

Filed Under: Advice, Babies, Mom, New Mom, Product Reviews

The Parental Job Description

October 28, 2008 By erincarrasco 2 Comments

How many of you would have applied to be a parent if this was the job description?

PARENT – Job Description

This is hysterical. If it had been presented this way,
I don’t believe any of us would have done it!!!!

POSITION :
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Long term, team players needed, for challenging,
permanent work in an often chaotic environment.
Candidates must possess excellent communication
and organizational skills and be willing to work
variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends
and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
Some overnight travel required, including trips to
primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments
in far away cities!
Travel expenses not reimbursed.
Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily,
until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from
the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges,
such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets
and stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and
coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings
for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a
half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for
the quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and
janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without
complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills,
so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

Get this! You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because
of the assumption that college will help them
become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left.
The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that
you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension,
no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and
no stock options are offered;
this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth,
unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

NOTE–THERE IS NO RETIREMENT — EVER!!!

Thanks Hollie for sending this!

Filed Under: Advice, Humor, Mom, New Mom

Tag you’re it!

October 13, 2008 By erincarrasco 3 Comments

I think my life has definitely become enriched by my online community of friends and mommy blogger’s. For those of you who read this blog, and think I’m crazy for holding so much respect and awe for people I don’t even know, let me assure you, you haven’t been part of a fantastic community that speaks to you—there are many good luck in finding yours.

Since becoming pregnant last year, and meeting so many wonder women on BBC.ca (most of which were March Mommies like myself) it has opened me up to a fantastic community of support.

Many people look at me a little strangely when I say something I heard from my ladies online or some other mommy blogger’s but I don’t care, I have learned so much from so many intelligent women, it rocks! Ok but I’m getting off topic, god I tell you baby brain never goes away-quite sad really.

So back to my point, I’ve been tagged! Organic Yoga Mom has been kind enough to tag me in this online blogging game much like the idea of paying it forward. She is also the wonderful lady who introduced me to the MiEssence products that were reviewed a few weeks ago. The idea is to

Link to the person who sent this to you
Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and link to them
Share the good news with those people!

My Randomness

1) At Starbucks my preferred drink is: A double tall, one pump hazelnut, non fat, no foam, latte. If it’s Christmas time: tall, non fat, half sweet peppermint, with whip hot chocolate.

2)I cannot play the guitar on rockband 1 or 2 but I rock out to the drums and can hold a tune-no one has told me differently. yet.

3)I’m obsessed with “The Simpsons” and quote it quite regularly. (ie. “latex condo, boy I’d like to live in one of those”—Grandpa Simpson)

4)I met my husband when I was 16 but we didn’t marry until I was 23. Gosh doesn’t that sound like I’m a redneck.

5)I’m a computer gaming geek. I was really into the Sims, and am now learning how to play spore, I’ve also been known to stay up until 5 am playing Civilization and rockband.

6)If I was single, I’d be the crazy cat lady from the Simpsons and probably house at least 10 cats. Also one of my cats pays hide and seek with me.

7)My husband and I spend hours on the computer across from each other, and use instant messaging to talk to one another when we’re blogging.

Here’s to you fellow bloggers!

1)Moomette’s Magnificent’s

2)Junction Mama

3)The Young and Relentless

4)Soapbox Mama

5)A cup of Coffee and a story

6)Travels With Children

7)Being healthy for busy people

Sorry I have to add one more!

Healthiest Life For Me—coming soon!

There you go Pay it Forward, and even if you don’t, I hope my readers read some interesting posts by some very interesting ladies!

Filed Under: Mom, New Mom, Random thoughts

My little man is growing up!

October 8, 2008 By erincarrasco 1 Comment

So my little man is just over 7 months, wow how the time flies. I remember the first few months going by so slowly! Just two days ago, my husband was taking care of my son and when I came home he told me he’d rolled over front to back and back to front!

I’ve been waiting for 7 months for this to happen!!! But the next day i tried it again, and he did it again! It’s only taken 7 months LOL

He’s also sitting up so well, and today, he tried to share his soother with his stuffed animal the sleep sheep.

When we first started solids, It was a chore to feed him, now he opens his mouth and wants all the lovely food I’ve been making him…aside from the peaches lol

It’s funny, how I thought id be one of those moms who would want to go back to work as soon as possible, and now I’m enjoying being home with him so much it’s going to be hard to go back.

It’s not that I don’t love my job, but I love watching my son grow. I’ve got a great place for him to go to when I return to work ( my MIL will be watching him) but it will be hard to turn the reins over.

Nowadays most families have two working parents, so there are fewer and fewer SAHM’s (Stay At Home Mom’s). I’m sure I’m overreacting and it won’t be traumatic to my son for me to go back to work, it will just be an adjustment.

It will however be nice to have a “life” outside of my little home, and my son. Right now the biggest concerns are nap times, my son’s bowel movements and baby food. *sigh*

Filed Under: Mom, New Mom, Random thoughts

Alcohol and Breastfeeding

September 18, 2008 By erincarrasco 3 Comments

I was at a healthy baby group today and the topic of alcohol and breastfeeding came up. In Canada we have a resource called MotherRisk, generally it’s a resource that you can contact to inquire about medical questions you have during pregnancy and beyond. So if you were unsure as to what types of drugs are safe for a cold during pregnancy and you couldn’t get in touch with your doctor, they have a hotline that you can call and they will give you an answer based on scientific research.

Here’s a little more info specifically what MotherRisk does:

The Motherisk Program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is a clinical, research and teaching program dedicated to antenatal drug, chemical, and disease risk counselling. It is affiliated with the University of Toronto. Created in 1985, Motherisk provides evidence-based information and guidance about the safety or risk to the developing fetus or infant, of maternal exposure to drugs, chemicals, diseases, radiation and environmental agents

Recently they had conducted an study to determine just how long women should wait before resuming breastfeeding after having an alcoholic beverage. We’ve all read online that it’s 2 hours for one drink, and one drink being a beer, a 5 oz glass of wine, and 1oz of hard alcohol. But how much you weigh determines how quickly your body metabolizes the alcohol. Below what MotherRisk found in reference to drinking alcohol and breastfeeding:

Question:
I recently delivered a healthy, full-term baby and am now breastfeeding exclusively. I abstained form drinking alcohol during my entire pregnancy and am wondering if drinking alcohol now would harm my nursing baby.

Answer:
Nursing mothers who choose to drink alcohol during the postpartum period should carefully plan a breastfeeding schedule by storing milk before drinking and waiting for complete elimination of alcohol from their breast milk after drinking. Mother risk has created an algorithm to estimate how long it takes to eliminate alcohol from breast milk.

Below is their algorithm:

*1 drink = 340 g (12 oz) of 5% beer, or 141.75 g (5 oz) of 11% wine, or 42.53 g (1.5 oz) of 40% liquor.

Here are two of their examples:

Example no. 1:
For a 40.8-kg (90-lb) woman who consumed three drinks in 1 hour, it would take 8 hours, 30 minutes for there to be no alcohol in her breast milk, but for a 95.3-kg (210-lb) woman drinking the same amount, it would take 5 hours, 33 minutes.
Example no. 2:
For a 63.5-kg (140-lb) woman drinking four beers starting at 8:00 pm, it would take 9 hours, 17 minutes for there to be no alcohol in her breast milk (ie, until 5:17 am)

They also note the following:

Because alcohol elimination follows zero-order kinetics, drinking water, resting, or ‘pumping and dumping” breast milk will not accelerate elimination. Unlike urine, which stores substances in the bladder, alcohol is not trapped in breast milk, but is constantly removed as it diffuses back into the bloodstream.

The Bottom Line

If any type of alcohol consumption makes you uncomfortable do not feel that you have to drink, or feel pressured to have a drink. If you are at a party and want to avoid pressure, you can drink soda with lime, or 7-up and add a lime wedge!

If you do decide to drink, the above information is a guideline only and does not replace a medical practitioner’s advice.

Alcohol is never good for a baby no matter in what quantities. An even though an infant is exposed to a fraction of the amount of alcohol the mother ingests, infants detoxify alcohol in their first weeks of life at only half the rate of adults.

One thing to mention is that, you are now responsible for another life, if you choose to drink make sure that someone is sober enough to take care of your baby should baby get ill.

Now after this is all said and done, I do enjoy beverages every now and again, my baby sleeps through the nigh (knocks on wood) so I do not have to feed him during the night. If for some reason I needed too, I always have milk stored in the fridge and freezer. I don’t feel there is anything wrong with enjoying a few drinks responsibly!

For more information on this article please click here, the references to the research articles are on that page as well!

Many thanks to Christy for this wonderful information!

For More information on the services that Mother Risk provides:

Motherisk counselors talk to hundreds of women and their healthcare providers each day providing guidance, support and peace of mind. So if you don’t find the information you are looking for on this website, try calling one of our Helplines. Motherisk counselors are available Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.

1-877-327-4636 – Alcohol and Substance
1-800-436-8477 – Morning Sickness
1-888-246-5840 – HIV and HIV Treatment
(416) 813-6780 – Motherisk’s Home Line

Filed Under: Advice, Health and Fitness, New Mom

Expecting a baby?

The Parental Job Description