What to pack for the hospital when you go into labor:
Mom
*1 nightgown, and a bathrobe
*Nursing bra
*Breast pads
*Slippers
*Several pairs of underwear, either cotton or disposable
*Toiletries: toothbrush and toothpaste, washcloth, towel, brush, hair ties, face cream, shower gel, shampoo, makeup, small mirror, perfume
*Clothes to wear home
*Snacks for you and your partner
*Magazines, books, or other diversions
*2 copies of your birth plan
*Health insurance and hospital preregistration information
Baby
*Outfit to go home in
*Sweater or coat and a hat to come home in, depending on the weather
*Blanket
*Socks
***Remember that you must install a rear-facing infant seat into the car in which you are bringing the baby home
Father
*A change of clothes
*Drinks and snacks
*Telephone numbers for friends and family to let them know the good news
*Camera and film, or video camera
*A bag with basic toiletries
Extra comfort aids for labor (check with your doctor to make sure you can bring these extra items with you)
*An extra pillow or pillows
*A CD player and CD’s of relaxing music, plus spare batteries
*A cassette player and books on tape plus spare batteries or IPod
*A hot water bottle for pain relief
*A journal
*A big box of tissues
*Lip balm
*A spray bottle, filled with cool water to spray your face
*A pregnancy book with highlighted pages for easy reference on medications, birthing positions, etc. that will help you make quick decisions in the delivery room if your doctor asks
Last night a group of us went to see They Might Be Giants in concert at the House of Blues. This is a band that my husband has enjoyed way before he met me and has since been so kind as to show me what I’ve been missing. Last night was the first time I had the chance to see They Might Be Giants live and I have to say I was impressed. Here is a video of one of their well known songs, Birdhouse in Your Soul from their Flood CD.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 4:45 pm. Add a comment
A Siberian woman in Russian gave birth to to her 12th child, weighing in at 17.1 pounds on September 26th of this year. Her other 11 children weighed over 5 kg, but the 12th was by far the largest. Believe it or not, but her baby doesn’t beat the Guiness World Records for the largest baby. That title goes to a baby boy born in the US in 1879.
What the ____! That title alone is enough to scare any pregnant woman. There is no way you can squeeze a 17 pound baby out of your “you know what.” I can only imagine what the doctor and surgical team faces looked like when the doctor started pulling the baby out. Geez!
Halloween never excited me for some reason. Maybe it’s having to choose a costume or all the children and adults that take Halloween to the extreme. Even though there are many things I don’t particularly enjoy about Halloween, I do have to say I love the get togethers with friends, carving pumpkins, watching my nieces get excited when someone knocks on the door and saying “trick or treat” and my all time favorite, spiced cakes and cookies. Yum! Those are things I do enjoy.
I also thought I’d research the history behind Halloween. So, for all those Wikipedia fans out there…this is for you:
Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets, fruit, and other gifts, called most commonly trick-or-treating. Some other traditional activities include costume parties, watching horror films, going to “haunted” houses, and traditional autumn activities such as hayrides, some of which may even be “haunted”.
Halloween originated under a different name (”Samhain”) as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain with mainly Irish and Scots and other immigrants transporting versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Many other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late twentieth century.
Halloween is now celebrated in many parts of the western world, most commonly in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Ireland, the United Kingdom and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. In recent years, Halloween has also been celebrated in some parts of Western Europe.
The term Halloween, and its older rendering Hallowe’en, is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening of/before “All Hallows’ Day” (also known as “All Saints’ Day”). The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints’ Day from May 13 to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although we now consider All Saints’ (or Hallows’) day to be on the day after Halloween, they were, at that time, considered to be the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated this day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on Sunday, although the secular aspects of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, although somewhat restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.
In Ireland, the name was All Hallows’ Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve), and though seldom used today, it is still a well-accepted label, albeit somewhat esoteric. The festival is also known as Samhain or Oíche Shamhna to the Irish, Samhuin in Scottish Gaelic, Calan Gaeaf to the Welsh, Allantide to the Cornish and Hop-tu-Naa to the Manx. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.
Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent (e.g. Catalan mythology about witches, Irish tales of the Sídhe).
Now here’s a little something by me-
H- Halloween Costumes
A- Apple Picking
L- Lollipops
L- Licorice
O- Orange Pumpkins
W- Wednesday 31st
E- Evening of Pranks
E- Enormous Buckets of Candy
N- Night of Trick or Treating
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 7:31 pm. Add a comment
