Mommy Monday: Preventative Care for Stretch Marks

A few friends and acquaintances who are a few weeks to multiple months behind me in their own pregnancies have asked me what I've done to successfully curb stretch marks. I'm currently 35 weeks gestation, and *knock on wood* have zero to date... Almost there.

For the record, I'm no dermatologist. Nutrition-specific education aside, the extent of my 'medical' education consists of freshman and sophomore level biology and chemistry classes as mandated by my liberal arts degree from the University of Minnesota. There's my disclosure! Therefore, I have more experience in this realm than formal education. Does it count if I have a number of doctors and nurses in my family?! No?Oh.

Some sources say it's genetics; if your mom got them, you likely will too, especially if you got them in puberty. For many women, especially us Type A ladies who pride ourselves (probably a bit too much) on a great figure, leaving something this important up to genetics simply isn't enough. I'm with ya, ladies!

I conducted some rather thorough research to round out the genetics claim. Here are the other biggest contributors to the "stretch mark factor" and what I'm doing about them:

- Proper weight gain: this one makes extreme sense. If you pack on too many pregnancy pounds, or they all come on at once (say, in your third trimester), that's a lot of stress for your skin to handle. Eating sensibly, not overindulging any unhealthy cravings you may develop, and keeping a consistent workout schedule are all going to help pregnant mama's be successful in this area.

Up until 30 weeks I was doing everything I had been doing prior to getting pregnant in terms of my workouts. After my preterm labor debacle, I now do four yoga and/or barre classes per week.  I also try to be as sensible as possible with what I consume. Luckily, I'm a health nut anyway, and love my veggies, but when I do indulge (I mean, heck, I'm pregnant!), I keep the portion small and stick to ONE portion. Remember, you're feeding your baby everything that goes in your mouth. Don't feed him or her garbage!

- Exfoliate: exfoliation helps to more quickly turn your skin cells over. New skin cells contain more collagen, and also have a higher H2O content. If you're consistently turning over new cells on your tummy, backside and thighs, you're keeping your skin in the "best shape possible" for stretching. I use a natural bristle brush with moisturizing body wash and lightly apply it to my skin in circular motions at the end of EVERY SHOWER. It only takes an extra minute or two!

Natural-bristle brush and my body wash of choice

  
- Hydrate: think great skin starts with the right topical product? WRONG! It starts with what you put IN your body (this goes for your hair too). Make sure to drink enough water throughout the day. I learned the hard way (remember the preterm labor thingy? Yup, dehydration). I now have a water bottle with measurements on it to ensure I'm getting at least 64oz of water a day.

- Hydrate again: externally this time! No, lotions and cremes wont save you, despite the best marketing efforts of these companies. Yes, they do feel great! I've found Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter to be fantastic in moisturizing my skin, relieving that itchiness you get as your skin stretches, and helps at night when you feel like your skin is too tight for how big your belly is. I rub this stuff in after a shower and usually again at night, and put it on my tummy, hips, thighs and butt. Plus, it doesn't have an obnoxious perfumed odor, so you won't walk around smelling like a fake flower all the time. Yessssss!

My favorite "belly cream"

Do you or did you have any other tricks or preventative measures you swore by while pregnant? Feel free to comment below or send me an email - I'm always looking for fun new things to try, especially in stretch mark prevention!

High Five for Friday!

All day yesterday I walked around thinking it was Friday. I was excited for our plans "that night" and got to throwing around plans with some folks for Saturday night as well... But I was talking about "tomorrow" and just ended up confusing everyone.

I hate it when my brain refuses to work! That ever happen to you?

So, I decided to unofficially theme this H54F post, "Paige's H54F Best-of-Stupid Moments" to celebrate what is hopefully the last few weeks of my pregnancy brain. Here goes:

1) Our coed baby shower was awesome. And awesomely hot, clocking in somewhere in the mid 90's and super humid to boot. Maybe that's when my brain stopped working... It got cooked. Anyhow, you can read about the event here!

2) Have you ever drank Komboucha? I've had it several times before, and was super thirsty during my weekly Whole Foods run. So I picked out a flavor. Paid for it, and the rest of my groceries. Then after loading up the car, I sat down and absentmindedly start to shake the bottle (most juice I drink needs a good shake since they're all-natural products). I start the car to run the AC, and start to text a few friends back. Meanwhile, I'm still shaking...

Then I open it to an EXPLOSION of strawberry all over my face, phone, shirt, legs, seat, dash board. Yeah, kinda forgot about the whole "naturally carbonated through fermentation" thing. Oops! Pregnancy brain FAIL. On a brighter note, my car now smells like (fermented) strawberries. Wait, is that gross?

This brand is great if you want to dip your toes in the Komboucha water. Just don't shake before opening!

3) Last week, I randomly met a woman in my Friday ballet barre class. She had just given birth to her daughter five weeks ago, and was recommending home workout DVDs for me since our club won't take babies in the day care until they're 12 weeks old. We quickly bonded over how bizarre and huge pregnancy boobs are.  

Let's get serious here, any woman who's willing to talk openly about her boobs in the first five minutes of the conversation is someone I'm going to love.

We've hung out since then, and she's awesome! I love meeting new friends in obscure places by talking about gross pregnancy issues. Pregnancy brain was on my side for this great moment, since she understood juuuuuuust where I was coming from! Or, trying to come from...

4) Since baby boy could be here in as little as one to two weeks (and as long as seven weeks... But I won't focus on that) I decided I should start to get my hospital/birth center bag ready. That's when I realized I had no nursing tops to wear! So I ventured out to get some post-baby supplies, just in case he wants to join the real-world-party soon.

I picked out four nursing tanks and two stretchy nursing bras, went to pay for them, aaaaaaaand... had forgotten my wallet in my gym bag. Which was at home. Pregnancy brain FAIL. I did go back and get the wallet, then went back for the items. As far as nursing bras go, these were actually pretty cute! Trust me, options are limited to mediocre, ugly, super-ugly, and super-ugly-granny-inpired.

It might seem like I'm sponsored by a Pea in the Pod. I'm not - they just carry clothes for tall, slender pregnant women. Love them for that!

5) I mentioned here that we picked out our car seat. So clearly, the next step is to get the base installed in your car. If you follow me on Facebook you probably know that we were going to trade my car in for something bigger. Well, with one baby, I just don't want a bigger car. I love my car. So my little Audi A4 and I will maintain our longstanding friendship until baby number two comes along.

With that decision made, it was time to get my car seat base properly installed. I read the instructions... Something about LATCH systems, belts, leveling the seat... HUH?!?! It was too hot and I was too pregnant to focus on this. My husband gave it a try and said, "Yeah, I don't get it." My car dealership was worthless. So my last resort was taking a trip to our local police station. I waddled on in there and asked for either help, resources to help, or the date of a clinic where they'd have staff to help. Everyone was so nice! Maybe I was a nice break from all the paperwork and criminal complaints they have to deal with daily? Regardless, nobody was officially on staff to help me, but one of the officers heard I was looking for assistance and came to my rescue. He was a daddy of three and had that sucker installed in about two minutes flat! Thanks kind officer for helping this pregnant brain lady figure out something so *simple* in her moment of need.

The weather is getting hot-hot-hot here in Dallas, and I hope it's heating up for you too - wherever you're reading from! Happy weekend, readers!

Make sure to check out these other lovely blogs via our weekly link-up!

Lauren Elizabeth

WANTED: Advice and Opinions!

Well, it is official: I have entered the proverbial "nesting phase" of pregnancy. All I want to do is straighten up and organize baby purchases and read baby books. All. I. Want. To. Do.

So, with that in mind, I'm looking to you, dear readers!

What I want to know is, what baby books would you recommend? Specifically, books that focus on newborns and the first year. Don't hold back, what are your favorites?! Go ahead and comment, email, or reply via social media with your personal recommendations.

Since I only have a few weeks left, I don't really need any additional books on pregnancy. I've read the ever popular What to Expect                " (fill in the blank - "When You're Expecting" "In the First Year" etc.)  Up next in the que is this little gem:

The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D.

My manicure matching the book was unintentional, I swear!

Beyond that, I've got a subscription to Fit Pregnancy Magazine, which has a few parenting articles per issue, but that's about it. So clearly, I'm in need of bolstering my parental reading! I've heard both good and bad reviews of Baby Wise. My midwives say it's good to implement the strict schedule after the "fourth trimester" (aka, when baby is at least three months old) because a newborn simply needs constant attention and feedings. Any readers have any thoughts on that book in particular?

Any and all good reads are greatly appreciated! I'm only sleeping about four hours a night, so I have a lotttttttttttt of time to get caught up on best practices in the baby realm.

I look forward to hearing your recommendations!