Staying Healthy While Breastfeeding {Delta Labs Postnatals}

One thing I've struggled with post-baby is finding a great vitamin to take that will also include the nutrients I need while breastfeeding. I've simply been continuing to use my prenatals as a suppliment but recently found a better alternative from Delta Labs.

For the past two weeks I've been using Delta Labs Postnatal Fat Burner in an effort to continue to get the nutrients I need for breastfeeding (and increase milk supply) as well as helping me burn the fat that I still have from my pregnancies and before. While I'm at pre-pregnancy weight right now, I still have a long road to go.

These postnatal vitamins not only are safe for me but are safe for my daughter as well. The pills contain healthy CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), L-Carnitine, and B6. These three ingredients have been proven to promote weight loss, build energy, and increase metabolism leading to healthy weight loss.

The ingredients included in this little pill are 100% natural and are manufactured under strict cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) guidelines in a facility that carries a NSF certification.

Delta Labs offers a wide variety of supplements and nutrients made specifically for women so that any woman can find what they need! And if you want to know what works best for you simply contact them to find out. You can also reach out to them on Facebook and twitter.

Delta Labs is also committed to conservation and a greener planet. They will give you a $5 discount on future purchases simply for returning your empty bottle. How awesome is that?

Interested in WINNING a two-month supply 

of the supplement of your choice?

Enter to win two bottles of any Delta Labs health and wellness formulas in the rafflecopter form below. Two winners! Giveaway ends August 10th at 11:59 EST so hurry up and enter now. Good Luck!

And if you don't win this time around make sure to head on over in September to enter the Noise Girls For the Family giveaway for another chance to win a two month supply!

40 Weeks...

Where has the time gone?

As of Tuesday I'm 2 cm dilated and that's about it :) No real contractions anymore, no signs of an eviction just yet. If she's still an inside baby by next Tuesday we'll schedule a non-stress test and ultrasound to check the fluid levels for Thursday. And if she seems content we'll try to work on natural ways of coaxing her out. I really want to have her before the 42 week point because if I go 2 weeks past my due date I can't give birth at the birthing center :( And as much as I love having her inside I would really like to meet her sooner rather than later.

I'm feeling great though. No pain, no annoyances other than the braxton hicks. And I've been able to relax as much as I can. The best part about her staying in until now is that I've been able to prep EVERYTHING without worrying that there's something I'm missing. Although there's some nagging voice inside my head telling me I'm forgetting something... Just not sure what it is!

40 Weeks Pregnant

One Week To Go...

Until my due date that is... and boy am I getting big. Here are two pictures for comparison. One is last Wednesday at 38 weeks and one is today at 39 weeks...

38 Weeks

39 Weeks

My belly is growing out of control! But I'm almost there... almost to the goal I set for myself. Not having this baby until AFTER Black Friday. Yup, that's right people. I'm the crazy pregnant lady who is counting down the days not till my due date and the arrival of my next little bundle of joy but till the day when everything is on sale and everyone is out shopping. Such a rush, so much fun, and so many presents to purchase!

I already have my list written even though the ads haven't "officially" come out yet. With the help of bfads.net I've been able to scope out the deals I want to snag at Target, Macys, and maybe a few at Gymboree, The Children's Place and Nordstroms. I have a gift card to Macys, Gymboree & Nordstroms which makes it 100x better this year!

My plan is to head out to Target first (not sure on the time... depends on when I wake up but probably closer to 5-6am vs. their opening time of 4am). Than I'll head over to UTC mall for their stores. Joseph will probably meet me over there with Ethan so he can get some shopping in too. After that I want to go to a baby store that's supposedly having a sale to see if I can get an Ergo newborn insert for cheaper than retail. And THAN if I'm not tired and wiped out I really want to hit up Joanns for some fabrics and notions. I still want to make a crib skirt/dust ruffle for the baby's crib and a blanket to match the nursery colors. 

The one thing I really want to treat myself to this year is a new food processor. The one I have was a hand-me-down from my grandmother a few years back after she got herself a shiny new one so I think it may be time for an upgrade. Macy's has one on sale for $69.99. Plus they have a $10 off your purchase of $50 or more on select departments (including sale items) so if the food processor qualifies I could use my $50 gift card, $10 off coupon and pay $10 out of pocket. See the potential for a great deal??

So enough about my Black Friday plans... what are you excited for??

More Maternity Photos

I got the CD with my maternity photos in the mail today and couldn't be more happy (as I've said before)! Here are a few of my favorites.

Maternity Photos!

I am sooo happy with how my maternity photos came out. My dear friend, Meghan, with Meghan Wiesman Photography was down in San Diego for a photography seminar and very generously offered to take my maternity photos while she was down here. She did an amazing job! For a sneak peek at the photos please visit her blog here and comment if you'd like :)

Meghan is located in the Orange County area so if you live in the OC I'd definitely contact her to do your family, child, newborn or maternity photos. And for those mommas and ladies who want a little something extra she also does boudoir photos as well! Meghan sure does know how to make a pregnant momma feel beautiful :)

28 Week Midwife Appointment

I don't think I've updated much on my midwife appointments so I thought I'd start since they're going to start happening every 2!! weeks now! The appointments are pretty boring but E knows the drill by now. We go in, go to the bathroom (while he says "mommy pee pee" over and over again), weigh ourselves and than play in the waiting room until we're called back.

Today was a bit different. I had my GD test (for gestational diabetes) and 45 minutes before my appointment I had to drink the glucose drink. Now people call me crazy but I LOVE the taste of it. Mmmm... tastes just like an orange Hi-C. And I craved orange Hi-C all throughout my pregnancy with E :) So we got called back to see the midwife. E climbs into a chair and knows he gets a snack. He eats the snack while the midwife answers any questions and measures my stomach. I'm measuring right on.

Than E knows we get to hear the baby. As soon as he sees the midwife get out the doppler he says "baby!" She puts the doppler on me and right away we hear the little heartbeat going. The midwife checked for the baby's position and the stubborn little thing is definitely NOT head down :) No wonder I keep getting kicked down there still. She's not too worried though. As long as baby girl turns by 32 weeks we should be good.

After the check up I had to have my blood drawn for the GD test and than got a Rhogam shot since I'm Rh negative (and Joseph refuses to find out his blood type since it involves needles). As soon as E saw the needle to draw blood he said "owie?" Oh, my cute little baby... I didn't even know you knew the association between needles and owies already. I mean, he never cries when he gets shots! So he saw me get my blood drawn and said owie over and over again. I reassured him that it only pinched Mommy when it went in but it didn't hurt as she was withdrawing the blood. Than he saw me get the Rhogam shot. I assured him again it was just like the shots he got (only administered more forcefully) and he seemed ok with it.

After that we were on our merry way. And the best part? I've only gained 11.5 pounds so far and I'm 29 weeks today!! YAY! I gained 35 pounds during my pregnancy with E so I'm hoping I stick under 20 with this one. It'll be a LOT easier to loose the weight if I don't put on additional weight now. But don't worry... I'm not dieting or watching what I eat. I'm just very active with my 18 month old :) A lot more active than when I was pregnant with E and working a desk job.

24 Weeks

And a better shot w/ a more flattering shirt

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20 Weeks!

20 week belly shot... she's growing! I'm even feeling kicks from the outside.

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It's a...

If you can't read that... it says GIRL! Yup! Those three lines = a girl. I think I screamed it out before the tech had a chance to respond. I kept saying, "Joseph, 3 dots means a girl! It's a girl!" and then the tech confirmed that I was correct :)


Here's her profile. She has had a very prominent nose in each u/s (12 week and this one). So I'm sure she'll look a little different than E since his wasn't so prominent.



Here's her body (head on the left, abdomen in the center and than little scrunched legs on the right hand side). She's way more mellow on screen than E ever was. Each u/s we've had she's only moved a bit or was sleeping.

At our 12 week u/s the Dr. had to push on my stomach with the u/s stick to get her to roll over so he could get her neck measurement. E definitely was bouncing off the walls or doing flips every time we saw him on the u/s.

Maybe this means a mellow #2?


And here are her LONG legs! She decided to shut them and cross her ankles after we saw the goods. Modest already! The u/s tech said that her legs are measuring 2 weeks ahead of everything else. You know what that means! Another tall baby!

And just for comparison here are some pics of the 7w u/s, 12w u/s and 19w u/s:





It's crazy how much she's grown in such a short amount of time.

(Almost) 16 Weeks Along

I've been pretty bad about blogging about this next child so far... And I apologize for that but E has been keeping me quite busy over the past few months. I've been pretty bad at taking pictures this pregnancy... I think I have one at 5 weeks from Easter, one at 6 weeks and than again another at 9 weeks. Well I was going to take one at 12 weeks but completely forgot so I made sure to have Joseph take a picture of me last Sunday when we went to the beach. Here I am at 15 weeks and 1 day.



Once I got past the first trimester (around week 13) the nausea subsided and my energy came back. Every once in a while I get a little bit of nausea and sometimes I still find myself falling asleep with E but for the most part I feel like my normal self.

I'm still breastfeeding E and so far have only gained 2 pounds this pregnancy. This feels good because during my last pregnancy I was already up 7+ pounds by 16 weeks. I'm not breastfeeding to reduce weight gain... E just isn't ready to give it up yet and I'm not going to force him to stop nursing. If that means tandem nursing than we'll give it a try.

I feel like I'm getting bigger but looking at a picture of me at 6 weeks and than at the pictures from Sunday I'm not sure I am getting bigger. I guess the bloat has just been permanently replaced by a baby belly. It's pretty nice to be pregnant right now. One of the main reasons being that I can indulge in a few things I wouldn't normally indulge in... like the fair food! This will be another post but E and I had a blast last Tuesday at the Del Mar Fair (oops... I mean the San Diego County Fair). We took advantage of $2 Taste of the Fair Tuesdays and saw lots of animals!

Back to the pregnancy... I have my 16 week appointment on the 22nd (same day E turns 16 months!) and will update if anything new arises.

Going to L & D shortly

My bag of waters broke this morning... no big gush. Just a trickling so I called L & D and they want me to come down. Joseph and I took a shower, ate breakfast, loaded the car and are going to take the dogs on a quick walk before heading out. This baby may come today or tomorrow! I'll keep you posted :)

Our Nursery... almost complete

You didn't think I'd leave you without pictures of the almost complete nursery, did you? Let me know what you think. I'll also post pictures when we get the crib and glider.


Wall where the crib will go


Changing station & dresser


Closet (doesn't the trim need to be painted yellow?)

Artwork:


My favorite print so far... Artist is Mary Blair (she did a lot of Disney stuff)


Artist is Amanda Visell and if you go to Artwork on her website this print is the 22nd :)


Print from Disneyland that Joseph loved (not sure who the artist is...)

39 Weeks... the home stretch

Well folks... we're almost to the finish line. I cannot believe how close I am to holding this little bundle of joy on the outside. I'm excited. It's like the calm before the storm in our house. Joseph and I have been relaxing for the past few weeks and slowly getting things taken care of.

We finished painting the nursery and are going to pick up the crib from my dad this weekend. We're still choosing what glider to get but Joseph's going to look at a few tonight (I put him in charge but gave him strict guidelines). My request was a Dutalier brand with a matching ottoman... cream or light fabric and wood (not painted) frame. I'm hoping that he orders this before I give birth but don't mind either way. I can wait a bit.

We have the pack n' play set up in the bedroom. That sort of upset Jetta our husky. She usually sleeps on my side of the bed right under the window and that's exactly where the PNP was placed. So being the nice mommy I am, I put a pillow down on the floor next to the PNP (but also next to my head) so she could still curl up on that side. She's loving it so far. Not sure how much she'll love it when there's a crying baby in the PNP.

We also set up the bouncer/vibrator seat and put it in the living room and have kept the nursery door open through all of the changes so that the dogs can sense that there's a change coming. I'm hoping that this is enough to prepare them but I'm sure anything we do won't get them fully prepared. Neither have been around newborns before (only infants and toddlers) so it will be an experience for us all.

39 Weeks - Covered Belly (that isn't a maternity shirt):



39 Weeks - Bare Belly (look at those stretch marks!):

Predictions

So I just saw this website that predicts the time of day your baby will be born, the length of your labor, size of the baby, etc. The results were pretty hilarious!

"The day you deliver, outside will be foggy. Your baby will arrive in the late night. After a labor lasting approximately 24 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and will be 16 inches long. This child will have dark brown eyes and some auburn hair."

For all of the pregnant ladies I know... what are your predictions?

Maternity Pictures

Tessa, my dear friend and photographer, posted a few sneak peaks of my maternity photos on her blog. I couldn't be happier with how these few turned out and am dying to see the rest :) As we get closer and closer to meeting our little one everything is getting more real.

There's still much to do. I plan on finishing laundry and cleaning this week if this nasty sinus cold decides to go away (I hate having a runny/stuffed nose!) and prepping meals for the freezer next week.

Joseph's working on painting the nursery and has succeeded in scraping all of the wallpaper off of one of the walls. He'll prime tonight and than we can get to the real fun... painting! I plan on painting stripes of yellow and green on the larger wall where the crib will be and than alternating between yellow and green on the other walls. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Boy Parts

I don't think I ever shared this on the blog but here's a shot of the goods...



Do you really still think he may be a she? I don't think so :) But in the off chance that Baby Simmons is a girl... we have a name. And a nice, neutral nursery (well... it isn't done but all of the components have been purchased). Just thought I'd share.

Showers all around!

My very good friend, Tessa, hosted a baby shower for both Janelle and I this past Saturday. It was so much fun. Not only did I get to spend time with the girls, I also got a few key things I needed!

We had brunch complete with bagels, breads, muffins, quiches, fruit, coffee, tea & mimosas (No, I didn't even have a little sip... I was too busy enjoying my coffee). And Amanda made delicious cupcakes for dessert (see photo below).

And, as always, when I'm hanging out with these ladies, I lost track of time and didn't end up home until 4:30... 6 hours after I left home. Thank you so much, ladies, for such a wonderful day full of laughs, gossip and love!


Janelle and I (she's due 4 days ahead of me)


All of the girls (left to right) - Jolie, Rachel, Molly, Tessa, Me, Alanna, Janelle, Natalie & Amanda (also expecting!)


The most adorable cupcakes that Amanda made!


Janelle got me a hotsling! And after she told me she bought it on the hotsling.com website I went to check it out and ended up buying another one. I can't wait to wear my baby :)


And here's Janelle opening up one of her gifts... a very cute onesie for her little man.

Photos Courtesy of Grin and Share It Photography

More fluff mail!

I was casually lurking around on an eco-friendly message board looking for website suggestions for cloth diapering (tips as well as sales/etc on diapers) and found an awesome deal! Thirsties has a seconds/clearance section on their website and I scored these three covers for $9 each!


Large White Cover


Small Light Blue Cover


Small Dark Blue Cover

And I just went on again to find these:

An XS and S Thirsties Fab Fitted in Celery



And some XS Microfiber Terry inserts :) YAY! My diaper stash is growing. Now if only I could bite the bullet and get some BumGenius diapers from Target with my gift card. But I really want to find them on sale... I have time, right?

Oh, and don't tell Joseph but I also got some more Happy Heiny's off of MamaBargains.com for only $8 again :) Those pirate ships were just too darn cute and Joseph picked them out the first time.

Family Baby Shower

On Saturday I attended my family baby shower hosted by my step mom, Cathy. It was wonderful. Food and family... what else can you ask for? I only have a few photos so far because I didn't bring my camera (mistake on my part) so I have to wait for a few others to send the shots they got. Including one of the gorgeous cake from Edelweiss. It was a yummy white cake with raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting.

Here's the few pictures that I have:



Carly and I preparing to open gifts



We got the bouncer we registered for :)



Cathy, me and Cassie after the party

Great Buys!

In the past two weeks I've had two great buys! Just recently I went to Target for lunch just to look around (retail therapy always makes me feel better when I'm stressed at work) and I found an awesome deal. I found a pregnancy body pillow on clearance for $30! It's the Boppy Total Body Pillow. Pictures below:



And a closer of the pattern on the pillow cover... so cute!



And last week I checked out mamabargains.com to find that they had Happy Heiny's on sale for $8 each! Can you believe it? I could only talk Joseph into getting 4 of them so I got one small, two medium and one large. Aren't they great??



The small one... pirate ships :)



A medium with the American flag (perfect for the 4th!)



A medium in dragon print



And a large in sandcastles



I can't wait to find other great deals. Most moms I know who cloth diaper have advised to buy a few different brands of cloth diapers to figure out what baby and I like the most depending on the time of day, etc.

I also want to look into gDiapers as well but I'm not sure what's the best thing to do... I'll figure it out :) Maybe I'll just get the starter kit... or the shower gift.