Growing Your Baby - Parenthood from Pregnancy to Pre-school

Liv Tyler Hosts The Launch Of Stella McCartney’s Collection For GapKids

Lisa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:37:18 +0000

On Thursday night Liv Tyler hosted the launch of the new Stella McCartney for GapKids collection.

Designed for girls and boys from newborns and on up to 12-year-olds, the collection features Stella McCartney’s signature touches, including a soft color palette, familiar silhouettes and her unique mix of unexpected pieces. The result is looks that stay true to Stella’s unique vision, reinterpreted with GapKids’ playful, child-like charm, keeping fun and practicality at the forefront of the design intent.

For girls, key pieces include an intarsia leopard print sweater dress, velvet blazer, tulle tutu and cashmere hoodie that are sure to delight little girls the world over. The boy’s collection is fun and functional, featuring a mix of monster and superhero graphics and classic pieces like a navy wool peacoat and quilted chambray jacket.

Celebrity moms came out to support Stella and to snap up some of her beautiful pieces before they were all gone.

Some of those in attendance were:

Monet Mazur and son, Preston Daniel de Rakoff and Sasha Alexander and daughter Lucia Sofia, 3
Marley Shelton
Jessica Capshaw and son Luke Gavigan, 2
Jennifer Maguire, son Otis and daughter Ruby

PHOTOCREDIT: Charley Gallay/wireimage.com SOURCE

The Schrieber’s Stroll in NYC

Lisa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:13:34 +0000

Naomi Watts and Liev Schrieber were spotted out for a stroll with their sons, ‘Sasha’ and Sammy in SoHo today.
Liev yelled at one of the paparazzos who was getting too close them. He asked her to use a long lens and shoot them from faraway so as not to scare his kids.

Sammy stays warm in a JJ Cole Bundle me stroller insert while riding in a Phil and Ted’s Dash stroller.

{SPLASH}

BabiesRUs.com “Savings of a Lifetime” Weekly Offers

Lisa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:02:59 +0000

If you are expecting or need to purchase a gift for someone who is expecting, BabiesRUs.com has some great deals they are offering to their online customers.

The BabiesRUs.com “Savings of a Lifetime” promotions have various end dates, so please check before purchasing.

Preemie Profile: 25 Weeker Brianna Rose

Shannon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:17:06 +0000

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our fifth profile is of a sweet little girl named Brianna Rose.

Brianna was born on February 12th 2009 at 25 weeks and 1 day. Mom Melissa had severe preeclampsia that was rapidly progressing to HELLP syndrome. (Pre-eclampsia is a condition characterized by pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, protein in the urine, and swelling (edema) due to fluid retention. HELLP syndrome is a complication of severe preeclampsia.) It was a very scary situation and mom and dad were terrified that they would lose baby Brianna.

When Brianna was born she weighed only 586 grams. Brianna was always a fighter. Every nurse who worked with her described her as “feisty” and they believed that her feistiness helped keep her going strong.

During her NICU stay Brianna overcame numerous obstacles. She had PDA(Patent Ductus Arteriosus) ligation at 12 days, multiple blood transfusions, sepsis, infections, anemia, reflux, RDS (respiratory distress syndrome), BPD (brochopulmonary dysplasia) and ROP (Retinopathy of prematurity) stage 3, at its worst-which is now resolved.

Brianna seldom had bradycardia (low heart rate) but had a really difficult time keeping her oxygen sats up(apnea of prematurity). This was the last obstacle that Brianna had to overcome as she could not even pass the car seat test because her oxygen levels kept dropping. The doctors then decided to put her on caffeine which helped resolved her oxygen issues.

After 117 days in the NICU Brianna was able to go home. As for any lasting effects from her prematurity, mom Melissa thinks it just may be too early to tell. Melissa says that Brianna was fortunate compared to a lot of the babies she has read about. She escaped her NICU experience seemingly unscathed. Brianna still has anemia, reflux and BPD. She takes vitamins, medications and inhalers for these conditions.
Brianna is also on an apnea monitor at night but that is hopefully coming to an end later this month.

Developmentally, she is coming along well. Brianna is functioning right where she should be based on her adjusted age. As for size, she is rather small. She does not suffer from any feeding disorders but can only tolerate three ounces of milk/formula at a time. She is just now starting to try spoon feeding and she has been able to do that once successfully so far. Overall she is a very healthy and happy little girl, and she is the most amazing and magnificent child Melissa could imagine!

Melissa found the NICU experience very stressful. She says that you cannot truly understand that roller coaster ride unless you have been through it. They loved the hospital where they were and found the nurses very helpful and supportive. But despite that it was still very stressful and at times a traumatic experience. Even now, 9 months later, Melissa sometimes struggles. As most moms of preemies realize, the NICU experience doesn’t end when you walk out of the hospital with your baby. Of course they still have to be very cautious with Brianna. They can’t just take her out and about. She can’t go to the grocery store or department stores , to restaurants or even to work where Melissa could show her off. She has had exposure to extended family, but Brianna’s parents try to keep that to a minimum. The risk of her getting sick is just too high, given that her body didn’t have the same chance as full-term babies to fully develop an immune system.

If Melissa had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: Take things one day at a time and celebrate all of the small victories.

I asked Melissa to describe Brianna in one word and she said “AMAZING”.

Brianna sure is an amazing child! And might I add cute as a button!!!

If you would like to read about Brianna, you visit her here at Brianna Rose Ganey

Baby Genius Baby Animals: Enjoy A Day At The Zoo! (GIVEAWAY)

Lisa — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:02:27 +0000

Baby Genius‘ Baby Animals DVD was a hit at our house from the minute I pressed play. This educational video incorporates all of the things that make my kids happy; animals, music and dancing. After just playing the video a few times, my son had picked up the catchy songs. It’s cute! I find him singing them all over the house. This makes me agree with research studies that have linked music with enhanced brain development as well as increased language, memory, coordination and social skills.

Baby Genius divides this video into segments that talk about a different animals in a song. Additionally, each one of their animated characters appears at the bottom of each section, while playing an instrument and dancing to the Caribbean themed music.

With footage shot at the San Diego Zoo, this DVD shows the Zookeepers and kids interacting with the baby animals in their natural habitat. Kids get a chance to learn more about their favorite animals like the Elephant, Tiger, Meercat, Panda and Giraffe.

While I would never think that this video will make my son a ‘genius’, I have found that he has retained a lot of the information shared in this video about each species and their young.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this DVD to any parent who has kids that love animals. It is packed with great footage of mommies and babies playing, sleeping and interacting with each other.

I also like that it comes with a Bonus CD to play in the car or around the house.

WIN IT! We have 5 Baby Genius Baby Animals DVDs to GIVEAWAY!($10 value)

This would make a great Holiday gift for some lucky little one or a stocking stuffer.

To enter, please comment here with your favorite

Extra Entrants:

Blog about our giveaway! Tell your readers about our giveaway and then send us the link in a separate comment for an additional entrant to the giveaway.
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Regardless of outcome – ALL bloggers who blog about our giveaway will be linked back in our winners post.

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Giveaway Rules

Giveaway Closes Thursday November 12th, 2009

The Aubry’s Land In LA

Lisa — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:54:42 +0000

Actress Halle Berry, her boyfriend Gabriel Aubry and their daughter Nahla were spotted this afternoon arriving into LAX from New York.

The doting daddy carried a playful Nahla, while Halle pulled a Louis Vuitton luggage bag through the airport.

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New Zealand Mom: I Have Two Wombs & A Baby In Each!

Lisa — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:22:11 +0000

When Liz Breach feels her unborn twins kick, she can not only tell which one it is, she also knows which of her two wombs the baby is growing in. The New Zealand mom, who discovered that she has two completely separate wombs a rare condition called uterus didelphys when she was a teenager, later successfully carryied her two sons, Trent, 7, and Logan, 3, in her right womb.

When she became pregnant again earlier this year, Liz, 32, couldn’t wait to find out which womb was housing her baby. Thrilled at the news of an addition to the family, her husband Jason, 39, offered to take time off work and come along to the ultrasound scan.

”But I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, so I went alone,” recalls Liz.

However when the five-million-to-one bombshell was revealed, she immediately wished Jason had been at her side.

“The doctor asked how I would react if he told me I was having twins and that there was a baby in each womb,” says Liz. “I told him it wasn’t funny.”

The babies are due in the new year! We wish this family good luck.

{ZUMA}

Preemie Profile: 26 Weeker Gavin

Shannon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:36:19 +0000

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. In honor of this, some parents who have had babies prematurely have offered to tell their stories to create awareness about his important cause.

Our fourth profile is of Gavin Paquette.

Gavin was born on December 22nd 2007 at 26 weeks 4 days, however the doctor said he was more the size of a baby born at 25 weeks and 3 days. They thought that possibly mom Jennifer was confused about the conception date however she wasn’t because she had IUI (Intrauterine insemination) to conceive.

Jennifer had HELLP syndrome (a life-threatening obstetric complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-eclampsia.) Gavin weighed a mere 640 grams when he was born.

During Gavin’s NICU stay he was intubated shortly after birth because the doctors said he was able to cry OR breathe, but not both at the same time. He was on the ventilator for 5 weeks when they were able (after a course of steroids) to wean him to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure.) Gavin was on CPAP for 3-4 weeks, then they were able to wean him to high-flow nasal cannula oxygen. (He came home on oxygen and was on it until he was over a year old.)

Gavin was OG (oral-gastric) tube fed for several weeks after starting on TPN for a few days after he was born. They wouldn’t feed him for the first few days because he hadn’t passed his meconium plug. They had to keep giving him enemas daily to pass it. Gavin started being fed by NG (nasogastric) tube after a while.

About a week after he was born he ended up with pneumonia, and shortly thereafter he developed MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections) in one of his eyes. Parents were unable to touch his skin with bare hands until he reached 1000 grams, but he had MRSA at that time, so they couldn’t touch him until after that was cleared up. Because of his fragile state and being on the ventilator, they were unable to hold him until he was 5 weeks old, and that was only with gloves and gowns on due to the fact that he still had the MRSA.

They started trying to bottle feed Gavin at 34 weeks. Breastfeeding was given a try in the hospital after working on bottle feeding, but Gavin never took to it. Most of his NICU stay was spent watching him desat (several hundred times a day at first!), and then trying to get him to gain weight so his lungs would get better. He retained fluid, so they started him on diuretics which he continued for about 6 months.

Gavin spent a total of 103 days in the NICU before coming home. As far as effects from his prematurity, he has BPD (Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia-a chronic lung disorder that is most common among children who were born prematurely, with low birthweights, and who received prolonged mechanical ventilation.) A neurologist told Jennifer that all preemies have some degree of brain damage. She does not know yet if that’s true. Gavin seems to be mostly caught up at least to his adjusted age, and his physical health (except for his lungs, which are getting better all the time.)

Gavin did have reflux while in the NICU and when he came home, but there was no luck with treating it with Prevacid or Zantac. They decided to just not treat it since it wasn’t that bad. He has been diagnosed with failure to thrive (a condition in which a child loses or fails to gain weight and grows at a slower rate than expected) since he wouldn’t drink more than a few ounces at a time until just recently. Gavin is finally starting to catch up on weight though.

If Jennifer had one piece of advice for a new preemie mom it would be this: Join a support group and get as much information and help as you can!

I asked Jennifer to describe Gavin in one word and she said “FIGHTER”.

I agree! It is not easy for any baby born this early to pull through the NICU without a fight!

Baby Bloch For Your Little Ballerina

Lisa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:15:33 +0000

How cute are these? Based on Bloch’s world famous ballerina shoes, the Baby Bloch range is soft and feather-light, expertly crafted for comfort, style and the protection of your baby’s developing feet.

Bloch presents a new gorgeous collection of ‘Baby Bloch’ prewalker shoes. Patent ballerinas, booties, mini taps and laceups, featuring luxurious Italian leathers, all inspired by Bloch ballet shoes and their latest ladies fashion range.

Levi Enjoys A Laid Back Stroll In Malibu

Lisa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:32:38 +0000

Little Levi McConaughey is one cute kid! He was spotted yesterday out for a stroll with his Grandma in Malibu.

The laid back tot stayed warm in bundled up in an orange button down shirt and knitted hat.

{INFPHOTO.COM}