Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Getting Enough Iron During Pregnancy Doesn't Have to Mean Popping Pills

During your pregnancy, considering the fact that you’re growing a new organ and a new human and supplying the oxygen and nutrients from your own body, it’s especially important to make sure your iron levels are healthy.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Vote for Your Favorite Labor Product


Please take the time to go over to one our favorite sites about.com and vote for BINSI as your favorite labor product. We are very honored to be a finalist in their Readers Choice contest!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

57 Medicinal, Cosmetic, and Other Alternative Uses for Breastmilk


Breastmilk – it’s not just for babies anymore.1 I’ve compiled some of the amazing (and admittedly strange) uses for breastmilk – nature’s super food. Follow the links for my source cites and/or further studies and information.

What is your favorite alternative use for breastmilk? And let me know if I left anything off the list!

To read the rest of this wonderful article click here.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Help For Heartburn By Eating the Right Foods

Alkaline-forming foods prevent acid reflux, heartburn, GERD and Barrett's Esophagus

Monday, February 13, 2012 by: JB Bardot

(NaturalNews) Acid reflux is the condition where food and stomach acids regurgitate back into the esophagus, causing burning pain in the lower chest accompanied by a host of other symptoms such as bloating, belching, sore throats, snoring, difficulty breathing and ulcers.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Why are more women birthing at home?


BY Ricki Lake

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the surprising news that home birth rates jumped 29% between 2004-2009. For non-Hispanic white women, home births increased a dramatic 36%.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Stop Looking at My Belly! The Transition from Pregnancy to Motherhood - From Belly to Breast


We were so honored and excited that Nicole from Skirts Sports wore and used our BINSI Products! She writes a wonderful blog - you should really follow it! Here is her blog entry about it:

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I spent the majority of my pregnancy celebrating my belly. As you could see from all the maternity photo shoots, I was totally focused on the amazing changes my body was making. Looking back, it's still awe-inspiring. Our bodies are miraculous. I can still spend hours appreciating the wonders of women's bodies. But now the baby has arrived.

Within moments of delivering Wilder, I was totally "over" my belly. In fact, I didn't want anyone to even sneak a sideways glance at my belly. Especially not in its post-birth condition. I'm trying to think of a good way to describe it and all I can think of is the word floppy. My belly is in post-birth floppy phase. I know it will someday evolve from floppy to firm; I'm not too worried about it at the moment. There will be time for that later.

What I find much more intriguing are the two cushions located just above my floppy belly. My breasts. Yes! I actually have breasts now! My belly was the safe haven for our girl for nine months, and now, my breasts are taking center stage. The focus has officially shifted - from Belly to Breast.

Tired eyes, but big smile while
rocking baby Wilder

Let's face it. This is a major life transition - for Wilder and for us. The whole sleep thing is in full-swing. I can only describe it as having a series of naps for the past six weeks. The longest nap has been around four hours. We are not only living in a sleep-deprived fog, we're also in a state of constant second-guessing (i.e. She just ate but she's making sucking noises. She couldn't possibly need to eat again. Or could she? Should we try not to feed her? Oh no - she's having a meltdown. Quick, stick her on the boob!). First-timers have it the worst. We have NO idea! So I've decided to take as many short cuts as I can and have happily accepted tons of hand-me-downs and even better, tons of advice for those little tricks that make life just a tiny bit easier during the "Belly to Breast" transition. Read on for some of my must-have gear picks for the first 6 weeks of Wilder's life.

During Labor and Delivery:
One of the things that was important to me was what I would wear during my labor and delivery. I didn't want to wear the hospital gown, but I didn't want to be naked the entire time. I found an awesome company called Binsi; in fact, Binsi is a Skirt-centric company, that specializes in labor and delivery products. I wore the PrimaMama Sport Birth Skirt, the Go Go Top (this snap-off bra was and still is one of my favorite nursing bras) and of course their headband since my hair was a nightmare and bugged the crap out of me the entire time.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

How to Recover from an Unplanned C-Section: The Only Thing I Didn't Research!


We were so excited to see Nicole DeBoom, owner of Skirt Sports, wearing our BINSI Hairdo-la! Please read her blog, it is a great perspective on unexpected cesarean birth.

I was a researching fool throughout my pregnancy. I was fastidious. From exercise, to nutrition, to symptoms of early labor, to recommendations for the birth and delivery -- I basically got a bachelor's degree in "pregnancy for the active woman." I truly enjoyed the entire pregnancy, even the two weeks of limbo after my due date passed but before I was induced. I was good to my body. I was incredibly healthy. I was prepared for just about every possibility - except for the one that happened. An unplanned, emergency cesarean section.

Assuming I had experienced a vaginal birth, I was prepared for my lowest level of fitness to be the last few weeks of my pregnancy. After the birth, I thought I would enjoy minimal recovery time before "getting my body back" one step at a time. I imagined that within a few weeks I would be able to start swimming, cycling, hiking, and running at an easy, introductory level. However, as it turned out, my fitness level could indeed decrease even further, as dictated by the unplanned c-section.

A cesarean section is abdominal surgery, plain and simple. It's not arthroscopic surgery where they extract the baby through a minor incision. The medical team literally makes a large incision (5-6 inches in my case), cutting through layers of skin, muscle, and of course, the uterus, so they can safely bring the baby into this world.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

10 Steps to Natural Childbirth


By Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, About.com Guide

Choose a supportive practitioner. No matter whether you use a doctor or midwife, be sure that your practitioner has a lot of experience in caring for women who want to have an unmedicated birth. Midwives usually specialize in this type of birth. How to choose your practitioner.

To read the rest of this wonderful article click here.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Monday, February 6, 2012

Facing Maternity Care Gaps, Midwives Push For Birthing Justice

Written by Michelle Chen

As wondrous a phenomenon as childbirth is, we often view it as a form of medical purgatory --hours of drug-dampened agony under starched sheets and sterile lights. But more women today are thinking outside the box about labor. Home-based births have shot up in recent years. Advocates across the country have persuaded governments to broaden medical coverage for out-of-hospital birth services.

To read the rest of this article click here.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Another Reason to Delay Cord Clamping


Posted by Christie Haskell at The Stir

Likely, you've heard the phrase "delayed cord clamping" -- it's the idea that all the blood in the placenta and umbilical cord should pump INTO the baby's body before the cord is cut, since it's intended to be the baby's own blood supply. Waiting just 94 seconds ups blood volume and helps prevent anemia in the baby's first year. While the benefits aren't very disputed, sadly, most OBs only wait an average of 17 seconds before clamping the cord.

To read the rest of this article click here.