Pregnancy obviously is a natural, necessary part of the circle of life, but things can get complicated and confusing when you have to think about pregnancy in the context of the workplace. Click here for an informative Q & A on pregnancy and employment, including topics such as interviewing when pregnant, breaking the news to your boss, maternity benefits, and discrimination.

Miracles do happen. Just ask my mama friend Paige, whose otherwise peaceful 9-week old babe was waking every couple of hours through the night. Pediatric suggestions to slightly elevate the babe or administer Maalox (in case the problem was reflux) were attempted in vain. Things were getting ugly.

Then one of Paige’s mama friends turned her on to the Amazing Miracle Blanket. No joke. This extra long 100% cotton knit swaddling blanket resulted in an immediate result of 9 straight hours of sleep. Basically, while we all experience sleep-disturbing twitches through the night (I have been known to knee my husband in the kidney), infants haven’t yet learned to soothe themselves back to sleep. Swaddling helps prevent the big twitches that lead to night waking while creating a cozy, womb-like environment.

Machine washable and dryable, the blanket retails for $26.95 at Amazon (green, undyed natural, blue), or more colors are available for $29.95 at BabyCenter. Locally, Paige picked hers up at Isis Maternity.

Among taboo mama topics is that of how a mama feels about her maternity leave. Polarized responses such as “I’m so sad for my leave to end!” and “I can’t wait to get back to work!” are common.

Regardless of how you feel during leave time, it’s probably safe to say that all mamas feel some degree of guilt if and when they return to work. A Mayo Clinic article offers some helpful tips on how to ease transition, cope with guilt, and continue to breastfeed. An article from U. Michigan Medical also offers tips on returning to work and description of different types of child-care options.
Among the logistical issues, I suggest working out child-care and pumping arrangements as soon possible. The child-care situation is a major stressor; there just doesn’t seem to be enough supply for the demand. Get your name on wait lists as soon as you can and pursue other options in the meanwhile. And don’t be afraid to ask for space to pump. Take the Mayo Clinic advice that you should never accept to pump somewhere you wouldn’t eat your lunch to heart (I pumped in a bathroom once, and believe me, I will never do that again!).

Among the personal issues, I think the most sanity preserving measures include: self care, not being afraid to ask for help, and letting less important matters slide. The little chores can wait; or if you have the resources, you can rationalize that a sane and happy mama is worth the price of an occasional visit from a housecleaning service.

It’s tough out there for papas too. So I was really glad to see that Postpartum Support International has a section for fathers, including resources on helping partners through postpartum depression, coping with new fatherhood, and general parenting from the papas’ perspective.

Finished trolling around Faneuil Hall and the North End and need to take a load off? Then head over to the Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park on Atlantic Avenue in Boston. Not only is the harbor view and landscaping a relaxing retreat for adults, but your babe will love the playground, green space, and spray fountain.

Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, Tel: 617-635-4505

Toddlers are like raccoons. They love shiny objects. And for some reason they really love shiny objects with sharp edges.

One day at breakfast I had a brilliant mama moment when the babe was begging to have her own knife. I really appreciate that toddlers want to be independent so if she wanted to spread her own jam, so be it. I remembered our cute little spreaders from Crate & Barrel; the spreader (shown, left) from the Nordic Demi Utensils set is perfect for little hands. Plus it’s shiny and free of sharp edges but still looks like a real knife (my babe will not tolerate condescension). These utensils are $1.95 each and are dishwasher-safe.

While I love trundling around little boutiques on foot, sometimes one stop shopping is the way to go. Boston area mama Jeniphir Taylor-McIntire, a sales consultant for Natural Family Boutique, recently pointed me to her online store.

Natural Family Boutique offers eco-friendly products to support families from conception to weaning. The site offers Haba toys (my favorite toy line, period!) and apparel for babes, indulgent jewelry, spa, and home items for mamas, and lots of products for new parents (breastfeeding, baby care, and cloth diapering supplies, pregnancy, birth and postpartum products, books & CDs, slings). The site also offers resource material on breastfeeding, pregnancy and birth, nutrition, parenting, natural living, and activism.

Host a mama’s night out NFB party with Jenipher and get discounts and freebies along the way. Send Jenipher an email to find out more.

UPDATE 8/15/07: Sadly, Natural Family Boutique has closed its virtual doors. Please visit our category links to the left for more fabulous toy, gear, and pregnancy resources.

I was going to write today all about my hot date on Saturday.  Ma and Pa came to stay with the little angel while my beloved and I Pricelined a hotel on the Plaza and went to dinner and Four! Bars!  Three! Cover! Charges!  Six! Drinks! In! One! Night!  This sort of frivolity has not been had in a long time.  It was glorious and adult and very fun. 

We arrived home, a wee bit hungover, about 10:30.  "You didn't say anything about the potty," my mom said.  "I hope we did it right."

Me:  "WHAT?"

Ma:  "Oh, yeah, she said she had to use the potty last night, and she peed in it."

WTF?  This from the kid who screamed "NO POTTY!  There is no potty ANY MORE!" last week.

Huh.

Not five minutes after we got home, she said she wanted to use it again.  She sat there so long I finally left her to go look at My Yahoo.  When I came back, she has not only peed in her little potty but also pooped.  I stood there with hungover shock on my face (because, though I was proud, a little pile of poop just waiting for me to clean it up was not really my idea of a good time on Saturday morning).  I thought to myself, hmmm.  Maybe I need to go on dates more often.  Maybe next time I leave her overnight, she'll learn to mop floors or maybe drive.

She hasn't done it since, and she's still wearing the diapers.  I know her, she can be a bit cagey with the new skills.  It was a big weekend, though, and my liver has superseded all other organs for blood supply, so I have nothing else to say.  Except that in a few days, I'll be headed to San Jose for BlogHer!  WHEE!  So my liver can HATE ME AGAIN.

Food is a stressful topic for parents. When my babe started solids I was a mama obsessed. I made sure the babe had veggies before fruits, balanced food groups throughout the day, all organic produce, and plenty of variety. I exposed her to a new food every few days and filled an entire journal with her input/output details lest I suspected allergies (clearly, data collection has been a big part of my life…). I spent a lot of time in front of the stove and Cuisinart, steaming and pureeing food, and freezing the puree in covered ice cube trays. I occupied an entire section of the freezer with bags and bags of frozen food nuggets. Sometimes there was little to eat in the house other than frozen food nuggets.

I like to think that my reward for my obsession was a good eater, but I suspect that largely, we've been lucky. A mama asked me to include a post on picky eating; here are a few thoughts and resources:
Probably the most liberating piece of advice I read regarding feeding was this: So long as you put a nutritious, balanced meal in front of your babe, your job is done. You are not a short order cook! Once I stopped fretting over whether the babe actually ingested enough of this or enough of that my life was so much easier. And of course, the less I pushed certain items, the more willing she was to eat them. Click here for Dr. Sears’ tips for pleasing the picky eater, the original source of my culinary liberation.

Another online article, “Picky Eaters; Born or Made?” offers perspectives and suggestions, two of which I find very important. First, do not barter about food. Drawing connections between food and good/bad behavior can have detrimental long-term implications. Second, it’s okay to be sneaky. Whenever possible I hide minced vegetables under cheese (e.g., quesadillas) or in sauces (e.g., pizza, lasagna).

And of course, good eating is a mutually beneficial arrangement. At one point I realized that I was obsessing about the babe eating enough vegetables, but that we, the parents, were doing a pretty bad job remembering to eat our veggies. We started balancing and enjoying our meals better, the babe followed our lead, and I’m pretty sure that even if the babe doesn’t eat perfectly every single day we’ll be able to stave off scurvy.