There are a lot of things that you could say in labor to help ease the pain. I spend some time in childbirth class telling my students that vocalization in labor is really good for helping to ease pain and feel "on top" of a contraction. In my practice as a doula, there are always some women who swear in labor. Usually you will hear a simple expletive here and there. According to a study, swearing may actually help increase your pain tolerance. So before you think you need to chant the F bomb to get any benefit, the good news is that any word that you choose as your swear word seems to work.

I know that in one of my labors I chanted the words "60 seconds" over and over. But I do know that with my 7th baby, she was in a funny position and it hurt a lot more than I had remembered and it was a fast labor. I said a choice word. I opened my eyes and looked up and thought, "Maybe I shouldn't say that word." Next contraction, said it again. Maybe it was working for me. Thankfully the baby was born a contraction or two later. Think it would work for you?

_Source:

_{Swearing as a response to pain Stephens, Richard; Atkins, John; Kingston, Andrew NeuroReport. 20(12):1056-1060, August 5, 2009. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1}

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long warned consumers against the use of ultrasound purely for keepsakes. This doesn't mean that you can't take an ultrasound photo home from the doctor's office, what it means is that you shouldn't go to the mall and get an ultrasound, even if the people working there do ultrasounds in doctor's offices all day long. The fear was that women would use this in place of the physician or midwife or that they would be over or under diagnosed. (The FDA's warning also extends to the renting of fetal dopplers.)

Some of these shops have been closed sporadically over the years, but until recently, nothing has really happened. And then Connecticut goes and signs a bill into law saying that they are placing a ban on fetal ultrasounds that are not done under doctor's orders or for diagnostic purposes. "Using ultrasound equipment only through a prescription ensures that pregnant women will receive professional care that contributes to their health and to the health of their babies, and that ultrasound will be used when medically indicated," according to the FDA.

Why would you or wouldn't you get an ultrasound done for entertainment? Should women be allowed to get an ultrasound at the mall? Have you had one done? How was it different than one you got at your doctor's office? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

There is a lot of talk going on about a phenomena called "Pit to Distress." Basically this means that an obstetrician or midwife orders pitocin to be given, typically during an induction, at a rate or in such a way that it is likely to cause the baby to go into fetal distress and require a cesarean. The Unnecesarean and Keyboard Revolutionary wrote about this first, but NursingBirth's blog really hit home. Not only did she talk about how it actually happens in her hospital, but she gives some great advice to try to prevent pit to distress from happening in your birth. Perhaps you'd be better off skipping the elective induction?

So have you had this happen to you or someone you love? Perhaps you're a doula or nurse and you've seen it in action? Tell us your story in the comments section.

There are tons of free sources for baby names available on the web, but none, quite like the Oxford English Dictionary of First Names. Besides being a trusted authority, I really like the way they word their answers to searches. Here's my names, for example:

"Originally a pet form of Robert, from the short form Rob + the diminutive suffix -in (of Old French origin), but now nearly always used as an independent name. In recent years it has been increasingly used as a girl's name, partly under the influence of the vocabulary word denoting the bird."

Perhaps I just like the stuffy feel to the sentence structure, like you can see some older gentleman in a tweed jacket churning out the text on the other end of the computer. If you're looking for another site, I really like NameBerry from the creators of Beyond Ava and Aiden. What are your thoughts and your favorite baby naming resources on or offline, just hit the comments section and let me know!

Related:

• The Baby Namer
• Most Popular Names for Girls
• Most Popular Names for Boys
• Most Popular Names for Twins
• How to Choose the Right Baby Name
• Baby Names Forum
• What's your baby naming style?
• Gender Swapping of Baby Names
• Local Baby Names
• Baby Name Hints
• Baby Name Books

The date was 07-08-09. Oddly enough, the time was 12:34:56. (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) This happens only twice a century and one mom in Oklahoma has a birth certificate that says this is when her son was born. I actually asked about this in the pregnancy forum the other day, but I was thinking that simply being born on 07-08-09 was cool, then someone mentioned this potential birth time. One poster said that it was neat but that since this baby was born by scheduled cesarean, it was "cheating."

Now, the race for the baby born at 12:34:56 on 07-08-09 was nothing like the hoopla over the baby born at 00:00:01 on 01/01/00. That was crazy. There were all sorts of debates over who could claim the right to be the first baby of the millennium, including hotly contested arguments over babies born by cesarean. But should we really say that it's "cheating" to pick your baby's birthday? Some groups have different rules for babies born by cesarean. For example, a Jewish baby born by cesarean is not supposed to have his bris on day eight if that day is the Sabbath or holiday.

Personally, I don't think it's a big deal, I just find it interesting some of the variety of conversations surrounding the timing of birth as it relates to cesarean section. Anyone else heard these types of discussion? What are your thoughts?

I remember having my first baby and being a college student. The place where I was doing my work study wanted to buy a gift for my husband and I for the new baby. I asked for a car seat. I choose this because they were so expensive. Well, all these years later and not much has changed. The car seats look a bit different and I have to say that I love the concept of the base for car seats, it's really helped me be more safe with my baby's car seat. The good news is that there are some really nice car seat models that offer safety and affordability.

More Thrifty Thursday from About.com Parenting:

• Affordable Car Seat Options
• Cheap Birthday Gifts That Promote Fitness
• Cheaper Reading: Save by Swapping
• Getting Out of Debt and Staying Out of Debt
• Saving for College at the Grocery Store
• Recycle Old Jeans
• Plan a Fun Tween Sleepover Party
• How Does 50% Off Your Hotel Stay Sound to You?

Never in my mind did I think that there would be anything remotely related to Michael Jackson on my site. But tonight as I listened to Debbie Rowe, his former wife, talk about her relationship with the King of Pop, the children and her postpartum experience I changed my mind. Between Rowe's interview and snippets of an interview with Michael Jackson himself, you got a very odd view of what the postpartum experience was for the Jackson family.

With his first son, Prince Michael, the baby had some breathing difficulties right after birth. As with any new parent, Michael Jackson was frightened. But when the NICU nurse pronounced, several hours after birth, that the baby was healthy and doing well, Michael immediately took the baby home to the Neverland Ranch. Hours, folks. Seriously, in the hospitals where I live, you'd be lucky to see your baby out of the nursery sometimes in that amount of time and in your postpartum hospital room.

Even stranger is where Debbie Rowe went when she was released from the hospital after giving birth. Michael Jackson had fixed it so that she could rest and recuperate at the Biltmore in Arizona. Now, that is my style of postpartum care! (I did have a niggling question about where she trashed the monster pads you have to wear after giving birth.) While I would have to have my baby with me, the Biltmore sounds like a smashing place. I did wind up doing a few days postpartum in a hotel after our seventh baby was born and our AC went out, but let's just say seven small kids in one room was not what Debbie Rowe had.

When Paris was born, Michael Jackson again, whisked the baby off This time he reportedly didn't even let the baby be dried off before returning to the Neverland Ranch. ( Mom went to a fancy new house of her own this time.) Wow. Part of me is amazed that anyone let this happen in the hospital. Part of me totally gets that this was all about what money could buy. My wish? That parents who wanted to give birth in the hospital, had the choice to return to their homes shortly after birth if they wanted to do so, even without having to moonwalk the baby out of the nursery under the suspicious eye of the nursery nurses.

What's your take on the story of Michael Jackson's babies' home records and the fancy postpartum digs? Just hit the comments section below and let me know what you think...

Related:

• How long should you stay in the hospital after childbirth?

I have a friend who is pregnant with her third baby. She has a boy and a girl at home. They decided not to find out the sex of this baby before birth. So yesterday she was saying that she failed her glucose tolerance test, the same way she did when she was pregnant with her daughter. She did not fail it with her son. So now, she's ready to bet that her baby is a girl.

While I've heard of lots of ways to predict the sex of a baby during pregnancy, even with old wives tales, I've never heard of any one saying that they felt that their glucose tolerance test. Here's the thing, just because we don't know how that would work now, I could totally see that being possible. As we learn more and more about the state of being pregnant, why couldn't a fetus of a different sex (girl) cause a mother's body to react differently than another sex (boy)? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Related:

• Glucose Tolerance Tests (GTT)
• Old Wives Tales: Girl or Boy
• It's a girl! Baby Girl Ultrasounds
• It's a boy! Baby Boy Ultrasounds
• Ancient Chinese Gender Chart

Kids are naturally curious. They want to know everything. The most common word out of a small child's mouth is "Why?" So I was talking this weekend with some mothers and they told me hilarious tales of where their children thought babies came from. Everyone in the room had a different tale to tell about what they said and why.

The common theme was that no one knew how to tell their kids anything. Need help on how to answer the question of where do babies come from honestly without laughing (much)? Don't worry, I'll help you.

Related:

• First Born Jealousy
• Children at Birth
• Pregnancy Books for Children

So you've read a lot of good pregnancy books and you think you've got it all under control. Maybe you've had a baby already and known your way around a birthing room. Here is a fun quiz to test your knowledge of pregnancy and birth. How well do you score?

• Am I Pregnant? Quiz
  

• Is it twins? Quiz
  

• Labor and Birth Quiz
  

• Boy or Girl Quiz
  

• Cesarean Section Quiz
  

• Epidural Anesthesia Quiz
  

• Pregnancy Quiz
  

• Postpartum Depression Quiz
  

• Celebrity Baby Quiz
  

• Conception Quiz
  

• Am I in Labor Quiz?

Related:

• Pregnancy Calendar
• Pregnancy Pictures
• Questions About Pregnancy Tests

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