Has anyone realized that there were more babies born in the United States last year (2007) than ever before?

About 4,315,000 children were born in 2007, which is about 15,000 more births than at the peak of the baby boom in 1957. Although during that time, the “baby boom” was influenced by a fewer number of woman having more than one baby. So why the drastic increase? Well, as far as I’m concerned, there are two reasons:

The first being the overall increase in population. Each year the U.S. population grows, and in turn its only natural that the number of newborns increase as well. You gotta love science!

But secondly, and in my (humble) opinion, the REAL root of this growth: plain, good old fashioned boredom. I’ll explain – the rapid (and disappointing) increase in the number of reality shows, the writer strike in Hollywood, the mindless movie plots being released every week has left us nothing to do with our spare time. (Although there are a handful of exceptions, such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog. If you haven’t seen it, watch it!)

Not to mention the economic factors that come into play. With everyone trying to save money, fewer people are going out for entertainment (movies, dinner, etc.) so we stay in and get comfortable, and with that leads to, eh hem, other “entertaining” things.

So if we really want to point the finger, lets aim it towards Hollywood…or the economy…or Deal or No Deal – that Howie Mandel has got to answer to someone!

Its no surprise that in most cases, having a baby can be stressful at times. Both on us, as parents and on our bank accounts in the process. But for people having twins, triplets or more - does this “stress” just compound with each child?

I read something recently regarding a study that claimed parents of twins are more likely to have mental health problems than those of single-born babies. (You can read about the study here)

It was a small study and it tracked about 100 twins and around 700 single-born babies, with an outcome that showed the parents of twins having more depression, anxiety and other problems than parents of the single-born babies.

But that got me thinking… were they really suffering from depression and anxiety? Or was it more caused by the idea of the lack of sleep, double feedings and double diaper changes that made it seem as if these new parents were having issues?

Of course the medical concerns when having multiples can play a part in this as well. As it”’s known, women pregnant with multiples are more susceptible to medical complications — such as premature birth, diabetes and high blood pressure, but I would think these concerns (somewhat) go away once the children have been born and given a clean bill of health.

I suppose this is more relevant now than ever with the rise in twin births due to artificial reproduction techniques. Since many in-vitro fertilization procedures implant more than one embryo, there is obviously a greater chance (1-in-4) of having twins.

So with all this to consider, maybe having twins isn’t exactly like getting two for the price of one!

Any woman who’s had gestational diabetes can tell you all the ways it can affect your pregnancy. From small things like changes in your diet to the more “annoying” aspects such as checking your blood sugar every few hours - not to mention the potential affects the disease can have on your baby.

Being as there is no history of diabetes in my family, I can pretty much blame myself and my sweet tooth. And although I tried to change my eating habits (as in not eating as much “sweet” stuff) to more fruits and veggies, the natural sugars in fruit just added to the problem I already had.

Luckily I didn’t have a sever case, and it did not carry over after my son was born. Although the increase in sugar did speed up his growth and in turn I ended up with a 10lb baby!

Read more…

When I was pregnant with my first child I remember (every so often) having some weird cravings, and then at one point my entire “sense of taste” changed. Things I had LOVED before I was pregnant made me cringe and stuff that I would have never eaten before made my mouth water.

The reason I bring this up is due to an interesting study stating that “…pregnant women who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily raise the risk their children will develop asthma by 50 percent.”

Luckily for me, my husband manages to eat all peanuts, almonds, cashews or anything else that goes well with a cold beer before I even know its in the house, and I have never been crazy for PB&J. But I know that there are thousands of people who eat peanut butter or “nut-based” products daily!

On the plus side the study also showed that moderate amounts did not seem to have an effect, so I suppose it’s too soon to say whether or not pregnant women should give up nuts completely - especially since they contain a lot of important nutrients and healthy fats that a developing fetus needs.

You can read the full report Here

We had a post yesterday about myths related to the sex of your baby. Now apparently science is involved - as if they don’t have other things to work on - like building my boy a mini-hovercraft so I don’t have to push his stroller all the time.

Anyway, new research done by British scientist provide [what they consider to be] the first-ever evidence that a mother’s diet at conception may determine her baby’s sex.

“Mothers-to-be who skip breakfast and eat less are more likely to give birth to girls, while moms who consume more calories and a wider range of nutrients — including, specifically, those from breakfast cereal — are more likely to deliver sons.”

I’m not sure if this fall in line with the other pregnancy myths, seeing as (and again - I’m not a doctor) I always thought the fathers sperm dictated the sex of the baby, not which type of cereal you had for breakfast.

You can read more about this here

Whether you want a boy or a girl, there are plenty of “magical” ways to predict or influence the sex of your unborn child.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Carrying High, Carrying Low: The general story goes that, if you’re carrying low, you’re having a boy. If you are carrying high, then you’re having a girl.

Daddy Gains Weight: The belief is that, if your husband puts on weight during your pregnancy, then you will be having a girl. If he doesn’t put on a pound, then you’re carrying a boy.

Is Mommy’s Face Round and Full?: If people tell you that because your face is round and rosy you are having a girl, they might be right - but then again its 50/50 right?!

You’ve got a Sweet Tooth: Many people believe that cravings are caused by the sex of your baby. Super sweet cravings, like chocolate or ice cream mean that you could be having a girl. Sour cravings like tart candy or lemon juice could be the result of the little boy inside of you.

Again, its important to remember that none of these are based on fact. Although I have been pretty good at guessing whether my friends are having boys or girls based on the “carrying low-or high” principle, but then again I’ve got a 50/50 shot every time…so the odds I’m going to be right are always decent!