Congratulations! You're pregnant!

Once she's seen that little blue line (or the pink plus sign), it takes time for a woman to get used to idea that she's pregnant. For some women, telling her family and her friends is part of how she makes it all real. For others buying maternity clothes or books on pregnancy and childbirth helps them to feel organized and prepared. It's especially difficult when pregnant women and their partners wait until the beginning of the second trimestre, after the risk of miscarriage is passed or certain screening tests are done, to tell family, friends, employers and colleagues about the pregnancy. They are anticipating an enormous change but they can't discuss it with anyone. They are having to prepare for this life-changing event with very little support.

Many newly pregnant women come into Mothering Touch looking for information and resources. Often they ask eagerly, "When can I start taking prenatal classes?" When we tell them they have to wait until they are seven months along, they ask wistfully if there is anything they could be doing now. They need some special activity or setting which marks them as pregnant, which makes it all "official."

Prenatal yoga classes are good places to feel pregnant and to meet other pregnant women and share information and mutual support. But they are about physical well-being first, and emotional and social issues have to come second, or no actual yoga gets done! So we have decided to start another group - one for pregnant mothers only - our Pregnancy Happy Hour!

On Friday evenings from 5-6:30pm, a childbirth educator will facilitate a group for pregnant moms to talk about how their pregnancy is going. We'll ask the question we ask every week in our baby groups: "How are things at your house?" Just as the postpartum period, pregnancy is not only a physical process (with its attendant aches and pains and joys and revelations) , but it's also an emotional journey with changes in self-perception, relationships, expectations. The fee will be $2 and there will be tea and cranberry cocktail (by donation) to make it a Pregnancy Happy Hour.  Click here for a link to our website.

Please spread the word to your pregnant friends.  First-timers and "experienced" mothers of all ages are welcome.

It's nice to know it bugs us all...

It turns out you are not the only one who has trouble reading the paper or doing the dishes when you have a child whining at your feet. A new study in the Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology has come out saying that adults - interestingly both parents and non-parents alike - have a hard time completing math problems when they were subjected to whining. click here.

Recipe of the Month

Alright, I know this one might take some convincing to try, so check out the photos on Momsicle Vibe where I found this recipe. Super fast, super easy, and super delicious! Thanks Danielle!

Black Bean Muffins

1 can black beans

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Pour into 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Splash, it's summer!!

You've made it this far so you get a prize.  Come in and mention the newsletter and you get 15% off one of our fun and colourful swim diapers.  Perfect for taking baby for a dip at your local rec centre or in the kiddie pool this summer!