The Mom Crowd

Kegels.

Pubococcygeus Muscle (PC muscle).

Know what I am talking about?

The Kegel exercise is one that strengthens the pubococcygeus muscle which is part of your pelvic floor. They are called Kegels because it is named after a Dr. Kegel who came up with the exercise of tightening and relaxing the muscle.

Still don’t know what I am talking about?

You may have been told to do some kegel exercises during pregnancy. The simplest way to know if you are doing the exercise correctly is to sit on the toilet while you are peeing and try to stop the flow of urine. When you contract and release your PC muscle you should notice a starting/stopping or slowing of the urine leaving your body.

There are many benefits to “kegeling” for a pregnant woman. First, it can help with urinary incontinence. During pregnancy it is normal for muscles to relax and women often find themselves leaking a little pee when they laugh, sneeze, cough, run etc. Doing Kegels regularly will help prevent urine leaks. Studies have shown that it doesn’t matter whether or not you have had a vaginal birth or c-section—- pregnancy strains or weakens the pelvic floor muscles. It was once believed that having an episiotomy prevented urinary incontinence but studies have shown that doing kegels regularly can help prevent and heal a weakened pelvic floor muscle during pregnancy.

One of the most important benefits of having a strong pelvic floor during pregnancy is that it helps the baby’s chin to be tucked into its chest. This allows the best positioning for the baby’s head to help dilate the cervix and then slip through the pelvis and birth canal. If the baby’s chin isn’t tucked into its chest during birth it can make labor and birth more difficult. Pushing your baby out gently (as opposed to pushing really hard as the baby head crowns and shoulders come out) also helps prevent tearing. Deep perineal tears and episiotomies can also compromise your pelvic floor since your perineum (what is torn or cut) is attached to that muscle. There are many things you can do to help prevent tearing during the pushing part of birth but that is a whole other post!

Kegel exercises are the first exercises you can do after birthing your baby. You can start with the doctor or midwife’s okay 24 hours after the birth.

Kegel exercises benefit women in more ways than urinary continence. It also makes sex more, um, pleasurable for both the woman and her husband/partner. It helps women to have increased blood flow in the sensitive areas during sex and also helps women to have orgasms. When you first start doing Kegels after the baby is born it is quite difficult but it gets easier as time goes on and it is definitely worth it! I always laugh at a part in Jenny McCarthy’s book Baby Laughs where she and her husband would joke about whether or not sex would feel like “throwing a hot dog down a hallway” after having a baby. Kegel exercises prevent postpartum sex from feeling like that!

Older women tend to have more problems with urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse (when pelvic organs slip down too far). Practicing Kegels throughout one’s lifetime can promote a better sex life, less urinary and bowel incontinence, and healthy pelvic organ placement. The hardest thing about the very simple Kegel exercise is remembering to do them.

In order to get started all you need is a few quiet moments to concentrate and make sure you are doing them correctly. Keep the kids out of the bathroom a time or two (easier said than done, I know!) so you can have some peace and quiet. Try to start and stop the urine flow while you are peeing. Once you get the hang of how the muscle works you can now do your Kegels anywhere! It is actually not recommended to do them on the toilet (regularly) because it could encourage bacteria to flow back into the bladder which can cause a bladder infection.

You can Kegel at red lights, while watching tv, folding laundry, doing the dishes, playing legos–whatever works for you.

Start by:

Doing 50 a day for a few weeks. Then work your way up to 100 a day for a few weeks. Then 200 a day.

Some patterns of Kegels:

Contract and then let fade away

Contract/Release

Contract, Hold for 2 seconds, Release

Contract, Contract, Contract, Hold, Release, Release, Release (like stair steps)

If you work your way through the patterns, I think you will see an improvement in your PC muscle over the next month. Good luck!

Sometimes babies need a little extra medical attention when they are born and need to stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. There are many reasons why a newborn would need to visit the NICU. The NICU can be an uncomfortable, scary, intimidating environment. I have spent 15 days in the NICU and many days in various hospital rooms. Some simple things like making sure every nurse in the hospital had our cell phone numbers, posting pictures of our family on my daughter’s bassinet, bringing in the mobile from her empty crib at home, and calling dibs on the next open comfy recliner made our stay more comfortable. There are many other things you can do to make your NICU stay less intimidating and more comfortable.

Create your own privacy

• NICU’s are typically the least private areas of the hospital. While being in a “fishbowl,” it’s important to create some privacy for you and your baby while you’re visiting. Most hospitals will provide screens that you can arrange around your child’s bassinet during breastfeeding or bonding time. Take advantage of those screens!

Kangaroo Care

• Kangaroo Care is a special type of bonding with your newborn. It’s basically just skin to skin holding by undressing your newborn and unbuttoning the front of your shirt. This is great for any newborn, but it’s especially important for babies who aren’t able to go home right after their births. Moms AND Dads can do Kangaroo Care. The benefits of Kangaroo Care can be found here.

This is YOUR baby, not the hospital’s

• When Darah was in the NICU, I felt like the hospital owned her. I wasn’t very proactive in her care because I felt like I would mess everything up. I wish I would have been stronger about voicing my concerns or insisting that I do her basic care when I was present. If you want to give your baby his or her bath or next feeding, then tell your nurse. Do not be late for these appointments because your nurse has other patients they need to attend to and most NICU’s operate in a very structured manner.

Learn the “rules”

• There is usually a limit on number of visitors, age of visitors, and who is allowed to hold the baby. Visitors (and parents) who are sick are to stay away and everyone must go through a hand-washing ritual with surgical scrub brushes.
• If you have a friend whose child is in the NICU, make sure you are following the rules. It made me frustrated when I had to remind people to wash their hands. If you’re a smoker, make sure you put a clean shirt on that you haven’t smoked in before visiting. Second hand smoke is the last thing any newborn needs, especially one with medical issues.

Go Home!

• Spending every minute of your day by your baby’s bassinet will deplete you of the energy you need when your baby comes home from the hospital. If you live far from your child’s hospital, look for the closest Ronald McDonald House and bunk there at night. I stayed at the RMH of Dallas for 6 weeks during one of Darah’s hospital stays, and was able to rest, eat (food they provided!), and meet other families so I was not so lonely.

Take care of YOU!

• You just had a baby and you need to recover (physically and emotionally)! Do not overdo it. If you’re having a hard time emotionally, ask your doctor for a support group of other moms in the NICU or suggestions on coping emotionally. Be watchful for signs of postpartum depression. Make sure you eat and are getting breaks from the hospital.

Most important: Ask questions!!!

• If you don’t understand something, keep asking for answers! If you are not comfortable with something, insist that you receive a better explanation. While these nurses and doctors probably do know more about your child’s health, this is YOUR child and you are an important player in their medical team. Keep a journal of your child’s medical information. Include feeding schedules, weight, medications, procedures, and any new diagnosis in this journal. Darah almost received a very wrong dosage of heart medication, but because my husband and I were aware of her medications, we interrupted what could have been catastrophic! After you leave the NICU, you will have a new title: Momologist, which is just as more important than any other “ologist” (pumonologist, cardiologist, hematologist, oncologist, neurologist, etc..) who takes care of you child!

Check out these informative sites:
Neonatal Nursery

When Your Child’s in the NICU

What has been your experience in the NICU? What helped make your stay more pleasant?

“Yo Gabba Gabba!” is a hip live action children’s show with a techno beat that airs on Nickelodeon. Each episode is focused on a social topic like sharing, love, sleep, or eating. The premise of the show is that DJ Lance Rock carries five dolls in his boom box and when you say the words “Yo Gabba Gabba!” all five characters come to life in their own diorama world. According to a NY Time article, the show’s title is combination of MTV’s “Yo! MTV Raps” and the Ramone’s chant “Gabba gabba hey.”

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Do you remember that scene in the beginning of the movie Parenthood (it came out in 1989 and if you haven’t seen it since you became a parent you totally should because it is really funny) where the Buckmans are driving home from a baseball game and their oldest son is singing, “when you’re sliding into first and you’re feeling something burst, diarrhea, diarrhea…“? It is a very catchy tune and funny, of course. It is one that all kids are sure to love.

But is it funny when your kids come home from school or a friends house and sing it to you? Are you like me–do you secretly hope that your kids will never learn cuss words or say things like, “I’m going to kill you!” or “Mom, can I have a toy gun because so-and-so has this really cool one at their house and I want one too.” (Things my kids have learned from other kids.) What about when your kid learns to hit others because that is what he/she sees other children doing? What do you do when your kids are influenced (by what you see as negative behavior) by other kids? What is the best way to respond?

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A few weeks ago, The Mom Crowd was given some products from “Raggs“, a program now showing on public television.  I was told it was a fun, lively, educational show that pre-school children would love.  So I tried it out on my daughter Lucy.  It didn’t take long for her to find it completely mesmerizing, and within a day, I started hearing the request, “Watch Raggs?” 

Raggs is a rock & roll loving dog, whose friends (Trilby, B. Max, Pido, and Razzles) are in his band.  When they’re not performing for scads of jumping children, they’re hanging out in Raggs’ clubhouse talking about all kinds of topics, like jobs and friendship.  The show is sweet, colorful, and physical.  There are segments that invite the kids to join in on dances and other movements, as well as montage videos of real people, like what you’d see on “Sesame Street”.

Overall, I have not found “Raggs” to be as irritating as other childrens’ shows (which shall remain unnamed).  Lucy loves it and talks about the characters all the time.  She likes her Raggs coloring book and the stickers that came with it.  It won’t be long before I’m sure to hear her singing the familiar Raggs tunes.

Here is a video of the Raggs Kids Club Band singing “What’s the Dealio?” 

You can also check out these links for more information:

Series Overview

Online activities for the kids

How to find Raggs on tv where you live

Have you seen Raggs?  What are your impressions?  Do your kids like it?