Starting solids is a fun rite of passage for both parents and babies… but those little packages can feel really wasteful not to mention it gets expensive quick!

Relay Foods, Chop Suey Books, Franklin Goose and Hip to be Round are hosting a free baby food demo at the Hip to be Round store in Carytown.

You’ll learn how to make your own baby food, hear tips, watch the process and taste the final product.
In addition to learning a thing or two you’ll  have a chance to meet other moms, win door prizes and get a discount on nursing apparel.

DIY Baby Food Demo
Thursday, March 26, 2015
6:30pm
Hip to be Round in Carytown
3124 W. Cary Street
Richmond, va 23221
No RSVP necessary.

Hip to be Round is a sponsor of Richmondmom

Fresh air, some sunshine, a little warmth and breastfeeding at the park in front of strangers… Well, the first parts are fun.  Clothes with easy access for nursing moms can be hard to come by. But fear not, you don’t have to turn in your style card when you have a new baby.  Here’s a few spring styles available at Hip to be Round for spring 2015 that we can’t wait to get our hands on.

 Basket Weave Nursing Maxi
Believe it or not this nursing/maternity maxi dress has a hidden nursing panel right behind the top basket weave.  Works great for maternity and falls completely flat for a no-way-that’s-maternity look postpartum.

 Zahra Applique Dress
Pleats and draped fabric hide easy nursing access just below the detailed neckline. Bonus: you can wear this one pregnant too!

Must Have Maxi Dress
Keep it simple with this solid maxi dress, seam lifts for easy nursing access.

 Ikat Nursing Dress
This dress leaves a little room for that post-belly-belly to create a flattering fit, nursing access is hidden just behind the panel.

Gemma Nursing Dress
Cute print: check.  Spring colors: check. Nursing access: check.

Enja Cap Sleeve Dress
Perfect dress for work which is great, because the word “pumps” has taken a whole new meaning.

Britney Bubble Top
Dresses not your style? We’re loving the watercolor print.  Front pleating covers nursing panel and provides a flattering not-too-snug fit.

Express Nursing Tank
Can’t go wrong with a nautical stripe. This nursing tank is super cute on it’s own or paired with a light cardigan for spring.

Shop all the new arrivals and try them on in person.

Carytown
3124 W. Cary St
Richmond, VA 23221

Mosaic District
2905 District Ave, #125
Fairfax, VA 22031

This article was sponsored by Hip to be Round.
Hip to be Round carries new and consigned maternity and nursing apparel and accessories.

We hear it time and again: “Pain during pregnancy is normal… The baby must be sitting on the nerve…”  We are told so by our friends, our sisters, our mothers and even uninvited strangers.  But the truth is that pain during pregnancy is not normal. It is not expected because the baby is small and cushioned well, so he or she cannot be sitting on a nerve.  However, pain during pregnancy is common. Statistics show 50-80% of women experience back pain while pregnant.  This can range from significant to completely disabling pain– 80% will be unable to go through their daily routine because of their intense pain.

So the term “Pain is normal” is not a good enough answer for me.  I’m a Physical Therapist, trained to help you with your “mechanical pain”.  Mechanical pain means the pain that is coming from muscles, joints, lose ligaments, discs, and pre-existing asymmetries.  A trained Physical Therapist can evaluate each of these structures for you, determine what is causing your specific pain, and help create a plan to help relieve that pain.  Our evaluation results in a treatment plan that can implement in the office, and teach you an exercise program that you can take home to manage your pain.

Instability in the muscles and ligaments is the most common cause of the pain, resulting in other muscles working too hard to stabilize the tissues, resulting in spasms and shooting pain, that may even travel down the leg.  Learning how to safely do a pelvic floor muscle contraction is the start of that stability.

Let’s try it:  lie down, or sitting a chair, with your legs and back at rest. Then, squeeze up and in, imagine that you are trying to hold in urine.  Try your best not to squeeze your gluteals, your knees, or your feet together, really isolate those pelvic floor muscles. Hold for a count of five, and repeat the exercise ten times.  You can be make it harder by holding longer, or steadily increasing the intensity of the squeeze.

Another strong stabilizer is your abdominals! Again, sitting or lying, sink your belly button in to your spine, hold for a count of five, repeat ten times.  Another nice way to help reset unstable joints is rhythmic motions, sit close to the edge of your chair and rock your hips backward and forward. You will be making your pelvis tilt forward and back, repeat ten times.  All theses exercises can be done several times a day for the best results.

Here are some tips that will come in handy to help with your pain as well. Think about your posture. Imagine the string pulling your head up as you stand and walk. Keep your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles engaged when you change positions, like when you are going up and down stairs, or when lifting heavy objects or children.  Wear sensible shoes, not heels and flip flops, throw the Uggs back in the closet, and instead, chose a strong heel, and good arch support.

We have touched on some important exercises and tips to help you with your back pain, but there so much more to learn.  Be sure to tell your ObGyn about your pain, no matter how small, even if you are in your first trimester! Ask if a Physical Therapist would be safe and appropriate for you. Remember, back pain is not “normal” and something you need to live with, but it is common. So don’t settle for dealing with unnecessary pain.

Mona Saeed DPT, Certified MDT, CHT earned her Bachelor of Science degree fromBarnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY, and her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY.

In addition to general orthopedics, Mona is experienced and certified in McKenzie’s method to treat cervical and lumbar spine dysfunction. She also has the unique experience of treating patients with pain related to pregnancy as early as 6 weeks to full term, in both high risk and “normal” pregnancies.

Many of the physical therapists at Tidewater Physical Therapy Inc. hold Direct Access Certification through the Virginia Board of Physical Therapy allowing them to evaluate and treat patients without a prescription. As part of your healthcare team, a physical therapist will make an assessment of your condition and create a plan to start you on the road to wellness. Our team will communicate with your physician of record and obtain a referral, if necessary, for your continued treatment. We will also work with your insurance carrier to make sure services are covered by your plan. To make your own appointment, find a clinic near you.

This article is sponsored by Tidewater Physical Therapy.

Hip to be Round in Carytown is celebrating the new year with items just $20.15!

Brand new items have been marked down throughout the store with an entire rack of clothing for 20.15 or less. If you’re due in the summer you’ll find a few summer items marked down to $20.15 or under too!
Hip to be Round’s newly expanded consignment section has everything from high-end designer maternity wear to well-known maternity brands at a fraction of the original cost.

If something full price strikes your fancy, take $15 off a $75 purchase when you present your Savvy Saver app or mention Richmondmom.

Past season items have been marked down to just $5  and all of the money from these items will be donated to Safe Harbor.   There is currently no end date to this promotion, but you’ll have to hurry in for the best selection.

If you’re interested in consigning with Hip to be Round, call for an appointment.

Hip to be Round
New and Consigned Maternity Wear

3124 W. Cary Street
Richmond, Va 23221
(804) 340-1700

Hip to be Round is a sponsor of Richmondmom

RVA Parents of Preemies (RVAPOP) is a Richmond-based group that provides community, advice, support, and friendship to the parents and family members of infants born prematurely.

RVAPOPs mission is to lessen the isolation of the NICU experience by uniting new preemie parents with experienced NICU families for local support as well as providing a safe space to celebrate successes and share concerns.

The RVA Parents of Preemies support group meets every fourth Wednesday of the month at 6:30pm. Franklin Goose-Carytown, 3401 West Cary Street, Richmond, VA  23221.

For more information visit their Facebook Page, check out their website, or contact Leslie Forrest at rvapreemie@gmail.com. To donate to the RVAPOPs March for Babies team click here.

The Birth Story of RVAPOP:

When Leslie Forrest went into premature labor at 31 weeks gestation, she spent ten days in the antepartum unit while doctors prepared her daughter, Lucia, for an early arrival and also tried their best to keep her inside for as long as possible. During the quiet lulls not spent with her husband—who was also sharing time at home with their other three children 11, 5, and 2—Leslie worried, cried, and tried to find information or support online. She had so many questions and wondered what it would be like to give birth to a preterm baby, and what Lucia would look like when she was born. She knew that the Neonatal Intensive Care team would care for her daughter at birth and she wondered what to expect.

Leslie scoured the internet but eventually turned to Facebook and a local mothering group in hopes of finding someone to talk to. She posted a thread to share that she would be giving birth to a premature baby soon and asking for advice, but no one responded. Leslie was left feeling even more alone and scared.

The next day someone replied that they knew of a woman who had recently given birth at 32 weeks, and she offered to connect the two moms. “It was a relief to express worry to someone who truly understood. While friends and family were well meaning, they couldn’t empathize the way that another preemie mama could,” says Leslie. “Marissa really understood what I was going through. While everyone around me was saying ‘Oh the baby is going to be fine, everything is going to be OK,’ Marissa was able to be there for me and say, ‘This is NOT OK, and I’ve been through this. This is really hard.’”

As it turned out, Marissa had given birth at Henrico Doctor’s Hospital too, and so she was able to offer specific encouragement and reassurance. “She shared what I could expect from our NICU stay and even told me who her favorite nurses were.” When Leslie’s fears about giving birth surfaced, “Marissa’s listening ear and friendship were a godsend.”

Leslie and Marissa quickly realized how important and helpful this kind of one-on-one support could be for both new and experienced mamas of preemies. “It’s healing to be able to give back to another family if you’ve been there before and know the struggles of the NICU,” says Marissa.

The need for emotional support doesn’t often end after discharge from the NICU. For many families, leaving the NICU is only the beginning of their journey as babies born prematurely are at higher risk for a host of health challenges and special needs as they grow and develop throughout their first year and beyond.

Newly postpartum and home with her new daughter after a 30 day NICU stay, Leslie discussed with Marissa Richmond’s need for a community group to serve mother’s and families of babies born prematurely.

They organized a monthly meet-up for themselves and a few other NICU moms who they had recently met, Luci and Kasey, also founding board members. When the Christmas Season came they put together gift bags for mothers who were caring for their babies in the NICU over the Holiday. “We knew they would appreciate a little pick-me up,” says Leslie, “Something to say, ‘Hey, we know you’re in there, and we’re thinking of you.’”

They also started a Facebook group for local moms to connect, ask questions, and celebrate the big and little milestones. “Having a place to post questions as we navigate the medical challenges that our babies face, or just to encourage each other in the small victories, it’s been invaluable to bridging that gap of feeling isolated,” says Leslie. “We finally have community!”

With a lending library of books available as a community resource and a March for Babies Team that has already raised over $1,000 for the cause, these mamas are filling a previously unmet need in the mothering community and championing the cause of prematurity.

Women entering pregnancy can now benefit from an expanded, multifaceted group approach to prenatal care offered at Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center.

CenteringPregnancy® is a nationally recognized program led by certified providers usually nurse midwives; it augments individual prenatal visits with group sessions and gives expectant women better control of their pre-natal care, through a group setting.

“Expectant women are more empowered today than 10 or 20 years ago in making their own health care decisions, and CenteringPregnancy helps them achieve this by bringing women out of isolated exam rooms and into groups for their care,” said Mary Anne Graf, vice president of women’s services, Bon Secours Virginia Health System. “CenteringPregnancy has a proven track record of ensuring healthier babies and healthier, well-informed new mothers. While moms often desire to be in the driver’s seat of their pregnancy, labor and delivery by making their own choices, they also can find pregnancy to be isolating and intimidating at times. CenteringPregnancy provides a supportive setting of women who often share the same ‘pains and passions’ of pregnancy.”

After completing their first obstetrics appointment at a Bon Secours-affiliated practice or clinic, women receive information on CenteringPregnancy and are offered the choice to participate in the program. Women are grouped by similar due dates. In each weekly session, they receive a private, prenatal check up by a certified nurse-midwife, including weight and blood pressure monitoring. This is followed by a two-hour group educational session led by a certified nurse-midwife. The weekly sessions enable the women to discuss health concerns and expectations in a supportive setting. Weekly topics including nutrition and healthy lifestyles, labor and childbirth options, breastfeeding, pregnancy discomforts, newborn care, child development and more.

Through this unique model of care, women become empowered and feel confident to play a more active role in their pregnancy and overall health. They have access to all their charts, ultrasounds and lab work, and they are acutely aware of how their pregnancy is progressing. Each woman is supported physically, spiritually, psychologically and socially, through bonds that develop within the group.

Initiated in the early 1990s by a nurse-midwife in Connecticut, and today with sites nationwide, the CenteringPregnancy model has resulted in positive health outcomes for pregnancies, specifically increased birth weight, fewer preterm births, shorter postpartum hospitalizations, and fewer unnecessary visits to the emergency room. The satisfaction expressed by both the women and their providers support the effectiveness of this model for the delivery of care.

“Women often are each other’s best teachers, and groups enable them to share a wealth of information with one another,” said Jean Curtacci, RN, a certified nurse-midwife and a group leader of CenteringPregnancy at St. Francis Medical Center. “The women in my groups are more willing to express what they’re really feeling, and they feed off of each other. The experience also is enhancing the way I provide prenatal care in a traditional setting, because I am learning more about what these women are going through in any given week of their pregnancy.”

“CenteringPregnancy has proven to be a really powerful process for a woman’s pregnancy, and it’s changing the way women are receiving their prenatal care,” said Graf. “New mothers especially are seeing this group approach as what prenatal care is, and will be in the future. The support setting will enrich their prenatal health, and the bonds they form will play an important role in each other’s lives. We see this as a new paradigm in the way prenatal care is delivered in the future.”

CenteringPregnancy comes to Bon Secours as a result of its 12-month qualitative and quantitative research, revealing how women today are more empowered than the previous generation of women to seek options and resources to pursue their own health needs. To support this, Bon Secours also is introducing other new programs this year, including Moms in Motion®, a nationally recognized fitness program.

Bon Secours is an advertiser with Richmondmom.com

If you haven’t unlocked ultimate nerd status by looking it up, I gotcha covered.

Pantone Color Forecast for Fall 2012

We love orange with neutrals like this combo from Design-Seeds

Orange has gained popularity in recent years (Tangerine Tango was the color of the year last year) which is great because it’s bright, sunny, rich and autumnal all at once.

So, since it’s August, and that’s only one step away from everything pumpkin spice, let’s talk about the do’s and don’t of wearing Koi.

Do: Use orange to spice up neutrals; we love koi with steel, navy, nude & brown.

Don’t: be afraid to wear orange if you can’t wear it next to your face. Break it up with a chunky brown necklace or tone it down with a neutral cardigan.

Do: wear it to your baby shower! Not that you must wear blue or pink, but orange makes a fun, gender neutral color to wear to your shower which is especially fun if you’re not finding out.

Try grey and orange for an alternative if you’re tired of browns.

Don’t: shy away from wearing it in the winter.  True, orange is synonymous with fall, but that doesn’t mean it’s hands off after November. Ward off the dreary days of January and wear a splash of orange with dark denim and a grey cardigan (you can even wear those basic black flats you’ve been living in).

Do: tread carefully when pairing with black lest we look like a pumpkin on Halloween.  If you’re unsure, skip the black, not the orange.

Do: Try orange instead of red. I love red, don’t get me wrong, but koi makes a great statement in an unpredictable way.

One of the great things about your maternity wardrobe is that it gives you a chance to try out a few new trends and wear some things you don’t normally wear (after all, unless you’re a Duggar, you’re not typically pregnant). So even if orange isn’t in your safe-zone – stop in and give it a try!

Left to Right: Orange paired with chocolate brown, black and navy.

Is anyone else planning on giving Koi a try this winter? What is your favorite thing to pair with orange?

I wanted to share some of the unique features with you!

Top-notch medical care 

– They are the only Level III NICU with private rooms, should a baby need additional, specialized care.

Group prenatal care: Centering Pregnancy

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center will host two open houses to showcase its renovated Labor and Delivery Unit, which offers unique accommodations and childbirth options to expectant mothers.

The new unit features spacious rooms with private labor tubs and showers, a 24-hour visitation policy for family and friends, á la carte room service and wireless fetal monitoring, allowing women to move freely during labor. The unit will support VCU Medical Center’s comprehensive labor and delivery team, including obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, certified nurse-midwives and nurses. For more information, visit VCUmom.com.

Jessica Alba stays comfortable in leggings.

Fall is on it’s way and just because your pregnant doesn’t mean you can’t get in on great style.
Here are the top 7 staples that should be in your maternity wardrobe as autumn arrives…

1 Noppies Leggings.
There is no doubt that leggings are a pregnant girl’s best friend.  Pair them with tunics, under dresses, big chunky sweaters, you name it.  Just when you thought leggings couldn’t get any better (or more comfortable) one of our favorite maternity brands managed to improve them with a soft stay-put underbelly fit and adjustable waistband making them great for postpartum.

Style Tip: During your pregnancy, your growing belly will bring the hemlines of dresses and tunics a little higher, leggings will give extra-coverage under dresses that have become too short during pregnancy.

2 Skinny Jeans.

While some women balk at skinny jeans for maternity nothing really beats the versatility.   Skinny jeans look great pre-fall with a pair of oxfords, tuck into your favorite boots neatly and cleanly and then in spring again (postpartum) with some colorful flats.  We love bootcut styles and straight styles, but if you’re only going for one pair, opt for skinny.

Style Tip: When shopping for denim, look for something that you can wear postpartum, like Paige Maternity underbelly jeans which provide a comfortable “muffin top free” fit after baby.

3 A Chunky Sweater.

We love fitted styles because of how they flatter your bump, but some days you just want to be covered up.  A chunky sweater looks great with your leggings or skinny jeans or paired over a slim line pencil skirt for work.

Style Tip: if you’re having your baby in the fall or winter, they provide a good postpartum fit.

4 A Michael Stars Shine Top.

If it’s not clear by now we love items that can be dressed up or down and Michael Stars Shine tops hit the sweet spot between dressy and casual.  Wear with your skinnies on the weekend and dress it up for the office.  Wash and dry this top 1,000 times and it still looks as great as the day you bought it which is great since the gentle stretch and longer fit makes it a top you can count on for week 40.

Style Tip: If you’re tall, pair the Michael Stars Shine top with skinny jeans, if you’re shorter, with leggings. Ruche the top more or less to bring the shirt to the right length for your body.

5 A Sleek Pencil Skirt.

Wear it to the office, wear it on date night, pop on your chunky sweater and favorite boots for a perfectly put-together fall look.

Style Tip:  Fitted dress can double as a pencil skirt when you pair it with a longer top or sweater

6 A Black Dress.

Selma Blair tucks her skinny jeans into boots.

The LBD rule doesn’t escape maternity. Fall and winter pregnancies mean you’re going to need something for holiday. Find a black dress with a great fit that you can dress up or down.

Style tip: use accessories to change this dress up: a knit scarf to dress it down, a chunky necklace for a party or a patent belt and matching shoes for something more professional.

7 A Maternity/Nursing Dress.

If there is any time where you have fewer clothes than when you’re pregnant, it’s postpartum. Many maternity brands have been making life easier for mom by incorporating nursing access into their maternity wear to help bridge the postpartum gap.  If you’re headed back to work, nursing access makes pumping easier.

Style tip: Pack this item in your hospital bag to have something flattering and comfortable to go home in.