Prime Day is here!!!!
Title: Unveiling the Ultimate Shopping Extravaganza: Amazon Prime Day!
Welcome, fellow shopaholics and bargain hunters, to the much-awaited retail phenomenon of the year—Amazon Prime Day! This exclusive event, organized by the e-commerce giant Amazon, has become an annual extravaganza that brings irresistible deals, discounts, and offers to millions of customers worldwide. In this blog post, we'll dive into the exciting world of Amazon Prime Day, exploring its history, notable highlights, and tips to make the most of this shopping bonanza. So grab your shopping carts and let's embark on this retail adventure together!
1. The Origin and Evolution of Amazon Prime Day:
Amazon Prime Day made its debut in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon's 20th anniversary. The event was initially a one-day sales event, exclusively available to Prime members. However, due to its massive success, it has grown into a 48-hour shopping extravaganza in recent years. While the exact date varies annually, Prime Day typically occurs in mid-July and attracts millions of shoppers worldwide.
2. Exclusive Benefits for Prime Members:
As the name suggests, Amazon Prime Day is primarily accessible to Amazon Prime members. This subscription service offers a multitude of benefits, including free and fast shipping, access to Prime Video and Music, and much more. Prime Day allows members to take advantage of exclusive deals across a wide range of product categories, from electronics and home appliances to fashion, beauty, and beyond.
3. Unbeatable Deals and Exciting Offers:
Amazon Prime Day is renowned for its jaw-dropping discounts and irresistible deals. The event encompasses a vast array of products, ranging from popular tech gadgets, such as smartphones, laptops, and smart home devices, to household essentials, fashion items, and even exclusive collaborations with renowned brands. Lightning Deals, limited-time offers, and Prime-exclusive discounts make this event even more thrilling for avid shoppers.
4. Spotlight on Small Businesses:
Amazon Prime Day is not only about big brands and major retailers. The event provides an excellent platform for small businesses and independent sellers to showcase their products and reach a wider audience. With initiatives like Amazon Launchpad and Amazon Handmade, Prime Day offers a unique opportunity to discover unique, handcrafted items and support local entrepreneurs.
To check out my TOP 100 Items for Relaxation, head to this link!!!
5. Tips to Make the Most of Amazon Prime Day:
To fully enjoy the Prime Day experience, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Plan ahead: Create a wishlist, research products, and set a budget.
- Stay updated: Follow Amazon's official announcements and subscribe to email notifications to stay informed about the best deals.
- Utilize Amazon's tools: Take advantage of features like "Watch this deal" and "Upcoming deals" to keep track of items you're interested in.
- Compare prices: Don't forget to compare prices across different sellers and websites to ensure you're getting the best deal.
- Explore Prime Day-exclusive launches: Look out for new product releases, special editions, and limited-time collaborations.
Conclusion:
Amazon Prime Day has become a much-anticipated event that offers unparalleled opportunities for shoppers to snag incredible deals on a wide range of products. With its ever-expanding scope and global reach, this annual sales extravaganza continues to revolutionize the way we shop. So, mark your calendars, prime your devices, and get ready for an unforgettable retail experience on Amazon Prime Day!
Happy shopping!
The Miraculous Journey: Exploring the Wonders of Pregnancy
Pregnancy is an awe-inspiring experience that marks the beginning of a new life. It's a time filled with anticipation, joy, and wonder as a woman's body embarks on a miraculous journey of creating and nurturing another human being. In this blog post, we will delve into the various stages of pregnancy, discuss the physical and emotional changes that occur, and provide insights into the importance of prenatal care and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
1. The Marvels of Conception:
Conception, the union of an egg and sperm, sets in motion the extraordinary process of pregnancy. Exploring the intricacies of fertilization, implantation, and the formation of the placenta reveals the fascinating beginnings of human life.
2. The Three Trimesters:
Pregnancy is typically divided into three trimesters, each marked by distinct changes and milestones. From the initial excitement and the rapid growth of organs and body systems in the first trimester to the remarkable development of the baby's senses and movements in the second and third trimesters, we explore the wonders that occur within each phase.
3. Physical Transformations:
Pregnancy brings about a multitude of physical changes as the body adapts to accommodate the growing baby. We discuss the expansion of the uterus, weight gain, hormonal shifts, and common discomforts experienced during pregnancy. Insightful tips on managing symptoms such as morning sickness, fatigue, and back pain will also be shared.
4. Emotional Rollercoaster:
Pregnancy is not just a physical journey; it's an emotional one as well. Hormonal fluctuations and the anticipation of becoming a parent can trigger a wide range of emotions. We delve into the psychological aspects of pregnancy, exploring the joy, anxiety, mood swings, and the importance of seeking emotional support during this transformative time.
5. Prenatal Care and Healthy Habits:
Maintaining optimal health during pregnancy is crucial for the well-being of both mother and baby. We shed light on the significance of regular prenatal check-ups, proper nutrition, exercise, and self-care routines. Expert advice and practical tips will empower expecting mothers to make informed choices that promote a healthy pregnancy.
6. Bonding and Preparation:
The journey of pregnancy offers a unique opportunity for parents-to-be to bond with their unborn child. We explore the significance of bonding techniques, such as talking, singing, and playing music to the baby. Additionally, we discuss the importance of preparing for childbirth, including childbirth education classes and creating a birth plan.
7. Embracing the Changes:
As pregnancy progresses, the body and mind undergo tremendous changes. We encourage expectant parents to embrace these changes, celebrate the beauty of pregnancy, and focus on self-love and self-care. Tips for staying comfortable, dressing fashionably, and nurturing body positivity during pregnancy will be shared.
8. The Final Countdown:
As the due date approaches, we discuss the signs of labor and what to expect during childbirth. From contractions and labor positions to pain management options and the support of healthcare professionals, we aim to provide valuable insights to ease anxiety and foster confidence for the big day.
Pregnancy is a remarkable chapter in a person's life, filled with extraordinary moments and profound emotions. By understanding the physical and emotional changes, seeking appropriate prenatal care, and adopting healthy habits, parents-to-be can embark on this journey with confidence, joy, and a deep sense of awe. Embrace the miracles of pregnancy, relish the anticipation of meeting your little one, and savor every moment of this transformative experience.
If you’re pregnant and looking for some guidance, please reach out to book a FREE discovery call. We work with women at all stages of motherhood and would love to meet you!
What IS Fortis Matrem?
When I was in college, I remember my first meeting with my “academic advisor” at the University of Oklahoma. I was 20 years old and had just transferred from a small Catholic school. Ready to prepare for my application to medical school, I was convinced this would be a fruitful meeting in which I would begin my travel down the Yellow Brick Road of becoming a physician. Walking into the advising office in the College of Arts and Sciences full of sparkly expectations, I walked out 10 minutes later having met with someone who never looked at me and a schedule I didn’t know if I could actually make work. After all, I did need to sleep until 11am. Because: college.
In between Anatomy, Physics, and Exercise Physiology, I was enrolled in my first year of Latin. One of the items the advisor mentioned as she viciously typed on her computer was that Latin is often the root word of many medical words and this would prepare me well for learning the necessary verbiage to excel in medicine. What ensued was the most challenging foreign language that I have ever studied. I should have stuck with French and German, which I already knew!
Regardless, our challenges are often presented as opportunities. I successfully completed three years of Latin and a medical terminology course (shout out to my girl, Neely, who helped me pass that final exam with incessant quizzing).
Fast forward MANY years, and I am tasked with coming up with a business name that encompassed my vision. Fortis Matrem. Fortis is Latin for strength. Matrem is mother, in the accusative singular case in Latin. Accusative singular is literally a more aggressive case to identify a noun or adjective. In simpler terms, it ensures that the noun or adjective you are describing is the main emphasis.
History has seen its fair share of Fortis Matrem. Here are 4 women that you might remember:
Many of you are familiar with Marie Curie as the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for science in 1903. What you may not know is that she also raised two daughters alone following the death of her husband in 1906. One of her daughters was a co-winner of the Nobel prize with her husband for their discoveries in the field of radioactivity.
Sojourner Truth fled slavery in New York with her newborn baby daughter in 1826. However, soon after their escape, Sojourner learned that her 5-year old son, Peter, was sold to a man in Alabama illegally. She raised money for a lawyer and became the first black woman who successfully sued a white man in court. She became a Christian preacher in the northeast and spread the Word, fought slavery, and encouraged women’s suffrage.
Waris Dirie, originally from Somalia, was a victim of female genital mutilation at the age of 5 in 1970. When she was 13, her parents arranged a marriage for her to a man who was over the age of 60 (!) and she ran away from home, arriving in London. Despite becoming a successful model and actress, she retired in 1997 and devoted her life to her work as a UN Special Ambassador. Eventually, Waris would become a mother to four children, simultaneously founding Desert Flower that combats female genital mutilation around the world.
Indira Ghandi was India’s first female Prime Minister. She was responsible for the green revolution in India, which created jobs, combatting food shortages and no longer reliant on imported grain. She had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, who both grew up to be politicians. Rajiv would later become Prime Minister in 1984 following his mother’s assassination.
These women were brilliant, survived unimaginable hardships, used their creativity and gifts to help others, all while bringing up their children to be kind, respectful, and make their own mark on the world. Our society does not make it easy for women: we are expected to look a certain way, have the job, have the house, have the car, have the handbag (I mean I wouldn’t turn down a Birkin if someone gifted it to me…), all while raising kind humans and keeping a clean house and being present for our mates. It’s impossible to do it all. We just can’t.
These women didn’t do it all either. They probably didn’t do laundry some days. I bet their lists never ended, and maybe didn’t even get all the items crossed off. They probably yelled. They cried. They wanted to give up. But they didn’t.
When you have those days, and I know you do, think of these four women. We are all destined for greatness. It is inside of us, given to us lovingly by our Creator, no matter which Higher Power you might believe in. It is time for us as women to take a stand, give societal expectations the middle finger, and forge our own path of what it means to be Fortis Matrem. One strong mother at a time.
How Postpartum Depression is like Onions
How postpartum depression is like onions..
We all remember the loveably crotchety ogre, Shrek. Crass, perpetually sarcastic, he walks through a field in the first film trying to get Donkey to understand why he is the way he is: “Ogres are like onions. They have layers.” Moms are like ogres too, not in the crotchety way, but in the layered like onions kind of way. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a lot like Shrek too: poorly understood, layered, and willing to explode at a moment’s notice.
Having a baby is no joke. It doesn’t matter how you have one: vaginal birth, C-section, adoption, whatever. You learn who you really are and what you really stand for in the process. People talk a lot about meeting someone new, but they aren’t always referring to the baby. YOU will be that someone new. You will have feelings and thoughts you didn’t think were possible. And that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, it just means you’ve uncovered another layer.
There is a period of time after birth in which the euphoria goes away, and you feel a little “blue.” Someone affectionately termed this the “baby blues.” Due in part to the drastic changes in hormonal expression that occur during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, this should dissipate after about 2 weeks. However, for many people, it does not and becomes something far more serious. Miraculously, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) changed their guidelines in 2018 to move the post-natal visit from 6 weeks post birth to 3 weeks (THANK YOU!). If you have used a midwife or doula, your support network will be checking in on you MUCH sooner than that!
Depression requires five or more of the following symptoms to be accurately diagnosed, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM):
depressed mood
diminished interest or pleasure in activities
change in body weight (more than 5% in one month)
insomnia
psychomotor agitation or retardation
fatigue or loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness
excessive or inappropriate guilt
decreased ability to concentrate
recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation
According to the DSM, for these qualities to classify as “post-partum” they must occur during pregnancy or within the first four weeks following delivery. Really?? 4 weeks??? Are you F******* kidding me?
I look at this list and I am confounded by the amount of thoughts and feelings I had during my pregnancy and after the birth of our son:
depressed mood (Well, I’m bloody exhausted, I’m wearing panties that look like something that belongs on an Asian pear, I’m terrified to take a shit, so yeah, my mood isn’t great)
diminished interest or pleasure in activities (I am so effing tired I can’t remember if I brushed my teeth today, so how would I know if I still like to workout or go for a walk, or read)
change in body weight (more than 5% in one month) (UMMMM HELLO!!! Just created a human, thanks.)
insomnia (What is sleep? This guy is up every 30 minutes)
psychomotor agitation or retardation (My hormones are all over the place. I am exhausted. I think I just put cereal in the fridge and the milk in the pantry.)
fatigue or loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness (See items above: exhaustion. I can’t even remember to do the laundry or cook dinner. Literally I’m a milk machine. Perhaps that’s all I’m good for)
excessive or inappropriate guilt (I seem to have forgotten how to be a wife?! You want to have sex? No freaking way buddy. Nothing is going near my Asian pear panties. I need a break from my baby. But I miss him the minute I give him to someone else. Wait, I’m supposed to be the one feeding him. What if he gets nipple confusion? I feel so guilty for not being able to cook my own meals. How can I take care of myself? There is another human who relies solely on me for survival right now.)
decreased ability to concentrate (See cereal example above).
recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation (Gratefully, I didn’t have any of these thoughts until later, but that’s another blog post).
Environmental factors, such as previous trauma, a history of depression and anxiety, cultural norms and expectations, community support, and coping strategies all play a role in whether a person will develop PPD. Turns out that more than just the environment can contribute to PPD. Turns out that your upbringing, your hormonal expression, and your neurophysiology, that is, literally how your brain works to process information, play a role in the development of PPD. Most specifically, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis contributes to PPD development and progression beyond just the “baby blues.” The HPA axis is like the outer shell of the onion. Just like as we peel an onion and the fumes make us cry, the outer peel has to be removed to “trigger” the fumes. Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is secreted by the hypothalamus in response to a threat, which then triggers the pituitary gland to make adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH). This hormone acts on our adrenal glands which sit just on top of our kidneys. At this point, we’re full on crying, not just due to exhaustion and the new demands of parenthood, but because we’ve peeled the outermost layers of the onion and the fumes are UNREAL. This signals cortisol to be secreted and we are in full fight, flight, or freeze mode. Interestingly, the last few weeks of pregnancy are when cortisol levels rise the most, reaching levels that are up to three times more than those of women who are not pregnant. Perhaps this is our primitive brain preparing us to protect our new offspring. REMEMBER: our goal as humans is to reproduce. This is ingrained at a primitive level and our hormones will stop at nothing to keep the bloodline going.
So what are we doing about this? I’ll tell you that in my experience, it was NEVER discussed in any of ante- or post-natal appointments. By the grace of God, I was trained formally in pregnancy and postpartum physical therapy, so I had some modicum of knowledge as to what to look out for. It took a solid community and some really brave people to point it out to me, though. I could explain away all of the physiology, but not stare my PPD in the face and truly FACE it.
If you or someone you know thinks you might have PPD, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is a great place to begin. If you’re not sure that you might be having more than just the “baby blues,” please fill this out and call your doctor or someone you trust. You can also contact the SAMHSA National Helpline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in both English and Spanish.
Having a baby and a family is the most beautifully rewarding thing in this world you can do. There are people who love you, support you, and will help you. I am one of them, even if I don’t know you.
https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2018/05/optimizing-postpartum-care
Eberhard-Gran, M., Esklid, A., Tambs, K., Objordsmoen, S., et al. 2001. Review of validation studies of the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand, 104, 243-249
Garcia-Leal, C., De Rezende, MG., Corsi-Zuelli, FM., De Castro, M., Del-Ben, CM. 2017 The functioning of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in postpartum depressive states: a systematic review. Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab, 12, 341-353.
Payne, JL and Maguire, J. 2019. Pathophysiological mechanisms implicated in postpartum depression. Front Neuroendocrinol, 52, 165-180. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2018.12.001
Soma-Pillay, P., Nelson-Piercy, C., Tolppanen, H., Mebazza, A. 2016. Physiologic changes in pregnancy. Cardiovasc J Afr, 27, 89-94.