After the announcement that she is pregnant with twins and dispelling the rumors that she experienced complications, Celine Dion debuted her baby bump on the cover of Canada's 7 Jours magazine. She poses without makeup with her husband, Rene Angelil, their 9 1/2 year-old son, Rene-Charles and their dog, Charlie.

Dion, 42, is due in November. Her rep recently denied tabloid rumors of complications saying: "She's never been in the hospital - her pregnancy continues to be healthy and she feels fantastic. As with most women expecting multiples, her doctor wants her to stay off her feet as much as possible as she finishes her pregnancy."

The longtime couple announced their pregnancy news earlier this year after a sixth attempt at in-vitro fertilization.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Many parents don't realize that making baby food at home is a simple and economical plan to provide your baby with food that is high in quality, nutrition and taste. In addition, it gets your baby used to eating the same food the rest of the family does, a strategy that may pay off during the picky toddler years.

Here are basic steps for making your own baby food:

• Wash and rinse your hands and equipment.
• Scrub and peel fruits and vegetables.
• Steam, bake, roast or microwave until tender (steaming and microwaving will preserve the most nutrients).
• Puree in a food processor with a little liquid (breast milk, water or formula are all appropriate choices), or mash if your baby can handle more texture.
• Store in the refrigerator or freezer, in airtight containers. One to three extra servings may be stored in the refrigerator. Use cooked vegetables or fruit within three days. Raw fruit and meats should be used the next day.
• Rewarm when it's time to eat and allow to cool.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are best, but you can also use frozen or canned. Look for items that contain very few additives such as salt, sugar or preservatives. Recommended fruits and vegetables to soft-cook and puree include apples, plums, pears, apricots, peaches, bananas, carrots, peas, green beans, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. In addition to fruits and vegetables, you can also puree foods such as cooked meats. Make sure that the meat is fully cooked, with no pink, and has the fat, skin and connective tissue removed.

When your baby is just beginning to eat solids, remember to introduce only one food at a time to identify possible allergies. As your child gets older and you know which foods have been tolerated well, you can start to blend two or three different fruits or vegetables together. Try the following recipes and see how simple it is to offer your baby fresh and nutritious homemade baby foods.

Stage II (8-10 months)

Baby Beef Stew
INGREDIENTS

• 1 peeled potatocup cubed cooked beef

1. Wash vegetables thoroughly and chop very fine.
2. Simmer the veggies for 20 minutes.
3. Add the macaroni and water; cook for 10 minutes or until macaroni is tender.
4. Drain.
5. Add cooked beef cubes.
6. Mash or puree the mix until consistency is adequate for baby.

Stage I (6-8 months)

• 1 ripe mango
• Liquid of choice (Formula, breast milk or water)

1. Peel, de-seed and chunk the mango.
2. Place mango chunks in a blender or food processor.
3. Add formula, breast milk or water and blend or mash until the proper consistency.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

The It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia family has expanded!

Costars Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney welcomed their first child, son Axel Lee McElhenney, at 12:52 p.m. on Wednesday, September 1 at their California home, their rep confirmed.

"I went into labor at the Phillies/Dodgers game on Tuesday night," says Olson. "As soon as Ryan Howard hit a three-run home run, we felt comfortable leaving to go have our baby. We love him like crazy, even though he made us miss the second half of the game."

The 35-year-old actress recently talked about her plans for a home birth.

"I decided on a home birth because I believe that as long as a pregnancy is normal and complication-free, your body knows what to do and does not need medical intervention. I think the key to having a baby naturally is being able to completely relax and get out of the way of your body’s ability to get the job done."

The FX cult comedy hit, which McElhenney created and executive produces, is set to return for its sixth season on September 16.

Congratulations to the Olson-McElhenney family!

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PregnancyWeekly.com

There are three classic signs of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH), also known as Gestational Hypertension and they are: a blood pressure of not lower than 140/90 mmhg., presence of protein in the urine and presence of generalized swelling or edema (only edema of the lower extremities is normal, edema of the face and hands is considered generalized edema).

If you observe these three signs, you will require special management to prevent the complications that can be dangerous to both you and your baby.

What exactly causes PIH is unknown, but there are factors closely associated with it that places you at greater risk of developing one.

A first time mom with no history of previous pregnancies is at risk especially if your age is below 18 or above 35 years old. If in your family, your grandmother, mother or sister had PIH, there is a higher risk that you may also develop the condition.

Mothers who have twin or multiple pregnancies that poses a greater demand on her cardiovascular system may also develop PIH. Lastly, women who have a history of kidney disease or history of high blood pressure at any time before the pregnancy is at risk of developing PIH.

There are dangerous complications associated with PIH like:

• Preeclampsia, a condition when the blood pressure reaches as high as 160/110 mmhg. That predisposes the woman to having a seizure.
• Eclampsia is when the woman had even one episode of seizure.
• Severe eclampsia is when the woman experiences several episodes of seizure (this stage is already very dangerous and can be fatal to both mother and baby).
• HELLP syndrome stands for: Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelet. This condition will end up in a severe bleeding episode and may result to death of the mother if not managed immediately and distress or death of the baby.

PIH is a serious condition that should not be ignored; working close with your health provider is a must. PIH may develop at any stage of the pregnancy from the first trimester even after the delivery of the baby.

TV sitcom celebrity Christina Applegate and her pregnancy cravings are well known and well documented and now she is confessing to other pregnancy transgressions as well. She has been indulging unhealthy pregnancy food such as red velvet cup cakes and fried cheese, according to a report.

The TV star may be really rocking her baby bump and by all accounts is doing well as her pregnancy progresses, but her lead is not what should be followed by other pregnant women, warn doctors.

Being overweight during pregnancy is not good for a number of reasons: it significantly increases the chances of producing a big baby, who may grow into an overweight child.

The chance of this happening doubles among overweight mothers. Also, being overweight increases chances of pregnancy complications. And then there is the fact that putting on too much weight during pregnancy will make it much more difficult to get rid of the flab after the arrival of the baby.

In fact, doctors recommend that women of childbearing age should develop the sort of healthy lifestyles that can help them achieve a healthy weight before they even get pregnant.

When it comes to pregnancy nutrition, the thumb rule is about 300 extra calories in a day and food that is as nutrient dense and unrefined as possible.

If biosensor onesies sound absurd, consider the plethora of baby gadgetry that's hit the market in recent years: speakers for babies, tweeting for babies, clothing that changes color to reveal babies' moods.

Then consider a few scenarios: parents concerned about babysitter vigilance; mothers going back to work; that several-month window in which babies are at the highest risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

So while Exmovere Holdings, the maker of Exmobaby - supposedly the first baby garment to remotely monitor vital signs and behavior - may be guilty of preying on parents' worst fears, its rather futuristic onesie could also save lives.

CEO David Bychkov explains how it works:

"Each Exmobaby onesie will come with a baby-safe, rechargeable Zigbee wireless transceiver that snaps into a pouch. From there, the data is transmitted to a nearby PC or cell phone in order to keep parents and other caregivers informed of a baby's status. This continuous monitoring in real time will allow for an 'emotional umbilical cord' between mother and child."

The Zigbee wireless standard uses a wireless local area network (LAN) and is targeted at radio frequency applications requiring lower data rate and battery life. It's also compatible with a wide range of USB and mini SD-slot dongle devices, i.e. cell phones.

Parents or caretakers wanting to check in on a baby via cell phone or computer will see icons that represent the baby's heart rate, as well as "emotional state" and "behavior," categories the company admits are less exact. But Exmovere compares its software to voice recognition software, where accuracy increases over time as person-specific data compiles.

The first 1,000 onesies are scheduled to ship to select buyers from the Exmobaby waiting list in early 2011. Each kit will include an Exmobaby garment set (in, yes, blue or pink), a Zigbee transceiver, PC and cell phone monitoring software, and six months of online service. The company has not yet released pricing details.

Of course, babies aren't the only target market when it comes to wearable sensors. Think of elderly relatives in nursing homes. Suspicious lovers. International spies. Teenagers who just got a license to drive. For better or worse, the ability to monitor one another continues to improve.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

RockStarMoms Maternity is giving away 50 of their Floating Baby Tees to help kick off September's National Yoga Month and to support the growing popularity of prenatal yoga. Their newest design, Floating Baby Yoga, will be given to one mom-to-be in each of the 50 states. To be eligible, expectant moms must be enrolled in a prenatal yoga class AND be the FIRST person from their state to submit an entry. Once entered, instructions will be given on how they can be entered to win one of two $100 gift certificates for RockStarMoms Maternity Wear. Contest details can be found on the company's website at: http://www.rockstarmoms.com/giveaways.php

Prenatal yoga classes can be a great way to stay in shape during pregnancy when paired with cardiovascular exercise and healthy nutrition. According to Stacey Bell, owner of YogaBell Wellness, "Prenatal yoga is also beneficial because it promotes deep breathing and relaxation, which assists with the physical demands of labor, birth, and motherhood." In addition, "Yoga helps the body deal with stress by slowing heart and breathing rates and lowering blood pressure - a big plus for new moms and moms-to-be."

The Yoga Health Foundation has designated September as National Yoga Month to raise awareness of yoga's health benefits and provide the public with guidance and tools to improve their well-being. This month, over 1,000 National Yoga Month events will be held in communities nationwide.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Oxytocin has been called "the love hormone" because levels of it rise in women during childbirth and breast-feeding, and it is thought to facilitate bonding. It is present in men, too, and everything from eye contact to orgasm can increase its amount.

But does the hormone stimulate bonding in new fathers as it does in new mothers? A new study in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the first to look at what its authors describe as “the transition to fatherhood,” suggests that it does. And it also suggests a biological basis for the fact that men and women so often relate differently to infant and toddlers, with women more often cooing and cuddling and men tickling and tossing.

First, Israeli researchers took blood samples from 80 couples, all first-time parents, when their children were 6 weeks, and then 6 months, old. Oxytocin levels at 6 weeks, they found, were just as high in new fathers as they were in new mothers (partners appear to “match” each other in the production of the hormone), and the levels rose over the next four and a half months.

The researchers also observed the couples as they interacted with their infants, noting how often each parent did things like gazing at the child, talking “mommy-ese” to him or her, playing with them and otherwise stimulating love and learning. Women with the highest levels of oxytocin were most likely to demonstrate what the journal article calls “affectionate parenting behaviors” while men with the highest levels were most likely to demonstrate “stimulatory parenting behaviors.”

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Parents strive to connect with their unborn child and also try to do the best they can for a health development while still in the womb as well as at the time of birth. The home birth could be a wonderful and intimate option.

Couples recognize that pregnancy can be a time to build on a relationship, to help create a healthy, stable and loving setting for a child to be born into and also prefer to eschew the option of a sterile hospital birth in favor of a home birth.

Experts agree that babies fare best when parents make the effort to strengthen their relationship during the time when they prepare for the arrival of the newborn.

Planning for a home birth can be significant in that it creates the opportunity for a couple to work together as a team towards a mutually important goal.

Good communication is fostered and health outlets for stress will enhance that process.

Parents describe the decision of a home birth as “the beginning of (our) parenting” and can set a template for future parenting. A home birth may mean going against the norm, but who knows it could just be the right choice for you?

Miranda Kerr covers her bump with a draping scarf over a flowing dress, Jodie Sweetin gave birth shortly after her baby shower, Christina Applegate keeps it simple in a black dress, Alicia Keys wears a neutral strapless top with matching shorts, Ali Larter is airport chic in all black, and Alanis Morissette goes on a date with the father-to-be in all black as well.

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PregnancyWeekly.com