Signs of Labor

After you reach 36 weeks, is a good idea to know how to recognize signs of labor.

There are 6 preliminary signs of labor:

1) Braxton-Hicks contractions

2) Weight stabilization (2 weeks before labor)

3) A burst of energy that lasts 48 hours (2 weeks before labor)

4) The baby drops (between 36 and 38 weeks)

5) Increased vaginal discharge (if it happens before 36 weeks, the baby is coming early)

6) The night before labor you might get diarrhea.

And 3 signs of actual labor (yes you are in labor!):

1) You lose the mucus plug (google it to see what it could look like, not pretty). Do nothing yet, but check for any one (or both) of the next two signs.

2) Your water breaks. Note the time it broke and call the doctor, because you will need to have the baby within 24 hours. If the color of the water is clear, everything is ok. If the color is green, try to feel the baby: if the baby is moving everything is fine, but try to get to the hospital soon, just in case.

3) Contractions. Time your contractions from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next one. They say you should wait until your contractions are 5 minutes apart for an hour before calling the doctor, 

I say do as your gut (literally) tells you to do. I went to the hospital one hour after my water broke, even if my contractions had barely begun, and I did wait 16 hours before the baby was born, but I just couldn’t sit at home like nothing was happening. 

And I felt better knowing that I was already at the hospital and that the risk of having the baby in the car on the way there was behind me. I really didn’t want to have the baby in the car!

So lots of luck to you, soon your baby will be here!

What to Pack for the Hospital when You Give Birth

So here it is, the day is near: you’re about to give birth! But are you prepared? 

Do you have everything you need neatly packed? 

Wait, what? You’re not sure about what you need to pack? 

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. 

As always, experience is the best teacher, except it comes a little too late. So let my experience be of some help today.

Here is a brief list of things you might want to have packed in a pretty bag a few weeks before your due date:

1. Your own pillow

2. Your own blanket

These first two items are all the more important if you are the kind of person with her favorite pillow and cozy blanket. They will also help render the sterile hospital environment a little more comfortable.

3. A nightgown that will be easy to open for breastfeeding, and comfortable enough should you have a C-Section.

4. Warm socks. The hospital can get cold, especially at night.

5. Underwear.

6. Nursing Bras.

7. Nipple Cream and Nursing Pads.

8. Makeup and Mirror. They will take a lot of pictures, and you will want to cover up the “leave me alone, I just had a baby!” look.

9. Robe and Slippers. Comfort, comfort, comfort.

10. Toothbrush and Toothpaste.

11. Hair Brush.

12. Deodorant.

13. Camera and Charger.

14. Phone and Charger.

15. List of Friends to call.

16. Coming home outfit for the Baby.

17. Snacks.

18. Coming home clothes for You.

19. Big Sister, Big Brother t-shirts for Siblings.

20. List of Names if still undecided.

21. A Belly Band for postpartum belly.

I think this should be a good start. And don’t feel like these things are so obvious, because in the heat of the moment you will forget something!

We forgot the phone charger and I was sooo annoyed when my phone died and I couldn’t post Facebook updated about my cervical dilation (my brother, on the other hand, was incredibly grateful my battery died! lol)

Good Luck!

Amniocentesis

Since I am 35 years old, I was given an appointment with a genetic counselor, in order to discuss the increased risks for complications and genetic problem that come with an advanced maternal age.

I’ve never thought of myself as someone of advanced age, I mean I didn’t think I was a spring chicken, but still…

Unfortunately, as soon as you hit 35 years old, you are suddenly in the “at risk” category in the pregnancy world, and while your chances of having a perfectly healthy baby are still high, the chances of complications increase as well, especially birth defects involving chromosomes, with the most common being Down syndrome.

To be honest with you, when the genetic counselor started listing the increased chances that come with age, for a minute I wished I had planned for this baby five years before, and cursed myself for waiting so long. But the counselor reassured me, saying that most mom go on to have a healthy baby. But looking at how the chances increase dramatically every few years didn’t make me feel that good:

• At 25 years old the chances for a woman to have a child with Down syndrome are 1 in 1,250.
• At 30, 1 in 1,000.
• At 35, 1 in 400.
• At 40, 1 in 100.
• At 45, 1 in 30.
• At 49, 1 in 10.

So what are my options? I asked.  How can I find out if my baby is going to be ok?

It turns out there are a few different tests that can screen for chromosomal birth defects. The first one is given relatively early in the pregnancy, at around 12 weeks. It’s a blood test that will show the likelihood that your baby will have Down syndrome, but it won’t be 100% accurate. It will only give you a general idea of your chances, but in the end any result is still possible.

This screening test is more of a first step to let you know how high your chances are, so that you can take further steps if you want to. Many women decide that this is enough information: if the test shows them at a higher risk level, they will use this knowledge to be better prepared in case of a birth defect.

Other mothers decide to take the next step, which is further and more precise testings that will give them accurate results. The two tests in this category are the CVS (chorionic villus sampling) and the Amniocentesis.

I personally prefer the Amnio over the CVS, because if you compare the two, CVS comes with a higher risk of miscarriage and is more invasive than the Amnio. In fact, the CVS takes a sample of the placenta while the Amnio takes a sample of the amniotic fluid from the uterus.

So why is the CVS test even given? The only reason I can see is that you can take the CVS test before than the Amnio (10 to 12 weeks for the CVS versus the 16 to 20 weeks for the Amnio) so I guess if you are in such a hurry there is an earlier option that comes with a slightly increased risk.

But, because the Amniocentesis is performed on a more developed fetus, it gives more comprehensive results, and, for example, can diagnose spina bifida, while CVS can’t.

So after a little research, I knew I was going to go with the Amnio.

Making that decision wasn’t the hard part, preparing for the test was. See, I have never been a big fan of needles, and the idea of getting one stuck in my belly was not appealing at all.

Nonetheless, I tried to keep calm until the day of the test, and I fooled myself into thinking that I wasn’t really worried about it. But, like I said, I was fooling myself.

When the doctor came in, I was pretty much shaking, not visibly, but definitely shaking. Fortunately, he tried to calm me down by jocking around and questioning me about any good restaurants in my neighborhood.

I tried answering him as best as I could, but never for a moment I forgot what we were there to do. All I could think about was how painful that needle poking through my skin was going to be.  

One thing that kept me somewhat calm was the fact that I knew this doctor to be an expert in his field, and a mentor to many OBs, mine included, so that knowledge was the only calming light that afternoon.

Yes, I was worried about the pain of the needle, but I was more worried about any complications from the procedure, and the possibility of miscarriage. So I kept telling myself that even if the needle would hurt me, this doctor was going to make sure that the baby was going to be safe.

I had read that the first step in the procedure was a 15-20 minutes long sonogram to determine the position of the baby and to decide on a safe spot where to insert the needle. My doctor took about 3 minutes to find a good spot, which cheated me out of 17 more minutes of avoiding the needle.

Then he started poking down with a finger on the “safe spot”. At this point I stopped looking at the screen and closed my eyes. But I made sure to remind my boyfriend to keep his eyes on the screen to make sure the needle didn’t touch the baby.

After the fourth poke or so, the doctor raised his finger for a longer pause, and I knew the needle was going to be next. I held my breath and waited. And waited. And waited.

And then I felt the needle go in.

And it wasn’t half as painful as I thought it was going to be. It almost wasn’t painful at all. It was weird, but not painful.

I made sure I didn’t move until I knew for sure the needle was out. And once the doctor took it out, I started shaking, this time visibly. But it was shaking due to nerves more than anything else. The procedure hadn’t been painful at all, really.

My boyfriend went on to reassure me that the needle had been inserted nowhere near the baby.

The doctor then told me that I could go out and have dinner if I wanted to, meaning there was no reason to be too worried about complications, and the only thing he specified to avoid for the day was sex.

I already knew that I was going to take as much precautions as I could, so not only I didn’t go out to dinner that night, but I went home and sat on the couch, took the next day off work, and got off the couch only to use the bathroom and to go to sleep at night. I basically didn’t do anything but watch TV for about 24 hours.

Luckily, I had no complications, no leaking, no bleeding, no nothing. And about a week later we got the results, which told us that the baby was fine, and that she was a girl!

And that was a very happy day.

Picking My Baby’s Name

There must be no more difficult task than the one of naming your child!

I’m in my 6th month, and you would think I’ve had enough time to come up with something… and sure I have: plenty of names, but never a clear winner.

I envy people that know in advance what they will name their kids, and they have both a boy’s name and a girl’s name! Some people already have these names when they’re only teenagers!

I waited until after my amniocentesis to even begin thinking about a name: if I knew the sex I only had to pick between 50,000 names instead of 100,000!

So now that I know it’s a girl you would imagine I already have something, but I still don’t. Or maybe I do, but I get cold feet about it, as I have a hard time committing to it: we have decided to name her Kaitlin Isabella.

Kaitlin to honor her father’s Irish roots, and Isabella to have some of her Italian mommy too. If I could, I would have given her an Italian first name, unfortunately nothing Italian is going sound nice with her Irish last name.

But even now, I am not 100% sure this is going to be her name.

My boyfriend wants to “hurry up and pick a name already”, while I feel I still have more than 3 months ahead of me, so why rush into it?

He feels like I’ll drag this until the delivery day, and he promised me that if that’s what’s going to happen, he will give the baby the name of the nurse assisting me. Yeah right, like that’s going to happen!

He doesn’t understand the implications of the wrong name. What if she doesn’t like it? What if she has a hard time spelling it? What if everyone else finds it hard to spell?

I liked my friend’s suggestion: give her a practical first name so that she can be a bank president, and a fanciful middle name so that she can be a movie star!

Kaitlin is practical enough, and maybe Isabella is too. 

I also hope she is not one of many Kaitlin running around in her classroom: I was one of three in my elementary school years, and I was never too thrilled about it.

Another thing that I have to worry about is her initials! 

Not only picking the right name is hard enough, but after I pick any name I have to make sure the initials are not spelling some weird word. I don’t know if it’s the same with most letters, but I can tell you that having a last name that starts with D gives you tons of undesirable words:

MAD - SAD - BAD - OCD - STD - LSD - ADD. Not to mention the fact that I can’t name her any name that starts with a V!

So before I drive myself crazier, I think that picking this name (already!) will help me move on to tackle the many other tasks remaining before she gets here.

I mean I’ve already gone through this whole book, this whole website and posted a question on this baby names blog! 

I am not sure what else is left for me to do other than make my stupid mind up already!

The First Month

The first month can be tough.

Before you can celebrate becoming pregnant, you need to wait at least two weeks before taking any tests… and those two weeks are the longest weeks ever!

Some women are luckier than others, because they get pregnancy symptoms right away,especially nausea, so even if they can’t see the plus sign on a test yet, deep down they know that the baby journey has started. 

So what happens after the plus sign shows up? You can take another test, to confirm the results, and luckily these days they sell multiple pregnancy tests in one box, because they know we want to make sure! 

I remember my box had two standard pregnancy tests with the plus and minus signs, and a digital one that actually spelled the word “pregnant” or “not pregnant”. Of course, I aced all three of them!

One thing to remember is that these tests can fail, but they usually fail on the negative side, meaning they might show a non pregnant status when in fact you are pregnant. On the other hand, if you see a positive result, chances are pretty high that you are pregnant.

So what’s next?

For starters, you should go see your OB/GYN doctor, to make sure you really are pregnant, and to get medical guidance for the next 9 months.

Unfortunately, doctors see many patients every day, and sometimes even if they don’t mean to do so, they just can’t spend enough time with you to give you a comprehensive picture of what to expect now that you are pregnant. So it’s really up to you to make sure you ask any questions you might have, and to get all your doubts cleared up.

There is a list long a mile of things you should stop doing now that you are pregnant, but of course a doctor won’t sit down for two hours with you to go over this whole list. If you ask I am sure he will tell you, but if you don’t, many times you’re on your own.

I just wish they had a “first-time mom” package that they would give you on that very first visit. And maybe some doctors have it, unfortunately mine didn’t, so I had to do a lot of researching on my own.

Later on, a lot of these “pregnancy guides” will find their way to you (from your health insurance, from a pregnancy magazine, from a relative…), but I believe it’s important to get your hands on this information as soon as possible, when it counts the most.

The first trimester is, in fact, the more critical time, when the baby first starts forming and when he/she is more susceptible to what you do and to what you eat.

So if you are not supposed to drink any alcohol when pregnant, you want to find out as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. Not on your third month, after you’ve already indulged in many glasses of wine.

So before you even continue reading this, read your new rules.

Be sure to take prenatal vitamins, and if they make you sick (it can happen) just tell your doctor to give you another prescription for something different. It happened to me. The first vitamins they prescribed me made me dizzy, and so I stopped taking them (not smart). But then I asked my doctor for different ones and she gave me chewable vitamins that actually worked much better and didn’t make me feel sick at all (they tasted chalky but I was able to deal with the chalkiness better than with the dizziness).

The medical exams this month are going to be probably just the one OB visit to confirm the pregnancy.

If you have a chronic illness and you need to take regular medicines for it, like diabetes for example, you will need to discuss with your doctor (and later on with a genetic counselor) the effect of the medicines on the developing fetus, and to weigh the pros and cons of continuing taking the medicines against stopping them.

One last thing you should do is get a good pregnancy book. You are going to go through so many changes and you will have a million different questions every other week.

Some books are better than others, so do your research before you buy, maybe stop by the library and check a couple of them out before buying.

I personally went with a classic: What To Expect When You’re Expecting

If you only buy one book, this should be it.

It covers everything you need to know now that you are pregnant, and it breaks it down month by month, and then even further week by week.

It describes the various changes your body will go through and the associated symptoms. And throughout the book, you will find these very informative Q&A sessions.

I also wanted to read The Complete Organic Pregnancy.

Not that going completely organic is something I wanted to do, but I wanted to be aware of these organic suggestions, and see if there was I way I could incorporate a few of them. And I did.

For example, when painting the walls of the nursery, we used VOC free paint, as suggested by The Complete Organic Pregnancy book.

I already knew that breathing regular paint fumes was not healthy for anybody, and especially not for pregnant women, but I didn’t know that there was a safer alternative. And thanks to this book I learned about VOC free paint.

Things You Shouldn’t Do Now That You Are Pregnant

So you’ve just found out you’re pregnant.

You schedule a doctor’s appointment to confirm.

The doctor comes in, asks a couple of questions, tests your urine, comes back and congratulates you because you are indeed pregnant.

He also takes some blood for routine tests, schedules another appointment for next month, and sends you home with a prescription for prenatal vitamins.

“That’s it?” You ask yourself.

Well, in most cases that is pretty much it.

Unless you arrive at the doctor’s office with a series of questions, chances are that the doctor is not going to spend a lot of time with you. So how are you supposed to know if there is anything that you shouldn’t eat now that you are pregnant? Or if you should stop playing tennis? Or if you should continue using Retin-A on your face?

These and many other questions remain unanswered, especially during your first visit with the doctor. Later on, you might start writing all your questions down for your next visit, but unfortunately, some of these do’s and dont’s should be implemented as soon as possible, and not after the “next” doctor’s appointment.

So, if your doctor has not told you so already, make sure you:

1. Don’t smoke. It goes without saying that even one cigarette a day is harmful to you, so imagine what it can do to a developing baby.

2. Don’t drink alcohol. Some people think they can get away with a few drinks here and there, but it is better to completely give up alcohol for the whole nine months. The risk of fetal alcohol syndrome is too high.

3. Don’t use illegal drugs. If I have to explain to you why you shouldn’t use illegal drugs while pregnant, then maybe you shouldn’t have any kids to begin with.

4. Stop cleaning the cat litter. You don’t have to throw out your cat, but ask someone else to clean the litter for you. Cat’s feces could carry toxoplasmosis which can harm your developing baby.

5. Don’t take super hot baths. It’s not good for you to raise your body temperature too high. You can take warm baths, though.

6. Don’t eat deli meats nor hot dogs. I have broken this rule but I’ve taken special precautions: they say don’t eat these meats because they can cause listeriosis. Listeriosis is caused by the listeria bacteria, found in uncooked meats, uncooked vegetables, unpasteurized milk, and processed foods. Because listeria is killed by pasteurization and cooking, I make sure that if I want to have a ham and cheese sandwich, I microwave the ham, and if I want to have a hot dog, I never buy it from a hot dog stand, and I cook it for a very long time at home. 

7. Don’t take laxatives. The effect they have on the body is too harsh during pregnancy. This sucks because if there will ever be a time in your life that you will need a laxative it is now that you are pregnant. Your chances of being constipated are, in fact, pretty high. You can take a stool softner and/or eat prunes safely.

8. Don’t expose yourself to X-Rays. While the risks from a very short exposure are not that high, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

9. Don’t eat baking soda nor drink tonic water. These two were funny to figure out, but at least I checked before taking baking soda for upset stomach.

10. Don’t take over the counter drugs without checking with your doctor first. Medicines that are safe to take while not pregnant, can be very dangerous for the developing fetus. Always check with your doctor.

11. Don’t expose yourself to paint fumes. Paint fumes are highly toxic, and if you paint a room in your house while pregnant you will find yourself exposed and breathing fumes that are going to be harmful to you and especially to the developing baby. If you can’t postpone painting, look for safer alternatives like VOC free paint. 

12. Don’t drink too much caffeine. I won’t tell you to completely avoid caffeine, but if you can that’s preferable. In case you still need some daily caffeine in your system, remember to keep it at a minumum. Opinions differ on what’s consider safe, but it looks like the general consensus is that under 200 mgs of caffeine daily should be ok. Read this article from American Pregnancy for more information and this one from March of Dimes.

13. Don’t take vitamin A supplements. Who knew that taking too much vitamin A while pregnant could cause birth defects? That is one of the reasons why there are prenatal vitamins, and why most of them don’t have any vitamin A in them.

So consider this your starting point, and understand that you should always question things now that you’re pregnant, just to be on the safe side. Also, remember that, for the most part, the baby is more vulnerable in the beginning, during the first trimester, so that’s when you need to be extra careful.

How To Pick Your First Baby Stroller

I can’t believe I am here trying to help you pick your first stroller, when only a month ago I had no idea which stroller I was going to pick for myself.

But what a difference a month makes, especially if it is spent researching every possible brand and model out there, and test-driving as many strollers as the people at Babies R Us let you.

If you’ve been looking at strollers and you’ve felt overwhelmed by the endless choices out there, don’t worry, you are not alone. We’ve all been there.

See, a lot of the things you’ll need for your new baby, you’ll be able to pick in a heartbeat: that adorable diaper bag, that cute pair of socks, the little dress in the window, baby bottles, diaper rash creams, bibs, blankets, and toys.

But not a stroller. You definitely can’t pick one in a heartbeat!

It takes some researching and a lot of patience. It’s almost like a rite of passage for first time moms.

These are some of the questions you should ask when picking your first stroller:

1. Can I use this stroller with my newborn?
2. How about when the baby gets bigger, can I keep using this one or do I need to get another one better suited for him/her?
3. Is this stroller heavy compared to other ones? Is it easy to push around?
4. Is this a good brand of strollers?
5. Can this stroller be folded easily with one hand?
6. Does it come with any accessories?
7. Does it have a nice size basket underneath?
8. Does the canopy shield the baby completely, if necessary?
9. Can the baby face both front and back when in the stroller?
10. Is the footrest adjustable to allow for growth?
11. Are the wheels reliable or do they spin in every direction whenever they want?

You get the idea… million of questions, and if you are anything like me, you want at least 95% of your questions answered before you make this kind of decision.

Because if you don’t do your math right, you could end up buying three different strollers before your baby turns three years old! And why would you do that to your wallet?

I will try to simplify the process for you and share some of the things about strollers that I’ve learned along the way.

As with most of this blog, I’m targeting this article to first-time moms, just like me, overwhelmed by the endless strollers choices out there.

Seasoned moms have the experience we are lacking, and have already tested a stroller or two, so they know better what they like and dislike. Even so, this post might help them too by familiarizing them with some new strollers that were not around when they had their previous babies.

So let’s get to work.

First of all, remember that a newborn can’t sit straight up by him/herself, so you can’t buy just any stroller, especially not a toddler stroller. You need a stroller that can accomodate a newborn.

One of the most common options is to get a travel system, consisting of the stroller plus the car seat.

These travel systems come with an infant car seat, so you get two items for the price of one.

The Chicco Cortina here on the left is my favorite. It looks sturdy, it comes in many interesting colors, and at around $300 it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg like some other strollers out there!

The infant car seat goes directly from the car onto the stroller, making it also very practical to carry the baby out of the car into the world with you.

The stroller seat is also adjustable, so it fully reclines for an infant, even though it is a better idea to use the car seat for your newborn.

All in all a good system, but keep in mind that the car seat will need to be replaced as soon as your baby grows out of it (after the baby reaches 30lbs.), which means more money spent for another car seat.

There are other travel systems similar to the Chicco ones, and 

Graco seems to be the other big favorite of baby registries. And at a price even more affordable than the Chicco’s, it’s easy to understand why.

Considering all these pros, it makes sense to wonder if these travel systems are perfect or if they have any cons.

Well, one of the cons could be the fact that these systems are a bit on the heavy side, difficult to maneuver in small places, and tough to handle in general.

They might also lack the high-end stroller look, some have wheels that don’t respond well, some don’t guarantee the smoothest ride for a baby, and just in general, the whole look of the car seat on top of the stroller might be a little too much for some fashionable mothers.

One last complaint I hear from seasoned moms is “why would you want your baby always in the car seat?” With the travel system, in fact, there is the chance of overusing the car seat (on top of the stroller, in the car, and just to carry the baby around).

While I am not sure why this would be a problem, it makes sense to listen to the voice of experience, so you’ll want to try to move the baby around a little more, say between the car seat and a separate stroller when getting out of the car. Just something to keep in mind.

If you have a bigger budget, you can look into something nicer like the Peg Perego.

Almost anything from Peg Perego is great. At least this is my conclusion after spending so much time researching their strollers.

The Uno is a convertible system, meaning it will convert from stroller to carriage, which is what we are looking for a newborn.

The difference with the Chicco and the Graco is that we don’t need the extra piece - car seat - but the seat of the stroller will recline all the way down, and with some magic and practice, the stroller will turn into a carriage.

Great no?

To me this is the perfect compromise between quality, convenience, good looks, and affordability.

The carriage looks cozy, the canopy is big enough and the little legs and feet are protected inside that big and soft foot cover.

Also, compare the wheels on the Uno with the wheels from the Chicco and the Graco above. They are bigger and easier to steer.

Of course, now remember that you need to buy a separate car seat. The Uno, by the way, costs around $499.

If money wasn’t an object, I would pick the Peg Perego Skate over the Uno. 

Not because I think the Skate is a much better stroller, but because I really like the way it looks.

It basically does just what the Uno does, converting from stroller to carriage, but the Skate makes it look even easier. All you have to do is recline the seat and you’re done!

I’ve had the pleasure of pushing the Skate around in a store, and it felt light and easy to manoeuvre.

And here’s your newborn’s carriage! All you have to do is recline the seat back and the Skate is ready for your newborn.

Even as a carriage, the Skate looks sleek, sturdy, comfortable and safe. The only problem is in the price tag, since $550 is not what you would call affordable anymore, even if you are getting an excellent stroller.

And while we are in the expensive range, another great stroller is the Uppa Baby Vista stroller.

The Vista stroller looks similar to the Skate, but it doesn’t recline down to carriage, in fact, you need to buy a separate piece, the bassinet, which means spending more money.

While the Vista doesn’t have an incredible color selection, I like that it has an organic lining. And compared to the Skate, the Vista has a much bigger basket under the seat.

At this point, I could stop mentioning any other strollers, because to me spending more than $500-600 on a stroller is crazy. But since not everybody shares my opinion, let me briefly introduce the higher-end strollers out there:

The Bugaboo Frog is one of the most popular strollers out there. It seems like everyone wants one!

I don’t understand why is everyone so eager to spend more than $800 for a stroller system that is available for much cheaper in the models we’ve seen above?

People even talk about stroller envy when referring to the Bugaboo, meaning mothers that don’t own one are envious of mothers that do own one. Ridiculous!

And if anybody mentions looks as the reason why, I honestly think the Bugaboo is uglier than the Skate and than the Uppababy.

Another little monster out there is the Orbit Infant System, which cost the exorbitant amount of $1,200 when it first came out.

Fortunately, the people at Orbit realized how ridiculous that price tag was, so they reduced it down to $900. Thank you for trying, I say, but I still can’t afford it…

Which is ok, because I think the Orbit is uglyish. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but look at it: all I see is cold metal and a lot of stiffness, while there is nothing sweet or soft about it. It was made with design and functionality in mind, but I think a stroller needs to look cozy and comfortable, too.

So the Orbit is probably not for everyone.

A lot prettier is the Stokke.

I do like it better than the Orbit, but you have to admit that it’s a bit weird looking, too.

It is so minimalistic to a fault.

It looks like the kind of stroller insects would use, if they used strollers.

I would say that it is functional, and I like the selection of colors, but since it costs more than $1,000 there is no way I would ever own such a stroller!

And there you have it.

I have tried to cover most of the strollers out there that deserve mention. There are plenty more, of course, but I didn’t want to write a book here, just a small chapter.

I hope this article will help you, even in a small way, in the quest for the “right” stroller for you. And please feel free to add your suggestions and personal favorites in the comments. Good Luck! 

UPDATE: I've had to change some of the links on this post because some of these strollers are no longer available. And the prices have gone up since writing this back in 2009. I ended up buying the Peg Perego Uno, but didn't love it. It was clumsy to move around and considering the pain it was to get into the car with the baby (off the stroller and into the car seat a million times a day), if I could do it again I would totally pick a car seat combination stroller.