WELCOME!!

Hello ladies! First I want to thank you for visiting The Belly Button Connection (TBBC). TBBC was originally created as a forum for mothers: aspiring, expecting, and veteran. The name was derived from the baby’s connection to the mother: physically, mentally, and emotionally. I wanted TBBC to be a place where women received both accurate and positive feedback about pregnancy. Since creating TBBC I’ve learned that our thoughts about pregnancy, motherhood, and womanhood start long before the onset of puberty. In fact, it starts with our relationships with our own mothers, aunts, sisters, and peers. Our hardships are not our own. They are passed down from generation to generation, friend to friend, spouse to spouse, parent to child. This doesn’t have to be the case. Leo Buscaglia said it best when he said, “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

TBBC is that touch, smile, kind word, listening ear, honest compliment, and smallest act of caring. My mission is to keep you abreast on events, programs, and seminars that will be beneficial to you as well as partner with organizations that will improve your confidence, increase your self-esteem, and help you become the woman you strive to be for yourself, your family, and generations to follow.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often!


A premie laughing--doesn't that make you smile?
When's the last time you had a side-splitting laugh? I mean the kind of laugh where your stomach is in knots and you're drooling a little bit! Laughter is truly medicine for the soul. There's nothing bad to be said about it. It makes you feel good; It makes those around you feel good; And, most importantly, anything that makes mommy feel good is great for the baby. Remember, everything you feel, baby feels. So, if you've found yourself feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed take a moment to take a load off.
If you haven't done something nice for yourself, go ahead and pencil in a pedicure, massage, succulent dinner, and a nice bubble bath. Call up a good friend and meet him/her for lunch. Have a game night or a blockbuster night with your favorite snacks. Anything that relaxes you puts you in a better place to deal with the natural stresses that come with everyday life whether you're pregnant or not. When you're in a good place and feeling confident, happpy, and positive about where you are and where you're going you're putting good vibes in the air while sending them to those around you and that precious baby who's with you at all times.
According to Elizabeth Scott with About.com, research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reduce food cravings to increasing one's threshold for pain. There's even an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy to help people heal more quickly, among other things. Humor also has several important stress relieving benefits.

Stress Management Benefits of Laughter:

  • Hormones: Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters. Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress.
  • Physical Release: Have you ever felt like you "have to laugh or I'll cry"? Have you experienced the cleansed feeling after a good laugh? Laughter provides a physical and emotional release.
    Internal Workout: A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart.
  • Distraction: Laughter brings the focus away from anger, guilt, stress and negative emotions in a more beneficial way than other mere distractions.
  • Perspective: Studies show that our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a 'threat' or a 'challenge'. Humor can give us a more lighthearted perspective and help us view events as 'challenges', thereby making them less threatening and more positive.
  • Social Benefits of Laughter: Laughter connects us with others. Also, laughter is contagious, so if you bring more laughter into your life, you can most likely help others around you to laugh more, and realize these benefits as well. By elevating the mood of those around you, you can reduce their stress levels, and perhaps improve the quality of social interaction you experience with them, reducing your stress level even more!
Posted by Brandi at 7:45 AM
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