Caffeine
The research on the effects of caffeine during pregnancy seems to change more often than a new mom changes diapers. But the most recent reports state that drinking coffee during the first trimester of pregnancy can increase your chances of miscarriage. Since cutting caffeine out of your diet cold turkey may result in exhaustion and withdrawal headaches, it’s better to stop now than when you find out you’re pregnant and are already battling extreme fatigue and morning sickness, and you’d rather not take anything for that throbbing headache. (Tylenol is safe during pregnancy, but you’re still better off not relying on pain medications if you don’t have to.) Additionally, doctors in the Netherlands discovered that caffeine can reduce your chances of conceiving by about 26 percent; it has the same effect on TTC as drinking alcohol more than three times a week.

A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed that women who consumed more than 200 mg. of caffeine a day (the amount in just two cups of coffee) in the first trimester doubled their chances of a miscarriage. Other studies have shown that moderate caffeine intake, especially after the first trimester, is not necessarily bad. Still, it’s better to kick the habit now and make decaf coffee (or better yet, just drink water!) part of your new, healthier lifestyle.

Smoking
If cutting your caffeine intake seems challenging, kicking the nicotine habit, for smokers, may seem impossible. But smoking during pregnancy can lead to premature birth, low birth weight and pregnancy complications.

Don’t despair, however. There are many programs on the market today that can help you along the way. For many women, just thinking about the health of their unborn baby, and the dangerous effects of smoking on a fetus, may be enough to throw away those “cancer sticks.”

If sheer will power isn’t working, talk to your doctor about the best way for you to quit smoking. Drug-free techniques may include the Patch, nicotine gum, E-Cigs, hypnosis, or laser therapy. Most importantly, rely on your family and friends as a support network to help you.

Once you’ve quit, there are many good reasons not to start up again when your baby is born. Recent studies have shown that not only is second-hand smoke bad for babies (and everyone else) but third-hand smoke—those smoke particles and that odor that clings to your clothes after you’ve had a cigarette—is also linked to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and asthma.

Alcohol
While one glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage per night has been shown to have health benefits, this isn’t the case for pregnant women. Even the smallest amount of alcohol may cause some level of birth defects linked to fetal alcohol syndrome. In spite of the old wives tale to the contrary, beer is not a “health food” for pregnant women.

If you’re trying to conceive, the “magic number” that will decrease your odds of conception by 26 percent is more than three drinks per week. If you’re trying to conceive, a glass of wine once a week with dinner won’t hurt you, but if you have a feeling that you may have trouble quitting altogether once you conceive, start trying to quit now!

If you find that you can’t go without a drink, there are programs that can help you. Look for a local AA chapter in your community, or talk to your doctor about support groups and help to quit drinking.

Having said all this, what if you get pregnant and weren’t trying to conceive? Will that night of frozen margaritas within the first two weeks of pregnancy hurt that unborn baby you didn’t even know you were carrying?

The use of any drugs, alcohol, nicotine or even prescription or over-the-counter medicines within the first trimester carries a slight risk, but, according to the authors of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, the best thing to do is to put it behind you and focus on being as healthy as you can for the rest of your pregnancy.

Author: Dawn Allcot

1. Loss of employment. Even the healthiest women can wind up on bed rest at some point during their pregnancy, and if you were planning on working right up to the point of labor then this can have a huge effect on your budget especially if you were counting on that income. Most parents brace themselves for one parent to consider staying home after the baby is born, but when that time comes sooner than expected it can be a huge financial issue.
2. Maternity clothes. You may tell yourself that you’ll get away with sweats and huge t-shirts for your pregnancy, or that you’ll buy a few things and that’s it, but then your sister announces she’s getting married and you’re the matron of honor or you just can’t stand wearing the same clothes over and over again. Whatever the cause, you can expect to pay more for maternity clothes than you initially budget for. Just be sure to try to get them on sale.
3. Last chance for fun. It’s a realization that most expectant parents have at some point during the pregnancy: This is your last chance to be together alone for quite some time. Even if you hadn’t planned on (or budgeted for) a quick vacation or getaway, don’t be surprised if you get the sudden urge to pack your bags and have one last trip before the baby comes. Most new parents will agree that this is one pregnancy expense that is definitely worth it.
4. Relentless cravings. Not all pregnant women get cravings, but some women get them so relentlessly that they must indulge in whatever they crave every day. This may not seem like much of a financial drain, but if you crave a $5 blended coffee drink (decaffeinated, of course) twice a day for seven or eight months that’s more than $2000. Really. You’ll either need to budget for this expense or find something a little less expensive as a craving substitute.
5. Fun extras. Even the most frugal expectant parents can get taken aback by all the really fun things available during this time. Expectant moms can get casts of their bellies. Parents can pay out of pocket for a high resolution ultrasound and send copies of the session to family members. Pregnancy portraits are popular as are spa times for expectant parents. You’ll probably talk yourself into one or two fun extras during the pregnancy, but if you indulge in every little thing available then you’re heading for financial trouble.

Pregnancy is an ideal time to save up some money because once the baby arrives it becomes much harder to balance a budget. Try to avoid frivolous spending, but if circumstances beyond your control force you to spend more money than you anticipated then just try to get back on track as quickly as possible. Having a new baby can be stressful enough; don’t add to the stress by piling up debt.

Although most new parents are completely shocked by the massive amounts of money they need to shell out upon the arrival of a new baby, there are some steps you can take to lessen the financial burden. The very best thing you can do is to take some steps in order to save money now before your baby makes a grand appearance.

In most instances it is usually much easier to save money before the baby comes as opposed to after the baby comes. Take the time before your baby is born to do some saving, even if you can’t manage to save a small fortune.

Here are some tips for saving money before your baby arrives:

1. Don’t get too frivolous with your spending. You will have the urge to spend a lot of money on items for your baby, but the truth is that newborns don’t need a lot of the things parents rush out to buy. You can save yourself a ton of money if you concentrate on age-appropriate items in the beginning. Do you really need a safety gate for a baby that won’t even sit up for a few months?

2. Save money on interest. By paying off as many bills as you can you’re not only freeing up some extra money for after the baby comes, but you’re also saving some money in interest charges. You may be paying more in interest every month than you even realize, especially if you carry a large balance on your credit cards. Make a concerted effort to pay your bills down before your baby arrives and you might even manage to get some bills paid off completely.

3. Earn money with the money you save. If you have a substantial amount of money already sitting in a bank account in case of emergencies then you should do a little comparison shopping to see if there is a different account that might earn you a higher interest rate, and therefore give you more money. This is one of the less painful ways to save some money before the baby arrives, and it is relatively effortless.

4. Consider a temporary second job. You probably don’t want to work a second job after the baby arrives unless it absolutely necessary, but now is the time to take on a temporary job in order to pad up your savings account or pay down some of your bills. After the baby comes there is a good chance that you won’t have the energy to work two jobs.

5. Analyze your budget. When was the last time you actually sat down and scrutinized where your money goes? You may be surprised to find out how much of your money goes to unnecessary expenses. By actually taking the time to look at your budget – and maybe doing a little adjusting – you can probably save yourself quite a bit of money before the baby comes.

6. Downgrade. If you are going to lose an income after the baby comes then you may want to consider that now is the time to move to a less expensive home or get a less expensive car. Do what you can now in order to make the transition to parenthood as easy as possible. You’ll have enough on your plate after the baby is born.

7. Lose some extras. Do you pay for premium cable channels? Do you have a gym membership that you never use? Examine what you might be able to do without and start dropping all the extra services you don’t really need. You might lose a little bit of convenience when you do this – for example, dropping your cable modem and going back to dial-up in an effort to save money – but this is one surefire way to save before baby comes.

8. Compare services. You might be able to save a great deal of money by comparing the offerings of other companies that sell the same services you purchase through another source. When was the last time you did a comparison on your auto insurance policy or your cell phone provider? In some instances, switching from one provider to another can be a very wise financial decision and save you quite a bit of money.

Trying to save some money before your baby arrives is a wise decision because in most instances it’s much harder to save money after the baby comes. If you manage to save up some money before your baby arrives you will be glad you made the effort.

This is only the start—you’ll receive presents after the baby is born, too. From there, it doesn’t end: baptism, birthdays, holidays. I do believe in sending thank you notes for every occasion and teaching children to do the same from a young age.

My nephews send thank you notes to us without fail for every occasion that we give them a gift, and those cards receive places of honor on our refrigerator. It’s been fun to watch them evolve from notes written by their mom, to the simple words “thank you” in big blocky letters they wrote themselves as kindergarteners, to the personalized, heartfelt notes they now send as young adults.

Thank yous are important, but I digress. Some etiquette experts say you have as long as six months after an event to send thank you notes. The rule of thumb I’ve always adhered to is two months. Unless you have 1,000 people at your gala event, there’s really no reason to take six months to send a thank you note.

But do yourself a favor and get those baby shower thank you notes out as soon as possible, so you don’t create a backlog and find yourself with a long list of cards to write and a crying infant in the other room. If at all possible, get your shower “thank yous” out before the baby is born.

It all begins with the list. If you send Christmas cards every year, you probably already have all your important family addresses well-organized. If not, you may have put together an address list for your shower—or whoever hosted the shower did it for you, in secrecy. Get that list! It will make your life so much easier and keep you from having to re-invent the wheel.

Our article about Baby Shower Ideas recommends having each guest fill in their own name and address on thank you card envelopes as they leave, which is certainly a great idea if the host of the shower thinks to provide thank you cards for the mom-to-be in advance. (And what a thoughtful idea!)

With your address list in hand, you’ll also need the list of gifts you received and who gave them to you. Hopefully, one of your friends at the shower wrote all this information down as you opened presents and everyone ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the adorable onesies and baby blankets.

And, of course, you need thank you cards! For round-two of gift-giving, after the baby is born, you may want to have cards printed with the baby’s picture on it or simply include a wallet-size photo with the card. If the baby isn’t born yet, it might be fun to include a sonogram picture (especially if you have one from a 3D sonogram), but there are also a wide variety of adorable thank you cards to choose from with no baby pictures required, online or at your local store.

Some Web sites and even drug stores will allow you to include your own special message pre-printed on the cards, but this is not enough! Each card should include a personalized, handwritten message, too, along with the gift-giver’s name, and your personal, handwritten signature. Visit the Tiny Prints Store for a great selection of Thank You Cards that you personalize or buy as-is!

The writing… for many people, that’s the hard part. What do you say? The important thing is to be heartfelt and personal. Mention the gift by name, and possibly even the way it will be used or something you especially like about it. “Thank you so much for the adorable outfit. It is my favorite color, and Ashley will be wearing it when we come home from the hospital together!”

If you know the baby’s name, it’s fine to use it, even if the baby isn’t born yet. Don’t forget to sign the card from both yourself and your husband, even if the shower was thrown in your honor. If you feel weird signing a card from an unborn baby, you can definitely skip that, but some mothers think it’s a cute touch.

In addition to commenting personally and positively on the gift, be sure to thank the person for attending the celebration, as well. Let them know you appreciated their presence, not just their present!

What if a gift is positively awful and you plan on heading right back to the store to make an exchange? (Or they didn’t check your registry and you received a duplicate.) Find something nice to say, but don’t be phony. Let the person know you appreciate the thoughtful gift, and emphasize how nice it was to see them at the shower. If you received two of the same item, comment on each as if it were the only one you received; the gift-giver doesn’t have to know whose Diaper Genie went back to the store and which one is sitting in the nursery right now.

Finally, be sure to send an extra special card, and maybe even a small gift, such as a box of chocolates or a scented candle, to the host or hosts of the shower. Let them know you appreciate how much work goes into planning such an event, and how much it meant to you. Don’t forget to thank them for their gift, as well!

Writing thank you cards is not difficult or scary and, in fact, it should give you a warm feeling inside, as you reminisce about the good times you had at your shower and all the love (and presents) you received! You don’t have to be Shakespeare or Miss Manners to write a good thank you card. Take time to truly appreciate the thought, expense, attention and care that went into each gift, and this gratitude will be reflected in every word you write.

• Bingo cards (these can be pre-printed with words that are associated with babies, e.g. changing table, diaper, nappies. The design of regular bingo cards can be used, so the “B” line would have only items to do with feeding, “I” to do with names etc.)
• Markers to mark the cards
• Papers marked with things associated with babies and pregnancy – make sure that all the words on the cards are included. Place these folded papers into a bag or deep container.

Each guest is given a bingo card when they arrive for the party. Once the game begins, the host or anyone else acts as the caller. The caller’s job is to pull the strips of paper from the container and call out what is written on it. Guests will mark that word off their bingo card. The first person to mark off a line of words based on the type of bingo being played, calls out “bingo”. This person is the winner of the game. Guests can play for just fun, or to get more interaction, small tokens can be used as prizes.

Type of bingo: Before the game, the caller will state what type of bingo is being played such as ‘full house”, that is, all the squares on the card must be filled or ‘corner to corner”. Regular bingo players can make suggestions.

Version 2: Each guest is given a blank bingo card and is asked to write down what types of gifts they think the mom-to-be will be getting. As she opens the presents, the guests tick off the correct answers on their card. The first person to tick all the guesses on the card wins the game by calling out “bingo”.

Version 3: Again this can be played like a regular bingo game, and the numbers on the bingo cards should ideally be representative of the number of persons at the party. Therefore if invitations were sent to 25 persons, the numbers on the bingo card should not go above 25.

Each guest is then given a number between 1 and 25 to place on their gifts which are placed on a table. The mom-to-be will select gifts in no particular order and call out the number on the gift and guests will mark this off on their cards if it is there. The first person to fill in a line vertically or completely fill in the card, depending on the rules, wins the game by calling out the word, “bingo”.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

• A nice life-sized picture of a baby

• Drawings of a pacifier – you will need one for each guest. Since this is easy to do you can opt for excess in case some guests want more than one try.

• Blindfolds – you can create blindfolds from paper or get scarves or even ask each guest to take their own material or sleep mask to use.

• Tape to use on the drawings of the pacifiers. Tape is safer than pins.

The objective is to have guests take turns trying to place the pacifier in the baby’s open-mouth while blindfolded. The person who comes closest to the baby’s mouth with the pacifier wins the game.

There are many variations to this game, so use your imagination. Some suggestions include:

• Instead of trying to pin the pacifier, other objects can be used instead such as baby bottles, sippy cups, even a thumb.

• Use an image of a mother with hands positioned as if holding a baby, but of course, the baby is missing. The game is to cut out images of babies and try to stick them into the cradled arms of the mommy. Really creative persons can have the mommy lying in bed, sitting in a chair or standing – the choice is wide open.

• Another nice variation is ‘pin the belly button’ with a picture of a pregnant tummy minus a belly button and guests try to place the belly button in the right position.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

Write down the price of each item and place it face down under each item. Make sure than none the guests sees the price when you are doing this. Give each item a number – make this visible. Next you will also need to place the same numbers in a container and have each guest pull out a piece of paper with a number.

Once the container is empty have each guest write down on the paper what they believe the right price of the item is. The guest whose guess is closet to the right price wins the game.

There are many variations of this fun game. Here are two twists that can be added to provide some variety.

1. Show each guest the items and ask them to write down the prices. Once everyone has written down the price of each item, compare prices and the person who has guessed the prices of the most items correctly wins.

2. Decide beforehand the rules in terms of ‘closest price”. Is it the nearest price without going over, or is it the nearest price within two dollars of the correct price. This means that the winner is the person whose guess is anywhere from the correct price to two dollars more or less than the right price.

Suggested baby items include:

• Pacifier

• Feeding bottle

• Rattle

• Diaper pins

• Wet wipes

• Stuffed toy

• Bottled food

• Hair brush and comb

• Wash rags

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

Have each guest sit on a chair in a circle and start the music. The person holding the parcel when the music starts passes it to the person sitting beside them. The parcel is passed from guest to guest until the music stops. The tempo and length of time between stopping the music can be varied to make the game more exciting. The guest holding the parcel when the music stops starts removing as many layers of wrapping paper as they can. If they find a present it is theirs to keep, but they must stop and pass the parcel on to the next person as soon as the music starts again.

The parcel is passed around until the last piece of wrapping paper is removed. The guest who removes the last piece of wrapping from the parcel wins the game and gets to keep the gift or they can give it to the mom to be if they wish.

This is a fun game and can include all invitees at the party, women, men and children.

Note: In another variation of the game, each time the music stops, only one layer of wrapping paper can be removed.

Do you have a favorite baby shower game not listed?  Please comment!

For a pregnant woman nesting is an uncontrollable urge to clean and organize your house, while getting things ready for your baby. It can be as little as washing your baby’s clothes and bedding, to repainting your entire house because you all of a sudden don’t like the color theme you have. Some women will clean walls, baseboards, and door frames as an effort to make sure the house is clean. In some cases women who rarely have a “clean” house will be obsessed about having a spotless house.

It is believed that the act of nesting helps a woman feel more like she is in control. It can begin as early as the second trimester and last the duration of the pregnancy. The urge to have everything in “order” can wake a pregnant woman up at night, or keep her up all night while she completes her latest “project”. When the nesting instinct pops up at the end of pregnancy it can often signify the beginning of labor or that labor is just a couple of days away. It can take over the last hours of pregnancy with an urge to make sure everything is done and just right.

Nesting is normal and natural for a pregnant woman, even if her partner thinks she has gone insane when they find her bleaching down the kitchen cupboards at 3am. However, there are some precautions the pregnant woman should take.

Try To Avoid Paint Fumes
If you HAVE to have the nursery or house repainted at the last minute, try to get someone else to do the actual painting for you. Make sure you wear a mask when you are around the paint to minimize the paint fumes you breathe in.

Climbing On Furniture
When cleaning cupboards, reorganizing the closet and washing down your walls, try to stick to the areas you can reach without standing on a chair or climbing on other furniture. While you are pregnant your balance may be off, and you may fall or get light headed. If you keep your feet planted firmly on the floor then you won’t have to worry about an accident and the possibility of hurting yourself or your baby.

In The Garden
Most pregnant women know if they have a cat not to change the litter box as cat feces could harm the baby. However, you also must remember this and watch for feces and certain other pests you might find while gardening. In most cases anything you come in contact with will be safe, it is just best to take extra precautions.

Nesting can be a fun part of pregnancy for the pregnant woman, even if her husband doesn’t agree when his wife hands him a “honey-do” list and sends him out to pick up another roll of the wallpaper she used in the living room because she all of a sudden decided it would look great in the hall as well. When your partner roles his eyes because you are sending him out for supplies tell him it is all right, you will both be laughing about it in a year.

It’s not easy working a full time job throughout your pregnancy. You may be at work out of choice, or out of necessity, but either way you need to take some extra precautions in taking care of yourself during the coming months.

It is very important to keep your stress level as low as possible during this time, and that’s not always easy. You will find yourself prioritizing your activities, and filtering out unnecessary tasks. My work schedule isn’t particularly demanding, but I have had to cut down on evening activities in order to make time for exercise and extra rest, two things that don’t come very easily to me.

When you’re supermom, taking time for extra rest is extremely important. When I first found out that I was pregnant, I had to keep reminding myself that I needed to slow down and rest more, including going to bed earlier. I resisted a little until I discovered that I am expecting twins. After recovering from that shock (I still haven’t), I decided that no activities were more important than getting my much needed rest. Rest is something you may not getting much of after your baby is born.

Don’t be afraid to ask for extra help around the house, with pet chores (don’t touch that litter box!), laundry, cooking, dishes, etc. Your husband and older children are perfectly capable of helping out, and will probably be more than happy to if you ask. Or, it just might not get done occasionally. My husband is getting used to the fact that he is “on his own” for dinner a night or two out of each week when I’m not hungry or can’t bear to cook.

Exercise is also very important, especially if you work in front of a computer all day. If you are able to join a family court club, they have many activities to choose from for the whole family. Ours offers a prenatal water aerobics class. If you can’t afford the monthly dues, often you can pay a one-time fee for a particular class. At the very least, get out and walk as much as you can, during your lunch hour or in the evenings.

I’m still in the first stages of pregnancy where most food doesn’t sound very appetizing. My tastes are constantly changing. I try to bring a variety of foods to work with me so that something will sound good when it’s time to eat. Lately I have been eating dried fruits, instant oatmeal, canned fruit cocktail, bananas, apples, tuna and sprouts on a wheat bagel, and chicken cup-of-soup. The hardest thing for me is drinking the 8 plus cups of water a day. I feel like I’m going to float away and hate getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I have been assured that drinking all this water will keep me from getting too bloated later in the pregnancy.

It can be hard to find good maternity work clothes. Look for local consignment stores and on Ebay.com. You will find a lot of great deals there and not have to pay “new” prices. Buy several pairs of neutral pants that will go with any top, and that will help save on your wardrobe.

Now is the time to start looking into your employer’s maternity benefits, if any. I have 6 weeks short-term disability I can use, at 66% of my current income. Income taxes, 401K, etc., are not deducted. If you plan ahead, you can take the time off you need without a large financial burden. Find out ahead of time what paperwork needs to be filled out and by when. Your doctor may need to fill out some of the paperwork for you.

If someone is to fill in for you while you’re away from the office, plan ahead and make sure someone knows what you do every day. My doctor told me I could be in bed as early as 6 months, and I have to plan on that even if it doesn’t happen. Don’t leave your employer without a replacement, if possible.

Don’t be afraid to get up and walk around when you need a break or to kick your shoes off under your desk when no one’s looking. Hopefully your employer is watching out for you and wants to help you through a successful pregnancy.

About the Author
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer, mom, and owner of several home and family web sites. To sign up for her bi-weekly newsletter and to find complete resources for the Christian home, visit her web site at http://www.Christian-Parent.com.

In actuality, your baby begins wiggling and moving by the 8th or 9th week of pregnancy. However, he is too small for you to feel at this point. However as he gets bigger he starts to kick the walls of your uterus as he moves around. This can happen as early as the 14th week of pregnancy, normally for women in their second pregnancy or beyond, and as late as the 26th week of pregnancy for women who are in their first pregnancy or might be a little overweight.

Quickening is often explained away as gas bubbles, especially by first time moms who aren’t sure what it should feel like. Quickening may also feel like a woman has butterflies in her stomach, flying around, or someone inside, tapping on their uterus. Eventually however the kicks, punches, and elbows will become obvious to even first time moms-to-be, and the movements will start to come with more regularity than they have in the past.

Remember that once you feel the quickening, you will probably be able to feel it everyday, however some days it may not be as often or as strong as others. If you want to get your baby active, it is often suggested that you drink a big glass of orange juice and lay down to wait for your baby to move. When you are up moving around, it often rocks your baby to sleep, so when you stop moving, he is able to wake up and start moving on his own.

If you start to feel what you think is quickening, but has a definite pattern, like a tap every five to ten seconds, it could be that your baby has the hiccups! Hiccups, like the quickening are a sure sign that your baby is growing and is healthy inside your belly.

The umbilical cord is the source of oxygen and nourishment to your baby while they are in the womb. As long as the umbilical cord is working properly, then your baby should be able to get enough nourishment to continue to grow until the end of the third trimester when you go into labor.

The umbilical cord is attached to the placenta which is attached to the uterine wall and working fully to sustain your baby by the beginning of the second trimester. The umbilical cord is attached to your baby through a hole in your baby’s stomach which later becomes your baby’s belly button. At birth the umbilical cord will be clamped and cut off near your baby’s stomach in a painless procedure, where the stump of the umbilical cord will eventually dry up and fall off, sometime within 10-21 days.

Once your baby has been born and the umbilical cord has been cut, you must be sure to keep the stump of the cord still attached to your baby clean and dry at all times. Some newborn diapers are made with a cut out in them for the belly button so that the diapers don’t touch the umbilical cord. If your diapers do not have this cut out, be sure to fold down the top of the diaper some, so that the umbilical cord can remain free of the moisture of your baby’s diaper. Until the stub falls off you should not emerge your baby in water, instead giving him just sponge baths as needed.

As for cleaning of the umbilical cord, the pediatricians are now split on the best way to do this. For a long time it was told to new parents to clean the area with rubbing alcohol, and believed that the alcohol helps the cord dry up. Now some believe that if you leave it alone, it will dry faster because the rubbing alcohol kills ALL of the bacteria, including the bacteria that helps the umbilical cord heal and fall off. If you are unsure what you should do, call the baby’s doctor.

Normally infection around the umbilical cord stump is not an issue, however sometimes it can happen. There are several signs that your baby might have an infection. If you see any of them be sure to call the doctor and have your child seen. Signs of umbilical cord infection include the area around the navel becoming red, swollen or pussy especially at the base of the stump. You child might also develop a fever that has no other known cause.