Although I haven’t talked about it much publicly, home birth became an important choice for me during the last trimester of my pregnancy. Yeah, I know, I know – home birth??? Sounds so….pioneer woman!
That’s what I thought when I first heard about it. Plus, who wants neighbors hearing me bellow with labor pains? No thanks.
One meeting with the midwives was all we needed to feel the sense of comfort, patience and support that had been lacking at our previous hospital-based birth center. We were like, let’s do this!
After that, things fell easily into place.
A lot of the wishes I had for my birth were focused around bringing my baby into the world in the least traumatic, most healthful way possible. I would have to fight for this in a hospital. But the midwives’ values and ideas were totally aligned with my own.
Daniel Max Pfennighaus was born today! I’ve been holding onto this post for whenever the baby came, not knowing exactly how long I’ll be away from blogging. Hopefully not too long! I plan to be back and I promise to bring baby photos Until then…
Surprise #1
My husband bought a generic brand pregnancy test. Now, I’m all for frugality. But this was one case I would have sprung for name brand. Surprise! It worked! And another surprise – a trip to the doctor might be just another urine test. Not a brain scan or even blood work to confirm that you’re in the family way. Just another darn urine sample. Is that worth paying a co-pay for? Whatevs. I also learned that while there are plenty of false negatives – if you get a positive test result you are probably definitely pregnant. There isn’t much chance of a false positive.
I’m 41 weeks pregnant tomorrow. A natural birth means I will not be induced nor will I have a C-section just because I’m a bit past my due date. This makes me weird in the pregnancy world, where most women by now would be facing medical intervention in the form of surgery or drugs. But babies have been born at 42 weeks, 43 weeks, whatever, for a gabillion years. No need to rush. Yet still…I admit…I might punch someone. I think this is the appropriate way to feel at 41 weeks pregnant. Ha!
In the meantime, I thought I’d direct my punching to 3 newsworthy items from this past week. They all fit in well with Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday, which I haven’t participated in for awhile. But today…yeah, I’ll Fight Back!
Earlier this week, I wrote a post about food allergies. My main questions: What is causing the rate of food allergies to rise so drastically? And what can we do to reverse the trend?
Maybe I’m exaggerating here, but I feel like every baby born to my friends has a food allergy of some kind. Peanuts. Soy. Milk. Wheat. Eggs. Fish. It’s become commonplace, almost expected. And we’re talking about pretty severe allergies here for the most part. There’s a whole other category of kids who have allergies that result in eczema or something less obvious and I bet they haven’t even been diagnosed yet.
Is it just me, or are food allergies going through the roof? Because thinking back to when I was a kid…I knew one boy allergic to shellfish. It made him puke. Um. I can’t think of anyone else, anyone carrying an epi pen or bringing their own food to birthday parties.
In this week’s New Yorker magazine, I came across an article entitled The Peanut Puzzle validating that in the US: “the rate of allergy is rising sharply…In the past decade, allergies to peanuts have doubled.”
This is not what an expecting mama wants to hear. I remember one of my friends warning me to stop eating peanuts when I got pregnant, so I wouldn’t cause my baby to have a peanut allergy. I’ve also received advice to stop eating common allergens (milk, eggs, soy) in my 3rd trimester so my milk won’t contain it – just in case baby is allergic.
And I thought about doing those things. I did. I bought almond butter instead of peanut butter. I skipped milk for a few weeks. But then I was starving, needing protein, and accidentally ate some eggs and cheese. Whoops.
What really concerns me here is why the rate of food allergies are on the rise. It just doesn’t make sense to be allergic to such nutritious, real food that has been part of the human diet for so long! If kids were allergic to Doritos, THAT I would understand.
Pretty much everything I make these days is driven by the desire to eat some and freeze some. This way when the baby is born we’ll have a whole freezer full of meals. And really, it’s not a bad idea, even if you’re not expecting a baby any darn minute. Just get some extra plastic containers and remember to label what’s what! Unless you like Frozen Dinner Surprise.
I guess it’s all part of nesting. It’s pretty cool. So is the cleaning instinct, or whatever they call it. Man, I wish I always had a cleaning instinct. My cleaning instinct usually involves hiring a cleaning service. But lately, I’ve been scrubbing the most obscure corners of the house with white vinegar and essential oils.
And it’s not exactly un-funny to watch a 39 week pregnant lady on her hands and knees trying to scrub stuff, in case you’re wondering. There’s a good bit of humor around here lately. Including my pillow comfort arrangement techniques for bedtime, which include stacking, wrapping and stuffing. Oy.
I’ve had great massages and so-so massages…and some downright useless massages. I’ll tell you right now, if you’re pregnant, ask if they have a special pregnancy foam thing so you can be on your stomach. So much nicer than lying on your side! Man, I could really go for a massage like that right now…
But what about the days or months (or years) between trips to the massage table? I personally get a great deal of use out of 2 tennis balls and a sock to help work tension out of my back. It’s really easy! Check out the video above to see how to do it.
Awareness. That’s it. If you want to summarize what healthy eating and healthy living is all about, it’s about taking responsibility for knowing what the heck is going on. All of my programs are based on this premise.
I figure, once you really know what you’re eating, where it comes from, and how it makes your body feel, you’re going to start making better choices for your body. Note that this is a lot different than eating whatever is advertised as healthy.
This means, you have to do your homework.
Well, I’ll be honest. I got a big fat F last week on my homework last week.
I’ve inherited a new camera from my uncle. Unfortunately, it needs a very odd cord. One that doesn’t exist in our buckets and buckets of random cords. So the photo above is from my old camera, and the photo we took of my extremely pregnant self last week is held hostage inside the new camera.
Until we get the right cord.
Of course, we could just take another photo. I’m just as pregnant today as I was last week. More so, as a matter of fact. But the thing is that most days I haven’t straightened my hair, haven’t put on clothes other than my husband’s sweatpants and t-shirt. Truthsies!
35 weeks is where things get pretty fun, I’m finding. Like trying to roll over in bed. Or trying to sleep, period. Or walking without feeling like I’m gonna pee my pants.
The thing is, I don’t really mind. Isn’t that weird? I’d say that for my entire life I’ve known I was a girl, and as such one day I’d be a woman, and as such one day I’d be pregnant. And for my entire life I’ve dreaded and feared it. First of all, that’s kind of messed up. What sort of messages and images did I absorb as a young girl that would make me dread and fear getting pregnant? Clearly the hospital shows with screaming labor scenes didn’t help.
But here I am and even though I have a foot crammed up my liver all day long…it’s kind of nice. It’s really nice. It’s amazing, as a matter of fact. I feel like I’ve been made president and CEO of this little factory and I really believe in what we’re making.
In short, being hugely pregnant doesn’t suck. I’ll get back to you about childbirth itself, but I have to say – I’m not afraid and I think it might just be awesome.
Well it’s certainly been both busy and chilly around here, how about you?
At 28 weeks pregnant, our grocery shopping trips have turned into marathon affairs. I gave my husband a list yesterday that went something like this:
- Big thing of almonds
- Big thing of walnuts
- Cheese
- Cottage Cheese
- Yogurt
- Carrots
- Celery
- Chickpeas
- Pears
…and it went on for another 10 items or so. Basically, I want to eat well but I want to eat fast. And I know you can relate, whether you’re pregnant or not!
Nutrient-dense snacks are important. But quick soups are a lifesaver, like the one I wrote about a few weeks ago.
Who do you cook with? I grew up cooking with my mom, although that was more of a “helper” role. Now I sometimes cook with my husband, which is one of my favorite ways for an evening to go. But mostly I cook by myself while listening to NPR, and that’s cool too.
Anyway, it was unusual and fantastic to cook with friends during my recent trip to Chicago. (Have you been there? I love that city. I love the beach by the lake and the combination of ‘big like New York’ and ‘clean like Boston’ vibe.)
I help busy people find balance in their over-worked, over-stressed lives. Trust me, it's not an all-or-nothing situation! A few shifts in diet and lifestyle can rock your world like they did mine. (And if you're a health coach, I can help you do the same for your own clients.) Read on
Until then…
