20weeks and counting

This picture was taking two weeks ago at 20weeks...I am now a little over 22 weeks, feeling well and excited about having another baby!  I had my first wedding shoot about three weeks ago and now settling into a new routine.  It is hard to find time to write with a teething baby and a growing belly...but it is a good lession in

priorities I think ; )  So hopefully some more post soon, also working on a website for the photography business with a blog that will finally encompass everything (well hopefully, lol).  So cheers to new adventures of all kinds this fall.

Morning sickness and Whats up with the magical 12 weeks??

So lets talk options...
-Preggie pops  and Drops
           Basically a vitamin B supplement, but a nicer way to take it.  Morning sickness symptoms can be increased when you have a lack of vitamin B in your system.  Very normal since you now have a little bean sucking it our of you...Bottom line, take a vitamin B complex of some variety; this is one many women like and has natural ingredients. B-Natal and other companies also make a version of the pop.

-don't want the sweet?  try chewy vitamin B supplements if the pill is to hard to swallow.

-Morning Sickness Magic

This is again using vitamin B complex, but with a few other things.  The ingredients include ginger, red raspberry leaf and extra floic acid.  I would be aware of how much you are taking if you can manage to get your prenatal vitamin down as well...you could be getting a lot of folic acid!

-Ginger

Great stomach soother.  Comes in many different forms, including candies, bonbons, loly pops and more!

- Teas and aromatherapy

There are lots of teas out there, just read the back and see the list of ingredients before buying...they may be more hype then real soothers in there.

Aromatherapy is used for so many things, energy booster, calming, nausea, you name it!

one example of aromatherapy (but you can find more at your local whole foods or health food store)
http://www.morningsicknesshelp.com/queaseease.html


-Accupuncter and Reflexology

Both really great techniques if other options are not working.  Both very relaxing and have lots of health benefits besides preventing morning sickness.  To learn more about the techniques and benefits try out
these links:
http://www.tai.edu/NCCAcupuncture.aspx  - a local teaching clinic and great community resource.


Reflexology
http://www.naturalhealers.com/qa/reflexology-massage.html


 A fun chart
http://www.reflexology-research.com/whatis.htm

http://reflexologychart.info/history.html

-Unisom
25 mg of doxylamine succinate (Costco sells a generic for cheap!)


So why 12 weeks?
 At 12 weeks your amazing body dose a few great things.  Prior to this time your body was producing the amount of progesterone needed from the cyst (or corpus luteum) left over after ovulating.  For normal healthy women this is the perfect amount of hormone to sustain a pregnancy until the placenta has developed a health blood supply and well established in the uterine wall.  Yup, you guessed it, 12 weeks is when the placenta takes over the production of progesterone and all the side effects related to the hormone being produced by the corpus lutuem resolves...or so the theory goes, lol.  Some women are just more sensitive to progesterone then others and the symptoms can last longer, and for others the whole pregnancy.  My frist pregnancy I didn't get relief until ~18wks, this time right around 12 weeks, it was amazing the change...I thought, yup the placenta just kicked in.  It is really awesome what our bodies can do as women and how different each pregnancy really is!

                                                                  Taken at 16 weeks

Another option for glucose screening

I talked about the Jelly Bean option a few months back and now want to offer up another option for the dreaded 1hour glucose screen.
You want to eat a normal meal that morning, then wait about 2-3hours and choose one of these snacks:
-16oz OJ and 1/2 banana (normal size)
-8oz of Apple juice and 1/2 banana
-8oz Grape juice and 1/2 banana
-6oz Grape Juice and a whole banana

The idea is to get the same 50g dose that the glucola has...so make sure its the real juice (no sugar free), no watering down and a normal size banana.
As before you need to eat the snack in a reasonable time frame, 2-5mins.  Make sure you arrive early to have your blood drawn and that you know the time you started the glucose challenge, this is so the blood draw is on time and more accurate.  If you are going to a lab site and not the your Midwife's office for the screening, then make sure your lab will agree to draw your blood if you started the test before arriving...if not, ask your Midwife to put the test in as a 2hour post perennial.  This will allow you to eat your snack and the lab to draw the blood timed but without the headache of explaining the test method you have chosen.  Make sure you still do the test at the 1hour mark!!
Hope this helps, have any questions let me know : )

Glucose screening

This is a post from when I did my glucose screening when I was pregnant...thought I would share.  I will post a new info sheet soon as I finish adding a few things

First thing, make sure your lab slip was put in as a random draw or that the lab allows you to drink the glucola before you arrive. If not they will turn you away, found this out the hard way. For this test you only have to be fasting 3hours before you eat the jelly beans...I played it safe and did 4hrs just in case. This allows you to eat breakfast and then fast so you don't feel miserable, like with the other methods. The jelly beans you have to buy are the big ones. The study recommends Brach's Jelly Beans, the 50gm dose is already calculated for you at 18 jelly beans. If you choose a smaller variety you have to eat 28-32, depending on the amount of carbs in the bean.

So you time it from the start of eating not the finish, and you should eat them pretty quickly 2-4mins, so that the test is accurate. The blood draw needs to be an hour after your start time, so arrive about 10-15min. early to the lab. Bring a protein snack for after, and some water, to help with the sugar rush. I was happy to find an alternative for myself, and our clients at the birth center.

Going really green...please keep an open mind on this one

(disclaimer: there is personal feminine talk in this one, so men may not want to read :] )

Yup! your looking at what you think it is :)
Cloth pads...and where on earth did she get this latest crazy idea? that is what you are asking, lol. I had a patient about a year and a half ago come into the office that used them. I did a little research and found a friend at my old job in NOVA that made them for her postpartum recovery. I got busy and forgot about it and then remembered half way into my pregnancy, when trying to plan for the birth. So, I started to research and found patterns and many shops on etsy that sold them. I found one place (Randumosity) that sold them for less than I could make them...considering my sewing skills are minimal and my busy call schedule at the time.
They are really soft and comfortable...in the picture you can see a postpartum pad (she also makes over night pads not shown), a regular and a liner. They fold up and snap together to store, as shown above. They were great to use right after having a baby for comfort. I have never worn pads for that length of time...so in the end I did have irritation from them, but related to the length of time and the way I was sitting with them on to breast feed.
So your question now is, how do you clean them? since we are doing cloth diapers I figured no big deal just through them it. The friend I have that made them used borax in a container stored out of the way in the bathroom (I put it under the sink). You put it in the bucket/tupperwear whatever container, to prevent stains buildup, and then I put them in with the cloth diapers. The instructions that came with the pad said you could rinse, then wash them with your cloths..sounds crazy, but you really could. The fabric works a lot like the cloth diapers where the soft fleece layer keeps you dry (repels) and the cotton inside absorbs the liquid (wicks it away from you once repelled by the top layer). There is a layer of PUL, also in diapers, that prevents the leaking. I was really surprised how well they worked. You don't see anything on the pad because it is absorbed in (except for the occasional mucusy things we know about as women, sorry if that is TMI).
The other picture is of nursing pads. They are made the same way and are really soft next to your skin. I have been using them like crazy...and cost effective, have you seen the price of nursing pad these days! also very easy to clean, just throw them in the wash, I put them in a laundry bag.
In the picture above the pink side would go towards you and the pattern side is for fun :)
So here is to being greener then I though I could go, lol...

**Update  Still like them.  After ordering more and having problems with the quality I would recomend a different company.  There are more places out there now that cloth pads are going "mainstream."  I will write a new post soon with details.