Slight Scare This Morning

It's amazing how after one miscarriage (as frequent as they actually are) the littlest thing can make your heart stop for a minute. This morning I got up with my son at six thirty. When I actually got up (ie started functioning) at eight, I went to the bathroom and there were a few spots of blood in my underwear. This was NOTHING like when I miscarried. This was small and light brown, which is old blood. Around 8:30 I finally called my midwife just for some reassurance. She confirmed that this wasn't anything to worry about, and asked if I had recently had sex. Um, yeah, for the first time since finding out I was pregnant, as a matter of fact. And a bit passionately. So that was probably it. She told me that a little bit of brown or pinkish blood wasn't unusual after sex. So I'll be nervous still for a day or two, but then I'll calm down and be back to concentrating on my nausea and exhaustion.

Baby essential

This isn't something for now, but rather when the baby is old enough to sit up on her/his own and start eating. One of the best things we bought for #1 is a portable high chair. Fisher Price makes them (and they're sold at all the usual places: Babies 'R Us, Target, Amazon, etc.) and my favorite is the plain cream and red one that has a tray cover and adjustable height. I know this is a random thing to post about, but I was raving about it yesterday to a friend so I thought I'd write about it here, too. While I prefer a regular high chair at home because it is higher, the portable one is fantastic for going out and eating at both other people's homes or restaurants. It means that your baby has something familiar and it's much more sanitary than the restaurant high chairs. And safer. The high chairs in restaurants, even if they are clean and don't have a broken buckle, tend to be on the larger side, so too big for small or young babies. They also don't have trays. My child at sixteen months is finally coordinated enough that he does okay with a high chair pushed up to the table. But a tray is so much easier. And of course, this can be used as the home high chair as well and booster seat when your little one is big enough to eat at the table. At around $25 I think this is one of the biggest baby bargains out there.

Keeping the Spice in Life

If you are suffering the indignities of morning (all-day) sickness, this is not a post you'll want to read. But as food begins to appeal again, this will be more important. As I was trying to find a food yesterday to prepare as quickly as possible, that actually sounded appetizing, I came across some chicken and vegetable potstickers and a bottle of sesame wasabi sauce. Yes, this was actually appealing to me, and fortunately, my son would also eat it, including the wasabi sesame sauce. He will also eat sushi with wasabi, stir-fry with chili pepper flakes and any number of strongly flavored, seasoned food that many adults I know won't touch. I attribute this to the fact that he is adventerous in general, and that I ate a lot of spicy food while I was pregnant with him. Studies have shown that was the mother eats while pregnant and breastfeeding have a direct affect on the child's sense of taste. I did have heartburn, but since I had heartburn regardless of what I ate, I figured I might as well have a good reason for it, and gobbled up spicy Indian food for lunch half the time. So, although more and more food seem to be going on my do not eat/smell/look at list (really, cheese???), I look forward to the day, soon, when I can again indulge in some hot and spicy dishes.

Lowering expectations further

Ugh, be careful what you wish for. Since my husband has been gone all week, my father agreed to come over today and watch Ivan the Terrible for a few hours so I could go run some errands (like spending my Victoria's Secret gift card from Hanukkah). I got some laundry done this morning and the kitchen mostly cleaned up. I the T went down for his nap and I took off. Hmm, if I'm gone while he's napping, when do I nap? Yeah, never. So, more exhaustion. I didn't think that walking the mall would be so bad, but I am paying for it. I came home in time for a little bit of playing then dinner and bed. I the T took FORTY MINUTES to get ready for bed. Most of this was him escaping while I was trying to change him into his bed clothes. I cannot wait until my husband gets back. Late tonight, which means I'll be going to bed late. I cannot win.

Oh, yeah, I have a blog

Ugh, it feels like an eternity since I've been on here. Like I mentioned on Saturday, I had a guest and then my husband went on work travel, so today is the first time I've been able to get on the computer since then. So, today's topic: not doing too much.

It's really hard to both remember and acknowledge the fact that I now have limitations. For the most part, I'm used to pushing myself to my limits on a regular basis. But my pre-baby limits were so much higher than post-, and now pregnant ones. Even during my first pregnancy I regularly pushed myself too hard (thanks job!) and it was really only after having my first child that I started to listen to my body more. I am feeling constrained more every day it feels like. Having a guest really brought it home. His first day here we did some big sight-seeing stuff, but not too much and I felt fine. Sunday, I was wiped out. We went out to brunch and I was done for the day. We just watched football (Geaux Saints!) the rest of the day. Monday we went out again, but we went to our local market and the smells just about did me in (no more fish markets or Russian bakeries for a while!). #1 slept in the car while I did a driving tour the rest of the afternoon and then when we came home, I laid down on the nursery floor for a couple of hours while my son generally left me alone. Yesterday was another brutal day. I had a final to prepare for my class last night and I just couldn't get it done. I worked all day on my project but was slow. My toddler (currently nicknamed Ivan the Terrible) didn't help at all, but even without his interruptions I still wouldn't have finished.

So, I need to work on lowering expectations. This is easy enough for stuff I don't want to do (housework), but not so much for the stuff I do want to do, like getting in some more travel and seeing friends before #2 comes along. Also, I think teaching #1 to read so that he quits asking me to all of the time would help. Oh, well, that won't happen, but I can indulge in a little wishful thinking!

Exploding Tummy!

Well, Tuesday it was my boobs, and now it's my belly. I am officially in full maternity regalia at nine and half weeks. It's true, the second time around your body does remember and can't wait to look pregnant again. Unfortunately, I am totally feeling all of that growth. If I do too much, my abdomen starts to get kind of crampy. Great when I'm trying to clean house, run errands or do anything else in daily life that needs to be done, including running after my toddler. After running around with a guest today, I am beat. So, short post tonight :)

It's Friday night

And I'm spent. I think that I had some ideas about what to write, but they're gone by now. We have a guest coming this weekend and all I can think about is how poorly prepared I am. In general, we have a clean house. Not always spotless, but generally picked up and I have no qualms about picking food up off of the floor (hardwoods, and no shoes in the house). We still have yet to recover from the holidays. Furniture hasn't been put back, toys haven't been put away. My husband built built-in bookcases in our entertainment room during his break and I have yet to fill them. I'm just too sick and exhausted all of the time. Oh, and my toddler seems to be sick. Just a cold, but it means I'm running after him to wipe his runny nose every two minutes. Just typing this is making me exhausted. Anyway, no bon mots today, just a reminder that pregnancy is a good time to cut back on EVERYTHING to try and make your life easier. You will also miss less once the little one comes.

Exploding Breasts!

Back before I had my first child, I was barely an A cup. Like, PMS bloat might get me up there. But I had come to terms with my barely there assets and was okay with that. Pregnancy number one: they grew, but so slowly that it wasn't until my eighth month that I finally went and got sized. Which, you should totally do. Getting professionally measured at Nordstroms was fantastic. Don't even think about Victoria's Secret; I don't care if they do all have measuring tapes around their necks, they don't know what they're doing. Yeah, you've got to show the girls off to a complete stranger, but if you're pregnant, you're already used to strangers seeing various body parts, so no big deal. The professional measuring meant I ended up with two of the ugliest C cup bras ever. But they fit. The problem is that you should not, I repeat SHOULD NOT wear underwires toward the end of your pregnancy and after giving birth if you are breastfeeding (which you should be doing). They can mess with your milk ducts. Doesn't always happen (I can hear the chorus of "Well my friends all wore underwires and they didn't have problems"), but why take the chance. And I will admit, even after wearing underwire bras for sixteen years, bras are more comfortable without. The problem is non-underwire bras are really hard to find, particularly in any size larger than an A. Nordstrom had three. Macy's had about five. I bought one bra from each store. And spent about seventy dollars ($70.00) on the two. Gulp. Did I mention they're ugly.

Anyway, after my boobs dried up and I had to stop breastfeeding my old A cups soon fit again. A little more snug, but they worked. I saved my ugly, expensive bras for the next time.

Lo and behold, on Tuesday morning I looked in the mirror (something, I admit, I don't do all of the time) and there were a large pair of breasts. I'm not sure where they came from, and I'm pretty sure it happened overnight. So I'm back in my ugly C cups. At least I was prepared this time.

By the way, after my experiences at the department stores, I bought my nursing bras from Target, and they weren't that bad, and much, much cheaper. Well, I bought two from Target and one ugly one from Babies 'R Us by Medela (nursing bras are also hard to find without underwires, go figure). The Target ones were way, way better!

2nd Midwife appointment

Baby Blob is still too tiny to hear a heartbeat externally, so most of the appointment was focused on how I'm feeling. You know, tired and nauseated. One of the things I love about being with a midwife is the time they spend with you. I get half an hour to an hour of time for each appointment. Nothing is rushed, no question overlooked. While we were waiting, I jotted down some questions to ask. The big one being what about the nausea since ginger isn't appealing to me this time. With my first pregnancy I ended up losing eight pounds in my first trimester, and the only thing the ob told me was try vitamin B6 and if I didn't drink enough they'd put me in the hospital hooked up to an IV. This time I was given a slew of advice.

The first thing being to drink sports drinks and Smart Water for the electrolytes. (Yeah, just call me a hypocrite after writing a whole post about not buying bottled water) Target had the water and Gatorade on sale, so I stocked up today. The Gatorade is tasting kind of nasty, so I'm just trying to chug that and the Smart Water is, well, water. I was also advised to drink red teas (hibiscus, raspberry leaf, rose hips) so I bought some Raspberry Zinger (Celestial Seasonings) to make with the Smart Water. The second big one was just to eat whatever sounds good at that moment. The smell of food is only sometimes turning me off, but it was a huge problem last time. The bigger issue this time is that I still have to cook for and feed my toddler. His favorite food is hummus. The smell of garlic is very off-putting right now. I'm trying to save the hummus for when daddy feeds him. Some hints for finding stuff were to shop at a different grocery store for inspiration (I do most of my shopping at Trader Joe's, and one of the reasons is the store doesn't smell of food), and to pick up stuff in the prepared food section and eat it right away before the idea gets stale. Great in theory, not so easy with toddler in tow. I'll deal. I did stop at Costco today and impulse-bought some canned pineapple. Was still a good idea at lunch. (Last time I was craving pineapple juice and bought a container that was off, or my tastebuds were off, but this is the first time I've had any pineapple juice since, even if it was just in the can.) I made potato leek soup for dinner, which was mighty tasty.

The second big issue I brought up with my midwife is sleep. Part of that is #1's fault, but he has been doing pretty well since his molars popped through. A bigger problem is my mind won't quiet down (oh, and my husband breathes really heavily which keeps me up when I'm restless). She recommended chamomile tea and/or hops tincture. I need to find the hops tincture and see if that works. Regardless, last night my head hit the pillow and I didn't stir until the alarm went off at 5:10am. I didn't have to get up until 7, which was fantastic.

Wow, this is some post, but only one more point. DHA & ARA (fish oils Omega 3 and 6) are really important to the developing brain, but taking suppliments that are derived from fish is really harmful to the environment. I was trying to find vegetarian options, but they're ridiculously overpriced. I asked if I could just eat enough fish, but there isn't a good way to tell if I'd be getting enough and the fattiest fish are also the ones with the most mercury. So, I was told to just take flaxseed oil instead. So, I'm off to get that and my hops tincture this weekend.

BPA update

Well, on products. I had to buy some storage containers yesterday and lo and behold, Ziploc containers are BPA free! They probably have plenty of other toxins in them, but at least the bisphenol A is out. (I'm not advocating buying Ziploc containers, but if glass isn't an option for you due to small children, it's better than other containers with BPA.)

Circumcision

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011503106.html?hpid=topnews

I'll start by saying that I'm Jewish, so this is an automatic yes in my household regardless of the latest study. But I do know that my son is in only a small majority of his generation who is circumcised (56%). While this has long been more of a cultural issue than anything else, recent studies done in Africa have shown that men who are circumcised have a smaller risk of transmitting AIDS and other STDs, particularly genital warts and herpes. While condoms arguably work better, not everyone is good about wearing them all the time, or at all. Studies in the US have finally started to catch up. While the article says that recommendations have yet to change, the experts are at least leaning towards saying yes.

The argument against is mainly that this is a painful, unnecessary procedure. That boys can be taught to clean themselves properly and that there are other ways to prevent the spread of STDs. But, as painful as it is to watch, let alone endure, this is being done on a newborn. He will not be psychologically scarred because his foreskin has been removed, let alone remember the surgery a couple of hours later (or week, I'll account for healing time). Yes, boys can be taught to keep themselves clean, but really, how many teenage boys do you know who are paragons of cleanliness? There is also evidence that circumcision can help prevent urinary tract infections in babies and penile cancer. Even with only 30% (estimated STDs prevented) reduction in some diseases, the result from them can be deadly. So just do it. And if the men are being big sissies, they don't have to watch.

Tylenol recall

Since today's NYTimes was the first time I've seen it mentioned in the papers, and Tylenol is the only approved for pregnant women pain-killer, I thought it would be an appropriate post. (That, and I'm just exhausted, notice no post yesterday.) The reason for the recall has been going on for 20 months and Johnson and Johnson is just now making it public. So I'm going to be boycotting J&J for their dumb move. I don't care if nobody has died yet, drug companies need to be responsible for their actions and do a recall if there is any HINT of a problem with their products. Rolaids and a few other drugs are also being recalled. http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/ lists all of the products and the serial numbers. They also have a space to enter any serial number off of a drug bottle and the website will tell you whether or not the batch has been recalled.

Remember, we vote with our dollars when it comes to corporate policies, so show Johnson & Johnson (and their subsidiary McNeil) what you think!

Out of the Closet

Well, I did it, I told my parents that I'm pregnant with #2. Much screaming and crying from my mother, bewilderment from my father, at first. Since my mom has talked about retiring when I have my second, I got her a retirement card to let her know. As soon as she saw the word "Retirement" she started screaming. Of course, we were out to dinner for my dad's birthday, and he was opening up his own card, so he couldn't figure out what was going on. She finally spit it out and he just sat there in shock. Unlike with #1, she managed to not call half of the world within five minutes (no joke, seriously, half the world, then her battery went dead). One attempted phone call to a friend who is out of the country, so that didn't work. I expect that she'll fix that tomorrow, but at least I didn't have to witness it.

Well, I guess we can start telling everyone else now. Anyone who didn't hear it from my mom.

BPA

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504070.html?hpid=topnews

If you've been keeping track, there has been some evidence for a while that Bisphenol A is a harmful chemical (cancer, heart disease, hormone disrupter, the usual) added to plastics and lining cans for canned food, baby formula, etc. The FDA has finally made it official and decided that maybe all of the safety tests done by the chemical companies can't be fully trusted. Fortunately, BPA has been taken out of most baby bottles already (if it's not plastered across the package, it's probably there). The bigger issue is that it's in plastic drink bottles (yeah, all that bottled water you KNOW you shouldn't be buying anyway), the lining for canned food and in all those plastic containers you put your leftovers in. Glass jars are still okay and your best bet for "canned" food.

While the advice is still coming from the FDA, what are some things you can do? Quit buying bottled water! If you feel the need to carry your water around (or you live in an area where tap water tastes gross), get a reusable bottle. Yes, they're more expensive, but really, you'll make up the money in a couple of weeks after not buying bottled water. If you must have filtered water, buy a Brita. Don't heat up food in plastic containers and don't run them through the dishwasher. I know that there's some evidence that even food sitting in the fridge in the container can have some chemicals leach into it, but much, much less than if the food is heated in a plastic container or after the container has been run through the heat of the dishwasher. Ideally, you'll switch to glass containers for leftovers, but with (a) small child(ren) in the house, I'm not willing to risk the broken glass right now. If you get rid of the containers, many of them can still be recycled. And you can always use them for non-food items, like children's art supplies.

The harder part is getting rid of the canned food. There are some things that are easier: it's really easy to cook beans instead of buying canned ones. Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything) says you can just cook them without soaking them first. You can then freeze the beans to have ready. I have had really good luck with this. Canned fruits & vegetables can be substituted by frozen ones or jarred. You can buy soup in cardboard containers instead of the canned ones, although this works better for larger quantities. I don't have a suggestion for canned fish (tuna, salmon, etc), but I will attempt to look into it. I have no idea if there are any substitutions for canned milk (evaporated & condensed), but since I rarely use them except for in holiday baking I'm not as worried. The last is baby formula. For some a necessary evil, but breast is always best (a topic I will cover again, later).

I will admit that I've back slid a bit on buying canned foods since being knocked out by this pregnancy, and my husband is horribly addicted to canned soups (a whole other topic), but today's news is a nice little jolt to remember to stay away from the canned goods!

Yoga!

I hate exercising. Well, I don't mind working out when I have the time, ie: nothing else to do. I think that last time that happened was before my wedding nearly four years ago. But, honestly, I was a size six when I got pregnant the first time, so it wasn't high on my priorities. Yeah, I'm not a size six anymore. I will blame a large part of that on my Postpartum Depression and general mommy-exhaustion. But with a blog to hold me accountable, I'd like to do more this time around.

Baby Blob's future nursery is currently set up as an excercise room. I've got an eliptical machine, a ball, my yoga mat and a 19" TV and DVD player. No excuses, right? Until we throw in my toddler. Who likes to press buttons. While my husband was off around the holidays I managed to get in one thirty minute workout on the eliptical. My little one was running in and out of the room, but generally staying out of my way (I also didn't have the TV turned on). I had to have my husband unplug the TV, but that was it. Today was a nightmare. I tried doing my snazzy Prenatal Yoga. The 55 minute routine ended up taking me an hour and a half between having to rewind, pause and restart because my toddler kept pressing the buttons. He would press a button, I would grab him, put him in his room and try to get back to the position I was in. He would promptly be screaming bloody murder, ruining any chance of calmness to decend, until I would let him out and then he'd start pressing buttons on the DVD player again. I finally skipped the last ten minutes after I couldn't find my spot again, and did the final relaxation pose, with my heart racing from frustration. I then left him in his room, screaming bloody murder, while I took a fast shower and tried to calm down a bit. It was a frustrating day.

Tomorrow my husband works from home and has sworn I should try this again. We will see.

Caffeine

Hmm, so I managed to leave off one of the controversial foods in my prior post. With my first pregnancy, when I went to my GP to have the pregnancy confirmed she assured me that a couple of cups of coffee a day would be fine and that chocolate was always okay (my husband was trying to keep it all from me). That same day the story broke that more than 300mg of caffeine a day could double your chance of a miscarriage. I had already decided to forgo coffee and caffinated teas, so this just reinforced my decision. I think I can count on one hand how many times I had decaf coffee during my first pregnancy, even (and one was after a red-eye flight cross-country).

But that was before I had to deal with a teething (ie: not sleeping) toddler besides my own pregnancy-induced exhaustion. So, my slight compromise: I've been drinking some decaf tea and I just bought a bag of decaf coffee. Why bother? I get a psychological boost from drinking the fake stuff and there is a teeny, tiny bit of caffeine in them. Although studies show that I should be fine, here is another example of why risk it? I'm less worried about the risk of a miscarriage than I am about the affects of caffeine on Baby Blob's heart. If some caffeine raises my pulse, what is it doing to the already super-fast beating baby heart? Even if it's not causing permanent damage, I just can't believe that it's good for the baby.

At the very least it's another reason for my husband to help more around the house, because I'm just too tired to deal with it all!

Risk Aversion

I'm sorry about no post last night, between my class and watching/reading what was going on in Haiti, I completely forgot. But I have been inspired, hence today's topic.

I will admit it, I am a stickler for the rules. And when it comes to the "shouldn'ts" of pregnancy, doubly so. I know plenty of women who had the occasional glass of wine, deli meats and soft cheeses without any problems. And I know women who did everything right and still had children born with problems. The biggest issue is that for a lot of things, nobody knows for sure how much of something might hurt a fetus. The reaction to alcohol, for instance. This most likely has a genetic component where some women can drink like a fish (see the 60s) without harming the fetus where others are risking fetal alcohol syndrom with only a couple of drinks before they even know they are pregnant. The chances of consuming a raw egg infected with salmonella is like one in 10,000. Listeria poisoning is similarly rare. But, as far as I'm concerned, why take the chance?

My life has already been a series of lucky breaks. If there is a natural phenomenon for the US, I've been in it: hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes; I've been on an airplane that was struck by lightening two feet outside of my wingside window. I've been evacuated from my home because of chance of flooding. The house next door to mine burnt to the ground and the only thing that kept mine safe was that the prevailing winds were freakishly not blowing. I lived six blocks from the Capital on 9/11. Need I go on? I'd rather not push my luck on some of the stuff I can control.

So, no sushi, no chevre, no wine. I don't eat deli meats, so it just gives me an excuse to bypass that hoagie. I called every single grocery store in a 30 minute radius looking for pasteurized eggs so that I could make the chocolate mousse in the Buche de Noel for our holiday party (I also totally do not trust the USDA and their food safety testing). And you've already seen my opinion on skin care products. I believe that the FDA rules prohibit doing drug trials on pregnant women, so what is considered "safe" is frequently that which has not been shown to be detrimental. So, yes, no drugs for me. Obviously, if something became life or death, I would relent, but I see no reason for antacids or painkillers. If I can handle natural childbirth, I can deal with some heartburn.

And as a final emphasis on the Fates and not tempting them: really, what were the odds that I would have gotten Swine Flu when I did with the effect that it had?

Beauty Products

Woo-hoo, a relatively nausea-free day. Of course, my toddler didn't nap and my husband got home two hours late, so I still didn't get anything done during the day, but at least I wasn't curled up on the couch.

So, back to the purpose of my blog: being healthier and environmentally friendly. Can I share a secret? I'm a total beauty junkie. If I had my way, the sales clerks at Sephora would know me by name. I do at least partial make-up (powder foundation, full eye, blush & gloss) every day and do full make-up when I have the time. Unfortunately, this goes against my desire to get the parabens and other nasties out of my bathroom. What can I say, it's a slow process. Christmas helped, as my husband bought me a ton of environmentally friendly make-up and body products including Korres' body butter & shower gels.

The product I've been having the hardest time finding a good substitute for is lotion, the texture is hard to get right without petroleum products. The Korres body butter does a pretty good job. It soaks in quickly, has a nice, thick texture, and the scents are lovely. The end-all-be-all for moisturizers is shea butter, specifically the 100% shea butter that you can get at L'Occitane. But this is too much for most skin, and pretty pricey. What is worth every penny, though, is L'Occitane's Mama and Baby Balm. I used it on my belly during my last pregnancy and didn't have any stretch marks and have been using it since my positive test this time. At $40 a container, it was too much for me to use anywhere else, but the texture is fantastic, if greasy. I also picked up a locally made honey-based belly balm, so I'll see how that one works out, too. At least the process to be more environmentall friendly is a fun one.

Living on the couch

Okay, not literally, I do have a small child to take care of. But, oh, if I could. The nausea has gotten steadily worse and I'm not so sure how I'm going to fare tomorrow without my husband around to help. Although nothing helped last time, I decided to do some research to see if I could find anything new. Nope. The standard advice is: eat small meals frequently with protein and complex carbohydrates, ginger, B6 and keep hydrated. The good news is that I don't ever actually throw up, I'm just nauseated all. of. the. time. The hardest thing is to eat more frequently. I really can't keep eating all of the time in front of my son without him wanting something, too, so I end up only eating when he does to avoid this issue completely. I need to figure something else out. The idea of ginger is currently making me feel ill. The B6 I'll bring up with my midwife when I see her in a week, although it didn't make a difference last time. In the mean time, I'll concentrate on the end product: that sweet, sweet baby that will be mine in August.

Family

What better topic to follow up nausea, right? Family is a complicated issue. If you're lucky then there is mutual love, respect and support. If you're really lucky then you have all of that in forms that you like. Mine is a mixed bag. My parents LOVE me, my brother and my family. The kind of all-encompassing, sometimes suffocating love. Six months after my son was born my parents moved more than a thousand miles into a house FIVE HOUSES DOWN from us. Yes, technically I found the rental for them. I figured if they're going to be close, I want them within walking distance so I don't have to hear about my dad needing to leave to take care of his dog after an hour (he can walk home and come back) or having to get my antsy toddler into his car seat every time they want to see him. In an emergency it takes them three minutes to get to me (including getting dressed in the middle of the night).

However, they are suffocating, and they cannot see outside of their own experiences. College? Didn't understand. Wanting to live away from home? Didn't understand. Not wanting the whole world to know every aspect of my business? Don't understand. Add this with the fact that I am the only one reproducing amongst my mother's family and friends and there is a lot of pressure and excessive "advice." I couldn't tell you how many "aunties" my son has even if I tried to count them all. Which lead to me not revealing my first pregnancy until my parents visited at nineteen weeks. Obviously, I can't hide it that long this time. Heck, I'm about ready to move into my roomier maternity clothes already! I'd rather wait until after the first trimester so I'm less worried about a miscarriage again (nope, didn't tell them about that, either). But, there's that growing belly. My dad's birthday is next week, so I have a feeling we'll spill the beans then. A good birthday present, I think, since all I hear about is when we're going to start on number two. Then all I can do is hope and pray that they mainly leave us and our choices alone. (Because I can already hear my mother: "You can't have a home birth, what if something happens!!??")

Nausea, nausea, nausea

With my first pregnancy I was nauseated morning, noon and night from about five and a half weeks until seven months. My only real relief was sleep. Seems as though #2 is trying to keep up. Ginger helps, but only a bit. My ever-sensitive sense of smell seems to be adding to the intensity a bit. One contributing factor to my evening nausea could be that my darling husband is installing built-in bookcases in our entertainment room. Although we have an air filter running nearly 24/7, I can still smell the varnish. This is the room we hang out in after the baby is asleep. Since we had just moved in and were still painting our house when I first got pregnant with my son, I'll assume that I'm not doing any permanent damage. But boy, I can't wait for the smell to go away. Lesson being, watch out for all the stinky stuff in your home before you get pregnant! (and try to limit the home improvement projects, although better to get it done while pregnant rather than waiting until afterward!)

17 Again

And not because I look young and fabulous. Nope, it's because my nose has a nice impression of Mt. Vesuvius circa 79 CE growing on the right side. My last pregnancy saw the return of such horrible skin that I still have scars on my back and nightmares about my face. So I'm expecting much the same this time around (although I will add, my skin in between pregnancies has never looked better, even without any sleep). The biggest problem is that the most common treatments for acne are strictly verboten during pregnancy: retinol and salicylic acid. Retinol causes such horrific birth defects that women on Accutane must pledge to abstain from having sex while during their course of treatment. Salicylic acid is not much better. Studies have mainly been done on the consumption of the above (salicylic acid is also in asprin). I will note that the evidence is not in as to how much can safely be used on the skin during pregnancy, so it's best just to avoid it. Babycenter.com actually has a decent article about what is and isn't safe to use on your skin during pregnancy.

So what can you use? Your best bet is glycolic acid (AHA). Bonus, it helps with signs of aging, too! My favorite product with it is MD Formulations Continuous Renewal Serum. At $54 a pop it's not cheap, but I am still using the dregs of the bottle I bought during my last pregnancy. And if it's your budget, try getting a facial or two, if just for the pampering, relaxing portion of it. Just make sure to let your aestitician know not to use any product was salicylic acid or any retinol.

Oh, and one more thing, tea tree oil is safe, too (as far as I can tell). You can buy it straight from places like Whole Foods. Or the Body Shop has it's Tea Tree oil line, although I haven't checked out the ingredients on any of those products. I just use it straight as a spot treatment. Off to go stock up now!

Herbal teas

Continuing with the food theme, an item not given much thought: herbal teas. It's cold outside and you've either cut back or cut out your caffeine intake. There's only so much hot chocolate you can drink (or you're really good about your sweets). Herbal tea seems to be the natural (pun intended) choice. But, there are some herbs that you should be careful about consuming during pregnancy. I haven't been able to find a reliable and comprehensive list yet, so I just brought my teas to my last midwife appointment and had her look them up. I had heard that hibiscus was a no-no, but to my surprise, the flowers are okay, just the roots are bad. The real shocker was that licorice root is a BIG no-no. There are lots of teas with licorice root in it, including one of my favorites: the Aveda tea. Also Tazo's Passion. Check your labels, it's hiding in a few of them. And if you're a fan of real black licorice, it's also off the table (Twizzlers are fine, there isn't anything real in them. Yeah, so don't eat them anyway). Anise seed is an acceptable subsitute if you really love the licorice flavor. Oh, and what does licorice root do? It can cause brain damage to the developing fetus. So just say no!

Beef, it's not what's for dinner

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=1

Okay, so heavy on the links for a couple of days, but these are important. The title of my blog might indicate that food might be mentioned but I've been dragging my feet as we're still in the post-holiday deluge of bad foods (as I put a chocolate-covered cherry in my mouth). So here's a way to jump into it. NEWS FLASH!! The US food safety is a joke! The majority of our food is not properly inspected and is processed in facilities too large to keep track of what comes from and goes to where. Hence, you have stuff like above happen. Food poisoning becomes much more likely.

This becomes so much more important to be aware of when you're pregnant and feeding a small child. Immune systems cannot ward off food poisoning as well so what was an annoyance becomes potentially life-threatening. Why do you think pregnant women have so many restrictions on their diet? Listeria in soft cheeses and luncheon meat, for example. Women in other countries safely eat unpasteurized cheese, why can't we? It's all about how food is made and distributed in this country. More on another date, it's late and I'm tired.

Bonus Post! Breeches born vaginally

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010402755_2.html?hpid=sec-health

My husband was a breech baby and born vaginally. But once again, the incidence of caesareans rising (for breech births) has been related more to hospitals worrying about being sued than actual data. But the final analysis seems to be that in a healthy mom and baby, with certain criteria met, a vaginal delivery is still the way to go. Now let's hope that medical schools and teaching hospitals actually pay attention to this!

Ultrasound!

Introducing: Baby Blob! I was a little surprised today when at the ultrasound there was a heartbeat in a blob instead of the Matt Groening-like creature I expected. That thing that looks like a head, no, that's the yolk sac, there isn't a placenta yet (does that mean I can still drink?). Baby Blob is now only six weeks and five days old, giving me an estimated due date of August 25. No wonder my pregnancy test was so faint, I was only twenty-four days pregnant. Or fertilized for around ten days.

The great news is that I'm still a week ahead of the last pregnancy and there was a super-strong heartbeat. That little whiter spot in the blob, that's the rapidly beating heart.

This is a good time to point out that even with a midwife, I can still get ultrasounds. I didn't realize last time around that going to a midwife entails the exact same tests as going to an ob. The midwives just don't have the ultrasound machine in their office, I had to go to the hospital, which is all of two blocks from my birth center. This misconception prevented me from starting out with a midwifery practice right from the start with number one.

Due Date?

Since this is a pregnancy blog, there should be a ticker somewhere, right? Well, my due date is currently not calculated. My last period started October 2, 2009. On November 2 I tested positive with a brilliant double pink line. That day I left for vacation with my son and on Sunday, November 8 we came down with swine flu. My fever was so high that I miscarried (a blessing, really, I wouldn't want to spend an entire pregnancy worrying that I had caused brain damage to my fetus) on November 11. On December 12 I had the faintest of double lines. Actually, I didn't see it, my inquisitive husband pulled what I thought was the negative test out of the trash and saw the line. (Kudos to my husband for not being squeamish about a pee stick, or pretty much anything birth-related) We have been cautiously excited ever since. My first midwife appointment was on December 22 where I had really good HCG levels, so the caution is letting up a little bit. But every time I feel a twinge in my uterus or I feel some fluids, I get a little nervous. However, my nausea is starting to kick in big time, so that's a great sign, right? Tomorrow is my dating ultrasound where I'll see the baby's heartbeat. That should give me a lot more peace of mind. And I'll have a picture for tomorrow's post!

Date Night!

. . . so I'm tired and am just going to do a quick post. The husband and I have decided to make date night a priority for the next several months for obvious reasons. Getting out of the house when we have one child to leave behind is much easier than with two. Fortunately, my parents live five houses down from us (yes, Everyone Loves MrsTiara) so it is super easy for my mother to come over, when she wants to. We try to not take advantage of my parents, but I think we end up not using their services as much as we should as a result. They moved near us last April and it's worked out fairly well. But, as we realized tonight, they haven't watched the baby and put him down for bed since the beginning of OCTOBER! And that was because I had a class and hubby was on work travel. We must remedy this situation immediately!

BTW, we saw Sherlock Holmes, which was great fun! (Avatar was sold out)

New Year's Resolutions

Okay, so I've been saying that I'm going to start a blog for a while now, but my husband does fancy websites while I prefer paper and I've been too intimidated. It took a defined time-line that has made me finally start: what better reason than the pregnancy of my second child? Which brings me to the point of my blog: I think that the female body is a wondrous thing of beauty and function. Women can do amazing things when they listen to their bodies and trust themselves. Yep, I'm talking about natural childbirth. Not only that, but out-of-hospital childbirth. My first baby was born at a birthing center with the attendance of three amazing midwives. My husband caught our son and the whole experience was just fantastic. For #2 (the fetus' official name for now) I am planning for a home birth.

I am a HUGE advocate for childbirth the way nature intended: no intervention unless truly necessary. I am well aware that sometimes cesarean sections are medically necessary, and have friends who have needed them. I am also well aware that frequently, medical intervention during labor leads down a slippery slope to C-sections that would otherwise not be needed. I have many, many more friends who fall into this category. I have a lot of respect for the medical profession (and really, I have friends who are doctors!), but I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that very few pregnancies are medical situations.

I therefore, hope to be an encouraging voice for women to learn about their bodies, their pregnancies and their choices. Have a Happy and Fruitful New Year!