Happy Halloween!

Wow, another week already... That went by quickly! Tonight I'm answering the door for trick or treaters with my boy in a Moby wrap... Makes my life a little easier until my husband gets home from school.  I'm doing my best not to eat any more Halloween candy, but that's not easy! I am one pound away from my pre-pregnancy weight, and so desperate to get there, and then to lose 10 more pounds... On a positive note, I felt like Aaron was getting lighter today, so I weighed him.  He's 14.6 pounds, so I must just be getting stronger! Guess I have Lindsay Brin's postnatal boot camp to thank for that! Tomorrow is the triathlon sign-up, which is also exciting! I will be back in shape in no time once I start training for that... Aaron just woke up and spit up all over me and the Moby wrap, so I guess it's time to end this.  I will say that my chicken project from last week worked out great... 3 awesome meals from one whole chicken! Roast chicken, chicken barbecue, and chicken noodle soup... Definitely something to try again! Here's a bit of motivation for the day:

Crunchify Me!

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! Last week went by so quickly... I made an impromptu visit home to see my parents last weekend, so I could get a little extra sleep while they watched Aaron... It was nice for me, and nice for them, because they don't get to see Aaron enough and he is their first grandchild... For this week I will share a few things that I am planning on doing in my quest to become more crunchy (and save money)...

1.) I plan to start the "no 'poo" method of hair-cleaning today... Basically, instead of shampoo and conditioner I will be using baking soda and apple cider vinegar for cleaning my hair...
2.) Homemade Household Cleaner
3.) Homemade Deoderant
4.) Coconut oil as diaper cream
5.) Homemade Baby Wipes
6.) Diva Cup (TMI, I know)

And as far as crunchy (and cheap) food ideas go, this week I purchased a whole chicken, and I'm currently roasting it for dinner tonight. I then plan to take the leftover chicken and make chicken BBQ for Wednesday's dinner, and chicken noodle soup for Friday.  I am also going to make a chicken stock from the carcass, and use it for the soup, in addition to freezing some.  More updates on that later in the week.  If it works out, we'll have gotten 3 meals and some chicken stock for less than $6.  Win!

Check back later in the week for an update on the chicken situation, and probably a post on the pumpkin whoopie pies I'm planning to make for my landlord tomorrow.  At some point I need to post about my crunchy Christmas gift plans... Aaron just needs to give me more free time! :)

2 month appointment!

I can't believe my little boy is about 2 months already, but he is!  So crazy!  He had his 2 month visit today, and it went very well.  He was 13.5 pounds and 25 inches long.  He's over the 97th percentile for height, but his weight and head circumference are right around average.  He has a weight to length ratio of 5-10%! I think he's going to end up being tall and skinny like his daddy :) He did not enjoy getting his shots, but he did nom the oral vaccine up pretty quickly.  He fell asleep in my arms after crying for a few minutes from the shots, and has been pretty sleepy since then.  I have been keeping him with me (as usual), but he hasn't seemed fussy at all since then.  I did give him some infant tylenol last time he woke up, because I know the tetanus vaccine can be painful for a bit, and the doctor recommended it.  At least he doesn't need to go back and get more shots until December... I almost cried when he was getting them, so that's probably best.  I am going to leave you with a picture of him sleeping on my lap at home after getting the shots, and try to figure out if I can get my workout in before my husband gets home.

Doula Workshop

So this past weekend I attended a doula workshop to get started on the process to becoming a DONA-certified doula.  For those of you who don't know, a doula is an individual that helps a mother through the process of childbirth.  They are available for prenatal support and information, as well as continuously throughout the entire labor, generally starting during active labor, unless the mother decides otherwise.  They don't do anything medical, but they provide support in other ways, such as natural pain management through relaxation techniques, guided imagery, massage, and counterpressure.  They also suggest different positions for laboring and pushing, and help support the mother's partner and family as well.  They also provide postpartum and breastfeeding support.  Generally they are sought out by women desiring a natural birth, but that's not a requirement.  I think that every woman deserves a doula, no matter what her birth plan is.

The presence of a doula at a birth has been shown to shorten labors by 25%, reduce all interventions (including C-sections) by 40%, reduce the risk of postpartum depression and child abuse, increase mother's satisfaction with the birth, and increase breastfeeding success by 40%.  Having a doula also helps empower women and make them feel like they had a say in how their labor happened, even if it didn't go as planned.  I wish I would have had a doula for my labor, because I think it would have been a shorter, easier labor if I had, and it wouldn't have been so hard on my husband and mother.  Sometimes having an impartial support person who has seen many labors is easier than just having people who love you, and have a hard time seeing you in pain. 

Anyway, the workshop was amazing, and such a great way to spend a weekend!  I got to be surrounded by women that love childbirth and pregnancy as much as I do.  And here's my shameless plug, for anyone in the area: Peace Love Doula

Food post!

I still can't do anything fitness-wise, so I'll do my food post for the week.  I usually plan out my menus on Fridays, because I go to the farmer's market and the grocery store on Saturday mornings.  I had to go to the grocery store today though, because I'm going to be out of town this weekend (for my doula course!!! More on that later)... So here's what we have going on this week:

Friday- Cheesy Chicken
Saturday and Sunday-my parents are cooking, so no idea, but probably something healthy
Monday-Seared Steak and Balsamic Tomatoes
Tuesday-Quesadillas (veggie for me, chicken and bacon for my husband)
Wednesday-Pork BBQ
Thursday-Gorditas
Friday-Garlic Shrimp
Saturday-Seasoned Salmon (My husband is going to be out of town Friday and Saturday, so I can eat seafood... He doesn't eat it)

And there will be a vegetable of some sort with every meal.  Probably cauliflower, brussel sprouts, or zucchini, onion, pepper, and tomatoes cooked in olive oil.  My husband doesn't eat vegetables, but I do.  I get at least one serving with every meal, and usually snack on some in the evening too.  Fruits and veggies are zero points on WeightWatchers, so I generally get a 8+ servings a day. 

Looking at that menu, it doesn't seem very crunchy.  I'm going to have to work on that.  It's a little challenging, because my husband doesn't eat fruits or vegetables, or many healthy things at all.  Aaron (indirectly for now) and I do. I did do one crunchy thing today.  I stocked my freezer up with a bunch of vegetables that won't be available all winter, mainly zucchini and summer squash.  I still want to do green beans.  I also have pumpkin in there for the year.  And in addition to all of that I have meat until we go home for Thanksgiving (it's cheaper at home and way crunchier from the Amish than the grocery store, although I've been trying to buy anything extra at the farmer's market), and breast milk for donating.  I'm really thinking I need a 2nd freezer!

Alright well I'll end this with some food porn (well, at least it is for me, because I love veggies).  Last night's dinner- seasoned salmon with a huge plate of veggies cooked up in olive oil.  Zucchini, onion, red pepper, and tomato.  It was glorious, and yes I did eat that entire huge pile of veggies.  And it only cost me 1 point on WeightWatchers for the teaspoon of olive oil I used.

My Natural Unmedicated Birth Story!

Well, I don't have a lot going on this week, because I can't work out and I haven't had time to make anything food-wise, so I will post my birth story for anyone who is interested.  It was a really long labor (43 hours), because I had some emotional hangups that were stalling me.  But in the end I got my healthy baby boy and my unmedicated birth, which is what I wanted.  Next time I am planning on doing a home birth so I have a better shot at getting the peaceful, relaxing birth that I was really planning on and looking forward to.  Honestly, I'm really excited for next time, and I'm kind of sad that I have to wait until I finish grad school to do it again...


DOB: August 20th at 12pm
EDD: August 15th
Weeks pg: 40+5
Weight: 8lbs 12oz
Height: 21in

            My contractions started around 5pm on Thursday, August 18^th.  They were around 8-10 minutes apart, and strong enough to make me head home from the grocery store, thinking this might be the start of early labor.  I timed contractions off and on all night, and while they got more intense, they didn't get much closer together than 8 minutes.  I had back labor from the start, because of course my stubborn boy didn't turn from posterior until the very end.  I went to bed early that night, hoping to rest up for active labor, but unfortunately I couldn't sleep through the contractions, only between them. 

The next morning I got up early, because I wasn't really sleeping much anyway.  I wanted to do some walking to hopefully get things moving.  The contractions were intense enough that I had to focus during them, and were 6-7 minutes apart.  I made cupcakes, and then my parents came over and we went shopping and to my school, and really anywhere we could think of that we could walk, since it was storming out and we couldn't walk outside.  My contractions were getting more intense, and finally getting closer together.  They got to every 4-5 minutes and lasting for 45 seconds.  They were also so intense that it was extremely uncomfortable to sit in the car during a contraction, or walk through it.  I finally decided to call the birth center.  They told me I was overdue to come in, so I told my husband to leave work and head to the birth center, and me and my parents headed over.

I got there, and as soon as they hooked me up to the monitors, my contractions slowed down.  I was afraid that would happen, which is why I had been so reluctant to call.  They checked me and found that I was only about 1cm dilated, and 50% effaced.  I almost cried when they sent me home.  My husband and I decided to go out to eat, and then to go mini golfing (my parents had already headed back to their hotel).  The game of mini golf was intense, because I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes that were very strong and lasting around a minute.  I couldn't do anything during them other than lean on my husband and try to relax through them.  We finally made it through the course, and headed back home to labor some more.

I spent most of the night alternating between bouncing/rocking on my exercise ball, rocking on my hands and knees, and eventually soaking in the tub.  Around midnight, my contractions were incredibly intense, lasting at least a minute, and coming about every 4 minutes, so we decided to head back to the birth center.  I was really optimistic that this was it.  They hooked me up to the monitors, and my contractions slowed slightly, but not as much.  The peaks were extremely high, shocking my husband with their intensity.  They checked me again, and much to my dismay, I was still 1cm, but 100% effaced this time.  They sent me home again, and I cried.  I had a mini-breakdown on the way to the car, telling my husband that I didn't want to go home, and I couldn't do this.  But ultimately I had no other choice, so we went slowly back home, stopping the car for every single contraction because I couldn't handle the bumps on the road during contractions.

We got home around 1am, and I tried to sleep on the couch between contractions.  My husband fell asleep next to me.  Unfortunately the contractions woke me up rather violently every 3-4 minutes, so this wasn't at all restful.  Eventually I gave up on trying to sleep, and alternated between taking baths/showers and bouncing on my exercise ball.  My goal was to make it to 5am, giving my husband 4 hours to sleep, but by 4am I could not handle the pain anymore.   The contractions were every 3-4 minutes and lasting for about 90 seconds.  I also got a little bit of bloody show on one of my many trips to the bathroom.  I called, and then we headed back to the birth center.  The 15-minute trip ended up taking almost an hour, since we had to stop through every contraction again. 

We got there, and walked slowly up to the birth center, stopping for every contraction.  I didn't bring any bags in at all this time, fully expecting to be sent home again.  They hooked me up to the monitors, and my contractions didn't seem to slow down this time.  I was desperate to be out of the bed, because lying there made the back labor so much worse, so they let me up as soon as they checked me.  I almost hugged the super-nice nurse who told me that I was 2-3cm and 100% effaced, and that they would keep me now that I was making progress.  Just knowing that the contractions were finally doing something made them so much more bearable!  The nurse gave me the okay to get in the Jacuzzi tub while she got the antibiotics for Group B Strep ready.

I sent my husband out to the car to get our bags, and called the parents to let them know that I was finally being admitted.  This was around 6am.  When my husband got back, I put on my maternity bathing suit, and climbed into the tub, IV pole and all.  The jets felt amazing on my back labor.  I don't know how I would have made it through my labor without the Jacuzzi tub.  I was really nauseous, but felt I should have something more than water, so my husband went and got me some trail mix from the vending machines.  I snacked on that between contractions, and stayed in the tub, doing my best to relax during every contraction and visualize my uterus contracting and dilating my cervix. 

After my IV was done I got out of the tub and tried to walk around, but that didn't go very well.  I stayed out long enough to let them monitor the baby, although they had to do it while I was standing because I couldn't get back in the bed.  Every time I went to the bathroom I was losing chunks of my mucus plug, and it was bloody (and gross!), so I was pretty sure things were moving along.  At some point my parents and mother in law got to the hospital and stopped by to visit.  All I remember is telling everyone through every contraction that I couldn't do it and that I wasn't strong enough.  I really relied on my mom and husband throughout labor, because I was so tired, which made the pain so much worse.

I was pretty sure I was in transition at this point, because I was convinced I couldn't do it anymore.  I actually asked a nurse to check me, because I was so tired I was going to get an epidural just so I could sleep.  She checked, and everyone was shocked to find out that I was 8cm.  It was around 9:30am, only about 4 hours after I had been admitted.  This re-energized me to keep going without pain meds.  I got back in the tub, and they hooked up my second round of antibiotics, a little early, but they were pretty sure I would be pushing soon.  The contractions were extremely intense and close together at this point, and they were lasting for a very long time.  I was vocalizing loudly through contractions at this point, trying to keep my throat open and relaxed like I had read about in books by Ina May.  In between contractions, I was reading birth quotes, and focusing all of my energy on relaxing. 

I know that my mom and husband were in the bathroom with me at this point, along with my mother in law and midwife.  My husband and mom were being very helpful, encouraging me to relax and continue vocalizing.  I kept telling everyone that I couldn't do it, but they wouldn't let me give up.  I got out of the tub, and asked to be checked again, because I was starting to have an urge to push.  I was 9.5cm, which was discouraging for me.  I was ready to start pushing.  I felt like transition was supposed to go faster, even though it hadn't even been an hour at that point.  I tried laboring on the birthing ball at this point, but I couldn't do that with the back labor.  I ended up on my hands and knees on the bed, with the back of the bed up for me to lean on between contractions.

My awesome midwife checked me around 10:30am and said I could start pushing through contractions if I felt the urge.  I tried pushing for a while, but I didn't really have a strong urge to push, and I was uncomfortable with everyone in the room.  I ended up kicking my mom and mother in law out of the room, so it was just my husband, my midwife, and a nurse with me.  I felt a little less self-conscious then, and I felt even better after the nurse climbed on the bed behind me and started applying counter-pressure to my lower back.  It was amazing, and really helped with the back labor.  Eventually the urge to push got to be so strong that I couldn't fight it, and my midwife and nurse encouraged me to push correctly through the contractions. At some point my water broke rather forcefully mid-push, which kind of freaked me out.  I didn't know it hadn't already broken, and I must have looked concerned because the midwife and nurse reassured me that it was just my water breaking! I also took off my gown at some point, because I was so incredibly hot. 

At this point, I was going on two nights without sleep, and I was completely exhausted.  I kept asking the midwife to vacuum the baby out, and begging for an epidural so I could sleep.  Thankfully the midwife did not agree to either of these, and I kept pushing through the contractions.  I felt like it was taking forever to get the baby out, especially once he started crowning.  I was convinced I was going to need a C-section.  I tried changing positions at the suggestion of my midwife, but my back labor was so bad that I couldn't do anything but my hands and knees.  I kept pushing, and I could feel him stretching me, but I couldn't push him out.  My amazing midwife was massaging me with mineral oil the whole time he was crowning, and she kept me from having any tears that required stitches.  I finally managed to push his head out, and I thought he'd just slide out after that, but his chest was bigger than his head, and I had to push that out too.  He was finally born at 12pm on August 20th.

I turned around, and saw my adorable, purple, screaming baby.  I kept reaching for him, and they were trying to tell me he was still attached, and trying to get me on my back so I could take him.  They handed him through my legs to me, and flipped me over onto my back.  He was so slippery and warm and screaming so loudly, and I was so happy to have him on my chest, skin to skin.  The midwife delivered the placenta and had my husband cut the umbilical cord.  She also checked me for tears, and didn't find anything requiring stitches, thankfully.  I didn't really notice much of this going on, because I was so wrapped up in my son.

I'm pretty sure I held my son up against me on my chest until they made me get up to go to the bathroom, at which point I handed him off to my husband.  I tried breastfeeding him early on, but he wasn't interested (he loves it now!).  Getting up for the first time was awful.  I bled a lot, and passed out.  They had to give me Pitocin and Cytotec to stop the bleeding, and I shook so hard afterwards that I couldn't hold my son.  My husband held him until they came in to weigh and measure him a while later, and I took a nap, finally.

It wasn't at all the peaceful birth I had been preparing for.  I was so tired at the end that I was begging for an epidural to get some sleep, which is not something I thought I would do.  I also never thought I'd be yelling at people or begging the midwife to vacuum him out.  But I made it drug and intervention-free thanks to my husband, mom, and midwife, and gave my son the unmedicated start to life that I wanted him to have, so it all worked out.  Next time I'm thinking a homebirth might be the way to go.

Training for a triathlon while breastfeeding...

Last night I decided I wanted to do something to celebrate my son's birthday next year (besides throwing him a party, of course), so I decided to run a triathlon.  Natural childbirth was so amazing, and made me feel so empowered, and I want to do something else that will challenge me to commemorate that.  I don't want to do a marathon, because I'm not that great of a runner.  At least with the triathlons I'm looking at, I would only need to run a 5k, and I can probably handle that (with a little training).  I have a long way to go until August, which is when I'm hoping to participate in a triathlon.  My training plan is pretty straightforward: finish the Lindsay Brin postnatal boot camp 12-week get your body back program, which will finish up right before Christmas.  Then when I go back to work in January (and have access to a gym during the day while my son is in daycare), I plan to alternate between running, swimming, and biking, in addition to lifting weights a few days a week.  It should be an adventure to do that all while breastfeeding... I can't imagine how much I will have to eat! But it will be another thing for me to feel like I've accomplished. Here's the link to the triathlon I'm thinking of:

Iron Girl

Almost a year away and I'm already excited!

Getting Started...

Alright well I feel a little silly doing this, but I feel like I need some motivation for getting my body back after my son's birth, and for living more organically and sustainably on a low budget.  I exercised and ate healthily (with lots of organic produce) throughout my pregnancy and only gained 28 pounds, but I am a little discouraged at the shape my body is in at just over 7 weeks postpartum.  Tomorrow I am getting back on my WeightWatchers program (I started it at 4 weeks postpartum but strayed quite a bit when we went home to visit our families this weekend).  Sadly I have to skip a week of exercise because I'm having a bit of trouble recovering (again, started at 4 weeks postpartum and it's been going great), but I'm planning to go back to that full force next week.  Alright so here is my 6-week postpartum stomach to get us started (still looks about the same):

Goals: To be 130 pounds by Christmas (down from around 141 right now) and to have a fit body by next summer...