Midwife Visit

I want to invite you to one of my first visits with my midwife (Debbie). She also helped me through the two miscarriages earlier this year - so this wasn't the first visit, but the first visit of this pregnancy.

Debbie is great for many reasons - one of which is that she has grown children. Many midwives are also mothers of young children, so for prenatal care, you go to their house. Debbie has said she feels like as a service and blessing to the home birthing mommy, she comes to my house. (Here we are in our living room.)

Prenatal care for home birth is very similar to mainstream OB care. Debbie will see me once a month for the first several months, then every three weeks in third trimester, every other week, then every week as we count down to the last few weeks.

She brings fetal scopes, Doppler, tests my blood for sugar, iron and tests my urine for about 8 different things. [aside: I hate getting my finger pricked - in the doctors office or at home - I'm somewhat of a baby when it comes to that.] She also checks my blood pressure and asks questions about how I'm feeling.

The video below shows me laying on my couch in the living room right after Debbie found the heartbeat. After the two miscarriages this year - it is one of the most beautiful sounds!

The whole visit lasts about an hour and a half (that's all interaction, not reading "Parents" magazine in the waiting room LOL). It never feels rushed. It is prenatal care but its also a "visit" from a very knowledgeable friend.

Love,

Kitchen Update

Wanna see the kitchen? It's not done, but its closer!!!

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen at the moment. I know we began this project in November but a lot has happened in our family since then AND we (meaning Pete) is doing this pretty much solo. The great thing is that it is quite functional. If I didn't have a sink or not enough space to put my gear or food - that would definitely be a problem. Even though I doubt the "plywood counter top" trend will catch on, I am already super pleased with the footprint of the room. This has essentially doubled my counter space and provided for "hidden" trashcan & recycle bin. Right now, Pete is building a cabinet! That is a pretty major project. I'll post pics once he gets a further along. This is a "weekend warrior" project but a major kitchen renovation never happens in a weekend. We're still committed to doing this both economically (see previous posts on the costs) and naturally. We're now considering bamboo flooring. We were considering ceramic tile for its non-toxic properties and cost. But visiting the beach with Pete's family last week ruled that one out. It is very hard & tiring to stand on for any length of time. We also ruled out cork because we would have to put a lot of sealant on it to make it last in the kitchen. And we aren't willing to compromise on the off-gasing chemicals. So our choices are becoming narrower and narrower LOL. We'll see what we end up with! Thanks for stopping by!

Love,

Happy in my Skin

One of the steps that we have taken off the edge of normal is skin care. I posted a few weeks ago about the dangers of sun screen. Unfortunately there are lots of products that are filled with toxins. I just read a very interesting Mercola article and thought I'd share the points that really hit me.

• Your skin is 1/10 of an inch thick (that is crazy-thin) and it is highly permeable.

I've shared that we have filters on our showers (for that very reason). But we do expose ourselves to chlorine sometimes. We go to a public pool a couple times a week and I know it is filled with chlorine.

This is where I have to balance my goals. I want my girls to know how to swim and we do not own or have access to a pool that is naturally maintained (like with baking soda), so we make the choice to absorb some chlorine so we can have swimmers. But we definitely shower when we get home!

• Don't put anything on your skin you are not willing to eat.

Isn't that a great rule of thumb? But i suggest you do not take this literally.

The other night I was in bed (and it was dark). I 99.9% of the time keep a spray bottle of throat spray by my bed. I snore (yes, I admit it) and my throat gets dry and uncomfortable sometimes. Well, I woke up and reached beside my clock where the throat spray ALWAYS is, grabbed it and sprayed.............

Ack, oh dear, yikes, and bleh!!! I had left my tea tree oil - oh yeah, the full strength one beside my throat spray. I grabbed the wrong bottle!

I swished water, I drank water, I washed my mouth. I couldn't get the smell off of me. And you now know I'm pregnant and nauseousness is an ever present part of my life. Needless to say this was an "event."

So consider carefully what you are putting on your skin - from makeup to sun screen to lotion to whatever. Google "toxins in skin care" sometime and see what you find. Use natural products in your home and on your body. But don't eat the tea tree oil.

Love,

Out of Hiding...

Wow, it has been over a month since I last posted. Sorry I have left you un-blogged for so long. To catch you us on my life right now, let me share a few pieces of my world and what's been going on...

1. I'm pregnant again - that would be the number one reason I haven't blogged. I typically have challenging pregnancies (lots of nausea) and then my iron levels drop and I have headaches and lethargy.

2. The pregnancy is at 14 weeks today. My first miscarriage was one year ago this month and I also had a miscarriage in January. I have struggled to hold my baby in an open hand. And though I have heard the heartbeat and past the milestone 12 weeks - I know that there are no guarantees. In some ways I have held my breath waiting for the confirmations. I think I kept this pregnancy so private is that if we did miscarry... I just didn't want to have to say that again. We even kept the news from our families until was saw a heartbeat on sonogram.

3. This is a very rare summer that we are not traveling. Every summer we are assigned to either take seminary classes (we have a total of 11 required as a part of our work with Campus Crusade for Christ) or to help lead a student summer mission project. Since we were due July 31, Pete was assigned to be here at home and coach new staff interns and those going on one year mission trips. Since there's more flexibility in our summer schedule, our goal is to complete the kitchen renovation.

So I'm feeling better (albeit tired) and my grand intention is to blog more regularly (at least as regularly as I used to LOL). Upcoming topics:

• Preparing for a Home Birth (I'm going to let you in on my midwife appointments, health issues and preparations)
• Kitchen Renovation (and some other renovations I'm working on) - we're trying to go as healthy green as possible in this reno so I'll share as we go along
• Catch you up on some more wild things I'm learning about in Nourishing Traditions and otherwise.

I look forward to spending more time sharing with you my friends. And in the meantime, does anyone have any good beef liver recipes with do not involve onions?

Love,