Thursday, September 22, 2011

My Latest Pair of Shorties

This was my early labor project, to finish these before the babe came.  It was very relaxing in between contractions.  Finished it before I left for the hospital. : )

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Placentophagia

There is a name for it and my husband was actually the one that told me that.  So, I'm not totally off the wall weird, he is too for knowing that.  LOL!!  And yes that is what I did this week.  If you don't like it don't read this post, but I think its pretty cool.  And yes, there are a ton of benefits and my crunchy self is reaping them.  You can consume your placenta two different ways.  Eating it raw or having someone encapsulate it for you.  I chose the first because I figured that would give me the most benefit and right away and I don't have the extra finances to have someone dehydrate and encapsulate for me.  So, I had Dave wash it, cut it up and freeze it for me.  Instantly ready for making smoothies with.  It just seemed natural to me after watching so many of my own animals consume their own and the benefits outweighed not doing it at all.  Here are some benefits:

  • Decrease in baby blues and postpartum depression.


  • Increase and enrich breast milk.


  • Increase in energy.


  • Decrease in lochia, postpartum bleeding.


  • Decrease iron deficiency.


  • Decrease insomnia or sleep disorders


  • I was depressed after James' birth, not much energy and not having to bleed for 5 or 6 weeks means I've almost completely stopped already and I'm back to sleeping well already.  I didn't really sleep for the first two weeks after James was born.  This rocks!!!  I can tell I feel so much better this time around.  I'm definitely doing it again if I do get the chance.  And baby gets to benefit from a mom who feels good and can take care of her needs better because I feel great!!  Some body parts are still sore and my back is still getting used to carrying around a 9lb baby, but I feel good, darn it.

    So, this is how I did it.  I'm sure everyone has their own smoothie recipe, but this is what I did.

    1/2 can of organic coconut milk
    3 or 4 frozen strawberries
    3/4 of a banana
    1/4 of my placenta (really depends on how big your placenta is, you may want to divide it into 6th or 7th's.  Mine wasn't too big so I did it by quarters.)
    2 kale leaves (optional, but I thought I might as well boost this smoothie with greenery)

    Now, put it in your mother in laws blender and watch her squirm.  This is the best part by the way.  LOL!  It was totally concealed by the other flavors in the smoothie.  Though if I had known I would have had Dave wash off the chunks after cutting it up as well.  He washed the outside, but once you start cutting it, it gets bloody again and that can give you a salty after taste.  Not bad, but you don't have to look at your smoothie like your a vampire.

    Now gulp it down, because the sooner you do the better your going to feel after giving birth and the better you will be able to savor these newborn days that don't last that long anyway.  :D

    Tuesday, September 13, 2011

    Maggie Mae's Birth Story

    Maggie Mae’s Birth Story

    On the morning of Sept. 11, 2011 I had a couple of good contractions around 3:30 am and thought maybe I should start the herbal induce at 4am.  I figured I would have a couple hours of darkness where my oxytocin levels would be higher and took a chance.  I woke up at 7:20 with what felt like real contractions about 7 minutes apart.  Hmmmm…..  I woke hubby up to go get our contraction sheet and start timing a handful of them.  They looked promising.  I had him stop and get me some breakfast and he took a shower.  I rested and then started timing them again.  They were between 4 and 6 minutes apart for half an hour.  We paged the doctor on call and asked when he wanted us to come in and he didn’t really have an answer for me.  So since it was 30 minutes to the hospital and we didn’t know how long this labor would be since my last was only 8 hours we went ahead and left


    (We took my last belly shots on the way out).  I had 3 good contractions where I felt her move down in between some milder ones.  I was glad we were on our way.  We checked in and hubby and his mom started setting up everything while I sat on the bed breathing through contractions.  I felt like I wanted to walk around and did so, but didn’t go very far before I felt like we needed to get back because they were becoming more intense.  Soon though I realized I was having a lot of back pain with each one.  Back labor.  Now I know how it feels, not a very fun way to labor.  It was way more intense than I could imagine.  Now, cue my angel nurse who was also like a doula (her last was born in water).  The angels singed at this point.  Someone was watching over me for sure and they knew I needed a nurse exactly like Kristin.  She had me laboring standing up, on the toilet rocking and swaying and finally squatting on the bed over the back edge.  She knew exactly what I needed.  I did end up on my back and with the back labor I don’t think I could have squatted for long enough to push her out.  At 9 centimeters I let them break my water because she was still pretty high up and I needed a little push I guess to just push her out and I trusted Kristin and really at this point I would do anything to have her out (I even asked for a c-section 15 minutes before she was out).  I needed relief from this back labor, it was so intense, it was nothing I’ve ever felt in my life.  I should note that the back labor is all my fault since I chose to recline in a chair to watch a movie two days before and she swung to the back and I noticed this because her hiccups were not up front anymore and I kicked myself for doing that because the next night I tried to get her to swing back.  I asked Kristin for a break at this point, you know just 20 minutes to get my act together and really push with the contractions.  Kristin’s like, nope, you gotta push her out, your body isn’t going to give you a break until then.  This is when I cussed.  Heh.  I can’t remember what Kristin said, but she was like ok.  I started fighting the contractions at this point because I really wanted that break.  Heh.  I did push with the ones I couldn’t resist any longer and made good progress with those and felt her really move down.  Finally her head was peaking out a little and I got to touch it.  Then a little more and I really savored touching her head.  At this point I asked everyone if they thought it was weird to tell everyone in the room that I loved them. J  It was just Dave, Kristin, and the doctor (who was on-call and even though it was not my primary doctor I think I liked him better, shhhhh, don’t tell).  Kristin said two good more pushes.  I think I still wanted to resist, didn’t.  I think it was 3 more. J  It was so different from James’ pushing phase.  I felt her head crown and then pop out and then her whole body slide out, which was really cool to feel.  There was also a true knot in her cord.  She didn’t breastfeed nearly as early as James’ did, but she is a champion little nurser.



     We were the only ones there and they brought the scale to us so she could continue to nurse. : )


    We are so in love.  She is the sweetest little thing.

    Magdalena "Maggie" Mae Holt
    Born: September 11th, 2011
    9lbs 2oz and 20 inches

    Sunday, September 4, 2011

    38 Weeks 2 Days

    I can't believe I'm still in one piece at this point.  I don't think I can fit in anything to wear to church next week so I'd really like to have her this week or this Friday when Dave comes back. Please.  Thanks. : )
     I can tell I'm much more relaxed since Dave is here.  :D

    Thursday, September 1, 2011

    Wool Shorties

    A pair of wool shorties I made for the little one.  Dave calls them the sucotash pants. : P