It's amazing when you really start to read food labels and take a look at what makes a food product - there is gluten and dairy (and sugar) so many things we consume.
Sophia has had issues with her regularity for a few years now. I usually mentioned it on any trip to the doctor's office. She would only poop about once a week. And of course she would complain her belly hurt, then her legs would hurt, then she would have a movement, feel better, and the cycle would start again.
I was told it was fairly normal for kids her age to have a problem or resistance to going #2. And told to give her a daily dose of Miralax. She was still only going once a week. Doctor told us to up it to two doses a day, no change. We did this for more than three months. It was frustrating and things weren't getting better. Not wanting to have her be on a daily dose of Miralax for the rest of her life, I took her to my chiropractor.
During my adjustments we would frequently talk about Sophie, her lack of elimination, her diet, how she was born, etc. She suggested I do a symptoms analysis, keep a food journal, and have her come in for a consultation and adjustment.
Sophie was a bit out of alignment. And when you are out of alignment, your organs can move a bit, get kinked, and not function as correctly. Also, even the way Sophie was born could have an effect on her alignment nearly seven years later. I was in labor with Sophie for 22 hours, pushed for an hour and a half, and she was born "sunny-side up." She was specifically out of alignment at the L3 in her spine. The nerves that correspond with the L3 vertebra transmit information from the brain to the intestines. All of this could be effecting her colon function! She also recommended going dairy and gluten free. So we did. At the same time!
It is sort of an adventure finding foods that are not only gluten free but also dairy free. And you have to be cautious about looking for ingredients that are hiding in plain site. For example, did you know most soy sauce is NOT gluten free? Made from soybeans...and wheat or another roasted grain. But they do make a GF soy sauce.
Here is a list of dairy products or ingredients - some are obvious, others? not so much. See it? Whey. Rennet Casein. Not things your mind automatically picks up on as a dairy product.
So cooking and meal planning and prep take a little more work now.
I was very excited to make my first real df/gf meal. We started this new way of eating on a Friday and I quickly adapted our meals to just omit the dairy and gluten. I think we went out for Mexican the first night - corn taco shell, beef, NO cheese. Salsa but not queso dip. Probablly not 100% df/gf but close. But the first actual planned meal? "Better Than Boxed Mac & Cheese." Better than boxed??? I must eat you!
Pasta made with quinoa, "sauce" made of a cooked pureed sweet potato, mustard, and cumin. Let me tell ya. If that was the LAST THING ON EARTH to eat? I would rater die of starvation. That shit was nasty...I've never been so glad for a kale salad on the side in my life!
My next attempt, Coconut Lime Chicken, was a much better success. I still have a lot of exploration to do!
The good news is that the elimination of dairy and gluten seems to be working. Sophie (will kill me for this eventually) had 3 BMs last week! (Yes, I keep track, this is a big deal in our house.) The eczema rash on her belly, thighs, and in between her toes? Nearly gone.
Next step after our one-month trial of df/gf is having her allergy tested to see if there is something there. She may be able to reintroduce one of the groups of food.
And if you are in the Asheville area and need a GREAT Chiropractor I highly recommend Dr. Jennifer "Anya" Harris of Crystalign Chriopractic.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
The Girls' Reaction
We told the girls' about their new brother or sister with the help of Santa Claus. Each year we trek to Easton in Columbus for our annual Santa Photo. My oldest brother is 43 and we've been going since he was an infant.
As we've gotten older, and before we had a lot of little kids to "justify" sitting on Santa's lap we have taken to silly antics to make the outing a bit more fun. Even with our kids in tow we use gimmicks like Santa hats, Rudolph noses, funny glasses and this year, wigs. Real wigs. $100+ wigs borrowed from my sister's friend who is a drag queen. At any rate we wigged up - strangers were taking our picture with their phones. It was pretty Epic.
I handed the photographer a card that said "Baby Brown debuting Aug. 2015." As she took the photo she held up the sign. I was hoping to have the moment of surprise forever captured in the Santa photo - but they sign didn't resonate. My family was a bit confused. It took a minute to set in. After the brief bit of commotion when they finally realized what it said Santa handed the girls each a t-shirt. One shirt said "Big Sister" and the other said "Middle Sister." The middle sister shirt sealed the deal. I made sure they both understood what that meant. That I was pregnant and they would have a little brother or sister come summer.
Ironically even before we found out we were pregnant the girls' would talk about having a sibling. Out Of The Blue. They talked about if it would be a boy or girl, when the baby would be in my tummy, etc.
Sophia ONLY wants a baby brother. Emma ONLY wants a baby sister. Never before (okay, who are we kidding??? this was my dream!) have I wanted to have twins so desperately - one of each. But alas I'm carrying a singleton. I have no gut feelings about its gender - except for the few symptoms I mentioned yesterday this pregnancy feels just the same as my previous pregnancies.
My official due date is July 27. In my first ultrasound I measured a few days ahead of that, July 24. But knowing I like to incubate my babies I'm pulling for Aug. 1. I was 41w 6d with Sophie and 40w 4d with Emma.
My nephew, my ONLY nephew, ONLY wants me to have a girl. You see, as he told me repeatedly at Christmas, he's been "living a certain lifestyle for 21 years." He is the only grandson and the only nephew in our immediate family. I have two girls, my brother Bob has two girls, Anthony has two sisters. He likes his rank. (Never mind my mom's two nephews ;) I'm a little afraid my favorite nephew will disown me if it's a boy!
As we've gotten older, and before we had a lot of little kids to "justify" sitting on Santa's lap we have taken to silly antics to make the outing a bit more fun. Even with our kids in tow we use gimmicks like Santa hats, Rudolph noses, funny glasses and this year, wigs. Real wigs. $100+ wigs borrowed from my sister's friend who is a drag queen. At any rate we wigged up - strangers were taking our picture with their phones. It was pretty Epic.
I handed the photographer a card that said "Baby Brown debuting Aug. 2015." As she took the photo she held up the sign. I was hoping to have the moment of surprise forever captured in the Santa photo - but they sign didn't resonate. My family was a bit confused. It took a minute to set in. After the brief bit of commotion when they finally realized what it said Santa handed the girls each a t-shirt. One shirt said "Big Sister" and the other said "Middle Sister." The middle sister shirt sealed the deal. I made sure they both understood what that meant. That I was pregnant and they would have a little brother or sister come summer.
Ironically even before we found out we were pregnant the girls' would talk about having a sibling. Out Of The Blue. They talked about if it would be a boy or girl, when the baby would be in my tummy, etc.
Sophia ONLY wants a baby brother. Emma ONLY wants a baby sister. Never before (okay, who are we kidding??? this was my dream!) have I wanted to have twins so desperately - one of each. But alas I'm carrying a singleton. I have no gut feelings about its gender - except for the few symptoms I mentioned yesterday this pregnancy feels just the same as my previous pregnancies.
My official due date is July 27. In my first ultrasound I measured a few days ahead of that, July 24. But knowing I like to incubate my babies I'm pulling for Aug. 1. I was 41w 6d with Sophie and 40w 4d with Emma.
My nephew, my ONLY nephew, ONLY wants me to have a girl. You see, as he told me repeatedly at Christmas, he's been "living a certain lifestyle for 21 years." He is the only grandson and the only nephew in our immediate family. I have two girls, my brother Bob has two girls, Anthony has two sisters. He likes his rank. (Never mind my mom's two nephews ;) I'm a little afraid my favorite nephew will disown me if it's a boy!
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Third Time's A Charm?
Adventure #3?
So yeah...about that third kid thing.
Just ask my husband. There generally isn't a day that goes by that I don't/didn't ask him if we could have another baby. If you know me at all or stumbled across my previous blog you know I pretty much love all things birth and baby. That includes being pregnant myself and giving birth. Yes, I even love the process of giving birth. The guts and the glory.
But due to the move, and finances, and well, all the reasons you ever say "now is not the right time" the answer was always, sorta, a "not right now." So I stopped asking. I think it was wearing him out and I had finally come to terms with the fact that we might never have a third baby. Or, in my mind, I'd just wait until I was 42. I had visions of being more financially stable, a house built, both of us settled in our careers, his NC State Teacher Certification in hand, etc. 42 felt, in some regards, the right time. My mom had my sister at 40. I would be the crazy lady pregnant with #3 at 42. We would have a "separate" family with the third baby. (According to Dr. Kevin Leman in his book The Birth Order Book when you have a span of more that 5 years between children, you basically have a separate family. That child or children are raised differently (for a variety of factors) than the previous kids more closely spaced.)
Well then I trusted my body to science. I mean an app. And magic happened. And I ran the Las Vegas Marathon, and TA-DA! Surprise!
So here I am. 37. "Advanced Maternal Age." Pregnant with #3. First trimester I had a little bit of morning sickness and nausea. I've been freezing cold since I discovered I was pregnant. And tired. Not surprising, but tired. I didn't have morning sickness with the girls. And I wasn't cold with them either. Curious to find out if maybe I'm carrying a boy. A few more weeks and we'll know.
This pregnancy I'm trying to fit in all the things I've read and learned about - birth dancing, Sacred Pregnancy classes, hiring a doula, hiring a birth photographer. Trying to squeeze in all the pregnancy goodness that I can. Live every moment of this pregnancy. Of my last pregnancy.
I'm using the midwives in town and planning another home water birth. The only thing that has really thrown me for a loop is having a summer baby. I will be VERY pregnant this summer - but luckily it doesn't get to terribly hot and humid here. I had two spring girl babies before this making the clothing needs a breeze. Wonder what I'll be able to reuse. Then I realized I'll have a summer birthday baby - bringing a whole different dynamic to the school birthday celebrations.
I am looking forward to completing my family. I've always imagined Emma as the middle child and so far she is very excited about her role as both a middle and big sister.
So here we go again! Another joyful journey through motherhood!
So yeah...about that third kid thing.
Just ask my husband. There generally isn't a day that goes by that I don't/didn't ask him if we could have another baby. If you know me at all or stumbled across my previous blog you know I pretty much love all things birth and baby. That includes being pregnant myself and giving birth. Yes, I even love the process of giving birth. The guts and the glory.
But due to the move, and finances, and well, all the reasons you ever say "now is not the right time" the answer was always, sorta, a "not right now." So I stopped asking. I think it was wearing him out and I had finally come to terms with the fact that we might never have a third baby. Or, in my mind, I'd just wait until I was 42. I had visions of being more financially stable, a house built, both of us settled in our careers, his NC State Teacher Certification in hand, etc. 42 felt, in some regards, the right time. My mom had my sister at 40. I would be the crazy lady pregnant with #3 at 42. We would have a "separate" family with the third baby. (According to Dr. Kevin Leman in his book The Birth Order Book when you have a span of more that 5 years between children, you basically have a separate family. That child or children are raised differently (for a variety of factors) than the previous kids more closely spaced.)
Well then I trusted my body to science. I mean an app. And magic happened. And I ran the Las Vegas Marathon, and TA-DA! Surprise!
This pregnancy I'm trying to fit in all the things I've read and learned about - birth dancing, Sacred Pregnancy classes, hiring a doula, hiring a birth photographer. Trying to squeeze in all the pregnancy goodness that I can. Live every moment of this pregnancy. Of my last pregnancy.
I'm using the midwives in town and planning another home water birth. The only thing that has really thrown me for a loop is having a summer baby. I will be VERY pregnant this summer - but luckily it doesn't get to terribly hot and humid here. I had two spring girl babies before this making the clothing needs a breeze. Wonder what I'll be able to reuse. Then I realized I'll have a summer birthday baby - bringing a whole different dynamic to the school birthday celebrations.
I am looking forward to completing my family. I've always imagined Emma as the middle child and so far she is very excited about her role as both a middle and big sister.
So here we go again! Another joyful journey through motherhood!
Back to blogging
Somehow when you add more kids to your brood, move twice in a one year span, cope with unemployment and new schools etc. etc. etc. it's hard to find the time to write. But there is so much going on in our lives that I feel the need to share.
Won't you join me?
- Becoming a doula
- Starting our garden a.k.a. Farm
- Learning how to keep bees
- Relearning how to eat and cook as we embrace dairy free and gluten free
- Oh yeah, and did you read the new blog title? We are adding a third kid to the mix!
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| I love this photo. It captures our life so elegantly. A beautiful place to call home, our new adventures in farming, Emma in the back of the wagon doing, well, what ever it is Emmas do! Sophie looking at a bug or something else very intently, studying it. Phillip in his safe place, digging in the dirt, on the land that he has been trying to get back to ever since we left. Land that his dad and grandfather helped nurture. And me? Behind the camera. Trying to capture it all. |
Won't you join me?
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