May 19, 2012

Here’s To Our Health

I know it has been a few months since I updated anything here… But in my defense it has been a BUSY few months!  So here we go with the update.

I posted after my EGD that I was having one more test before my doctor would do the repeat Nissen and hernia repair.  That I had to pass this test in order to get the surgery.  Well I can sometimes be a blonde and forget things, like that I have NEVER passed this particular test.  But the doctors in Kansas City didn’t require me to pass it in order for the first surgery.  So when we got the results back that I have severly delayed gastric emptying and I am not a candidate for the surgery to stop the severe reflux (GERD) I was not too happy.  And to make matters worse, there are NO doctors in Omaha who even treat delayed gastric emptying, I was told I would have to go to the Mayo Clinic or back to Kansas City in order to find a doctor to treat me.  Well gee, will someone tell my insurance that for me please?  Because insurance won’t cover it… so now I am a sitting duck for the esophageal cancer to come back as there is nothing I can do to protect my esophagus from the acid erosion, which triggers the Barrett’s which in turns changes the cells in my esophagus…  We are moving soon and hopefully we will be able to find better medical care once we are outside of the state of Nebraska…

So while going through all that, I had another little fun medical issue rear it’s ugly head…. I had a gallbladder attack.  If you have had one, a real one, then you know the absolute utter shear agony and pain that one brings.  We were driving to Westroads when I started feeling sick to my stomach, by the time we got there I was feeling so bad that Pat and the girls decided to take the babies into the mall and leave me in the van to rest.  Wonderful a few moments of quiet to lay down.  Not 5 minutes after they went into the mall did I start to have the pains.  Sharp Stabbing pains that progressed to my chest feeling like it was being sat on by an elephant.  I was sure I was having a heart attack.  I couldn’t breathe and I was all alone in the van.  All I could think of was my daughters coming out to the van to find their mother dead… I finally got a hold of Pat and told him they needed to get there ASAP and get me to the hospital.  They did get there and got me to the hospital and we learned that my gallbladder was full of stones and there was one blocking the duct.

Surgery was scheduled and I was the lucky recipient of not one surgeon but two head surgeons because of my previous liver surgery.  I was warned ahead of time that they may not be able to do the surgery laprascopicly, that I may wake up with a full incision.  God was good to me and  I ended up with a partial open.  Dr Rose, my surgeon, informed me that they were pulling out to do the open when they finally found my gallbladder buried in all the scar tissue.  I was literally seconds away from another 12 inch scar across my tummy….

After a short stay in the hospital I got to come home with a drain in place.  Yeah that was fun, NOT.  Stupid thing kept getting stuck on the drawer pulls in the kitchen, and I couldn’t even sit on the couch and hold Carson or Courtney.  Thank goodness Dr Rose took that thing out a couple of days early.  Boy was that a huge relief.  I did manage to get an infection in one of the incisions that sent me to the emergency room where they started me on Levaquin, which I ended up having a reaction to three days out, so I was switched to another antibiotic that I had another reaction to….ugh is all I can say…. Some where around the 5 week mark after surgery my one incision wasn’t closing and getting bigger, my dr said it was starting to get necrotic so she sent me to the wound center where they put this wonderful silver-dine stuff on it and within 5 days it closed!

Ok I think this fills everyone in on the latest of my health and the road that is paved in bumps!

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I Almost Lost my Super Power

I am a breastfeeding mom.  I believe in the power of breast milk.  So much so that even though Courtney is not allowed to nurse from me directly (see My Baby has Severe Reflux, Aspirating as She Eats), I pump several times a day to make sure she has mommy milk to eat.  Courtney is my 6th child.  I nursed each on of my kids.  Carson was the most successful nurser of all of the kids.  He wouldn’t take a bottle or a paci, just mommy. Which truth be told, SUCKED.  I couldn’t leave the house for more than 2 hours at a time without him.  When I got pregnant with Courtney my milk went down a little, but he was eating foods and did great.  At 4 months pregnant my doctor told me I had to stop nursing, that I had all ready been nursing for too long, so when Carson was 11 months old we got him completely off of me and on straw cups.  I had made enough milk the entire time he was nursing, and I had always made enough milk with the others as well, actually with them I made too much milk.  So when Courtney came along I never worried about my milk supply.

Through the first 6 to 8 weeks of her life Courtney was breastfed from me and the bottle.  I had more than enough milk to meet her daily requirements and to start freezing milk for future use.  By the time she was 6 weeks old, I had stopped freezing milk because I had 40 ounces separated out and frozen.  When we discovered that she was silently aspirating and that she had to start having all her milk thickened and in a bottle, I didn’t think that my milk supply woudl suffer. But hey what did I know, I had never had to do this before.

After a month of solely pumping, I noticed my milk supply was diminishing.  I wasn’t having let downs and I was struggling to get even 14 ounces a day.  We quickly went through the frozen supply of milk and had nothing left but some formula her Gastro gave us in case we needed to try something.  (Courtney is allergic or intolerant to cows milk – see MSPI Here We Go Again) She HATED the formula, she just decided to stop drinking it all together and would just not eat.  Well I started to freak out that my daughter was not getting enough nourishment and the research began.

I found several options to help increase my milk supply, a couple “natural” methods and one medical intervention, well pharmaceutical intervention.  So off to GNC and a call to my doctor later…. My milk supply is back, to the tune of freezing 8 ounces plus per day.  Yes I am stock piling breast milk.  If I can make sure to have enough milk to take care of her, then I will do whatever it takes.

What I did:

The natural route mixed with the pharmaceutical route -

Natural – Fenugreek and Mother’s Milk Tea – both available at GNC

I started on the Fenugreek at 2 capsules 3 times a day, nothing really happened for the first two days, but on day three I ended up in the bathroom overnight with tummy troubles.  Yeah, so I adjusted the dose for me to 1 pil twice a day and 2 pills once a day.  For a total of 4 pills per day.

Mother’s Milk tea, one cup in the morning and one cup towards the end of the day.

For more information on both of these, do a Google search and you will find a ton of information.  I am just telling you what I did.

Now for the Medical Part -

Reglan – I am taking 10mg 3 times a day – after 24 hours, I saw a HUGE increase in my milk supply.  Since Reglan does have some pretty severe side effects, if you get them, I won’t be staying on it long term, but rather switching to Domperidone.  You can get it without a prescription through several online pharmacies out of New Zealand.  Both of these drugs I have taken before at the direction of my gastro, so I wasn’t afraid to take them again.  I don’t have side effects from Reglan, but since it does cross the blood brain barrier, I feel safer taking the Domperidone.  Your OB should know about both of these drugs and be able to prescribe them for you.  I will tell you that the Domperidone is NOT FDA approved in the states and is a compound drug.  Years ago I used to have to take it and it cost an arm and a  leg in the states, but if you buy it over seas it is considerably cheaper.

Resources:

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Before Baby Body – Here I Come

Aunesty JanssenAfter having two babies in less than two years, and taking a lot of steroids through the pregnancies, I have some hard work ahead of me to lose the weight and get back in shape.  With Courtney only being 4 months old (in a week), I feel like I have done good so far.  I am down to the weight I was when I got pregnant with her, but I am still 25 pounds heavier than when I got pregnant with Carson.  So it is time to start getting serious about the weight loss and the shaping of my body.  I really want to get back in my jeans and to be able to wear a bathing suit this summer without being self conscious.

I know part of the problem is I am still breast feeding, and I am NOT one of those women who loses weight while nursing.  Nope not me, I am typically hungrier while nursing then I was when I was pregnant.  Now I do know I am one of those women who loses a whole mess of weight as soon as I stop nursing.  But since that is still at least 7 months or more away, I have to start doing something now.  I hate going into my closet and not having anything to wear and I refuse to buy clothes for the size now, which I will share below.  And yes I still have all my maternity clothes, and the sad thing is, they all fit funny.  My breasts are HUGE now and so none of my nice maternity tops will fit over them, or button up.  The only pair of maternity jeans that fit well, meaning they don’t fall off or they aren’t too baggy all over, are my Gap maternity jeans, which I still wear.  Patrick gives me a hard time, saying you can’t tell how much weight I have lost because I always wear big and baggy too large tops.  He is right, I do.  But they are comfortable and I enjoy hiding in them.

Here are my excuses for the next couple of months:

  1. I am having surgery – See my Life As i Know It – Post
    • This will require me to eat liquids and pudding consistency foods for a few weeks (not low cal here)
    • I will be down for at least 2 weeks meaning no working out
  2. Sleep – Rather lack there of on nights when Carson keeps us up (Courtney sleeps all night – 10 hours every night)
  3. Work – I had to work on this site or that….
  4. Lazy – I just want to lay here and watch tv or read or listen to a book on tape

Out of these excuses the only one I can legitimately get away with is the first one.  But in my upcoming posts, I will just simply put a number at which excuse I will try to use to justify not working out.  I hope several of you will call me on it.

The Plan:

  • Eat 1200 – 1500 calories a day – Make a food diary to track my caloric intake – share it so I can be held accountable
  • Workout – Cardio for 15 minutes, Strength for 15 minutes, Stretching for 15 minutes -  3 x’s a week for the first three weeks

I am choosing to be completely transparent about the whole process primarily because I think it will keep me on track, but also because I know I am not the only mom trying to get her pre-baby body back.  So I am going to share the numbers, which I still can’t believe I am going to do.  But after all they are just numbers and the only person whose opinion on my size and shape that truly matters to me is Pat’s and I know he loves me and thinks I am beautiful.  I kid with him though, that he has too because I gave him two babies.  But in all honesty (ha ha ha), I know he still finds me beautiful, (well when I am showered at least ;-) – mom of toddler and baby humor) – and I know that if I never lost another ounce he would still think I am beautiful.  This is for me, I want to get back to my shape and size because I feel better physically and emotionally when I am thinner and in shape.  If anyone reading this blog is trying to lose weight and get in shape for reasons other than your own happiness then you are doing it for the wrong reasons.

So here we go:

Aunesty Janssen

Me Before Cancer 2001

Aunesty Janssen

Me Before Carson and Courtney

 

Pre Cancer – 150 pounds – Size 8 – 10

Pre Carson and Courtney – My Goal -

  • Moved to Omaha at 165 pounds size 10
  • Got pregnant with Carson at 175 pounds size 10-12, larges were baggy and XL were for sleeping in

Now:

  • Weight – 190 pounds
  • Size – 14 – XL are baggy enough 2XL’s are great for hiding in

 

Pregnant with Carson – End weight 232

Pregnant with Courtney – End Weight 221

And Today

Aunesty Janssen

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Life As i Know It

A little update – - While pregnant with Courtney I had a few “things” come up with my health, and after we had her, I had a few tests done, and put off a few more.  Until last Friday, when I went in for my EGD.  I was well over due for one, being how I have a history of Barrett’s esophagus with malignant cell changeover.  I had a Nissen Fundoplication in 2004 which helped to heal my esophagus and relieve almost all of my severe GERD symptoms and I was aware that the pregnancies could “undue” the surgery.  My gastro found grade A lesions at my esophageal sphincter and biopsed them (all clear btw) and let me know that my hiatus hernia was back and that he wanted to run one more test, a gastric emptying test.  Well I knew where that conversation was leading, he wants to repeat the Nissen.  I once said that I would NEVER have another one.  I understood that after 7 years a large percentage of patients will have a return of their symptoms.   It’s funny how you don’t remember the pain after so many years have passed.  The pain of GERD, the absolute in ability to breathe because your chest feels like someone is burning you from the inside out.  How even moving can bring you to tears because it hurts so bad.  How you look at food and decide is the pain worth it in 30 minutes or if being hungry is a better option. Not being able to lay in bed because that encourages the acid to come up even more.

……well I have been living with the pain for about 8 months now and the misery of having the Nissen suddenly seems so completely worth it.  Yeah it sucks not eating real food for a few weeks.  If I get to have it done laprascopically then it mean 4 – 5 more small incisions on my abdomen (hoping they can do it like before again).  It means pain, but I just don’t remember it hurting as bad as my current erosive esophagitus from my GERD.  So, I go in Thursday for my gastric emptying test, and as long as that comes out all clear, we will go meet with the surgeon to talk about a repeat Nissen.  What sucks, I am currently taking Reglan for increasing my milk supply, read my I Almost Lost My Super Power post, but it is for gastric emptying, so I have to go off of it starting Monday.  I am really hoping it doesn’t affect my supply adversely.

EGDSome of the basics on GERD, Barrett’s, and a Nissen Fundoplication:

GERD – (from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gerd/DS00967)

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic digestive disease that occurs when stomach acid or, occasionally, bile flows back (refluxes) into your food pipe (esophagus). The backwash of acid irritates the lining of your esophagus and causes GERD signs and symptoms.

Signs and symptoms of GERD include acid reflux and heartburn. Both are common digestive conditions that many people experience from time to time. When these signs and symptoms occur at least twice each week or interfere with your daily life, doctors call this GERD.

Most people can manage the discomfort of heartburn with lifestyle changes and over-the-counter medications. But for people with GERD, these remedies may offer only temporary relief. People with GERD may need stronger medications, even surgery, to reduce symptoms.

Barrett’s Esophagus – (from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002128/)

Barrett’s esophagus is a disorder in which the lining of the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach) is damaged by stomach acid and changed to a lining similar to that of the stomach.

Nissen Fundoplication – (from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fundoplication/MM00791)

Fundoplication is a surgical procedure used to treat stomach acid reflux. During fundoplication, the top part of your stomach — called the fundus — is folded and sewn around the lower esophageal sphincter, a muscular valve at the bottom of your esophagus. This reinforces the lower esophageal sphincter, making it less likely that acid will back up into the esophagus. If you have a hiatal hernia, it can be repaired at the same time. Your surgeon may also tighten the hiatus, the opening in your diaphragm through which the esophagus passes.

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Labor Inducing Foods

Labor Inducing FoodsIf you have ever been nine months pregnant, then you know how miserable it can be.  Like many pregnant woman, I have done just about everything to naturally induce labor.  The one thing I just can’t get myself to do is the whole castor oil thing.  The thought makes me gag… But I digress…. I see many posts where women who are in the misery inducing final month of pregnancy are asking what ways can I try to start labor.  Well as I am ending my sixth, yes 6th, pregnancy, I thought I would share all the various ways that I have heard or tried.  In this post I am only going to discuss the food options, I go into the non-food labor inducing techniques or wives tales in another post, which you can read here.

So onward to labor recipes, herbs, foods, and teas….

Scalinis Labor Inducing Eggplant ParmesanWe have all heard of the infamous Eggplant Parmesan that induces labor.  It all stems from Scalini’s in Atlanta, where over 300 babies have been born within 48 hours of their mothers eating their Eggplant Parmesan.  (checkout their baby photo wall and mother to be page)  So they post their famous recipe on their site, but I thought I would make life easier for you and just give it to you here. – Labor Inducing Eggplant Parmesan Recipe – PLEASE leave a comment if you make this and it works.  We love hearing labor stories!

Honey Garlic Angel Hair PastaSince I am not a fan of eggplant, I just can’t stomach this particular meal, but I did a little more research and found that the “reason” they say these women go into labor after eating this particular dish, is the oregano and basil.  Well I LOVE Italian food, so I got to thinking that this should work for other Italian style dishes, and with my last pregnancy, I ate several helpings of Honey-Garlic Angel Hair Pasta in the final days before labor began. – Honey-Garlic Angel Hair Pasta Recipe

Labor Inducing CookiesNow one that I personally loved, and have several funny stories from is the Labor Inducing Cookies.  Now I happened to really like these cookies, but I can’t say the rest of my family did.  They taste just like a ginger snap until about 30 seconds after your bite, then you get the heat from the cayenne pepper.  If spice is your trigger, than these little bad boys may do the trick for you.  So without further ado – Jump Start Your Labor Cookie Recipe – or otherwise known as – Labor Inducing Cookie Recipe - ENJOY!

 

Now I am sure there are many more recipes out there, and I would love to hear about them, just let us know and we will add them to our site.  Good luck to all the pregnant moms reading this blog, hope these help to get things moving in the right direction.

Labor Inducing Teas

Red Raspberry Leaf Tea – now this won’t put you in labor, rather this will only help to strengthen your uterine muscles, making your contractions more effective during labor and it helps your uterus shrink back to it’s normal size after your baby is born as well.  For this tea to really be effective, you need to drink at least 16 oz of it a day.  While this may not sound like too difficult of a task, I mean red raspberry tea, should be good right.  This is NOT raspberry flavored tea, but the leaves of the raspberry plant.  NOT the same thing at all.  This tea has a very earthy taste and if you don’t like that flavor, then I suggest buying honey or sugar to sweeten this up so you can stomach it.  Now one thing I did do is mix one bag of mint tea to every two bags of Raspberry Leaf Tea and I prefer honey in my tea instead of sugar.  Tastes great to me like this.  I suggest you play with it to find what works with your palette best.

Cinnamon Tea – Now this is one tea that is definitely easily palatable for many.  Techinicaly they say it is the cinnamon bark that you need to make tea out of – that is fine with me!  If you were to mix this with the raspberry leaf tea, then you would have a double whammy at inducing labor.  To make the cinnamon tea, simply poor boiling water over 2 cinnamon sticks.  Easy Peasy

If you are looking for more natural ways to induce labor then please read our Natural Ways to Induce Labor post for more ideas, tips and wives tales.

 

 

 

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You Know You Are 9 Months Pregnant When…

you know you are nine months pregnantI am compiling a list of all the “you know you are nine months pregnant when” or “you know you are in the home stretch when” posts and sayings I have read just over the last week.  These make for a really great laugh, and sadly so many of them are well, SO TRUE!  If you feel I have left some of the good ones out, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

You still check the TP everytime you go to wipe, but now instead of looking for some sign of spotting you are looking for your mucous plug

When peeing you stop your flow numerous time just to check… hate for it to be my water and I couldn’t tell because I was peeing

When you feel any sort of tiny pain in your stomach and wonder is that labor starting?

You can finally breath again because your baby has dropped.

You find yourself willing to walk just that much further in hopes of helping you start your labor?

You go to bed early only to wake up feeling like you’ve only gotten 3 hours of sleep?

When you get dressed in the morning your goal is no longer what’s cute but what fits!

you honestly wonder if this heartburn your experiencing in the middle of the night will kill you

You no longer care how much weight you’ve gained, because you’d lost the control and just want to have the baby!

You’re willing to try a lot of natural ways to start labor. Let me tell you, walking and takign the stairs DOES work!

Heartburn arrives again with nearly anything you eat!

If anyone asks how you are, you say “I’m so done!”

When the milk in your fridge expires before your due date!

You can only wear flip flops because those are the only shoes in your closet that fit.

You have to get out of bed to change positions and as long as you’re up you might as well go to the bathroom because its only a matter of time.

You wear the same pants 3 days in a row because they’re comfortable and if someone notices its their problem, they should have more to care about than your pants.

When other people wince when you walk, because it just looks so uncomfortable.

When going from sitting to standing it the most excersice you get in a day, and it is HARD to do.

Maternity tops are now crop tops. And, worse, unless there is a draft, you don’t notice that you have a good 4″ of belly, below the belly button showing.

When you can’t walk and talk for more than 5min because you run out of breath

The idea of the next Full Moon makes you giddy with excitement!

When you DTD with DH/SO for business not pleasure

when the only time you bother getting dressed anymore is for your weekly doc trips

when you welcome contractions cause it means this will all be over soon

When the nurses at your doctor’s office are surprised to see you come waddling through the door again this week

You actually TRY to hit potholes hoping the bumpiness will induce labor

When you are sleeping naked with no blanket and DH is bundled up like it is the second ice age

When your MIL calls every second day to make sure she hasnt missed the birth

When your friends get excited when you complain of back pain because that means LO “could come at any moment!”

When you have no issues telling your so about your gross bodily stuff. And your actually looking forward to certain types of pain.

When your thighs start to touch when you walk ..ugh

When you drop something you just leave it there, its really not THAT important.

When shaving your legs becomes another form of yoga.

When you end up begging HIM for sex.

When you decide you shouldn’t drive any more because to be able to reach the pedals, your belly is steering for you.

when you have to stand sideways to wash dishes

When you stop asking your husband if you look ok when you get dressed in the morning because you know at this point he would just be lying if he said yes.

Walking through walmart is more than you can handle

you watch a movie and there is even a hint of a baby and you begin crying

your nursery has been complete for the last two months and you keep starring at the items expecting to see a baby inside

you have terrible road rage and hope that everyone else on the road gets hit by a bus

When the question of how many weeks are you becomes more of an insult because you just want to be done.

When just the thought of eating food requires a tums.

when you get heartburn from all the crazy natural induction recipes (but keep eating/drinking them anyway!)

When you get jealous about the status of other women’s vaginas.  “You’re 3 centimeters dialated and 75% effaced…lucky!”

When ice chips are the only thing that sound appealing.

When your only hopes of catching a glimpse of your vagina is with a hand held mirror….and when you finally do see it you vow to never ever look again!

When you feel like you need some sort of construction equipment to roll you over in bed at night because it’s so much effort to do it yourself!

The big baggy t-shirts you used to use to sleep in are too small.

After you finish peeing you stay on the toilet because you know there will be at least one more tiny trickle.

When you have developed a ‘system’ for turning over in bed.

When ‘air drying’ after a shower is soooo much easier than having to bend all around with your towel.

when you’re afraid to sneeze because you don’t want to change your undies again

when you can’t even see the tiny cup they make you pee in at every appointment

when you can’t stand close enough to the bathroom mirror to put your makeup on

Your days (and nights) consist mainly of trips to the restroom. AND those trips constitute your workout for the day

When you can’t climb in or out of bed without almost flipping your DH out of it.

When you hit your belly with the car door, refrigerator door, corner of the wall, people, small children…nearly everything.

When you look at your underwear when you go pee hoping to see a glob of something disgusting!

When you almost miss having a period because it was less uncomfortable.

when you sneeze and hope the resulting pain will cause labor…

 

 

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Vocabulary Lessons – Aunesty

Aunesty JanssenPatrick and I got to thinking about what was the best way to share what has been happening in our world over the last couple of months, and decided that the easiest way to give some information would be to share some of the new words entering our vocabulary and some of the words that have been there, but have become more important to our little world right now.  We are dividing these Vocabulary lessons out by family member and if we decide to continue to do this, we will do it by month as well.

So to get started, here are the terms that entered our world or became more important directly related to me, Aunesty Janssen:

  1. exophytic – growing outward; in oncology, proliferating externally or on the surface epithelium of an organ or other structure in which the growth originated – or as our doctor described to us, it is like a golf ball sitting on the edge of the green…
  2. vascularity – the state of blood vessel development and functioning in an organ or tissue
  3. renal – pertaining to the kidney
  4. atypical – Not normal, irregular, abnormal, not conforming to a type, abnormal in presentation, morphology, appearance or behavior
  5. iron saturation levelsTransferrin -iron saturation percentage (TS%). TS% is an indication of your ability to bind iron and transport it to various sites such as the bone marrow or liver. Transferrin-Iron Saturation Percentage Normal Range: 25-35% (mine is 7%)
  6. adrenal insufficiencynot a new term, but has become important because of the pregnancy and being in the 3rd trimester – refers to the inability of the adrenal glands to produce a normal quantity of hormones
  7. newborn adrenal insufficiencyor “crisis” is important to recognize because of its potentially life-threatening implications. Crisis occurs when the adrenal is prevented from producing normal amounts of its vital hormones. Symptoms and signs of adrenal crisis are varied and nonspecific. In infancy these include lethargy, vomiting, poor appetite and failure to thrive.
  8. radiation levels from CT while pregnant – are too high for my doctors to feel comfortable, so all scans are put off until the day after baby “r” is delivered
  9. recurrent cavernous hepatic hemangiomanot new term to me, but new in the past few months – is a noncancerous liver tumor made of widened (dilated) blood vessels

Those are pretty much the most important terms for the past couple of months, and as we learn more and our vocabulary increases, we will keep you updated.

Now on to:

Patrick’s Terms – Gabe’s Terms – Angel’s Terms – Becca’s Terms – Stevie’s Terms – Carson’s Terms

 

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Eating My Placenta After Baby “R” is Born

I never thought I would even be thinking about this, but I read an article yesterday by one of the bloggers over at Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine, Something I Never Thought I would Do, Eat my Placenta, and it got me thinking.  I like that she did this without actually consuming her placenta, like it is a piece of meat you get at the store or butcher.  The thought of cooking up my after birth and sitting down and eating it like any other piece of meat just totally grosses me out.  I know that there are women who do this, and great for them, but it so NOT for me.  Not at all, and I have NO desire to “share” my placenta with anyone else either.  Those afterbirth eating parties.  EWWWWWWWW  GROSSSSSSSS – - -Why on earth would you even want to eat someone elses afterbirth?????

Anyhow I digress, so this whole having it turned into capsules thing and taking them like vitamins has me a little intrigued.  I am not sure I can stomach it still, knowing that I am ingesting an organ that was once inside of my own body but at least this isn’t as gross to me as the whole chowing down on my afterbirth like it is a steak.  So I have started researching…

The whole encapsulating your placenta is called placentophagy and there are many sites dedicated to the practice of it.   You can get directions on how to do it yourself, again ummm NO, or you can pay someone to come do it for you.  The only site I found that had a directory of placenta encapsulation services is Placenta Bakery – yeah love the name don’t you?  Well of course there is not a provider in Nebraska, shocking I know!  Now from what I can tell the other “Main” site on this who Placenta Love thing is Placenta Benefits.  She has a bunch of information over there on the whole “Your Placenta is Good For You” theory.  Please don’t get me wrong, there maybe some very real benefits to ingesting your placenta, I mean all other mammals do it, but I am still grossed out, especially after opening Big Belly Services Placenta page.  Yeah ummm ewwww…..

So now I have information, and figure I can overnight my placenta on ice to one of the more “local” ladies or do a some research and find someone in Omaha, I know a really great doula who would probably know.  The questions I now have, can I get over the gross factor?  Since I am steroids that I know cross over the placenta, will my placenta be tainted?  How the heck do I ask my perinatologist this question?  Hey Dr Bonebrake, so do you think my placenta is ok to for me to consume since I am on so many steroids?  I can imagine the look on his face!

But the even better part of this crazy idea of mine, my husband and family.  I can imagine what he is going to say when he reads this blog post, as of now he has no idea I am even considering this!  He is very supportive, so I know that at the end of the day he will let me do and try whatever I want, but I am sure that there will be plenty of ribbing about it.  Now the kids and extended family.  Oh the hay day they will have this if I do it.  I am sure the kids will come up with sort of zombie, vampire, cannibalistic name for me.  I can hear Becca and Stevie now, “Hey zombie Mom, it’s time for your flesh pill”.  As for the extended family and in-laws, not sure it would be too wise to tell them, well especially the in-laws, I am pretty sure they will think I am crazy.  As for my parents, well they are on Facebook and get notified of this post, so I am pretty sure they will learn about it that way. (note – while typing this, Patrick came over to give me a kiss good bye – he running an errand – he looked over my shoulder and saw the title of this post – his EXACT statement “Oh Jesus!” and walked away.  LMAO!!!)

I will keep you updated as to what I decide with this whole placenta encapsulation thing.  But for now I am going to continue to research it and see if I can get over the ewww gross factor.

 

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Vacation in California and Disneyland

JanssenWell we did our quick little trip to California to see my Dad, Step mom and sisters.   We stayed a couple of nights at my dad’s then a couple nights at Disney’s Grand Californian.   As many of you know I was really concerned with how Carson would do on the flights, one he is just so young and two he had double ear infections, allergies and a cold.  But surprisingly he did very well.  He slept the majority of both flights.  Thanks to good timing on the flights and a little medication from the doctor.

As for our trip. It was great to see my family.  Dad still looks the same as the last time I saw him, Mary Ann looks better and my sisters have grown so much!  I can’t believe how time flies.  Nicole and Angel both in College and Brittany and Becca both young women now.

We did a quick jaunt to Balboa on Gabe’s birthday, but it was really too chilly to spend too much time at the beach.  Carson got to feel the cold Pacific ocean on his toes, and sit in the sand.  We ended up BBQing at my parents that night.

We were only planning on doing Disneyland and California Adventure for two days, but on Saturday the forecast called for it to be too chilly to do the beach again, so we decided to take advantage of the Southern Californian Disneyland Pass Special (thanks DAD!) and got three day park hopper passes for all 6 of us for just about $900.  The sad part, we ended up canceling our Club 33 reservations for lunch the next day because we all ready had our passes.  I am going to have take Patrick back again in the near future so he can experience Club 33 for himself.

All in all the trip was great, we had a lot of fun, and learned a lot more about Disneyland then we knew before.

After baby r gets here, we will have to make sure to plan another trip out to CA so we can enjoy more of what we didn’t get to do.

Balboa Beachaunesty reikofski

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