Book Review - Back Labor No More

Back Labor No More:
What every woman should know before labor
by Janie McCoy King

From Ms. King's website:
"With a warm, humorous, and personal approach, this book explains what back labor is, how to recognize it, and what physical characteristics are likely to cause it. Using cartoons, illustrations of everyday occurrences, and her background as a mathematician, the author offers a unique method to relieve the pain of back labor and facilitate the baby's birth.

Additionally, the book explains why other natural childbirth techniques work. Finally, it relates the personal experiences of women who have used the technique and their astounding results! In short, this light-hearted, insightful look at labor reveals the causes of and solutions for the serious discomfort of back labor. Rooted in scientific principle, yet explained through common daily experiences, it is accessible to anyone- even between contractions!"

This book was a recommended reading in my home study course. I read the whole thing in one sitting - about an hour. It is easy to understand, easy to remember, completely revolutionary, but totally intuitive. I think Ms. King did a wonderful job writing a very enjoyable book that you can easily read through, while using examples that you WILL remember. I'm pretty confident I can remember the "technique" even during my birthing time. The technique is actually quite simple.. but you must read it! I can't explain it here, and provide a good outcome.

Ms. King explains that back labor has a variety of causes, not just when you have a posterior baby. It can be caused by a short stature, a previous back injury, a sway-back, or a posterior baby. She explains each "problem" and positions to alleviate pains for each.

Not only does Ms. King promote that this will halt back labor in its tracks, but it will also significantly reduce abdominal labor, make contractions more efficient, shorten the time of active labor, help sluggish labors progress, bring on labor when past due, and stop "running legs".

I told a friend that I had ordered this book and she said "Are you really that afraid you will have back labor?" The answer is "No! But if I do have it, its too late to order the book then!"

My book was $13 total with shipping from Amazon, and took an hour of my time to read and learn. I will definitely be re-reading as my birthing time draws closer.
Get it, read it, do it.

Tasty Tuesday - Asian Inspired Bowl

This is one recipe that I actually made up myself. I'll admit its not heavy on protein. I also thought last night that I should really add a sea veggie to it. Wakame would be nice. I couldn't take a picture because Patrick is in Colorado with the camera, so just use your imagination!

Asian Inspired Bowl
This is super easy to construct, especially if you have cooked rice already, that is the only cooking involved. I usually make single servings of this. You probably don't want to make a big batch in a big bowl because the avocado will get weird by the next day. I just make another single serving for lunch the next day.
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 apple, diced
1 avocado, diced
Sesame Oil
Rice Wine Vinegar
Pine Nuts

Cook rice accordingly. I always cook my rice with 1/2 water and 1/2 veggie broth for flavor.
In a small bowl, dish out your rice (~1/2 cup per serving). Drizzle with a bit of sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Stir. Dice on top 1/2 apple and 1/4 an avocado. Top with a sprinkling of pine nuts.

That's it! Its crunchy, buttery, smooth, sweet, and smoky. I think its great! Give it a shot!

Avocados have been shown to have a benefit on cholesterol levels, particularly decreasing LDL and triglycerides. A Japanese study showed they have an antibacterial component. They are great for your skin and hair. Better if eaten than applied externally.

They have also been shown to regulate hormones in both men and women. They are even shaped like a uterus, and the Aztec word for avocado, ahuacatl, means "testicle"!

The Most Tedious of Exercises

We all hate them. They are hard to do, hard to remember to do, and seem to be more of a mind game than anything else. The dreaded Kegel. Yet, its one of the more important pregnancy exercises. This from my Hypnobabies work book:

"This exercise is necessary to keep your internal organs in the proper position before, during and after birth, and to keep the baby's chin on its chest during the 2nd stage of your birthing time, which makes sure the smallest part of the head is presented first. A weak Kegel muscle lets the vaginal wall sag ahead of the baby, and hold the baby back, along with letting its head move about more freely, sometimes allowing it to become wedged in the wrong position. This can lead to internal tears. A strong Kegel muscle pulls the vaginal walls taut and lets the baby "slide" through with its chin on its chest."

The book says to start with 50 a day, and aim for 150 a day. I probably get in my 50, but certainly not 150. However, after reading this, it gives me a little extra incentive, so I wanted to pass that along.

Happy squeezing!



Hypnobabies^TM Home Study Course, 5th edition

Tasty Tuesday - Rice and Black Bean Casserole

Here's a new casserole from Cathe Olson's The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. It was super easy (requires no chopping of anything!) and darn tasty. If you already have your rice cooked, it will take absolutely no time at all to throw this together. I modified it a bit, and will include my modifications in my recipe.

Rice and Black Bean Casserole
Rice + Beans makes a complete protein. I added spinach because I thought it needed a vegetable (salsa does not count as a vegetable!), cheese, and sour cream (or creme fraiche) in the mixture to give it more of a casserole consistency, and I added a bit of chipotle chili powder. Give this one a try, you'll love it!

3 cups cooked brown rice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 to 1 cup grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup corn
1 cup baby spinach, or regular spinach chopped
2 tsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a 9x9 casserole dish. Combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup of the cheese in a large mixing bowl. Spoon mixture into casserole dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until cheese is bubbly.

Non-tasty Recipes : Homemade Natural Deodorant

Today's recipe is not at all tasty, but you could eat it if you really wanted to. Which is the whole point - naturally safe for your whole body - outside or in!

When I wore commercial deodorant, I never had one brand that I particularly liked. I tried every brand and every product of every brand because I just couldn't find anything that I thought worked well for me. I tend to sweat a lot in knit shirts, which of course becomes stinky. The absolute worse deodorant I ever tried was Secret with Oil of Olay. They advertise it has lotion in it - which promptly turns to liquid when it gets warm. This deodorant made me a sweaty mess even when I wasn't hot! Horrible product!

Well, anyway, after seeing my herbalist, commercial deodorant was something I wanted to cut out because it, like a lot of beauty products, contains xenoestrogens. Upon further investigation, the aluminum in deodorant has been shown to be a carcinogen linked to breast cancer and Alzheimer's. The National Cancer Institute claims that the results of studies of parabens in deodorants and antiperspirants relating to breast cancer are "inconclusive" and provide "conflicting results".* But if you think about how almost everyone these days dies of cancer .... we have to be getting it from somewhere .. we eat, breathe, bathe, and slather on so many different chemicals nowadays that it must have an effect on our bodies. These are foreign substances after all.

So, I tried three different "natural deodorants".
1) Kiss my Face Natural Enzymes - broke me out
2) Mineral Salts roll on - the roller actually started to smell like sweaty old man, making every application stinky from the onset
3) A fairly expensive mineral salts spritzer - burned like heck, though worked fine for Patrick

Eventually I gave up, and went bare. It was winter, and I was drinking chlorophyll in my water, which is a natural deodorizer. However, as it got warmer outside, I knew I needed something. So I searched for a better product.

And I found .... the easiest, simplest, most wonderful deodorant I have ever put on my skin! I remain absolutely stink free all day long, even after the gym! Patrick uses it too, and even for a man - this stuff works wonders! I can not tell you how much both Patrick and I love this stuff. It is also completely fragrance free, your underarms will smell like ... absolutely nothing!

Homemade Natural Deodorant**

5-6 Tbsp Coconut oil (solid state)
1/4 cup baking soda (the deodorizer)
1/4 cup arrowroot powder or cornstarch*** (the antiperspirant)

Combine equal portions of baking soda & arrowroot powder. Then slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon until it maintains the substance you desire. It should be about the same texture as the store bought kind, solid but able to be applied easily. You can either scoop this into your old dispensers or place in a small container with lid and apply with fingers with each use. I have only made one batch so far and I cut the recipe down a bit, not making quite as large of a batch. It has lasted Patrick and I about 1.5 months, and we probably have half of it still.

This goes on to skin completely transparent and does not leave nasty deodorant marks and stains on my clothes. I have also read that women love it with babies, because they don't have to worry about chemicals rubbing off on their children when they breastfeed or hold their baby.

Even if chemical deodorants and antiperspirants are totally harmless, well, this homemade deodorant works WAY better than any deodorant I have ever tried, and it cost pennies!! That's reason enough to ditch the Dove.

*www.cancer.gov
**Recipe found at www.passionatehomemaking.com
***I have read that cornstarch can be irritating to the skin. I do find that it is a little itchy right after I shave, so I recommend using arrowroot, but I love it even with the cornstarch.

24 Weeks and Counting

We can't believe how much the baby has grown lately and how obvious it is to us. Not just by belly size, but I can actually feel how much the baby has grown and developed. I feel the baby move all the time now. The movement is also so much higher than it was, I've even started feeling kicks in my ribs. We had our 24 week appointment yesterday and Mary Anne was able to tell what position the baby was in; and I for the first time could even start to feel body parts. She could feel the back and the butt, and I really could too! I was shocked at how high my uterus is now. My uterus measured at exactly 24 cm, and since I have such a short torso, that was all the way up to my ribs! We even poked him (or her) a few times to watch him (or her) squirm.

We registered today! Which turns out to be an all day event. It is also extremely confusing and somewhat overwhelming. I ended up asking a mom in the store "Now why do I need a sheet saver to go over my sheet to go over my waterproof mattress pad to go over my waterproof mattress?" Baby stuff is complicated. And there is SO much of it. I think I need to rent a storage space to be able to house all our baby gear we apparently "need". But it was a ton of fun! I still don't know if I registered for the right stuff. I guess I'll find out soon enough. I also didn't register for a lot of clothing cause I assumed people like to buy that stuff anyway (hint hint!).

I can't believe it is almost May. I met a woman today that said she thought her pregnancy lasted forever. I'm the opposite. I can't believe it is going so fast, and sometimes I feel like I need to hit the brakes! So much change in such a short amount of time. We are absolutely loving it!

Pelvic Pain

Some of my dear friends may have heard me talk about my "crotch pain". I have had a pain on the left side of my pubic area since the middle of my first trimester. It hurts to walk, to roll over in bed, and it especially hurts after yoga, which is what I've been doing to try to make it better - apparently it does not make it better. I asked my midwife who assured me it is my groin and not my crotch, though I insist that it is in fact my crotch. She recommended going to the chiropractor, though she didn't seem to know what it was. We even asked the OB I had a consultation with for my 20 week ultrasound. She actually said it was probably an injury I sustained because my ligaments are loose, and really has nothing to do with pregnancy. She also said to see a chiropractor. Not only do I insist that it is my crotch, but I insist it is pregnancy related.

Well, I finally got up the courage to google search "crotch pain" (I have googled groin pain during pregnancy and didn't seem to find a lot of help) and found the answer! Symphysis Pubis Disorder, or SPD. Symptoms include pain when you:
walk (yes!)
get in and out of the car (yes! yes!)
roll over in bed (oh, this is the worst)
and putting on your trousers (that simple movement of picking up my leg)

See where the symphysis pubis is? That's where it hurts.

I'm reading this information online and just thinking "Finally! An answer!" You know how that is when you finally figure out what exactly an ailment is; that alone is relieving. Well, there's really nothing that can be done. Its just one of those things. I read that one of four pregnant women suffer from SPD, and its just the pelvis relaxing and opening, which is definitely a good thing for childbirth, but when its relaxing and shifting it sort of misaligns, and this is what causes the pain, and why only some women get it. I guess only a few of us are misaligned. I'm supposed to try things like heating it, or wearing a maternity support belt (but that doesn't sound comfy).

I might go to the chiropractor and see if they can re-align me. I never did go even though that as the only advice I got from my midwife and doctor. Mainly because I hate pulling a name out of the insurance hat. You never know if you'll get a good one. I am a bit disappointed that neither my midwife or the OB knew what this was when it seems quite common on google. I have my 24 week appointment on Friday, so I'll ask/tell her about it then.

UPDATE 4/23/2010:
I did end up going to a chiropractor on Monday. It was SO much worse afterwards! It went from a little painful, to oh my gosh, I can barely walk. It was so much worse, and radiated from my pubic area all the way around my left hip socket and down my leg. Unfortunately, I was also on travel Monday afternoon through Wednesday evening, so I had to live with it. I had a 2nd appointment on Thursday. By this time, the pain had died down to about what it was before the chiro got ahold of me. Well, he did some more adjustments and said that he wished he could x-ray me to see the bones. After the adjustment yesterday it was way better! So, maybe he just had to "play around with it". Not sure, but it was so much better yesterday. I went yet again this morning, and he did a few more adjustments, so hopefully it will be even better. I hope he didn't twist me back up!

UPDATE 4/28/2010:
Well, after that magical visit last Thursday where I felt loads better, I went again on Friday and it went back to not at all better. I have now been to the chiropractor 6 times, and I feel the same, if not worse than I did before. I think I feel worse because it seems the more it is messed with the more it hurts, and it spreads. Yesterday my whole hip and hip flexor region hurt, but I think that it was just irritated, today it is back to just my pubic area. I just don't want it to keep getting worse. A friend told me it would come and go as things move and stretch as my pregnancy progresses, so I do hope it goes. Anyway, I'm discouraged because the chiro didn't seem to help. I read tons of stories online about how women found complete relief from the chiro visits, but I'm not getting it so far.