Pure Birth Graduates!

Last night was Doc and I's last Pure Birth Class. We successfully completed all 8 classes together to help us prepare for the birth experience we want for ourselves and Evelyn. After reading research and discussing what our desires where we decided that a homebirth with a midwife was the best option for our family. Natural birth and homebirth are not something everyone chooses for themselves, and I have no issue with anyone who decides to take a different path than Doc and I have. Some people think I'm crazy for wanting to do this. I think the medical world is crazy for doing many of the things they still do in labor/delivery even when the science behind them proves they don't help and might even hurt the process. But hospitals are businesses...

I am considering having the birth filmed. I don't a video of Evelyn crowning, but I'd like it to be more educational. I want there to be film of the midwife preforming medical procedures (checking the fetal heart rate every now and then, checking dialation of the cervix, blood pressure and heart rate monitoring, etc) to show that there are safety measures in place, as well as to show other mothers/mothers-to-be considering this what a homebirth looks like more fully.

I'm not sure how interested my friends would be in seeing it, but I think my instructor from Pure Birth wouldn't mind having an additional resource and I might offer it up online to some of the natural birth friendly websites.

Need Motivation?

Watch Super Size Me. Yesterday, I ordered a Hawaiian Pizza from Mazzios and I ate over half of it. I was amazed. I haven't eaten that much since high school! Granted, I'm 6 months pregnant, and it's bound to happen sometimes...I felt horrible after eating it. I was still under my suggested caloric intake for the day, but man...ugh. SO! To refocus! I logged onto Netflix and searched for "Super Size Me" and watched it on instant play.

Needless to say...

FULLY MOTIVATED! Please oh please let me eat healthy food everyday for the rest of my life and avoid fast food at all costs! Anytime I feel weak minded again, I will return to that documentary!

Guided Meditation

For those of you who don't know what guided meditation is, it's where you practice meditation while being guided by an outside source. For example, you can buy CD's with guided meditation sessions on them designed to help you reach a peace of mind about different subjects, such as healing the past, calming current worries, etc.

Generally I struggle with guided meditations a bit. There are some that tell you things like "now imagine that you are flying over a vast field toward a mountain" and the two year old in me makes me giggle at it. Regardless of the rediculous notions in guided meditations, I always end up crying during them. Not sobbing, but a slow running of tears type cry. I think it's because of the voice that guided meditation leaders use. It's very soothing and sympathetic, sort of like when you are upset about something and someone says "why are you about to cry?" in a grandmotherly way and you start bawling.

The last meditation I did that was guided was at birthing class with my husband. The expectant mothers were asked to meditate and relax and focus on taking this journey in our minds the CD would lead us through while our supporters helped us relax by slow stroking of our backs or holding us in a comforting embrace. It was a wonderful bonding experience for us and has peaked my interest in looking for guided meditations meant for couples to do together.

I'm still meditating the good old fashioned way. I am focusing on breath awareness and letting myself just be.

I will never use vegetable oil again!

At least, not in baking.

A few days ago, I began to get a strong craving for baking. It happens sometimes. I feel the need to preheat and make everything I can out of what I have in the house. Last week, it was blueberry muffins. So I go to my delightful blueberry muffin mix (not organic, but it uses real blueberries) and check the box. Need 2 eggs. Check. Need 1/3 cup vegetable oil.....no check. I was out and not in the mood to go to the store. After all, I had already started preheating the oven!

So off to the good old world wide I went and after entering "vegetable oil substitute" into the Bing search bar (I'm giving Bing a chance) I stumbled across the best alternative ever. APPLESAUCE! Tell me that blueberry muffins made with applesauce doesn't sound amazing! So, I had this awesome granny smith applesauce with no added sugar in individual serving sizes (that is just a tad over 1/3 cup). I opened up a package and measured out 1/3 cup of yum yum applesauce into the mix, and 20 minutes later swore myself away from EVER using vegetable oil in baking again!

Plus, applesauce...way healthier!

My Favorite Healthy Snacks

So I have been asked by a few friends what particular brands I have been buying that let me eat healthy and not break the bank...so here are a few of my favorite things all from Wal-mart.

Veggie Sticks and Ranch
Organic girl celery - celery is # 4 on "The Dirty Dozen" list of fruits and veggies most affected by pesticides which makes it one that I think is worth the extra buck to purchase.
Organic carrots - carrots are #11 on the list. There is only one brand of organic carrots available at my walmart, and they are delicious.
Hidden Valley Ranch Dip - the powder package you can buy. It's not super healthy when you make it as instructed by we can fix it!
Dannon All-Natural Non-Fat PLAIN Yogurt - DO NOT GET VANILLA! LoL. It will taste horrible. Mix the Hidden Valley Ranch Dip powder in with the tub of plain yogurt. I get the larger size of yogurt because it lasts a long time even with the ranch dip and it's hard to find plain yogurt in single serving sizes.

Cheese and Crackers
Kashi Tasty Little Crackers: Fire Roasted Vegetable - Ok, Kashi is amazing in general! BUT these little crackers are fabulous. They have a little bit of spice to them, no cholesterol, 2g of fiber and 3g of protein per serving. Kashi is an all whole grain product and they have no hydrogenated oils and are all natural!
Cheese - go to the deli at your walmart and look at the blocks of cheese they have in the refridgerated area. They have blocks of cheeses and you can pick from most of these. Just check to see if it is non-processed (no velveeta here!) and sounds yummy. There are smoked cheddars and smoked baby swiss that are my favorite. The smoked taste is amazing with the fire roasted crackers.
*HINT: slice your cheese slices really thin. You won't be as tempted to eat a lot if you have little amounts to go on each cracker!

Nuts
The trick with nuts is to only eat a little! So DO NOT put these in a bowl out in the open where you can just eat them all day long and pay no attention to them! My favorite nuts are almonds and cashews. You can go to the nut section and pick out which ones you want. I think raw is better...but dry roasted are okay. Try to look for unsalted or unseasoned nuts though. All of the extra stuff makes them less healthy. Nuts are great for their protein and good fats, but you have to watch it or you'll eat the whole can......it only happened once......

Baby Item Success!

Today, I ordered diaper covers from thirsties diapers. They are made in the U.S. and use products manufactured here in the U.S. to make them! They're also really stinking cute! Check them out!

www.thirstiesbaby.com

A Morning Walk

My dog has inspired this new habit of mine. I get up, let the dog out, eat breakfast while he runs around, get dressed, and then leash the 10 lb fuzzball so we can take a morning walk. It's the nicest part of the day here in humid Oklahoma, before 9:00AM. The air still smells fresh and hasn't taken on the humid moldy smell it gets in the afternoon. We walk about a mile total, which is about as much as my pregnant body can handle right now in one stretch. I find it really seems to get me up and going for the day. I get much more done on mornings where I go walk outside. I see other parents walking in the morning and pushing their strollers or carrying their kiddos out in the fresh air. I'm excited to show this to our little Evelyn!

Made in the U.S.A.

What brands come to your mind when you think baby products? I think Graco, Gerber, Carter, Kids Line, CoCaLo, and everything else you can find at Babys R Us. Guess what! They all manufacture the majority if not all of their products overseas. So guess that means I need to look elsewhere for baby items that are made from organic or natural products and under fair labor laws. The best way to do this is to buy products that are Made in the USA! And why not? Our economy needs all the support they can get! Though it's not easy to find a lot of "mom and pop" places that make their own products, I did find two great websites that sell some really cute USA products and some are even organic!

http://www.all-americanbaby.net/

I LOVE All American Baby because it doesn't just have bedding and clothing that is made in the USA but also toys, furniture, lighting, skin care products, etc. The prices aren't horrible either considering I expected them to be higher than mainstream U.S.A. mega-stores. They don't have a huge organic selection, but at least there is one :) Now, I can't register here...but it would definitely be possible for us to snag a few things.

or

http://www.americansworking.com/clothingchildren.html

This site just lists companies that sell children's clothing that is made in the U.S.A. I'll probably find this more helpful a little further along the line.