New blog?

It's been 5 years since my last post. Just as I was thinking about starting a new blog today, I stumbled upon Lovely Planète. The idea was to start writing and sharing about natural health and cleaning solutions in a new place. But why not simply continue that here? I will let that idea sink in for a while...

Foods that cause colics

I breastfed my daughter and I am now breastfeeding my son. My daughter had colics for the first 3 months and this time around I put everything on my side to avoid my son having them. And it starts with what you eat. If you avoid these foods during the first 8 weeks, while the digestive system of the newborn develops, you're putting good chances on your side... My son is 8 weeks today and no colics till this day =D

Foods to avoid for the first 6-8 weeks:

Fruits Vegetables Miscellaneous Mangoes Berries Melons Grapes Oranges Lemons Stone fruits Pineapple Strawberries Broccoli Cabbage Brussel sprouts Peas Cucumber Capsicum Lettuce Tomato Radishes Cauliflower Lentils onion Strong herbs and spices. (Cayenne, chili, oregano, thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary) Brewers yeast Tea Alcohol

A true nightmare or what a birth should not be

I gave birth to my son Nicolas on June 13th. What should have been an easy and beautiful birth became a nightmare the minute I requested an epidural. It was 2am and a sleepy nurse missed it three times, one of them releasing liquid from my spine. She truly did not have a clue what she was doing as the pain from the contractions came back every 90 minutes and she had to give me more painkillers each time. Had I known this I would have certainly skipped the epidural as I experienced most of the pain from the contractions and had post-partum complications due to the wet spinal tap. Nicolas came out with three pushes in a matter of minutes at 12.15pm.

To make a long story short, I soon experienced unbearable spinal headaches and neck pains when sitting or standing. I was therefore told I immediately needed a blood patch. That's when a butcher anesthesiologist came and with no local anesthesia, sitting up in bed, he injected 20cc of my blood in my spine. I will never forget that pain in my life. I then had to lay flat for 24 hours, not being able to nurse or attend to my newborn baby. I left the hospital 2 days after the birth and the neck pain and headaches soon came back. My OBGYN prescribed ibuprofen against the pain and "to make sure the blood patch worked" he said, and the only thing I could do was lay flat on my back for ten days. Thank God my mother was there to help with my 3 year old daughter and my baby.

I started looking online and found a community called Brain Talk Communities.One of their forums is about spinal leaks and that's where I found out more about what they had done to me and how a blood patch should a. have been done with local anesthesia, laying down on my stomach and therefore be painless b. have been done 24 hours after the birth and c. have been stopped the second it started to hurt, i.e. too much blood had been injected in my spine. That is also where I found a recommendation to see a neurologist. My OBGYN wanted me to go back and have another blood patch since the pain had not disappeared, but that I refused. I went to see the neurologist specialized in spinal problems and had to have an MRI to make sure I did not have a blood clot in my brain given that too much blood had been used during the blood patch. He also explained that I should have never taken ibuprofen against the pain as it is an anti-inflammatory and the purpose of the blood patch is to cause an inflammation in the spine so that the leak created by the spinal tap can close itself. As a result it will now take months for my leak to close itself, if it ever does. I should not be carrying anything heavy which is obviously impossible with a 3 year old and a newborn baby. But if the pains I am still experiencing in my back and neck have not disappeared by mid/end of August, I need to go back to see Dr. Adams.

The reason why I am writing all this is because no woman should go through what I went through during a magical moment such as birth. All this happened at the Mercy Hospital in Miami. Avoid it at all costs and make sure a certified anesthesiologist performs your epidural, not a nurse. Inform yourself.

Ups and downs

Life is full of ups and downs lately. I was up yesterday when a company finally hired me for a part-time consultant job. I am down today, after going to my third prenatal testing and the doctor spoke Chinese to me announcing that our 21 week old baby might have a kidney problem. A double collecting system of the kidney. Which is apparently a possible symptom of Down.

Doctors in this country are terrible. They are so money driven. They keep telling me that I need to have an amniocentesis because I am older than 35 and the risks of having a child with down syndrome is higher. But my friend who is a doctor and specialist in prenatal medicine in Spain assured me that it has been proven long ago that there is no link between down syndrome children and the age of the mother! I refuse to have an amniocentesis unless it is completely necessary. No matter what they tell you, it is invasive for the baby. And there is always a risk involved.

These days

I have been sewing clothes for Emily and baby presents these days. Not that I have much free time on my hands, but I enjoy very much looking at the result. So I have been thinking to open a little shop on the web and make costum orders.

Gigoteuse / sleeping bag for baby

Little house I made for Emily's 2nd birthday

2 Toddler dresses

Breastfeeding

I immensely enjoyed breastfeeding my daughter. Not only did it create a special bond bewteen us, it gave me peaceful and restful moments with her each time I nursed her. I was extremely well advised from the beginning on by my midwife in Germany: she told me what to eat to increase my milk production, what to avoid to decrease it or to avoid producing gases for baby, etc. And I was stunned to notice that mothers here in the US are not given all this information. I've therefore decided to share this information here, hoping to help other mothers out there.

Herbs and foods good while breastfeeding:
fennel\fenugreek
chamomille
oatmeal
malt
anis

Herbs and food you should avoid if you want to continue breastfeeding:
sage
mint/peppermint/spearmint
parsley
garlic
alcohol (although 1 glass of wine every now and then with your meal will NOT harm your baby)
orange and grapefruit
all nuts
quinine (found in tonic water for example)
all drinks with caffeine (1 coffee a day is ok)
NO medicine unless you got the green light from your doctor

This list does not pretend to be complete. Check with your doctor for any questions or doubts!

That thing called motherhood

I have no time to achieve anything other than taking care of Baby Em these days. Not that I have had plenty of time for myself for the last nine months. But the fact is that she's slowly sleeping less and less, her naps becoming shorter and more rare, her nights becoming shorter as well, and I fear that the situation is only going to get worse. She'll start walking soon, I mean she's already standing, so very soon I'll be running after her and will have even less time for myself.

How do other mothers do it? I spend every day and every hour with her, and don't see how I could have some free time other than leaving her with someone else, such as a babysitter. And I am not quite sure that I'm ready for that step yet. Probably soon though, as I seriously need time to start doing things like emptying the last boxes, organizing the closets, getting in shape, reading a book, going back to my sewing projects, just to name a few. Besides, affording a babysitter implies starting to work again. Definitely not there yet. I have enough in my plate as it is thank you.

I often wonder how mothers of more than one child manage everything. Two mothers of nine month old babies I know are already pregnant again, and they seem extatic. One of them is pregnant with her fourth. No joke. I am by no means saying that a second child is out of the question, but definitely not so early. I wouldn't even have my 1 and 1/2 hour of "free" time per day with that scenario. Thank you but no thank you. Not for me. Not yet at least.

M. sure seems to be ready for that second baby though, considering his reaction the other day:

me: "I have good news."

M.: "Tell me."

me: "Try guessing."

M.:"Hmmmm... you're pregnant?"

No need to continue how that conversation went, right? Point proven, he's ready. But he's not the one spending 24 hours a day with Baby Em, nursing her, changing her diapers, playing with her, carrying her, getting little sleep, having no social life, and in charge of a household. I guess if I were in his shoes, I'd be ready too. Hell, I'd even consider having more than 2 children. Fathers/men have it much easier imho. Yet I wouldn't change my place with him for anything in the world. I'd miss out on that incredible magical fullfilling beautiful and undescribable thing called motherhood.