My prenatals calm me down so much.

[altarflame]

And I'm never exactly freaking out to begin with, I am a fairly calm person - but I develop this building tension in between them that just sort of melts away after the appointments.

First I got adjusted so my hips will stop failing me and my ever expanding pelvis won't be killing me each morning. Then, today I got Joy, Shari's daughter. Joy is certified in herbal medicine and setting up a whole holistic store, as well as hosting a new "Homeopathy Hour" at the birth center, each Sunday. This turned out to be perfect - we reviewed my platelet count from last week, and I was SHOCKED - they're up to 127,000! I don't expect that to mean a lot to any readers here, but dang, I was hoping they would maybe stay at 108,000, or at least not be down below 100 (the big "danger point"). I haven't been at 127 since I was like 5 months pregnant! So yeah, the yellowdock is working :p And my hemoglobin is staying higher than normal, too - I've went from anemic to barely normal to low normal. Anyway, she suggested I pick up white sesame seeds to chew into a paste, daily, because they help with hemoglobin so much, and some liquid chlorophyll to drink 2 tablespoons a day of, as well as increasing my yellowdock to the max dose (I've been taking the median suggested dosage). The chlorophyll has the added benefit of cleaning out your GI tract, which will help with my Group B Strep stuff. I was very "Huh?", just thrilled to see such an improvement - but she totally has this idea that I could get up around 200,000 like a normal person, thusly drastically decreasing any chance of regular or internal hemmorage.

All this left me totally amazed. Like...real options that work? My DOCTOR's answer to low platelets was major surgery that necessitates twice as much blood loss as natural birth does! He never had any sort of ideas on how to RAISE them, it was just some kind of kamikaze, drastic immediate measure nonsense. He referred me to a "specialist" once who came in, looked at my chart, shook his head and went away (he also certainly never had a way to make my hips feel better). Joy also took down my number because she wants to do research on what causes low platelets in pregnancy and get back to me, as she believes that things that show up in pregnancy are just amplifications of issues we already had in our bodies - like how I have always had blood sugar issues, but get gestational diabetes if I eat sugar while pregnant. Signals we should pay attention to, for our long term health.

And she pronounced my cervix really, really soft and felt the baby's head - and then pushed on it a little a couple of times, and I could feel him bouncing in there! How amazing is that?! I have never had anyone reach into my vagina and feel a baby's head. Ever. At least not that they shared. Still no more dilation, but I really don't care. It's so awesome that my blood is thickening up and my cervix is soft and the head is right there. It makes it all seem REAL in a way that irregular contractions and vague hunches do not. And that keeps me from feeling impatient, and makes me feel like "Oh, wow. It's really going to happen in the next week or two sometime".

Talked with Grant on the highway about how OBs are paid by the birth, not by the hour, AND they get $10,000 for a half hour c-section, vs $2-3000 for a who knows how long vaginal, and there's no way to say that's not going to sway how things go down. They have to sleep, they're overbooked with patients waiting at the office...Especially when you add in legal liabilities that come in whenever anyone says they SHOULD have done a c/s, in their grief...(when a baby dies during/after c/s, it's more like "They did all they could").

Came home with a borrowed tape of the first two episodes of The Show. Watched half a dozen women give birth with no drugs or fetal monitors or IVs or troubles, in water, and pull their squalling newborn up onto their chests themselves. These are the randomly pre-selected couples the Discovery Channel chose to follow and interview starting weeks in advance, not "the lucky ones".

I am so done with western medicine. Unless bones are broken or cancer is diagnosed or something like that.

Did I mention that tomorrow is my due date, and I weigh what I weigh when Isaac was CONCEIVED?!


I took the kids up to Wild Oats tonight to get my sesame seeds and chlorophyll (which only ended up being $12 total! I was afraid, you never know what it'll come to once you head into the supplements...) and they were awesome. I held Isaac's hand, and he held Aaron's, and he held Annie's, to cross the street and go in, and I kept hold of Isaac's hand the whole time we walked through the store (rather than holding him or sticking him in a cart). They are just all so great. I got the requisite horrified looks from young people, for being SO pregnant and having all these little kids with me, but two older people came up and told me how beautiful my family is with joy on their faces :) And the employee who helped me find things cracked me up when, as she guessed ages, she suddenly stopped aghast, pointing at Isaac, and exclaimed "That one looks nothing like you at all! ...Or the other two! *blink blink*"

He stands at the end of the hallway now, and yells "Two...two...two - TWO!!" and then runs, turbo speed, to knock into whoever is in the living room :D

Comments

[the-leh.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your birth center is so cool. I saw the birth center on disc HC the other day, it looks like a really groovy place *jealous*

How far along are you now? At the due date or close?

I'm so excited and happy for you!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I just edited the post to say that tomorrow is my due date. Shari told me at my visit last week that she expects me to have the baby on or around the 7th (which is Grant's birthday). That's awesome, that you saw the show! And, thanks :)

My edit also included that I weigh, the day before my due date, what I weighed when Isaac was conceived! I'm so happy with how I managed to lose 30 pounds before getting pregnant...

[the-leh.livejournal.com]

That does rock that you lost 30 lbs! I weigh 18 lbs less than I did when Jane was concieved, but am pretty much the same size clothing (wtf?)

[(Anonymous)]

Sesame seeds can be made into a yummy brittle if you like that sort of stuff - we used to eat it in winter for energy or for treating anemia

[julierocket.livejournal.com]

I love your entries. I just read that whole thing. It has nothing at all to do with me or my life or anything I can relate to, but someday I so want a family with kids like yours... yes, even a redhead who wreaks daily havoc on my sanity :D Actually, my boyfriend has an uncle who he strongly resembles who has red hair, so who knows! Maybe...

You seem so at peace and settled and your kids are so wonderful. Reading your journal has really solidified for me that I might really be able to pull off homeschooling some day.

<3 Julie

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

:) Thank you.

I really, really wish I had learned more before I ever had a baby to begin with. I think I did really well with what I had - being 18 and coming from a really dysfunctional family, no money, etc etc...None of my kids ever got bottles or formula or cried themselves to sleep or anything. But I think I would have avoided the first c/s (and thus the 2nd and 3rd that were just repeats), could have been using cloth diapers from way earlier, my daughter wouldn't have ended up in the freakin' ER from diaper rash, etc etc. We would've made our own baby food instead of just getting better jarred stuff. If only I had had the internet! SOOooooo much more helpful than "What to Expect the First Year" ;)

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Yay that everything looks so good! :)

How did you teach Isaac to hold hands? Luci will do it for the 30 seconds it takes to cross a street. I don't know why she finally gave into that. If she wouldn't hold hands, she just didn't get to walk, but that is true of stores too and she still hasn't given in on that one. If she won't hold my hand she either has to be carried or ride in a the cart or stroller. But she prefers the tantrum route that truly does not change a thing. It must just make her feel better. I taught the other two girls to hold my hand in crowded stores well before Luci's age. Luci just won't give up the plan to run free and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to convince her it just isn't going to happen!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

It's just such a novelty to Isaac to get to walk, I guess, that he does it happily. I'm glad that's one battle I'm not having to fight with him. We don't ever let him walk WITHOUT holding our hands, unless we're on the sidewalk near our house or at the park or something, so I guess I just assumed he thinks walking holding hands is better than not walking, which is the alternative...I'm glad he hasn't struck upon the tantrum option.

He also just thinks holding hands is a cool thing to do, though. Like he thinks it's hilariously great when we hold hands around the dinner table to pray, and never wants to let go. He DOES get impatient and start pulling/going limp if I stand in one spot for too long while we're out, but he doesn't yell and it gets better once we're moving again...

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

The tags are for me, Rotten Crotch.

I just hate the phone. I don't know how to explain it. I don't think I used to hate the phone - I know I spent hours on end talking to Grant, and my RL friend Kathy, and even Bobby, back in the day (high school)...but everytime it rings now I just cringe. I'm sure it has something to do with living here - we get calls every single day for Mindy, for Grant Sr when he's not home, for CARY, this guy who hasn't lived here in over two years...and from bill collectors for things we're late paying, and survey people, and telemarketers, and the wrong numbers are out of control (and usually don't speak english)...that is just all the times that I jump up for nothing. There are also times every single day where it is for us. My mother, my sister, my mother in law, all wanting labor updates. It always ends up being an hour and I get off with a sore ear and want to throw the thing across the room. If it's my dad or my Nana, which is slightly less often, two hours can pass. The house is trashed when I get off. Ha! The phone is ringing right now...Ok, caller ID says mother in law, I'm not answering. Neither Grant is here, and I don't wanna talk...I have numbers here for an old friend I saw at the mall, my great LLL co-leader, and this sahm of 3 from dance class, and I just never feel like it's worth it to call. The numbers have been in my desk for months.

I was just watching Everyday Italian a while ago, btw, and that bobble headed chickie had a friend over. They went shopping at Whole Foods and cooked together all afternoon and it looked so great. This could be like that for you, but better, because it involves babies :) Too bad you aren't filming it.

[tikizeekbaby.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way with the phone ;)... Have a cel and a home and am MUCH happier when niether of them rings.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I do, because I don't know if they're going to tape them all or if there will be available copies to borrow, and I can't make my own to show people since we only have one vcr in the house. Plus once I've had the baby I won't be up there all the time where I can just grab one to take home...I was thinking it was cheating, but I couldn't resist! And the me spot in the second episode is so dang silly, it is seriously like maybe 3 seconds, on a blue tinted screen with no sound and a voice-over :p

[housepoet.livejournal.com]

you are so blessed dude. :)

i'm hapy to be reading all this positivity. GO PLATELET COUNT GO!

[freshgroundfemm.livejournal.com]

That is so awesome. That is the kind of midwife I want to be! Is the midwife an herbalist? is she a nurse midwife or a lay midwife? Do you know where she trained? Sorry for the barrage of questions, I'm asking this because I'm researching midwifery schools, and the thing that's holding me back from becoming a nurse midwife is the amazing amounts of pharmaceuticals I'm afraid I'll be brainwashed into prescribing. I'd really love to train at a place with a more naturopathic/homeopathic leaning. But I also would really like to be able to practice at a hospital to be able to be available to a wider range of women and to help indoctrinate the residents and medical students in the midwifery model (that's what the midwives that I work for do).

Hooray for being so healthy and for awesome midwives.

[zulupetalz.livejournal.com]

white sesame seeds huh? I'll have to try it. Somebody from the natural birth community recommended that I check out your journal because I am also having issues with anemia. My birth center won't let me deliver there if my HCT is less then 30. Do you use the yellowdock for both anemia and platelets? Are you delivering at the birth center or elsewhere?

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I'm delivering at the birth center. Yellowdock is a great thing for platelets and anemia, but I'm not sure if I would want to use it if I didn't know ahead of time that my platelets weren't already at the high end of normal. Because it could get dangerous if they got too high, kwim?

But yeah, apparently liquid chlorophyll and white sesame seeds are both very bioavailable and easily absorbed. Also, red raspberry leaf tea strengthens the uterus for labor and provides lots of iron and vitamin c (which helps you absorb iron). I would think that if you don't have platelet problems, the tea and chlorophyll and seeds would be plenty...

I learned when my daughter was anemic that dairy greatly hinders iron absorption, while vitamin c foods help it along. So cut out any excess dairy you can, too.