I'm thinking about getting chickens.
Why would a vegan need chickens? Because this vegan is faced with a flea and tick epidemic of unseen proportions! Though we've mostly kept it until control by dousing our cats monthly with chemicals, every year has been a new groundbreaking year for the amount and stubbornness of local fleas and ticks. (Not just at our house, like it's newsworthy and the chatter in the vets waiting room is always what product(s) you are using and how well it's working.)
I found yet another tick on James yesterday--again, a dog tick, but we either need to spray our entire yard with chemicals, make our cats outdoor only (which we don't want to do, they've already been banned from our bedroom), or perhaps, get chickens. Chickens eat a LOT of fleas and ticks and it wouldn't involve any chemicals. PLUS chicken manure is great for gardens.
I'm thinking of getting a rooster along with the chicks and just sort of letting them self-perpetuate and shut them in at night and give grain during the winter but let them be pretty free. I'm not sure what we'll do with the eggs or how it works when you have a rooster around, I'll have to do my research.
But I'm pretty seriously considering it.
Expecting our Little Brother in November!
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Book Recommendation: Having a Baby Naturally
Mothering Magazine came out with a book in 2007: Having a Baby Naturally.
I got the free sample on Kindle and I would HIGHLY recommend it. You can also read it on Amazon if you follow the link and click "look inside" and go to the first pages. You may or may not want to invest in the whole book but just the SAMPLE is highly enlightening.
I wanted to share a few tidbits:
-With pregnancy, you may be surprised to find
I got the free sample on Kindle and I would HIGHLY recommend it. You can also read it on Amazon if you follow the link and click "look inside" and go to the first pages. You may or may not want to invest in the whole book but just the SAMPLE is highly enlightening.
I wanted to share a few tidbits:
-With pregnancy, you may be surprised to find
Monday, October 8, 2012
Different Pregnancies
Everyone always says that every pregnancy is different and while I believed them I never imagined how true it would end up being for me. There have been things that have been the same but so many things have been different:
1. Morning Sickness
Jamey: Felt queasy from 6.5 weeks, only wanted to eat fruit. NEVER VOMITED ONCE. Felt totally better by 12/13 weeks.
Julien: Started feeling queasy already by 4.5 weeks--started vomiting by 5 weeks. Threw up every single day of the first trimester. Started usually by 5 am, I would need to be running to the bathroom, and I would throw up repeatedly every 10-30 mins for hours. I was only usually able to eat between about noon and 4 pm (again I usually only wanted to eat fruit--one similarity to my pregnancy with Jamey). The nausea would start again around 4/5 pm and usually I threw up at least 1-2 times again in the evening. I tried every trick in the book and nothing worked. Sometimes even drinking water would make me throw up. The vomiting got better around 12/13 weeks but only slightly. It wasn't until after 16 weeks that I started having an occasional day where I didn't throw up. These days became more as time went on. Around 20 weeks I threw up for the last time, and at 21 weeks I was finally able to start eating again.
2. Heartburn/Indigestion:
Jamey: Had little to no heartburn in the beginning, but it started up around 24 weeks. I had to stop drinking tea, had to cut out all tomato and citrus from my diet. I needed to start using Tums constantly. Things got better slightly as he dropped multiple times but overall it was pretty bad throughout the whole second half of my pregnancy.
Julien: Had awful indigestion (and even compulsive diarrhea during the first trimester. I would need to sleep sitting up on pillows but still ended up throwing up at least once in the middle of the night and also had awful diarrhea (I guess from all the stomach acids from all the vomiting?). Nothing like throwing up and having diarrhea simultaneously. Fun times. But this went away around 12/13 weeks thankfully.
And miraculously the heartburn stayed away after that for a lot longer than it did with James. It wasn't until 30/32 weeks that it started to creeeep back. I had to stop drinking tea around 32 weeks and just that was enough. I could still eat whatever I wanted when I wanted but just started to have a little discomfort laying down at night. Now at 36 weeks I just had a fun "vomiting from indigestion from eating tomato sauce before bed" which I guess means the heartburn and indigestion are back now here at the end. But I felt so good for so much longer than I did with Jamey!
3. End of Pregnancy Discomforts
Jamey: I felt AWFUL at the end. My back and whole body hurt and ached so much that I had to take a lot bath/shower every SINGLE night to relax my muscles or I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. Sometimes I even had to sleep on ice packs to numb my back or I wouldn't be able to sleep. There was not a position that was comfortable for me--not laying, standing, or sitting. At the end I slept with my ribs belted because that seemed to relieve some of the pressure on my back.
Julien: I might be speaking too soon, we'll see what the last month holds--but so far I have felt pretty good physically. There have definitely been uncomfortable weeks but they have inevitably been followed by more comfortable ones.
So these are just three points in which my two pregnancies have been very very different. There are plenty of things that have been the same, as well, such as:
-craving fruit
-my pattern of weight gain (almost nothing the first trimester, 10-15 lbs by the end of the 2nd trimester, and then putting on lots of weight during the last trimester for a total gain of about 40 lbs)
-carrying low
-the positions the babies have been in and when they flipped/dropped
But these things seem relatively minor in comparison to the huge differences in morning sickness, heartburn, and the end-of-pregnancy feelings!
1. Morning Sickness
Jamey: Felt queasy from 6.5 weeks, only wanted to eat fruit. NEVER VOMITED ONCE. Felt totally better by 12/13 weeks.
Julien: Started feeling queasy already by 4.5 weeks--started vomiting by 5 weeks. Threw up every single day of the first trimester. Started usually by 5 am, I would need to be running to the bathroom, and I would throw up repeatedly every 10-30 mins for hours. I was only usually able to eat between about noon and 4 pm (again I usually only wanted to eat fruit--one similarity to my pregnancy with Jamey). The nausea would start again around 4/5 pm and usually I threw up at least 1-2 times again in the evening. I tried every trick in the book and nothing worked. Sometimes even drinking water would make me throw up. The vomiting got better around 12/13 weeks but only slightly. It wasn't until after 16 weeks that I started having an occasional day where I didn't throw up. These days became more as time went on. Around 20 weeks I threw up for the last time, and at 21 weeks I was finally able to start eating again.
2. Heartburn/Indigestion:
Jamey: Had little to no heartburn in the beginning, but it started up around 24 weeks. I had to stop drinking tea, had to cut out all tomato and citrus from my diet. I needed to start using Tums constantly. Things got better slightly as he dropped multiple times but overall it was pretty bad throughout the whole second half of my pregnancy.
Julien: Had awful indigestion (and even compulsive diarrhea during the first trimester. I would need to sleep sitting up on pillows but still ended up throwing up at least once in the middle of the night and also had awful diarrhea (I guess from all the stomach acids from all the vomiting?). Nothing like throwing up and having diarrhea simultaneously. Fun times. But this went away around 12/13 weeks thankfully.
And miraculously the heartburn stayed away after that for a lot longer than it did with James. It wasn't until 30/32 weeks that it started to creeeep back. I had to stop drinking tea around 32 weeks and just that was enough. I could still eat whatever I wanted when I wanted but just started to have a little discomfort laying down at night. Now at 36 weeks I just had a fun "vomiting from indigestion from eating tomato sauce before bed" which I guess means the heartburn and indigestion are back now here at the end. But I felt so good for so much longer than I did with Jamey!
3. End of Pregnancy Discomforts
Jamey: I felt AWFUL at the end. My back and whole body hurt and ached so much that I had to take a lot bath/shower every SINGLE night to relax my muscles or I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. Sometimes I even had to sleep on ice packs to numb my back or I wouldn't be able to sleep. There was not a position that was comfortable for me--not laying, standing, or sitting. At the end I slept with my ribs belted because that seemed to relieve some of the pressure on my back.
Julien: I might be speaking too soon, we'll see what the last month holds--but so far I have felt pretty good physically. There have definitely been uncomfortable weeks but they have inevitably been followed by more comfortable ones.
So these are just three points in which my two pregnancies have been very very different. There are plenty of things that have been the same, as well, such as:
-craving fruit
-my pattern of weight gain (almost nothing the first trimester, 10-15 lbs by the end of the 2nd trimester, and then putting on lots of weight during the last trimester for a total gain of about 40 lbs)
-carrying low
-the positions the babies have been in and when they flipped/dropped
But these things seem relatively minor in comparison to the huge differences in morning sickness, heartburn, and the end-of-pregnancy feelings!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Community Center!
So I did something I've been meaning to do for a long time and our family joined the local community center! It has a gymnasium, gym equipment, a walking/jogging track, and most especially, a pool! We were motivated to join this weekend in the unbelievable humidity and went right home to get our bathing suits so we could go swimming!
Other amenities include on-site child care (for an extra $2 an hour), an arts and crafts room (though not really sure what/when it is used for or open?), a teen center, and a community room with this crazy lego structure/bin/table/bridge and books, computers, and TV's.
Our fav things are probably going to be the "Tot time" in the gym (with riding toys and gym mats/soft structures) every weekday morning from 9-12, and of course the pool. One awesome thing about the pool is that there is not only a regular pool that is often open for general swim, and is 80-85 degrees, but there is a therapy pool which is open every evening and sometimes during the day for family swim and is 90-94 degrees. I seem to get cold easily in water for this pregnancy (and hot easily in the humidity, go figure), and Jamey can get cold, too, after swimming for a little while, so we have really been enjoying hitting up the therapy pool. Another benefit to the therapy pool is that one whole corner is a set of stairs which go gradually into the pool--perfect for a little kid to play on.
Actually when we (Jamey and I) went there today, it was not "supposed to" be family time in the therapy pool but I was sort of dreading the 80 degree water so I sort of just walked over with Jamey and got in. There was only one other lady in there probably doing actual water therapy, and shortly after we got in, the lifeguard went over and talked to her, probably saying: "Do you mind this pregnant lady and her kid swimming in here with you?" And she must have said "No" because he didn't kick us out. Score. I was careful to stay out of her way though and we mostly hung around the stairs anyway.
I'm really excited about the pool access, especially as my belly gets bigger and heavier, it will be nice to give my back a break in the buoyancy. I also think it will be really nice, once we have little Julien to be able to go to the Tot time in the gym and the pool--the community center is only about 2 miles away from our house so it is just a really nice accessible activity that is close to home and has a lot of different options for use.
So yay for the community center!
Other amenities include on-site child care (for an extra $2 an hour), an arts and crafts room (though not really sure what/when it is used for or open?), a teen center, and a community room with this crazy lego structure/bin/table/bridge and books, computers, and TV's.
Our fav things are probably going to be the "Tot time" in the gym (with riding toys and gym mats/soft structures) every weekday morning from 9-12, and of course the pool. One awesome thing about the pool is that there is not only a regular pool that is often open for general swim, and is 80-85 degrees, but there is a therapy pool which is open every evening and sometimes during the day for family swim and is 90-94 degrees. I seem to get cold easily in water for this pregnancy (and hot easily in the humidity, go figure), and Jamey can get cold, too, after swimming for a little while, so we have really been enjoying hitting up the therapy pool. Another benefit to the therapy pool is that one whole corner is a set of stairs which go gradually into the pool--perfect for a little kid to play on.
Actually when we (Jamey and I) went there today, it was not "supposed to" be family time in the therapy pool but I was sort of dreading the 80 degree water so I sort of just walked over with Jamey and got in. There was only one other lady in there probably doing actual water therapy, and shortly after we got in, the lifeguard went over and talked to her, probably saying: "Do you mind this pregnant lady and her kid swimming in here with you?" And she must have said "No" because he didn't kick us out. Score. I was careful to stay out of her way though and we mostly hung around the stairs anyway.
I'm really excited about the pool access, especially as my belly gets bigger and heavier, it will be nice to give my back a break in the buoyancy. I also think it will be really nice, once we have little Julien to be able to go to the Tot time in the gym and the pool--the community center is only about 2 miles away from our house so it is just a really nice accessible activity that is close to home and has a lot of different options for use.
So yay for the community center!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
