How to stock your freezer with whole food meals with the help of friends

Tip 1: Baby carrots are already cleaned and cut.
Tip 2: Make an extra bag of each meal for yourself.

Whether it is in anticipation of a new baby or just needing some time off of cooking, here is how I just stocked my freezer with freezer meals with the help of friends (because I was way to shy to do this alone).

What are Freezer Meals?
Freezer Meals are meals that have already been prepped and are sitting in your freezer ready to be eaten. They could be raw ingredients ready to be dumped in a pot or slow cooker or they can be completely cooked and just require a reheating.

Step 1: Get Friends
I was way too intimidated to do freezer cooking by myself. In fact it seemed like all the planning that was required would take more time than making the meals and I don't have a lot of time.  I asked a group of friends and found that several friends were also in need of this type of meal help. Plus it is the winter and we are all bored of our own cooking.

Step 2: Decide on some standards
We had a few chats in a Facebook message forum to get on the same page about a few things:

1. This was an experiment so we acknowledged that there will be a learning curve!
2. As soon as we decided to do this, we started eating from our freezers to clean out the current contents. The date was set for our meal exchange three weeks later so we could plan to have freezer space in time.
3. There were 5 of us so we each decided to make two types of meals so at the end of the exchange we would go home with 10 different meals. This means that each person made each of two meals 5 times.
4. We would each make one vegetarian and one meat meal.
5. Meals were dairy free and gluten free to accommodate everyone's needs.
6. We would try to make it a one-dish meal.
7. Raw ingredients to be dropped into a pot or slow cooker were fine with everyone. Pre-cooked food was also okay.
8. Zip-loc type gallon bags would be mostly used and pre-frozen laying down.
9. We agreed to "try" to use organic but at a minimum stay away from the EWG's Dirty Dozen. I did appreciate that no one labeled the ingredients with organic. I appreciate this because if there was a economic difference, it was not visible. We exchanged and were equals.

Step 3: Finalize Recipes

A Google-Doc was created that we could all go to and post our recipes. 

Step 4: Grocery Shopping

Since I knew in advance what I was making, I planned around a great sale ($4.50/lb for organic grass fed ground beef!).  We had been eating a lot of food from our freezer the previous weeks so the economics of buying 10 extra meals worth of food sort of balanced out. To not waste time making separate a shopping trip I added the ingredients (including the quantity) to my regular weekly shopping list. 

Step 5: Cooking Day

These are the steps that we found most efficient:

1. Ditch the kids and set aside 2.5 hours of solid work time. We all have very young kids and it was much easier to not have them around. There are other cooking projects to do with kids.
2. Use a permanent marker to write the name of your dish on the Ziploc bags and the cooking instructions.
3. Get out all ingredients and put them on a pile for each meal (the floor works).
4. Start Meal #1: Wash all produce. 
5. Prep produce so that it needs only a final chop. 
6. Setup your Zip-loc bags by folding over the top. Then place your hands in side the bag and make the bottom a rectangle that stands up. The folded top will help it stay in this position. Now you can put your five bags for meal #1 standing next to each other.
7. Go down the recipe one ingredient at a time. Add the first ingredient to all bags then the second and so on. Chop as you go. Some people like to do the final chop earlier in the process but then I cannot tell how much 1 onion or 1 pepper is.
8. Squeeze out as much air as possible from the Zip-loc bags, close them and lay them down in your freezer. They should nicely stack on top of each other.
9. Repeat steps 5-8 for meal #2.
10. We found that the food needed at least two days to freeze solid.

Step 6: Enjoy Not Cooking!

After you meet with your friends and exchange your pre-frozen meals, you will have 10 pre-made healthy whole-foods meals in your freezer! My friends had different uses for their meals. Two ladies wanted to just not cook for the next 10 nights. One lady was saving the meals for after her new baby arrives. I am saving my meals so I can get a break from cooking on the weekends. 

THE VERDICT

So here it is. The truth. This seemed like a lot of work before I did it. I spent years reading about moms homeschooling 5 kids and making 30 freezer meals in one morning. Getting friends to do it with me and only needing the mental space for preparing 2 meals made it much easier. I also enjoyed the idea of getting to eat other people's cooking since I am so bored with my own food. 

Everyone was excited about the project except during the cutting stage. ALL of us starting thinking "I am never doing this again" but it is just like giving birth or running a marathon in that the toughest part is only a small part of the whole picture. When we exchanged meals it felt like Christmas and we all promised to do this again. Maybe next time I can convince them to do it with 15-20 meals!!!

Check out my tips on getting organized with your meal planning here.

My New Year's Resolution: Marital Book Club

I have only had one New Year's Resolution in my life and it was to not use any canned food for a year back when BPA was first linked to so many health issues. My solution to cans was so well integrated into our lives that we never missed cans and still rarely use them.

So after that very successful resolution a few years ago, I forced my husband to do a 2014 resolution with me. We are going to read two books together and have a book club style discussion about them. He made the mistake of asking for my health coaching help with his dental issues. I know that as his wife, I can only coach him so far so he needs to read the facts for himself. This is what we are reading:

Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition, 2nd Edition

by Ramiel Nagel

This book also covers how to stop dental decay while pregnant and how to prevent children's teeth issues. It is a win-win for both of us to read!

Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansingby Bruce Fife

The Anti-Flu Recipe: Elderberry Syrup

Do you wonder why my family doesn’t get the flu? Here’s my secret recipe.

Mainstream medical professionals all agree that the flu shot is safe for pregnancy women. While I was pregnant with my second baby in 2009-2010, it was during the swine flu scare and I had chosen not to get the flu shot. My caregiver tried all sorts of things: “You won the giveaway, it is free!” “No thank you”. It is always questionable as to how much the flu shot works and I personally didn't feel right about injecting mercury (Thimerosal, found in some flu vaccines) and formaldehyde into my bloodstream that would then go to my baby.

So how is it that I have three germ carrying kids and have not had the flu in 9 years? Well 9 years ago, I was going through a transitional time and I was eating so much processed foods. This was just a year after I had been living in Africa, eating mostly unprocessed foods, and was exposed to plenty of Vitamin D daily. Now my body for the first time in several years found itself with an unhealthy diet, lack of vitamin D, and exposure to new germs. I got the flu. It lasted a week and I did not yet have sick time accumulated from my new job so I was working.

Nowadays this is what my family does to increase our immune system. 

1. We eat whole unprocessed foods including dark leafy greens (we love broccoli and kale!) and healthy fats (raw olive oil, coconut oil, butter) daily.
2. During the winter months we all take lemon-flavored cod liver oil (ideally fermented) to ensure that we have enough vitamin D. My husband and I both have tested low for vitamin D in the winter and this is a major immune system supporting vitamin so we give it to everyone even the one year old.
3. This year I discovered astragalus root for colds and we are anxious to really try it when a cold comes our way. The Chinese have been using this root as an immune booster for centuries! I found it at an Asian market in the dried root form but it can also be bought in pills or liquid form. I am automatically adding it to our bone broths to boost our immune systems.
4. Also during the winter months (or when the kids go to summer camp and are exposed to all sorts of viruses) we take a little elderberry syrup (also known as Sambucus nigra) daily. It has been used for centuries in Europe to treat the cold and flu. Elderberries have proven to have preventative properties for the flu, can short-circuit the duration if taken at the first signs of the flu, and is more effective than Tamiflu. I make it since it is so easy and inexpensive. I buy the ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs, Vitacost ($10 off if you click here first), Frontier. You can also buy it at any natural store and some drug stores. Here’s my recipe:

credit: Mountain Rose Herbs

Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Adapted from Mountain Rose Herbs

1/2 cup dried elderberries (or 1 c fresh berries)
1/4 C dried rosehips
2 1/2 cups water
1 T grated fresh ginger
5 cloves
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 cup raw honey

Put all ingredients but honey in a pot, cover and bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered 20 to 30 minutes until liquid reduced by half. Strain into a bowl. Add honey, pour into a glass jar. Refrigerate, will keep 2-3 months. Take 1tsp daily as a preventative, or 1tsp per hour for flu or virus. Use half the amount for children 60-75 lbs and 1/4 the amount for children under 30lbs. 
***DO NOT eat elderberries that have not been cooked***

My herbalist friend learned from her teacher to use this recipe but with ¼ cup berries. After the liquid has reduced by half she lets it sit for 17 hours before moving on with the recipe. The dosage is the same.

Always check with your caregiver and/or research to find out what is best for you and your family. There is no one-size fits all to health!


12/28/2013- Edited the second paragraph to correct that Ethylene glycol is not contained in the flu vaccine but rather Formaldehyde is.

Formula Freakout - Did you pick the right formula?

I don't judge.

You made your own decision based on their own knowledge or were forced to make through adoption or your own health. If you are still pregnant or struggling with breastfeeding, please read everything and don't be shy to ask for help.

You want the best nutrition for your baby because what you feed your baby will affect them and their longterm IQ. What happens if you eat cake for dinner versus a well balanced meal? Babies get their first exposure to taste and nutrition while in the womb. They eat what their mom eats. Their nutritional habits continue to form by your food choices now that the baby is born. Think how you want your child to eat when they are three years old and what steps do you have to make in order to make that happen?

It is overwhelming to stand in the infant formula aisle. How do you know which infant formula to buy? What is the difference between ingredients? Why are there such price differences? Is generic really the same as non-generic? Can you just grab what your friend uses? Don't forget all that marketing about strange things like DHA and Iron all over the packaging. The best place to start is the ingredient label.

Pick formula like you pick food for your family: you start at the ingredients list.

I met an outraged grandma who had noticed that her grandchild's formula had the first ingredient of corn syrup. One minute of research on the internet found that there were many other options with forms of milk as the first ingredient. Better yet, the other options are sweetened with lactose which is the type of sugar naturally occurring in milk. For those who don't know corn syrup is derived from genetically modified corn and has been medically linked to obesity and diabetes. What nutritional path do you want your child on? Drinking corn syrup or milk?

The grandbaby's formula: Parent's Choice - Gentle Milk-Based Canned Powder  Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Palm Olein, Whey Protein Hydrolysate, Coconut Oil, Soy Oil, High Oleic (Safflower Or Sunflower) Oil, And Less Than 2%: Mortierella Alpina Oil*, Crypthecodinium Cohnii Oil**, L-Carnitine, Mixed Tocopherol Concentrate, Monoglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Taurine Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Chloride, Calcium Hydroxide, Cupric Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Magnesium Chloride, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Bicarbonate, Potassium Hydroxide, Potassium Iodide, Potassium Bicarbonate, Potassium Hydroxide, Potassium Iodide, Potassium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Selenite, Zinc Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Beta-Carotene, Biotin, Calcium Pantothenate, Choline Chloride, Cyanocobalamin, Folic Acid, Inositol, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol), Vitamin E (Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate), Vitamin K (Phytonadione).

An alternative? (not natural or organic ingredients since the family is penny conscious) Gerber Good Start Gentle Formula - Powder Whey Protein Concentrate (from Cow's Milk, Enzymatically Hydrolyzed, Reduced in Minerals), Vegetable Oils (Palm Olein, Soy, Coconut, and High-Oleic Safflower or High-Oleic Sunflower), Corn Maltodextrin, Lactose, Galacto-Oligosaccharides*, and less than 2% of: Potassium Citrate, Potassium Phosphate, Calcium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Magnesium Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenate, M. alpina Oil**, C. cohnii Oil***, Sodium Ascorbate, Inositol, Choline Bitartrate, Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin A Acetate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Phylloquinone, Biotin, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12, Taurine, Nucleotides (Cytidine 5'-Monophosphate, Disodium Uridine 5'-Monophosphate, Adenosine 5'-Monophosphate, Disodium Guanosine 5'-Monophosphate), Ascorbyl Palmitate, Mixed Tocopherols, L-Carnitine, Soy Lecithin.

Is Generic Okay?

Generic formula has to meet the same standards and guidelines as brand name formula. With generic you are not paying for the research, marketing, or free samples. With the brand name, you get a company name that some people feel they can trust. You are encouraging that company to continue their practices and research. It is a personal decision.

Is there a Benefit to Organic Formula?

Babies are expensive. Formula is expensive. Organic formula is even more expensive. Is it a good investment in their future health? Organic is a huge topic. Some parents (me included) want to limit environmental and food toxins where we can and limit exposure to non-organic practices such as added growth hormones (early puberty!?). When it comes to an infant, the less toxins going in the better. The Food Babe has all the information needed on picking a really great organic formula based on brand. How much is your kid's future health worth?

Soy Formula

Soy formula has been a god-send for babies that have trouble digesting milk proteins. If these were breastfed babies, they would most likely be able to digest breastmilk if their mother was on a conscious diet. I know a mom who breastfed her second baby just in case the baby had the same digestion problem that her first baby had because she regretted giving her first baby soy milk.

The idea behind soy formula is that some babies are able to digest this formula but not a milk based formula (standard formula comes from cows and its protein is in a different shape than human milk protein). Duh, cow milk is for baby cows. Soy formula has only been used since the 1970's and I know of a lot of soy formula mothers having issues linked back to their soy exposure but I am not going to go off on that tangent.

Dr. Sears (who is a great resource for those of you who have not found him) has some great thinking points about soy formula.

Making Formula

Yes, I am a bit holistic. So much so that I know about the recipes for homemade formula. The idea here is that [naturally sterile-clean] raw cow's milk, goat's milk or liver is easier to break down than commercially bought formula for many babies because it contains enzymes that in the stomach will aide in the digestion of the protein. Many adults who cannot digest standard grocery store milk can digest raw milk. There are endless benefits to raw milk (perhaps another blog post). There is a special recipe to mix your own formula with the raw milk. Here is the recipe and a video of how to make it.

***

Full disclosure: I was asked by a reader about how to pick formula so this is what I have put together. The topic is big and I kept it brief with only the most important topics. I am a 100% breastfeeding mom. I have never bought or used formula.  BUT I am a certified Health Coach and know how to conduct research and I know what ingredients are healthier than others.

How to Guarantee that your Baby will have a Higher I.Q.

As parents we all want to see our children reach their highest potential. We know that we cannot protect them from every danger, toxin, and heartache. We all want to make the decisions that will have the best long term outcome on our children.

Some moms and dads have known the secret to a higher I.Q. for thousands of years. Yet it comes as a news-breaker in papers such as the NYTimes when JAMA Pediatrics, a major mainstream medical journal, publishes a study about it. The World Health Organization recommends doing this for at least 2 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends doing it for at least 1 year. 

Breastfeeding 1+ years WILL increase your child's I.Q.

(for those who have already chosen the formula path, have adopted, or have serious medical issues I am in the process of writing a post on how to pick the healthiest formula so check back and don't feel left out!)

Below is the latest study including the results and conclusion (the important part). The outcome has taken into account factors such as socio-economics and parents education level. They are looking at exclusive breastfeeding (no formula/bottles) compared to just formula feeding for the first six months followed by then breastmilk and solids. If you need another reference, the World Health Organization already found the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding and higher I.Q. (and as adults are less likely to be overweight or diabetic).



Infant Feeding and Childhood Cognition at Ages 3 and 7 Years: Effects of Breastfeeding Duration and Exclusivity.
JAMA Pediatr. 2013 Jul 29. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.455.
Belfort MB, Rifas-Shiman SL, Kleinman KP, Guthrie LB, Bellinger DC, Taveras EM, Gillman MW, Oken E.Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

IMPORTANCE Breastfeeding may benefit child cognitive development, but few studies have quantified breastfeeding duration or exclusivity, nor has any study to date examined the role of maternal diet during lactation on child cognition. 

OBJECTIVES To examine relationships of breastfeeding duration and exclusivity with child cognition at ages 3 and 7 years and to evaluate the extent to which maternal fish intake during lactation modifies associations of infant feeding with later cognition. 

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Prospective cohort study (Project Viva), a US prebirth cohort that enrolled mothers from April 22, 1999, to July 31, 2002, and followed up children to age 7 years, including 1312 Project Viva mothers and children. MAIN EXPOSURE Duration of any breastfeeding to age 12 months. 

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Child receptive language assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test at age 3 years, Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities at ages 3 and 7 years, and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test and Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning at age 7 years. 

RESULTS Adjusting for sociodemographics, maternal intelligence, and home environment in linear regression, longer breastfeeding duration was associated with higher Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test score at age 3 years (0.21; 95% CI, 0.03-0.38 points per month breastfed) and with higher intelligence on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test at age 7 years (0.35; 0.16-0.53 verbal points per month breastfed; and 0.29; 0.05-0.54 nonverbal points per month breastfed). Breastfeeding duration was not associated with Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning scores. Beneficial effects of breastfeeding on the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities at age 3 years seemed greater for women who consumed 2 or more servings of fish per week (0.24; 0.00-0.47 points per month breastfed) compared with less than 2 servings of fish per week (-0.01; -0.22 to 0.20 points per month breastfed) (P = .16 for interaction). 

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Our results support a causal relationship of breastfeeding duration with receptive language and verbal and nonverbal intelligence later in life.

Related Posts:

Why Breastfeed? - Includes 10 steps to successful breastfeeding

Pumping at Work - It is the law!

Breastfeeding in Public - So much easier than dealing with bottles.

Parenting School 101 - Includes a great breastfeeding book to read!

Nursing Tea Recipe - One recipe for pregnancy, postpartum, and to increase milk supply.

Forward to your friends and family: How to help me!

Dear friends and family,

I had [am about to have] a baby!  Yay!  I have no clue how my baby will act from day to day.  Maybe I had a caesarian and cannot even get out of bed alone. Maybe my baby is an innately easy baby that lets me rest or get things done while he/she sleeps. Maybe my baby is super fussy and only naps while having skin contact with me, nursing, and marching up and down the stairs at the same time. We all have different experiences so please help me on my journey and don't judge me.

It used to be that "it takes a whole village to raise a child" and then we all moved away from our families and started working outside the home. In India family takes care of the older kids and home chores for three weeks after the baby is born. I don't live in India and I don't have a village of relatives helping.  I don't live in Europe where spouses get paternity leave.  Some women need help after the first baby and some don't need it until their third. Here are a few ways to help me:

1. Tell me that I am a great mom. I need to hear it.
2. If you ask to help and I don't take you up on your generous offer at first, ask again.  Better yet, just show up at my door with some cooked healthy food. I don't care what it is (but respect me if I have a food restriction). If you don't cook, deliver some pre-prepared food like a fruit salad, bagged salad, or granola and yogurt. The sooner the better and please do not promise food and not deliver it. This is really disappointing.
3. Tell me how great I look. Even if I still look 9 months pregnant and have no makeup on, tell me how radiant I am and how my belly looks like I never had a baby. Lies are okay here.
4. Clean my home. Seriously. Just show up and start washing dishes, sweep my floor, fold clothes, whatever. I will be embarrassed that you are seeing my home in such a mess but I will get over it and love you more for it.
5. Make my older kids go away. If I am not up to the task of delivering them to you, come and get them. Hang out at my place. Take them to the park. Feed them. The longer the better.
6. Make sure that I get some fresh air and a walk everyday. Don't let me tell you that I am afraid of my baby breathing fresh air because it is cleaner than the toxic air in my home (paint, furniture, rugs, germs, lack of vitamin D, you get it).
7. If I mention any issues with breastfeeding, support me with breastfeeding and DO NOT MENTION formula. This advice should only come from a lactation consultant (not you). Don't tell me about someone you know who "supplemented" with formula. Just don't. Instead look up a lactation consultant and get her here within the hour! She'll fix it. Period. Doctors are sort of helpful but they are not experts in lactation and have been known to not spot tongue tie, production issues and other things that lactation consultants are famous for instantly finding from the comfort of your home.
8. Don't let me eat junk food. Food is my fuel.  Junk will not help my milk supply and will make those post baby pounds stay on me.

I promise to return to a new form of normal in a few months and I will be indebted to you!

Love,

Me

Survival Mode

Today at our community pool I saw a new mom with baby #2 and she was in Survival Mode and didn't know it.  I went "missing" for quite a while after baby #3 was born.  To outsiders at the preschool I was completely on top of it being early or just in time for drop offs and pick ups with kids that seemed happy.  On the inside, I was in Survival Mode.

Survival Mode is when it takes every ounce of being just to keep the family boat afloat. When you are in "go" mode from the moment you semi-wake until the moment you hope to sleep. This is often brought on by bed rest, morning sickness, pregnancy fatigue, post-partum recuperation, or a fussy baby.  REMEMBER THAT THIS IS JUST A PHASE AND ALL PHASES PASS. 

Here is what Survival Mode looks like for me:

• At least one kid awake and hanging on me from 5am - 10pm.
• An infant that doesn't nap unless sucking on me and rocking at the same time. (This only lasted the first four months until I was able to "aide" her into a better life.)
• Dishes pile in the sink until the end of the day because it is most efficient to load them in the dishwasher once a day. If the dishwasher is full then it is really going to pile up!
• Laundry is such a waste of time! I was able to keep it clean then toss it on the guest room bed. Close the door.  Ignore until the weekend. Buy an extra pack of undies for everyone.
• Have the mommy support line just a few clicks or phone calls away.
• Don't forget to pop those happy pills!
• Let go. Lollipops and screen-time for the older kids may seem more appealing than they used too. This is just a phase and whatever you need to do to help the situation is okay.
• Take help. If your older kids are willing to separate from you and go to a friend's house, let them go. If someone asks how they can help, let them bring a meal.
• There is no time for food prep or picky eaters. Breakfast: Joe's O's or raw oats + milk. Lunch: PB&J + baby carrot sticks. Snacks: fruit. Dinner: 5 minute crock pot meal prepped in the morning while I was still sane using frozen veggies.  A variation of this recipe is a weekly staple in our house depending on what ingredients we have: 

Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

Ingredients

- 1 lb of your favorite pasta (uncooked). I use Trader Joe's Brown Rice penne

- 1 jar of marinara sauce

- Any vegetables you might want to throw in. I use one bag of frozen vegetables since they are already washed and chopped

- Can of beans or leftover meat (optional)

- Cheese odds and ends.Whatever you have. I have even used crumbled tofu in place of cheese.

- A dash of olive oil

Directions

Add the pasta, sauce and oil to the slow cooker. Add some water (maybe 1/2 cup) to the sauce jar, swirl and dump in the slow cooker.  Stir. Top the cooker with your veggies and cheese. Do not stir, this way the veggies and cheese are weighing down the uncooked pasta. Cover and cook on low for 3.5-5 hours. Mine takes 3.5-4 hours. You don't have to worry about being a little late and it won't really burn!

The Birth of Baby #3

Not a Pre-Planned Birth

During this blogging experiment, I have been planning and awaiting the arrival of Baby #3. She was due 8/24/12. Like my other babies, that due date came and past. My other two births were pushed along before my body went into labor. For this birth, I was worried that my husband would not be able to make it from work in time. My last labor was only 3 hours and I was thankful that we lived near my husband's work. Now we are in the suburbs and my hospital was even further away (a two hour trip from his office to the hospital). I could use a closer hospital but there is nothing closer that has midwives. So I tried to "plan" the birth! The day before my due date, my husband took the day off and went to my midwife appointment with me. We hoped that she would strip my membranes and send me into labor. Unfortunately the baby was not low enough yet and she worried that the cord could get in the way. So instead we had a "date" and went out to lunch and for a 3 mile hike in a nearby national park. We decided that we would just wait for the baby to be ready and run to the hospital as soon as labor started.

The Birth Story of Baby #3

The three days leading up to my labor, I felt different. I felt the need to sit down for no particular reason. My body does not tell me when I am in early labor so this might have been early labor for me. On the night of 8/30/12, I was mentally ready for the baby to come. I had done several tricks to relax my cervix and my husband was going to be working from home the following day (the eve of Labor Day weekend). It seemed like the perfect timing for the baby to make her arrival. It was almost midnight and I started to have a lot of back pain with a lot of downward pressure. When I stood up, I felt the baby drop so low that she felt like she completely opened my cervix and was between my legs. The back pains were very uncomfortable and I was exhausted from the day. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. I realized that the most intense back pains were coming every 10 minutes thus my labor had started. This baby, like my others was posterior so I get excruciating back pains (plus those regular contractions but who cares about those when my back was being stabbed!). I decided to try to talk myself out of the labor so I could get a little sleep and feel more rested.  I could not lay down because the baby was between my legs and it was extremely uncomfortable.  So I propped myself up on pillows and slept sitting up in bed. I woke up four hours later and was no longer in labor.  Labor restarted at 9am when I was getting ready for my 10am midwife appointment.

On the way to my 41 week midwife appointment, I realized that I was in labor but my contractions were only 10 minutes apart so I thought that I had plenty of time. At the appointment, I felt constant back pain and the need to do small hip rolls although the strongest contractions were still 10 minutes apart. My mom and daughters were in the exam room with me and the kids completely sensed my labor and fought the whole time (after 9 months of them being perfect at my appointments).  I had to send my mom out of the room bribing them with lollipops.  Yes, I knew I was in labor because my kids drove me crazy! My midwife checked me and I was 6 centimeters dilated!  She looked at me in confusion and surprise because I was not in the "heavy labor" that most women would be in at 6 centimeters. I must have been having mini-contractions that were just causing back pain between the larger contractions. At this point, I knew that it was time to head to the hospital that was luckily only five minutes away.

At the hospital, while waiting a few minutes for my room to get ready, I entered active labor so my husband and I did our slow dancing routine during contractions. Slow dancing with him makes my body feel fabulous through contractions and we both love how close we feel with each other. The first 20 minutes in the delivery room had to be spent hooked up to monitors according to hospital protocol. Of course this was not so fun in active labor but I was able to move around and rock my body through contractions. My husband massaged my back and pressed it with a warm pad to help ease the extreme back pain. My previous babies were also posterior so I experienced the same sharp back pains with contractions. This time the back pains did not subside between contractions. I remembered my NYC yoga instructor's advice to go right into the pain and hit it face on with deep exhales (Melissa Feldman -- I still love the Dark Vador exhale)! It is amazing how facing pain head on made my body really release natural pain killers. Or did it make me go into a trance? I don't know but it worked.

During the last contraction on the monitors, my body knew that it was time to move on and my exhale turned into an orgasmic song. The midwife joyfully announced "that's the baby" and I was thrilled to finally be allowed in the jacuzzi tub that I had been eyeing. As soon as I slipped into the tub and put my back against the jets, I was so at ease. All of my back pain went away and my body fully relaxed. I felt like I was on vacation (minus the pina colada and palm trees)! My body gave me a little break from contractions. When the contractions started again they seemed so mild in the water and the tub had taken away my back pain. My husband slipped into the tub behind me so I could use his knees to hold onto. In just a few minutes, my body felt like it was ready to push the baby out and I soon felt my body pushing so I pushed too and the baby came right out in one long push.

The baby, my husband and I enjoyed a beautiful couple minutes embracing each other skin to skin in the tub. I could not believe how great my body felt from being in the tub. When I got out of the tub, and rested with the baby on my chest, I was surprised to have no tares and a placenta that pushed itself out (this was a change from my past tares and pain pushing the placenta out).

Baby Katja Elizabeth was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 20.5 inches long, born posterior after a 3 hour labor! My baby was born loving to suck and insisted on sucking my breasts for her first 1.5 hours of life!

Looking Back

Baby Katja met her sisters a few hours after birth.

It is now a week later and I am still shocked how wonderful the water birth was and would recommend that every pregnant woman get herself a good MIDWIFE and a TUB!  My hospital was far more nurturing and had much warmer staff than I experienced with my NYC hospital births. I was glad that I did not do a home birth (which I wanted with birth #2) because I really needed the distance from my kids. After they would visit for 2 hours each day, I was ready for them to leave and to enjoy quiet time when my baby allowed it.

I am thankful for my body. Genetically I have an incredibly shaped pelvis that has allowed me to easily deliver three posterior babies that most women would require a c-section for. I am also thankful for keeping my body in shape while pregnant. Up until the end (and post due!) I was at yoga class, hiking in the forest, taking my older kids for outings and eating very healthy (especially avoiding sugar and processed foods). This allowed my body to labor nicely and for it to already be in good shape post-partum. All of that coconut oil that I rubbed on my tummy paid off because I still don't have any stretch marks.

Encapsulating my placenta again was a priceless idea. The day that I came home from the hospital, the idea of taking care of a newborn that requires so much time while my older kids were crying, demanding attention, etc. was a stressful thought. I knew that I would have my placenta pills in another day and told myself to save those thoughts until I had my pills. Indeed as soon as I started taking them, I felt so much more at easy with my mothering abilities. My own mother is here to entertain the older kids and keep the house afloat so the real test will be when she leaves us!

I am reminded again that every baby is different. This is the first of our babies that wants to co-sleep.  Katja and I did not sleep well in the hospital with all the interruptions and her wanting to suckle constantly. I even tried a pacifier and sent her to the nursery one night for someone else to hold a pacifier in her mouth so I could get two hours of straight sleep. As soon as we were home in our own bed, Katja was so happy to just sleep cuddled next to me. Last night she even went 6 hours between feedings!

I thank you all for following this blog and will now search for what I should do with the roughly written information that I have posted here.

Warmest regards,
Elizabeth

Food prep for a new baby

Post-Partum: My Dream Freezer
image: Southern Living

I am counting the days until my baby decides to arrive. In the past two months, I have tried to overcook meals when I could. Half of my freezer is now filled with yogurt containers filled with leftovers and ziplock bags of veggie burgers and marinated chicken. A quarter of the freezer of it is now filled with frozen Trader Joes food that my husband had a blast buying last weekend. We usually don't buy pre-made foods but I am predicting that I may not want to eat my own cooking and that restaurant delivery gets old after a while. It will be nice to have a variety at my finger tips.

During my past pregnancies I was not so concerned about stocking up food. Thankfully, my mom visited to help with the transition of each birth. It is the time AFTER she leaves that I plan for. For baby #1, it was only my husband and I who had to eat and we didn't care if we ate the same food for days. For baby #2, we left the country so soon after giving birth that there wasn't much prep work needed. Now for baby #3, the kids eat more than they used to and there is more of them! They do not want me to serve the same bean stew for lunch and dinner three days in a row.

I find meal planning to be a lifesaver now that our family has grown. Once a week before I go grocery stopping, I make a list of what we will have for dinner each night. I buy only the ingredients for those meals and stick to the plan so I don't have to think during the week. Post-partum, I will also have a meal plan but it will require me to thaw food the night before so I can reheat it for dinner. Our breakfasts and lunches will be standard each day so I don't have to think. This little bit of preplanning means that our family eats healthier and there is almost no food spoilage.

All new moms must fully taking advantage of anyone who wants to deliver meals.  If someone offers, quickly ask what day they can bring something by and enjoy it because you deserve it!