Life as we call it

Yesterday was the most recent appointment with my midwife, and good news the baby grew! The measurement is still a little small but the 2cm improvement is a big one! Thanks for those who prayed and sent good thoughts for her not to be growth restricted! Other news on the appointment I elected not to take the group b strep test. Why would I elect not to take a test for a bacteria that is linked to serious illness in newborns? First because 0.5 percent of the women who have tested positive for GBS and delivered without treatment, had infants that became ill from it making that a rare occurrence. Second I'm doing a home birth so I don't have the use of intervening drugs be pushed on me, but that doesn't mean that the midwife could not administer the antibiotics through an IV during the birth process. Third I do not do well with antibiotics, as I've had a problem with sinus infections for most of my life and came to the discovery that the antibiotics given to me by the Doc. would make me more ill so that I could "feel better." Which means I got all of the side effects, lets add a little nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, extra dizziness, ect on to that sinus infection. Needless to say I decided to prefer to function better and get better by using homeopathic remedies and by doing this I also found the cause of the infections (something I sought from the doctors but they never wanted to diagnose) which was dust allergies.
However, with my reasons not to do the testing that does not mean I'm not taking natural preventative measures which Mary Lou has included in the birth booklet that she gives to her customers. These measures and the statistic above are referenced from Mothering Magazine, prevention can be done through the use of probiotics or the ingestion of fermented foods such as pickles, yogurt, kefir, miso and tempeh. Miso and tempeh are pretty frequent in my diet as well as



GT's Organic Raw Kombucha which really boosts my immune system, gives me energy, and is packed with the best vitamins for pregnancy, since most of the immune system boosting herbs I use are so are not to be used during pregnancy I have defaulted to this and yes it is safe for pregnancy. Garlic is also very effective at treating this as well which is something I include in nearly every meal.

A day in the life

Today was the second official appointment with the midwives of Beach Cities Birth Service Mary Lou and her backup midwife Ashley, who works out of Mary Lou's home as well. I really wanted Jason to meet Ashley so this was my second appointment mainly with her and the next one is with Mary Lou. The appointments are extremely relaxed and generally the same routine with a lot more care and respect. The general routine is pee in a cup and insert a strip that checks for protein (preeclampsia) and sugar (gestational diabetes) which showed up negative for both! Checked my weight which is 170.5 I gained a whole half a pound from the last visit. Next was getting the blood pressure checked which turned up good as usual. Then Ashley checked the positioning of the baby which it seems that she has turned already (meaning she's upside down which is a good thing) but it won't be really noticeable or an issue till the next visit. Things are progressing really well and I pray they continue to!
Also this past weekend Jason and I found out two of our friends gave birth, another two are pregnant and the wife of a new business contact of his is pregnant as well! So ladies if in California beware the water unless you want to get pregnant ;)

On with my creative ambitious eco friendly side, I have completed phase one of operation Christmas Tree Demise which was using a little hand saw on out little four foot christmas tree to remove the branches from the trunk. Phase two is set to begin shortly and is the removal/collection of the needles (for candles and perhaps potpourri} and the drying/sectioning of the trunk (for a variety of items one of which I just thought of ...I may carve a section, with my new dremel 300 =D, to make my own candle mold which is classified as crazy ambitious but I love me power tools) So I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Bleak - A Rant

Well I'm laying low for a bit I just feel creatively blegh and a little preggo sick still =/ which I'm going to see someone about or I may just get acupuncture if it can be afforded. But my sales are doing terrible right now, and it sorta spurns on the blaghness, because I do take pride in my work by making sure things meet my high demand of quality. However, I guess most of my skills are going towards culinary delights of which I will be serving to my mother tomorrow who is to be home on crutches for two weeks. Also some of this blaghness could just be from pregnancy stuff with the crazy hormonal imbalances and such.
I'm also pretty sad right now because I have no halloween costume and I love dressing up =(. I also can't wear my default victorian/steampunkish costume because corsets and being 4 months pregnant don't mix unless you can find or afford to have an authentic preggo corset made. Though what I really wanted to do for this year was master the art of wearing a real kimono with a tied obi, which can be bough at the massive Marukai, but sadly that will have to wait because of a lack of sales =(.
Anyways to end this on a good note I did my first yelp review today on Funnel Mill you can click here to see it.

Fascinating !

Lately I've felt inspired to make a few things and I bought supplies (on etsy of course because I'm not going anywhere with how bad I've been feeling) to facilitate my inspiration instead of unpacking and organizing the supplies I have currently. Which I must say is bad but I do have to dig through my supply swamp for some bits but that still fails to get it organized. Anyways I made a little steampunk Halloween pendant pics will be posted once it's in my shop, and I am making a pair of cuff links for my brother which will have a bit of a military flare since he's in the navy I just pray that they are not too big because they will be on the larger side for cuff links.

Now for the Fascinating part since I'm going to Hawaii for my brother's wedding on Oct 16th to the 19th I've been doing research on what I can actually do while I'm out there being prematurely pregnant and all, as Jason and I were actually going to work on getting me pregnant while in Hawaii. Back on to the topic at hand, what can I do while in Hawaii? The only thing that came to my mind as safe was snorkeling so I thoroughly researched it and came across and interesting article that said this about dolphins click on the text for the link,"Using echolocation, similar to an ultrasound, a dolphin can tell that a woman is pregnant, and anecdotal evidence suggests dolphins may pay more attention to pregnant swimmers." I had no idea that dolphins would be able to detect that. They are some crazy little critters! So really besides eating, light walking, and snorkeling/swimming there isn't much else I can do no surfing no kayaking no parasailing, no rides on power boats, ect ect ect. Right now I just keep praying for the "morning" sickness to leave me be.