I'm back! Pregnancy and Birth Update!

I am so sorry that I have not been blogging. Many things have taken priority over this, and I just couldn't find the time or the energy to share about anything...really.

So whats new??

Well, we welcomed our 5th baby into this world mid July :) (it's a boy...he was a chunky monkey at 11.4 lb 5.1 kg)! The past year was pretty much all (mostly) about maintaining a HG free pregnancy, and I did it! Thank God...

What was my plan to dodge HG? Read about it HERE and HERE. 

How did I do? Did I follow through? I'll have to break it down for you. So below was my plan (in black font) and my commentating will be in red font.

Diet

Don't do's  (From before getting pregnant to birth)

• No sugar. I have to be aware of and avoid hidden sugars. Most of the time, I did extremely well! And then I hit something 30+ weeks in my third trimester and things started to go downhill a bit. This was the time I vomited 3 times, the only 3 times of my entire pregnancy! 
• No unsprouted wheat, and very little sprouted ones. Yup! (Unless I was out of sprouted wheat products and then I had some of the other stuff...and in my third trimester as well...)
• No white rice or white potatoes. Except in sushi rolls :)
• No caffeine, coffee, and consume very little home made Skinny Chocolate. I just packed away my "Keurig"... sigh* And yah, this didn't last long. This was my very first pregnancy where I even tolerated coffee. It caused horrible, horrible heart burn too...
• No heated oils. Using the good oils as salad dressings etc. Epic fail.
• No processed foods. No junk! Fail.... (during late pregnancy)

Do do's (ha ha!)

• Increase fermented foods, sauerkraut, pickles, ACV, probiotics, kefir, kombucha tea, etc After conceiving, sauerkraut, ACV and homemade kimchi were the only things I was able to maintain. I believe that it was enough. Thanks to GGMS, I was able to cope in the mornings when needed.
• Increase vegetables, especially leafy greens. Last pregnancy I was able to juice vegetables more than I could eat them, and it helped me a lot. I didn't juice at all. Too much work. BUT!, I did purchase some "green powders" from Isagenix. They worked great! I really felt like I was benefiting from it.
• Keep hydrated. I know I love me GGMS', but I need to start loving plain old water as well. I've heard that natural spring water makes a bigger difference than filtered water. I gotta check this claim out. Yes ma'm! And tons of ice:) Even though I was not able to purchase gazillions of gallons of natural spring water, my tap water (cleanest water evvvver, yay Coquitlam!) was good enough. 
• Eat according to the Trim Healthy Mama plan. Indeed made a difference! 
• Supplementation. I am seeing a Naturapathic Dr, getting tested for everything to see where my body is at, and we will be supplementing on what needs addressing. Exciting times, indeed! I've never been so thoroughly checked! This worked, yes indeed! I even saw her a few times for the vitamin IV treatments and I believe wholeheartedly that it played a huge factor in dodging the HG this time around.
• We will be investing in organic and ethical foods, when possible. $$$!! I know. I didn't pay too much attention to this, but when feasible, was purchased.

Surroundings

• We need to empty our home from like...everything, basically! This is the time to either give away or box-up most of it. Let's put on our "stage the house" mode, and pretend we need to depersonalize the home for selling. There will be no time to do this while (Lord willing I am not!) under the nausea of HG. Why, why, why!? Stuff keeps creeping into the house after we've hauled bags and bags of stuff to the thrift stores?? Endless battle. I'm still working on this matter and I hope this family can live as minimalists before (Lord knows) baby #6 is on its way!
• Simplify homeschool to nearly a complete self-led study. We will be signing the kids up for mathseeds.com and ixl.com, raz-kids.com, brainpop and brainpopjr.com. Hubby will be prepared to take over some of the schooling, especially in the beginning. This didn't work? Weird, I wonder why? We just stuck with their regular homework and my husband helped a lot more in the evenings and weekends to "catch up". 
• Now or never is the time to focus on "attitude" with the children. They do their chores, but when I am out of action- they need to do these without being asked. Rewards system, ready-set-go! A wall chart will help them keep their progress and goals visual. My husband and I really had an action plan going on. Throughout the pregnancy, my husband got the children ready for "homeschool" a.k.a life! before he went to work. During the morning routines he would have brief "daily plan" meetings with them. This helped them focus on what was expected of them regarding chores, attitude etc.
• Getting a pair of "walkie-talkies", check! The best purchase EVER. No more struggled whimper yells. "Purple leader calling for red-leader. Over." Thankfully I didn't need these when the time came. I didn't have HG!!! :) :) regardless, they're an awesome investment! :)
• Cooking 20-30 freezer meals for my family. Stocking up the freezer and pantry with portioned healthy snacks and ready P&J, and cheese&deli sandwiches. I need to get my thinking cap on...menu planning, here I come! Ha ha ha! I sucked at this! Thank goodness for Costco! To be honest, we ordered sushi in most days and nights when I wasn't able to "cook" a.k.a wrap up some quesadillas. Thankfully my children were able to fend for themselves and whip up all sorts of fascinating creations... and still eat them...LOL j/k the creations were not really THAT bad, just interesting!
• Letting go of commitments. All the "extras" that my family and I can live without. Thank you Lord that I have grown up enough to say "no" to people. Even to my favourites.
• For me, a mini fridge next to my bed is a must. Best thing ever! Early pregnancy I was to wake up 1-2 times a night to eat something high in protein. My husband had the duty to make sure that happened. In the beginning I ate something like "Wasa light rye crackers" with peanut butter, until I found it tedious to eat half a sleep, and extremely "dry" to chew on, ha ha! Eventually I had 1C worth of protein shake, or a deli and cheese rolls. To be honest, I hated this part of the pregnancy but, I'm a 100% sure it made a huge (positive) difference regarding my nausea in the mornings. Also, in the mornings before I got out of bed, I had to eat a full breakfast and wait for my blood sugar to level out. When my husband went on a business trip, my friend came over for a "sleep over" to make sure my morning kicked off well. She got my kids ready and made me breakfast. This was a blessing, indeed.
• Create  "A Family Binder". Gather all the information of everything you or your family -or babysitter, aunt, friend, should have and put it in a binder. Make it accessible, pretty and simple. Telephone numbers, links, chores and menu list, manuals, recipes, instructions etc. Whatever you feel is important for the possible times that you are out of action. Never got around to this, and we never would've needed it. No time was wasted, thankfully. 
• Stocking up on good quality protein powder and collagen. Thumbs up! Especially when appetite was low, collagen was perfect.

Habits etc

• Start taking daily epsom salt baths. I think I managed to do this twice. Ionic magnesium supplement internally was my rescue though.
• Praying as a couple for my womb and for my pregnancy. I would've wanted to do this more...
• Meditate on scripture and prayer. Yes! :) 
• Going to bed on time. If I get into bed by 9 p.m, it gives my thoughts and body time to settle into sleep mode. I can spend my time in bed reading or making love to my husband. Both which affect sleep in a positive way. I rested a lot! More than when I only had 1 or 2 children. I napped daily. Making love to my husband... well, maybe not so much in the beginning of my pregnancy. I actually slept in a different bed for the first few months. Our bed, believe it or not, was hurting my "femurs".. I was in so much pain.
• Habits include diet.
• Taking care of my appearance and more. A healthy well-kept body is a "strength" to any level of nausea. It made a big difference in my last pregnancy. So what does this mean exactly? For me, it is about getting groomed (waxed, haircut, eyebrows plucked, pedicure etc), visiting a pelvic floor physio -getting my core and pelvic floor into where it should be, working on my cardio and muscle strength at home or at the gym, and over all complexion.  I did visit a pelvic floor physio. I would never go without again. Not only did she "fix" me prior to pregnancy, I didn't pee myself at all while sneezing during the entire pregnancy!
• I will be budgeting for a cleaner weekly, if possible. I have an amazing mom who purchased  cleaning service for me during my worst , I'm guessing 4 times or so?
• Same goes for a regular babysitter. Some may think of this as a waste of money, but this is paying for services that I need and will make our lives that little bit manageable/easier. We don't need to go out of the house for a "date" when we hire a babysitter. Doing simply nothing, is bliss. Unfortunately we didn't manage to find a reliable babysitter who was willing to babysit all our 4 children. We didn't get to go out much.
• Going over remedies that worked for me in my previous pregnancies and accumulating doTERRA essential oils that will be on my "go to" cupboard. It's a "no" for me when it comes to scents during pregnancy, yuck yuck yuck. I think lemon was the only oil I was able to tolerate.
• This one is pricey- but if possible, I will be going to regular high dose vitamin and mineral IV treatments given by my Naturapathic Dr. I can only see this being a positive impact on my future (lord willing) pregnancy. YES YES YES!!!

Here is my "sum-summarum":

I believe that the crucial steps, which I took prior and during my pregnancy to dodge HG were,

1. prior to pregnancy and thereafter, avoiding sugars, unsprouted wheat and embracing a more "make from scratch" kind of diet. Adding fermented foods into my daily meals and drinking "super food" greens.
2. visiting a naturopath for vitamin IV's (Meyer's cocktails). I wouldn't dare to go without these sessions ever again. It made sure I had no vitamin or mineral deficiency prior to my pregnancy. I think I had 1 session in the beginning of my pregnancy.. 
3. Having huge support from my husband. Him taking on extra work with the children regarding mornings and homeschooling in the weekends. Praying over my future pregnancy and while I was pregnant, I know, THAT made a difference. 
4. Eating high protein snacks in the middle of the night, hence keeping my blood sugar stable 24/7.

So, even though I did a lot more than these 4, I think these were the crucial ones that I will never ever go without.

I hope these steps will help you too, if you suffer from pregnancy nausea, especially HG.

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