Category Archives: Health

Sicko

I pride myself on having a good immune system — I rarely succumb to sickness, and, when I do, my symptoms are generally mild and of short duration.  While there may be factors beyond my control (do genetics play a role in avoiding/contracting acute illnesses like the common cold???), my healthy lifestyle, including a nutritious diet with lots of antioxidants from the vegetables, fruit, and legumes, minimal consumption of added sugars and processed foods, exercise, and getting enough sleep, certainly contributes to my general state of health.  Well, pride sleep deprivation goeth before a fall, as they say.

I blame sleep deprivation, stress, and all those snotty-nosed little ones at The Dude’s daycare for my current state.  Unfortunately, this also marks The Dude’s first cold, and most of my tried-and-true cold-symptom-alleviating/duration-shortening methods don’t work for babies:

  • Pounding liquids — You can’t really force a baby to drink more, and doing so is not advisable anyway.
  • Hot tea with honey — NO HONEY for babies, or tea for that matter, really.
  • Neti pot — not sure how old he’ll have to be before he can use this blue pot.
  • Gargling with salt water (not just an old wives’ tale)
  • Blowing nose, clearing throat and spitting, or other methods of expelling the gunk

That said, we are trying a few things:

  • Administering saline nasal drops, as described here
  • Using a nasal aspirator
  • Running a humidifier
  • Making use of the steamy bathroom

Strangely enough, The Dude seems much more amenable to the last two options.  He believes that the first two surely spring from ancient torture techniques, thus necessitating the involvement of both parental units.

It’s only been a couple of days now, but I’m not sure that anything helps him much.  I also realized that while I can observe some symptoms, like coughing, sneezing, and a runny nose, I would never know if he had a sore throat (which has plagued me) — talk about feeling helpless!

On again, off again

Dairy has been a food group of much contention in our house over the past year.  First, Matthew tested positive for a dairy allergy (at least according to one type of test) and subsequently went on an elimination diet.  He was part way through the “challenge phase” of the diet, where you add various forms of dairy back into your diet in a specific order (ghee, butter, yogurt, hard cheese, soft cheese, milk), when The Dude came along.

We had agreed ahead of time that it didn’t make sense for him to continue with the elimination diet once the little one arrived (by that time he was up to “hard cheese” anyway), what with the influx of donated meals.  We were already specifying vegetarian meals, and adding “no dairy” on top of that seemed too complicated.

However, after a few weeks of a very fussy baby, MY dairy consumption became the focus of attention.  Certain proteins in the mother’s diet can pass undigested into breast milk and cause problems for the baby, and dairy proteins are a major culprit, although it is relatively rare (estimates from various sources range from 1 in 100 to 5 in 100).  We consumed most of the dairy-containing food in the house, and then I went cold turkey.

Eight weeks of scrupulously avoiding any dairy, including most foods prepared for us by others, restaurant meals, etc.  Eight frustrating weeks where I really wasn’t sure if it was making a difference for Gabriel, or if I was going to a lot of trouble for nothing.  And then a few weeks ago, I started adding dairy back into my diet.  Not in any particular order — just trying to avoid eating “too much” on any given day.

Since then, The Dude’s poops have taken on a strange consistency — very mucous-y, with a few little streaks of blood on occasion — and, in retrospect, he’s had more issues with gas.  At first, I chalked it up to a bit of a stomach bug, but when it continued, I looked it up, and, you guessed it, the stool changes were consistent with a dairy sensitivity.

So it’s out with the dairy once again.  I’m willing to make the sacrifice if it actually helps him, and at least this time, I have something concrete (or not) to monitor for improvement.

Two pair no more

It seems like just yesterday that I was writing this post about my maternity wardrobe and being rather content with the simplicity of my limited options.  Nonetheless, I was looking forward to wearing some of my pre-pregnancy clothes.

When I attempted to put on “real” clothes (i.e., anything other than a sundress or gym shorts) for the first time, about two weeks after giving birth, I quickly discovered that, despite having lost a significant amount of the pregnancy weight, my body wasn’t exactly what it used to be.  A few more weeks passed, and some of my “big” pants started fitting, but by week fourteen, when I went back to work, things had not progressed any further.  This left me with exactly two pair of non-summery, work-appropriate pants.

For me, it wasn’t about the number on the scale — it’s fairly common for nursing mothers to retain 5-10 pounds or so until they stop breast feeding — or really even the slightly altered reflection in the mirror.  The thing is, I liked the simplicity of a smaller wardrobe, I just wasn’t expecting it to be quite THAT limited.  While I genuinely enjoyed clothes shopping as a teenager, I rather dislike shopping of any kind now, and the thought of having to buy new (or new-to-me) pants, when I had so many perfectly good ones that didn’t quite fit, frustrated me quite a bit.

Little by little however, I noticed that my “big” pants were actually feeling big again.  Then, late last week, I tried on a pair of pre-pregnancy pants, just to see, and found that they fit!  A little snug, but comfortable enough to wear 🙂

Now that most things fit again, I have to hold myself to my previous statement to whittle down my wardrobe.  While two pair of pants seems a bit sparse, if I can get by with two, I certainly don’t need ten!

How to make a placenta smoothie

Or not.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist that title, but if you really want to know how to make a placenta smoothie, you’ll have to look elsewhere.  I opted for the much more palatable encapsulation.

The Placenta — To Eat or Not To Eat
I first heard about placenta encapsulation in our childbirth education class.  I initially thought encapsulation was just a way to save the placenta, kind of like cord blood banking.  Not exactly.Continue reading “How to make a placenta smoothie”

Biking the web

This just in — biking is good for your health!

Swapping Tail Pipes for Pedals: Small Changes Could Pay Huge Dividends for Public Health and Economy

Secret to a Long Healthy Life: Bike to the Store

Okay, technically that was last week’s news, but people in the know have been preaching it for much longer, so what’s a one-week delay?

While cruising around the Bike Portland site, I came across The Center for a New American Dream’s Plentitude Economy video:

Sounds good to me!