Hellobee

This is a guest post by Hellobee community member, redsmarties. You can follow her on her blog Baking and Babies.

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The majority of infertility success stories that are shared in the media today are those that involve ART, or assisted reproductive technologies. These interventions are wonderful; I love that we have the ability to bring babies into the world for those who may not otherwise have that chance. But for my husband and myself, we knew that ART would not be an option, for a variety of reasons. And unfortunately, for a nurse-practitioner in a rural town, a couple refusing to pursue IUI or IVF was an anomaly. I was told, point-blank, that if I didn’t go to the fertility clinic, I didn’t have any other options. We were slapped with the label of “primary infertility,” and got the feeling that she truly didn’t know what to do with us.

The basal body temperature charts, the ovulation predictor kits, and the symptoms I had so painstakingly tracked were thrown out the window, dismissed by a nurse practitioner who (despite best intentions) had no use for such things. And I followed her advice; we did go to a fertility clinic and have testing done. But I was largely disillusioned with the push towards IUI and injectibles, and I began searching for another method to expand our family. After too many Google searches, we stumbled across naturopathy.

To those who don’t know, naturopathy is a system of alternative medicine that avoids conventional medications and interventions, and instead focuses on the organic causes for an illness. This sounds a little “out there” for most; I understand this. I have been called every name under the sun (and lovingly referred to as a hippy) for pursuing naturopathic medicine, but since it worked for me, I am an advocate.

After a little research, and some prompting by many women who attended my church, I called the naturopath in our small town. He fit me in almost immediately; a quality I cherished after a three-month wait to get in to the fertility clinic.

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Quiches are probably one of the easiest, most versatile dishes out there.  There is so much room to be creative with a quiche.  I’ve made everything from caprese inspired quiches using tomato, basil, and mozzarella to Korean-inspired quiches using kimchi and spam.  Sundried tomatoes with feta is another favorite combination of mine.

One ingredient I’m particularly obsessed about is Greek yogurt.  I’ve substituted Greek yogurt in many different recipes with great success, and quiche is no different!  Every time a recipe calls for some sort of cream base, I will try substituting with Greek yogurt instead.  I love the tangy bite that Greek yogurt imparts to a dish, not to mention how much healthier it is for you.

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From Angry Birds Space to Transformers (retro cartoon version and the newer Rescue Bots), my boys are currently obsessed with all things space! Their room is a very slow work-in-progress with pieces I’m adding in here and there. This quick and easy moon clock is the newest addition.

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It’s been a crazy series of weeks for The Popcorns. In addition to working full time, I organized an exhibition while Mr. Popcorn has been working around the clock. He recently received a promotion so at least his work is paying off, but our schedules have left us feeling pretty pooped.

Balancing all of these moving parts has been especially trying for me as Baby Popcorn is an EBF baby. In the middle of organizing the exhibition, I noticed that my supply had really taken a hit. This was due to a couple of reasons:

• I wasn’t pumping nearly as much as I had in the past. Part of this was because I wasn’t getting up to pump as much as I should while at work, and the other part was due to the fact that I was running around the city from meeting to meeting with my big ole pump and nowhere to pump in dignity.
• I was feeling very anxious about not being able to provide enough milk. At her last check up Baby Popcorn fell in the 19% weight class for her age, which prompted more panic.

Here is some advice that I received from a colleague who had been a nursing mom to two kids while running an organization:

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We love our Ikea Antilop Chair, but it does lack the plush padding present on more expensive highchairs. We prefer this because it makes the Antilop ultra-easy to clean. Still, when Scribble first started solids he was not a professional sitter, so we thought a supportive pillow might be a good idea. I happened upon an old airline pillow we had laying around.  We used that for a while, but I got tired of washing the tiny pillowcase all the time.  I thought it would be a good idea to cover the pillow in oilcloth, but oilcloth is awfully expensive! I remembered that I had an extra flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth sitting unused in our pantry. It was red gingham — a perfect match for our Antilop!

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The baby’s arrival is imminent–my due date is less than two weeks away. Everyone keeps telling me Baby Owl could arrive at any time, but I’m trying to convince her to stay right where she is until at least the 25th, since my mom is scheduled to arrive in Riyadh on the 24th, and I very much want her to be here for the birth.

We’re making weekly visits to the doctor now. The last time we saw the doctor, she said, “I spoke to Iman”–our midwife–” today about you. We’re expecting to see you in the delivery room any day now!”

This proclamation has made Mr. Owl especially nervous, because he has two major work-related exams coming up in the next few days, and he has to leave his cell phone at the entrance of the testing center. So he’s worried about the tests themselves, as well as the possibility of me going into labor while he’s taking them. (When he expressed his nervousness about the tests, I patted my tummy and said to him, “Well, think of it this way–at least you’re not me. You know exactly what’s going to be on your test. You know what day it will happen. You know what time it starts, when you’ll have a break, and what time it will end. But me, it’s like for nine months, I’ve been preparing for this huge test. I don’t know exactly when it will start; I just have to wait and see. I don’t know how long it will last; it could be hours or days. And no matter how much I study for it, I don’t really have any clue what it’s going to be like. I don’t know how bad it’s going to be, or how much it’s going to hurt. Does that make you feel better?” Somehow, this did not soothe him. I can’t imagine why. The eighth month of pregnancy has turned me into a pretty unsympathetic confidante.)

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Mr. Bee and I have blogged about pretty extensively about childhood constipation because it’s such a common problem, and one that’s affected Charlie, Olive, and me since I was a child. When Charlie was a toddler, we tried all the typical constipation remedies like prunes, exercise, removing dairy, increasing water intake, etc. But his constipation had gone on for so long, we weren’t able to treat it with diet alone because the problem was more psychological rather than physical. Miralax has been a miracle worker for him.

When Olive started getting severely constipated after transitioning to 3 solid meals a day, I was determined to try to address the issue through diet and without the use of Miralax. She had painful Type 1 poops and was only going 2-3 times a week (while that’s fine for breastfed babies, she should ideally have been going every day). I worked closely with Caroll Lee, and each of her suggestions improved Olive’s constipation little by little. It’s taken months of hard work, but I’m happy to report that Olive is no longer constipated!

Please note that you should always consult your doctor before making any big changes to your child’s diet. This post is not intended as medical advice and what worked for us may not work for you. That said, I really wanted to share our experience in the hopes that it might help some of you out there going through this same issue.

Caroll’s plan consisted of the 4 R’s: remove, replace, reinnoculate, and repair.

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