Giving a Cold the Cold Shoulder

We've been hit by a nasty little cold at our house.  It started (as it usually does) with Miss F.  When she gets sick, it never really diminishes her energy or enthusiasm, but the nasal effects are obvious.  She's been having a runny nose on and off for a while now, but it didn't seem like anything viral, really.  Then, Mr. B started feeling the effects a few days ago. 

I had been reading up on essential oils anyway, so I started casually using them when I could - specifically I put just a little medieval oil (generic brand thieves oil) into Miss F's bathwater.  The four of us would sit in the bathroom during bath time to get some secondhand effects.  Mr. B and I also rubbed a couple of drops into the soles of our feet one night.  It either didn't do whole lot of good (probably because I wasn't consistent with it) or it staved off what was coming down the pike a couple of days later.

Yesterday, I got hit hard.  As is the case when one has a one month old, I haven't been sleeping well.  The last two days, I've woken up earlier than usual for the day, too.  So yesterday, when the perpetually runny nose and sore throat started, I decided to do something about it.  The first thing I did was sanitze our handkerchiefs.  They always get washed, but I added tea tree oil to help kill off anything they might be harboring.  I assigned each of us certain colors so that we didn't accidentally cross contaminate anything.  Three of us (all but Miss F) sleep in one room, so we ran a cool mist vaporizer overnight. 

This morning, I woke up feeling terrible.  I'm the primary caretaker of two very needy people, so that just won't do.  I broke out every natural remedy I could think of.  I started with a thyme vinegar gargle.  Mr. B made thyme vinegar as a method of preserving thyme from our very prolific plant.  It's just thyme stems and leaves steeped in vinegar (with the mother) for a few weeks, then strained.  I added 1 T to about 6 oz of room temperature water.  Each sip, I gargled and then swallowed the drink.  When I started, I couldn't taste it at all, but by the time I was done, I noticed the very strong smell and flavor.  My sore throat felt significantly better already.

I decided ginger tea was going to be my next go-to remedy.  I cut up about 1/2 of ginger into thin slices and steeped it in 8 oz of hot water for about ten minutes.  I added 1 tsp of local honey for sweetening and its cold-soothing properties.  While I was waiting for the tea to steep, I was boiling some pumpkin seeds on the stove, so I breathed in the salt water steam using that standard chemistry technique - wafting.  By the time the seeds were done, the tea was done.  The longer the ginger tea sits, the spicier it gets, so I've been sipping it slowly. 

I had planned to drink some chicken broth for breakfast, but when I opened it (canned last year at some time - how did I forget to label those?!) it smelled funny.  I can't trust my nose, but I don't want to drink something potentially dangerous.  It looks like I'll be having soup for lunch, as I'll have to defrost some from the freezer to ensure it won't have gone off.

Right now I'm about two hours post-wake up, and I feel much better than I did right after I woke up.  Before, I was considering asking Mr. B to take a sick day, but now I feel like I can make it through the day.  Thursday is our Friday, so he'll be able to help with the kids tomorrow when I need it.  My plan of action going forward is bone broth for lunch, hot liquids throughout the day, more vinegar as needed, and some rest (if I can).

What's your go-to remedy for colds?

Days Are Flying

I'm amazed at how quickly time is passing.  I don't know if it's because June seemed to stand still, what with waiting for Miss F for an extra 15 days, or that the haze of the first six weeks has finally cleared.  But Miss F is 10 weeks old, and starting to assert herself as a little person.  She's holding her head up well. 

All four of her grandparents are telling us she's teething.  She hasn't actually cut any teeth yet, but they independently swear it's true.  I'm so not ready for that yet.

**********

Now that *B*'s income is the only thing sustaining us (aside from a small sum I earn from weekly tutoring), we seem to be eating much more healthfully and happily.  Last night, *B* cleaned out the basement while I organized the freezer and pantry yet again.  We've determined that I have to be the only one to put food away, or else the organizational system falls apart and we never know what we have.

We have a fair amount of meat from a cow we got last April.  I'm trying to use it up since we got another cow right after Miss F was born.  I wanted to make beef stew, and I found this amazing recipe from Pioneer Woman.  So I dove in head first without reading the recipe well.  We had no beef consume.  And it turns out, no red wine either.  But we did have some strange ziplocs that *B* had labeled "beef juice/gravy" and "beef soup base" in the freezer.  I threw them in instead, and oh.my.gosh.  That was the best beef stew I've ever had.  It was somewhat like beef bourgignon, somewhat like stroganoff.  And it cleared out all the leftovers we had hanging around.

We also had two roast chicken carcases in the freezer and a ton of beef bones.  Today, I made both chicken broth and beef broth from scratch.  It smells heavenly in my house.  Now that I've gotten back in the swing of real cooking, I'm looking forward to awesome meals again.

**********

Since Miss F was seven weeks old, I've been attending a class called Stroller Strides.  I really need to get back into shape, get out of the house, and to meet friends.  This seemed like the best option to accomplish all my goals.  I've been going for three weeks, and I really feel like I'm on the way to better health.  Friends of ours also generously gave us a treadmill that they didn't use, so I'll be able to get back to running once we get it over to our house.  My weight hasn't really changed yet, but it must only be a matter of time. 

Weight Gain and Weight Loss

When Miss F was born, she weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. When she left the hospital two days later, she weighed 8 lbs 13 oz. Because she was so dehydrated, she weighed only 8 lbs 6 oz at her first check up when she was for days old. But we persevered, and by her second check up at 11 days old, she was 9 lbs 1 oz.
We had her pediatrician appointment yesterday, and at 18 days old, she hadn't gotten back to birth weight. She was 9 lbs 5 oz. She had also spent the previous night and that morning screaming uncontrollably.  She nursed every hour, but wasn't comforted.

At the pediatrician, we tried everything to get that one ounce to get back to birth weight. I nursed her, but she had been cluster feeding so there wasn't much there. Despite having nursed so much, my supply seemed low.  The pediatrician had us give her some formula and she immediately stored screaming, but then she wet a diaper, so the weight gain was negated.

Starting last night, at our pediatrician's recommendation, I've been taking fenugreek pills and drinking mother's milk tea. I have to get in contact with a lactation consultant today.
I really don't want to give Miss F formula, but I'd rather do that than starve her. I'm hopeful that the herbs well help to get me where she needs me to be and that our weight check on Friday will be positive.

*****

Since Miss F's birth, I've lost 31 of the 33 lbs I gained. While I'm very happy that my weight loss from last year is not all lost, I'm definitely in different shape than I was last September. It seems I'll have to learn to exercise, feed, and dress this new body all over again.

I'm not currently dieting because of the effect it could have on my supply, but I am trying to eat healthy foods. It's been difficult this week because my best friend is in town, and we tend to east poorly when she's here. But she leaves Thursday, and it's back to real food at that point. I'm looking forward to getting healthy again and even picking up running if I can manage it.

Scary Day

Okay, so it's been a while since I posted.  Life has been insanely busy. 

On Saturday, *B* and I went to a flower mart that a neighboring town hosts every year.  There's always good food, so we had lunch while we were there.  *B* and I split a virgin pina colada. 

I'm usually pretty picky about what kind of frozen drinks I have.  Slurpees (and pretty much all drinks that come out of the rotating vats like Slurpees) have really messed with my heart in the past.  In college, I went to the ER because I had palpitations for 6 hours after drinking a small diet Pepsi Slurpee.  But I heard the guy using a blender, so I figured he had a bottle of mixer (which has never hurt me in the past).  It occurred to me later when I thought back to the drink stand that the fluid in the drink did come out of one of those vats.

At the end of the drink, my heart went haywire.  It was so erratic that I couldn't get a pulse to read on my heart rate app.  The beats were fast, slow, big, small, and generally crazy.  Of course, then I started freaking out because I was afraid of hurting the baby.  So my pulse and blood pressure increased. 

My heart rate was up for almost an hour and a half.  Thankfully, it came down.  If it had been up for 20 more minutes, I would have had to go to the hospital.  I don't even want to think of what they'd do to me there.  I would imagine they'd recommend induction (which I emphatically don't want).  I've tried doing research over the years about this issue (palpitations and Slurpees) but I haven't found any medical data, only anecdotal evidence.  When I was in college, the cardiologist just shrugged and said "so don't drink them anymore." 

It really worries me that we feed our children these drinks when they can have such drastic health implications.  Any thoughts on what the specific trigger mechanism is for this reaction?

Working Out While Pregnant

I know that one of the best ways to have a good labor is to be in shape.  While I'm not quite in the shape I wanted to be when I got pregnant, I'm making the best of it.  I didn't work out at all in the first trimester, but starting January 1, I've been at it at least three times a week. 

In the mornings,  I use the Walk Away the Pounds videos:

 The first DVD I got when I was in college almost 10 years ago.  They still work just fine, but I've seen each version (1 mile, 2 miles, and 3 miles) a million times.

The second I bought last week because I was so bored with the first.  The videos weren't quite fulfilling all of my needs, so I went on a search through netflix and found Crunch's Yoga Mama video:

Right now, my exercise plan is 2-3 miles in the morning before work, and yoga in the evenings when *B* is at school.  While I may not be the sleekest pregnant woman out there, I'm determined to have enough stamina to get through my child's birth.  I just hope that it's not too little, too late.