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Moisturizer
I've been trying to switch to only natural bath products. So far, I've gone no-poo (baking soda & ACV), have continued using Tom's of Maine toothpaste, and have gotten adjusted to using Tom's of Maine deodorant.

However, my face is and has always been a huge problem.

I tried OCM, but it made my face break out like crazy. I tried getting off the topical prescription medication I have, but my face looked awful.

Right now I'm using Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap at night, prescription cream overnight, and Aveeno natural moisturizing bar in the morning.

My question is: What kind of moisturizer do you guys recommend? I tried using a bit of OCM oil, but it didn't work. All the Burt's Bees stuff at my Walmart costs upwards of 15 dollars. I'm definitely not willing to pay more than 10 dollars for moisturizer. Have any of you tried pure Vitamin E? Before I started trying to go natural, I was using Dove moisturizer, and that worked wonderfully.

This is unrelated: I mentioned Tom's of Maine deodorant. This stuff is wonderful. I've been on prescription antiperspirant for a while, so I was really wary about going off it in favour of a deodorant. I think that since my body isn't having to deal with toxic aluminum, I'm not sweating as much. It's wonderful. My dad even uses it now, and he's always had excessive sweating. Highly recommend it!

Tinnea issues.
Hi there,

I recently found a spot of ringworm on my leg (maybe due to a razor that I left in the shower.) I have been to the doctor and was prescribed prescription strength antifungal cream that I am using. However, I'm also wondering if other ongoing issues that I have been having with my skin, such as severe seborrheic dermatitis, could be tied to an overabundance or imbalance of skin yeast. I'm handwashing like lady MacBeth and using medicated dandruff shampoo as shower gel on top of using what the doctor recommended, as well as hitting the B-complex pretty hard. Is there anything else I can do do to perhaps get things back into balance as far as my skin is concerned?

And do I have to give up coffee and peanut butter? Some of the sites about candida are recommending this, and those are pretty much staples for me. D:

a year or two ahead of time...
my husband and i are planning on moving closer to our families within the next year, and soon after, god willing and the creek don't rise, we'll get pregnant.

i consider my future self quite lucky because my husband is whole-heartedly supportive of a home birth, my best friend in dallas is a midwife, my sister-in-law will be a midwife by next summer, and my mother had a hospital birth with me sans interventions. oh yeah, and my grandma's a nurse with two natural births under her own belt. great support system, yes?

a cursory google-ing finds me ONE midwife and ONE doula practicing out of corpus christi, texas. i'm not so worried about finding a doula, as i expect my grandma and/or sister will be acting as my doula. does anyone know of any midwives serving homebirths in the corpus christi area?

this is probably impossible to answer but i'll give it a shot.
Let's play...when do you think I ovulated? :D

My Fertility Friend chart! With temps on CD 9, 10, and 16 disturbed, because on 9 and 10 I had been drinking (which doesn't always affect my temp, but I thought it did this time) and on 16 I was so sleepy I didn't know if I even put the thermometer in. :X (I temp vaginally.)

My TCOYF chart! (Hope this works.) With no temps disturbed. ~~I set it to temps only but the new online software is wonky so I think it's still evaluating my CM, which is not all that consistent.~~ Fixed it.

So, what do you think? Thanks in advance!

Current Mood: curious

Kombucha
I've recently been brewing my own Kombucha and I've noticed a strange phenomenon. I've noticed that my pee has a slight sulphur smell the day after drinking it. I have definitely pegged this down to the kombucha. I only drink about a quarter cup a day, and this only happens the day after I have drunk it. I know it is a potent detoxifier, and I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. It's kind of like the smell one gets after eating asparagus.

going off the pill...
So I'm considering going off my HBC, mostly to see if I feel any better without it. I've read that it depletes your B vitamins, which can lead to fatigue and anxiety (both which I have). I supplement with the help of my doctor, but I'm curious to see how I'll feel completely off the pill. Plus it's so expensive!!! The only reason I hesitate is that I don't feel super comfortable going back to just condoms. STD's aren't so much an issue, as I'm in a committed long term relationship, but the pregnancy thing is so not ok right now, lol! I'm hoping to supplement with a spermicide, but I'm looking for something more natural. Does anybody have any experience with that? I did a quick google search and came across this:

http://ladytobaby.com/show.php?item=257

Thoughts?

<3<3<3

"Recycling" vitamins/supplements
I have quite a few bottles of vitamins/supplements that I don't need/won't use. Many are unopened, but some have been opened and partially used. I need to get rid of all of them. I'm not a big fan of the idea of dumping them all in the trash because that doesn't seem environmentally friendly, but what are my other options? I thought about selling at least the unopened ones, but ... A) I don't know if anyone would buy them and B) I don't know if there's any kind of law against selling them. I mean, they're not drugs in the legal sense, but I'd hate to find out the hard way that an individual selling them was illegal.

So, my question: what would you do? Try to sell them all? Try to sell the unopened ones and throw away the open ones? Throw them all away? Something else?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Hi all! I am 21 weeks pregnant(it's a boy!) and am looking for midwife/doula recommendations in the Seattle area..I've been doing a ton of research but would love to hear what you awesome mamas have to say. Thanks!

Current Mood: happy

Okay, so I looked way back in the memories and this wasn't anywhere to be found so....

I recently bought various organic foods to try out a healthier lifestyle. Among these foods I also bought organic coffee.

Every morning for the past few days since I made the switch to organic, I've been feeling really nauseous after drinking the coffee - just the coffee - I don't feel nauseous after eating any of the other things. I drank it on both an empty stomach and semi-full stomach (like with my breakfast) and felt nauseous with both. It lasted for about an hour - sometimes longer.

I would also drink my organic green tea to see if that had the same effect but it didn't.

Anyone else have experiences with this? Or any advice?

I'm contemplating switching back to my non-organic blend but the organic coffee was super expensive and I don't want to waste practically a full bag :/ (I would also prefer not to have to resort to going back to pesticide-ridden non-organic.)

Brand: Rogers Family Company - "Rainforest Blend"

I have something of an odd question, how to do you nurse a bee back to health? I left windows open for him to fly away outside but he didn't leave. I don't think he can fly. I gave him to sugar water (which he drank half of) and left the rest where he could get to it. I love bees and don't want to see him die. What kind of flower can I get to give him what he needs? He's a yellow jacket BTW. I am such a bleeding heart for bees.

The soup's too sweet
Quick! I just made vegetarian lentil soup with peas and carrots. The peas were too sweet and now the soup is really sweet and, well, nasty. I was hoping for something more savory. How do I hide the sweet taste? Ugh!

THE VERDICT: Thank you, everyone! One tsp. vinegar, 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, cumin, and 1/4 cup sour cream that I found in the fridge later...

Delicious! :D

Birth story of Sam
Hi, everyone,

Here's the link for my son's birth story. There were two minor interventions that I think were the right decision -- a bag of IV fluids since I was getting dehydrated, and AROM after being stuck at 8 cm with a bulging bag of waters for quite some time. But I'm really, really bummed about the vacuum extraction, and not just because I would have liked to brag that I pushed out a posterior baby.

( Rambling and second-guessing under the cut )

Random Thoughts
I can't believe I am already 20 weeks. I have been looking back and reminiscing on my previous pregnancies and births. I don't have a great track record with "knowing" if baby is a girl or boy, but I feel boy this time. I was absolutely certain with my last pregnancy, this is more a general guess.

I have had a really hard time connecting with the baby up till now. I feel much better with the increased movement and pushing myself to try to mentally/spiritually connect as often as possible. My days are filled with caring for my 3 other children, and trying to hold down the fort for dh.

I also have had some doubts and negative thoughts about outcome. I don't know why I feel so negative sometimes. I had fears/qualms with #3 and he was face/brow, so it could be intuitive, but it doesn't feel like it. It just feels like random "what-if?" junk.

I really can't wait to experience labor and birth again, and I look forward to a new person in our lives. I'm starting to feel that the stress and strain in dh and my relationship may be the cause of the negativity. He has been going through some kind of depression/mid-life crisis, and is more needy than the kids when he is home. Frustrating for me, though I want to be supportive and understanding. We were trying for this baby when he started getting "weird" and then it was too late when I realised how depressed he was. So I started this pregnancy out with some reservation...

x-posted in my journal

Current Mood: blah

Rebuttals, please
I was linked to an article that made me see red, but I lack links to specific, scientific studies that would contradict this article:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2392

I have always been a proponent of homebirth both psychologically *and* rationally. Meaning, that for all of the fulfilling ideals we ascribe to the natural birth experience, it also made more *sense* and was as safe if not safer. I have a feeling this is malarkey (another article on this site is about our "low" c-section rate and how the WHO is unsubstantiated in their stance about the ideal rate) but I want to back it up with something other than sputtering. Help?

Current Mood: irritated

Unassisted surrogacy UP/UC
I have been reading through the archives the last 24 hours, and I just realised I never posted the birth story after my surrogacy. I created a seperate journal for this special journey.

I am just giving a link, since we did decide to encourage labor to happen faster, and we did have a bit of midwife intervention.

http://indyts4them.livejournal.com/2690.html

Current Mood: chipper

Snail repellant? Slugs too!
the path up to my front door is very dark. If there's not sun on it you can barely see what's on it. Night time is pitch black. The security lights of my neighbour and I (shared front path as it's a ramp for our wheelchairs) don't shine on the path because of the conifers which I can't get rid of.
When it's wet we get snails on the path. The darkness has resulted in a few crunched snails which I hate (major animal lover here).
Is there something natural that won't hurt them (i'm thinking salt would hurt them?) but will keep them out of harms way away from the path?
(also squished snails on manual wheelchair wheels that your hands get on is unbelievably gross!)

I want to prevent snail death and keep them off the path.

Also random question as I don't know where else to ask; how do you put out your candles without the wick smoking a bit giving a waxy smoke smell that ruins the nice smell you chose?

Current Mood: sleepy

Cider Vinegar
Has anyone on here made their own vinegar? I've found directions that say you don't need yeast or a mother, and directions that outline anaerobic and aerobic fermentation separately, along with directions for using hydrometers and titration kits... Isn't vinegar just wine spoiled from too much oxygen? How much babying do you really need to do to come up with something usable and tasty?

Just saying Hi
I just wanted to come out of lurking and say hi :) I'm 19 weeks pregnant with my third child and part of my preparation process is reading lots of nice normal natural birth stories. I have been blessed enough to have two really awesome and beautiful births and also blessed to live in New Zealand where midwifery care is the norm, so I am lucky all around :)
I especially want to say hi to the first time mamas...you can do it!

Breastfeeding/pumping question
Last night, Cambria slept for a 5 hour stretch, and by the time we got up for a feeding, my breasts were so engorged she couldn't latch on. After a little emergency help from dad I had expressed enough for her to get on. Since we ALL don't want to experience THAT again, I am considering getting a manual pump for quick little emergency engorgement release that won't require me digging out the huge double electric pump in the middle of the night.

Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions? I was looking at the Madela single manual pump that seems like it may do the trick in a pinch.

FF changed my coverline, and now I'm wondering...
Good morning to all. We're TTA, and I'm having a little bit of a pregnancy "scare" right now ... realizing that a baby now is not the end of the world, but certainly a baby would be an unplanned surprise.

Here is a link to my chart: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/25d48e. I suggest that you don't trust the temps before Day 54, as my thermometer was going on the fritz and I started charting with a new one on Day 54. (And yes, it's pretty "normal" for my body to try to fake me out with ovulation signs and then not actually ovulate. That's what's happening on Days 37-43.)

Up until this morning, FF drew my coverline at 96.8 degrees and placed ovulation at Day 62. This matched up with my cervical fluid, cervical fluid Peak Day (Day 62 also), and emotions. And that would make me okay for unprotected sex on Day 66, yes?

So last night (Day 67) we had sex without a condom, and this morning when I recorded my temp, FF moved the coverline and ovulation date. Which would mean I'm still fertile. Ahh!

Which would you trust, the old coverline and O-date, or the new one?

I am having a hard time concentrating at work this morning, just wondering, wondering, wondering...

Aquarium trip
We took my son to the Downtown Aquarium in Houston a few weeks ago because he likes looking at fish...
( Read more... )

Current Mood: pleased

Placenta Encapsuling
I have been researching the benefits of this and I think I would like to do this for my upcoming birth. I had pretty bad post partum depression, problems nursing, etc. with my first baby last year. My husband said he'd be happy to do it for me and we found a kit online with the capsules and instructions for drying out the placenta. I'm not sure how much it would be to pay someone to do it but I'm guessing the kit is much less expensive at $25! I just wondered what experiences other moms have had taking placenta in capsules as a supplement.

Kamboucha
My friend just gave me some Kamboucha to start making my own Kamboucha tea. I'm wondering if anyone out here has any good resources, recipes, and tips for keeping my Kamboucha relatively containment free. Paul Staments Doesn't have the best things to say about culturing it at home, however I drank some home made tea from my friends culture a few days ago and I'm feeling just fine, and it seems like the Chinese have used this for thousands of years with out utilizing sterile conditions. I'm like to experiment with different flavors beyond just with the teas, so if anyone knows of any good recipes, please share.

Thanks

Current Mood: curious

Paper glued to paper !!

My niece (3 years old) thought it would be a great idea to glue pieces of paper into a book of mine.... Several pages of an old and valuable book are now completely or partially covered by glued-on scraps of paper that I can't peel off without tearing the actual pages. I think the glue she used is a liquid type, like Elmer's, and it was already fully dried before I discovered it.

Does anyone know how to remove this without destroying the book?? I'd rather not use harsh solvents - I don't even know if there's any that would do the job without destroying the book too - but at this point I could go for ANYthing that would rescue my book. Any ideas, or is it hopeless?

If this isn't the right place to ask, could someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks so much in advance!

Edit: slowly but surely I'm making inroad on the mess now. Thank you all for your help. You guys rock!

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