Disclaimer:

This post isn’t about vaccines at all.  I am not an expert.  Go with your gut on all treatments.  With pertussis, in my opinion, all options are on the table.  Antibiotics to herbs, don’t rule anything out.

Claimer:

This post is about empowering yourself about pertussis (also known as whooping cough) sans factoring in the vaccine in your life.

The Indian Summer

It all started at the beginning on last August…my 15 year old doesn’t feel so well.  Little achiness, fatigue, sore throat, diarrhea.  What the what?  Why is she coming down with the flu at the beginning of August?  I chalked it up to it being a weird summer for illnesses for everyone.  I had a friend hospitalized with pneumonia in June and that wasn’t the only weird thing I heard, so……

Fast forward one week later.  She had thrown up once, but seemed to have gotten over with it pretty quickly with no further symptoms, so I figured it was food poisoning or something until…..

cough….cough…cough.

A week later?  Cough is worse.

A week (and a million herbs) later coughing and sometimes throwing up a bit with the cough.

I could no longer deny it.  Pertussis.  So, here is the breakdown of how I dealt (successfully) with…

The Big P

All cases are presented in the order that they showed up.  All together I will have spent 4 months with this illness as my kids acquired it successively.

Case Study #1

Age: 15

Gender: F

Interests: reading, blogging, piano, and being left alone – unless you are her friend, in which case let’s hang!

Illness pattern and treatment:

1.  Phase 1:

• First week of August:  2 days of flu like symptoms (body aches, threw up once, headache) = gave a combination of echinacea ang., goldenseal, licorice, and ginger (what I call xpac, you can buy a version here) every 4 hours.  Also administered probiotics and byonia alba homeopathic.
• Followed by 4 days of general good health=no treatment
• Followed by 1 week of minor coughing= gave a comination of hops, valerian and wild lettuce (what I call Chillax, you can buy a version here) 3X/day – didn’t effect much.
• 1 week of moderate coughing=more xpac and chillax, plus probiotic and fish oil. 3X/day  Didn’t touch it much

2.  Phase 2:

• 1 month of heavy coughing sometimes resulting in throwing up just a bit when she’d cough too hard=oh my….the chillax, xpac, plus high doses of lobelia for the first two weeks.  Lobelia is the go to herbs for breathing issues, coughing, etc.  A year ago this daughter had pertussis and I caught it in the first three weeks, treated with lobelia and she threw up and was done.  Which is why I was surprised she got pertussis again.  Once you have it, your immunity to it is really really high.  What I figured out, though, is that if you don’t go through the whole illness, you immunity to pertussis is low, hence she got it again.  Did the lobelia work?  No.  Halfway through this phase I employed Sunbreeze, and essential oil combination of thyme, menthol, and cassia oil.  Applied to the back of the tongue, or taken in the ‘gummy drop‘ form, it stopped the cough for a good long while, but didn’t get rid of it. I knew about Sunbreeze because it was the only essential oil I grew up with and my mom would use it to stop her incessant coughing.
• Followed by 2 weeks of moderate coughing wherein she would struggle for breath about once a night, usually before going to sleep= noticed the coughing was always worse at night, would do the xpac, chillax, fish oil, probiotic routine about 3X/day still.  When I was lax on doing the herbal routine, her cough would worsen significantly.  The Sunbreeze was a constant companion for her as well.  Seeing as she wasn’t contagious at this stage and feeling good otherwise, she would try to control her cough while at school, with friends, etc.

3.  Phase 3:

• 3 weeks of a minor cough=I backed off the herbs a bit.  Her cough was mainly activity induced and isolated to right before bed and upon waking.

My Notes: Ironically, she got the illness the worst of all my kids.  With her immune system more intact, I was a bit surprised by that. Minus the 2 days of flu like symptoms, the coughing was the only symptom of illness.  During her 1 month of heavy coughing, she actually was treated badly by a good friend, who’s parents told her that it was through vaccination neglect that she acquired pertussis.  That fully vaccinated friend got pertussis by the time my daughter was getting over it.

Case Study #2

Age: 13

Gender: F

Interests: curling her hair, cooking, listening to music, and socializing

Illness pattern and treatment:

End of August:  3.5 weeks after case study number one got flu like symptoms, hers came on.

1.  Phase 1:

• 2 days of flu like symptoms (body aches, diarrhea, stuffy nose) = gave a combination of echinacea ang., goldenseal, licorice, and ginger (what I call xpac, you can buy a version here) every 4 hours.  Also administered probiotics and byonia alba homeopathic.  At this point, I didn’t think it was pertussis, because I have never read anything about pertussis being preceded by flu like symptoms.  I thought Case #1′s flu like symptoms were a fluke, not a calling card, therefore my radar wasn’t up when Case #2′s pertussis started a similar way.
• Followed by 4 days of general good health=no treatment
• Followed by 1 week of minor coughing= gave a comination of hops, valerian and wild lettuce (what I call Chillax, you can buy a version here) 3X/day.  At this point my light bulb went on – we have pertussis.  I administered lobelia – didn’t effect much.
• 1 week of moderate coughing=more xpac and chillax, lobelia, sunbreeze, plus probiotic and fish oil. 3X/day  Didn’t touch it much

2.  Phase 2:

• 1 month of heavy coughing, no throwing up for her= the chillax, xpac 1-3X/day, plus lobelia every other day.  The gummy Sunbreeze were her saving grace in this phase.  She didn’t not cough as much as Case #1, but it was as severe when she did cough.  For some reason, she could control it completely when around others, even without any herbal help.
• Followed by 3 weeks of moderate coughing = she would struggle for breath about once a night, usually being wakened from a dead sleep – eyes would water and she’d panic a bit. When I was lax on doing the herbal routine, her cough would worsen significantly and she would wake twice a night struggling for breath.  At this point she would have a coughing fit a handful of times per day, with her major 1-2 fits during her sleep.

3.  Phase 3:

• 2 weeks of a minor cough=I backed off the herbs a bit.  There seemed to be no trigger or pattern for her coughing at this point, except it was worse at night.

My Notes: Minus the 2 days of flu like symptoms, the coughing was the only symptom of illness.  She needed a lot of emotional coaching and reassurance with the 3 weeks of moderate coughing where she’d wake up in the middle of the night.  Her illness was shorter than Case #1′s by a little over a week.

Case #3

Age: 9

Gender: F

Interests: horses, cooking, American Girl Dolls, playing with friends, being a tease.

Illness pattern and treatment:

End of August:  3.5 weeks after case #1 got flu like symptoms, hers came on the day after Case #2.

1.  Phase 1:

• 2 days of flu like symptoms (body aches, diarrhea, stuffy nose, throwing up) = gave a combination of echinacea ang., goldenseal, licorice, and ginger (what I call xpac, you can buy a version here) every 4 hours.  Also administered probiotics and byonia alba homeopathic.  At this point, I didn’t think it was pertussis, because I have never read anything about pertussis being preceded by flu like symptoms.  I thought Case #1′s flu like symptoms were a fluke, not a calling card, therefore my radar wasn’t up when Case #2 and 3′s pertussis started a similar way.

• Followed by 4 days of general good health=no treatment

• Followed by 1 week of minor coughing= gave a comination of hops, valerian and wild lettuce (what I call Chillax, you can buy a version here) 3X/day.  At this point my light bulb went on – we have pertussis.  I administered lobelia – didn’t effect much.
• 1 week of moderate coughing=more xpac and chillax, lobelia, sunbreeze, plus probiotic and fish oil. 3X/day  Didn’t touch it much

2.  Phase 2:

• 1 month of heavy coughing = the chillax, xpac 1-3X/day, plus my yeast x formula (you can find a liquid or pill version here)  and elderberry syrup every other day.  She hated the Sunbreeze and it didn’t seem to help her much anyway.  She did not cough during the day hardly at all, but nighttime was the worst for her.  About 2 times a night she would wake from a dead sleep unable to breath and while still asleep, run to the bathroom, throw up all the while panicking.   Her eyes would water and she had a long recovery time from those fits – about 2-3 minutes of conscious slow breathing.  She needed a lot of direction and coaching during her coughing fits.  When I wasn’t diligent giving herbs, her coughing was more severe.

• Followed by 3 weeks of moderate coughing = she would struggle for breath about once a night, usually being wakened from a dead sleep – eyes would water and she’d panic a bit, but no throwing up and it wasn’t ask intense as the previous month. During this stage, coughing during waking hours was completely gone.

3.  Phase 3:

• Currently into 1 week of no coughing.

My Notes: Minus the 2 days of flu like symptoms, the coughing was the only symptom of illness. Her illness was shorter than Case #2′s by a little about 2 weeks.

Case #4

Age: 3

Gender: M

Interests: swords, Buzz Lightyear, sweets, and hugging.

Illness pattern and treatment:

First of September:  4 weeks after case #1 got flu like symptoms, and 3 days after Cases #2 and 3′s flu like symptoms came his.

1.  Phase 1:

• 2 days of flu like symptoms (body aches, diarrhea, stuffy nose) = gave a combination of echinacea ang., goldenseal, licorice, and ginger (what I call xpac, you can buy a version here) every 4 hours.  Also administered probiotics and byonia alba homeopathic.  At this point, I knew it was pertussis coming on.

• Followed by 4 days of general good health=gave xpac, chillax, probiotics and fish oils

• Followed by 1 week of minor coughing= gave a comination of hops, valerian and wild lettuce (what I call Chillax, you can buy a version here) 3X/day.  Wouldn’t take the lobelia no matter how hard I tried.  Hated the oil being applied, but would sneak the gummy Sunbreeze. Loved those.

2.  Phase 2:

• 2 months of heavy coughing = the chillax, xpac 1-3X/day, plus my yeast x formula (you can find a liquid or pill version here)  and elderberry syrup every other day.  Lots of Sunbreeze gummy‘s.  Had major coughing fits about 6 times a day, and would throw up 5 out of those 6 times.  Not a full vomit, usually just the last thing he ate.  Would wake 1-2 times a night with a coughing fit, throwing up about 50% of the time at night.   The throwing up was helped when he was downing the gummy’s, but not the coughing as much.  Going out in public was always a dance.  Always had an extra change of close and two gallon ziploc bags with me – one to catch the vomit, the other to put the soiled clothes in if I didn’t catch the vomit.  Because he was still very active and feeling good through these two months, and the coughing would come out of no where, about half the time he threw up where ever he was, which meant everyone in the house got proficient at cleaning vomit out of the carpet.  During this phase he, Case #3 and Case #5 (below) benefited greatly from nightly baths spiked with respiratory essential oils such as this blend and this blend.    When they had their nightly bath, their coughing quantity and severity were about half of what they would be otherwise.  I could always count on a huge coughing fit and subsequent vomit after eating refined sugar.
• Currently into 1.5 weeks of moderate coughing = the throwing up and the severity of the cough has tapered off.  Thank goodness.  Rarely coughs during his sleep anymore, and has minor coughing fits about 2X/day now.  Giving xpac, chillax and yeast x about every other day now.

My Notes: Minus the 2 days of flu like symptoms, the coughing was the only symptom of illness. His illness was the most physically exhausting of them all, but he handled it the best emotionally speaking.

Case #5

Age: 6

Gender: F

Interests: Playing with friends, singing to herself, math, and playing practical jokes

Illness pattern and treatment:

Middle of September:  2 weeks after Case #4, she started with coughing.

1.  Phase 1:

• 1 day of diarrhea = for a month prior to this day, I had been giving her xpac, chillax, yeast x, probiotic, and fish oil daily, because I knew her pertussis was coming.

• Followed by 4 days of general good health=gave xpac, chillax, probiotics and fish oils

• Followed by 3 weeks of minor coughing= gave a comination of hops, valerian and wild lettuce (what I call Chillax, you can buy a version here) 3X/day.  Wouldn’t take the lobelia no matter how hard I tried. Hated the Sunbreeze in any form, refused to take it.  She would cough often – but not too hard – during the day, none at night.  Concerned all her playmate moms.

2.  Phase 2:

• We are now in week 3 of moderate coughing= the chillax, xpac 1-3X/day, plus my yeast x formula (you can find a liquid or pill version here)  and elderberry syrup  every other day.  Only once a day dose she cough somewhat hard, but doesn’t lose her breath, throw up or wake in the night.   Took the essential oil baths with Case #3 and Case #4 nightly for about a month.

3.  Phase 3:

• Is around the corner

My Notes: I don’t anticipate her cough getting to bad considering she was heavily dosed with herbs and essential oil baths for a month prior to her exhibiting any symptoms.

The Take Away

• I hate this illness.  I do, I do, I do.
• BUT going through it completely almost guarantee’s we will not see it again.
• Both my husband and I didn’t get it at all, and we both remember having a long term, intense coughing illness when we were younger (both younger than 10) – that’s some good protection.  I can’t imagine being sick alongside my kids.
• I can see why people wanted to eradicate this illness, but the benefit to having it is enormous.  Having it now means likely not having it as an adult or elderly person, when your immunity might not be as good and the risks higher.
• This illness was emotionally and physically exhausting with 5 kids, but doable.
• I definitely wouldn’t want to see a baby with this.  I would be more aggressive in treatment with a little baby and would likely seek out antibiotics as soon as my gut confirmed it was pertussis.
• This illness confirmed the importance of breastfeeding.  I really feel that having breastfed my kids for so long played a positive role in how well they handled this.  My 3 year old is still nursing at night and I saw some therapeutic benefits from my milk coating his throat and gut.
• The most effective thing with all of this was consistency in giving the herbs, giving the baths, and having the Sunbreeze.  I wouldn’t want to be without the Sunbreeze.
• Also, coaching and emotional support cannot be stressed enough.  Coaching during coughing fits consisted of rubbing their back while repeatedly telling them to breathe and relax.  Relaxation was the key to ending the coughing fit sooner.  When the fit was over, giving them a hug and expressing sympathy seemed to be very helpful.

Sleep – My Long Lost Friend

The hardest part was waking up 2-5 times a night helping a kid through their coughing fits, and in the case of my 3 year old of he’d throw up, I had to clean out his puke bowl or change sheets if I didn’t catch it.

In the middle of Case #3′s  illness it would scare me if she woke up with a fit and I wasn’t there, so I moved her in my bedroom on the floor.

By this time Case #4′s coughing had been going on and started during the night, so he was in my bed so I could help him sit up to cough and catch his vomit if possible.

With Case #3 and #4 in there, you know #5 wanted in on the action even though she wasn’t bad off, so in she came.

Shortly after that, Case #2′s mid night fits scared her enough she didn’t want to handle them by herself at night, so she moved in my room too.

Needless to say, the husband took about 2 nights of little sleep and 2 days of operating on little sleep at work when he decided it might be best to move out of the room until the kids are out.  Bye bye sweet cheeks – see you in November!  It’s actually been interesting adjusting to having ‘creative couple time’, so it hasn’t been horrible, but I am looking forward to getting my husband back.

I haven’t slept well since July – and I wasn’t even sleeping well then, given I would wake up occassionally with my 3 year old, or with a bad dream from my 6 year old.

I feel this whole thing winding down, but I’m waiting until mid-end November to call it gone and resume normal life at night.  Before all the kids moved in my room, Case #3 woke up from a dead sleep unable to breathe and she rushed into the bathroom, panicked before I could get to her and hit her head on something and knocked herself out.  She came to within 5 seconds, but it was enough for me not to want to repeat with any of them, so I want there to be a week of no coughing before I release them back to their own spaces.  Ironically, forced sleeping in my room has cured them from wanting to sleep in my room.  Prior to this, they were always begging to sleep in my room, and I turned them away a good 75% of the time.  Now that I force them to sleep in my room 100% of the time, they are over it and can’t wait to get back to their own spaces.  Even the three year old wants back in his toddler bed at the opposite end of my room.  Who knew……

Observations

• I live in a wonderful close knit neighborhood (about a 7 block square radius is what I am considering).  I’d say 40-50% or more had pertussis, most didn’t know it.  It went through my local area like wildfire and we weren’t the first nor the last to get it.  I appreciated those who did not judge me and listened with open hearts and ears.  I hope the fear that surrounds pertussis degraded some as a result of our neighborhood’s outbreak.  No one died or was even hospitalized – yes, your body can do this!
• All in all, I am glad my kids got it now.  I would have hated to had a newborn or baby with it – the coughing is pretty intense.  I am glad it didn’t happen in the middle of winter.  I am glad it happened when I had a gob load of herbs on hand and I knew how to make most of them.  I am glad we aren’t in some sort of other crisis in the midst of this.
• The first 2 weeks or so is the contagious phase – the part with the flu like symptoms and early coughing.  Luckily I kept my kids home and away from others – even when they were feeling well – just based on my gut feeling.
• It is a super drag to be in public with a severely coughing kid because of the throwing up and also people look at you like you are committing a crime by taking them out.  Lots of judgment.
• Immunity is high once you have gotten the full blown illness.  Getting rid of the illness in the middle of it may nor confer immunity.

What Would I Do Differently?

• I would have been more educated on pertussis.  Even though I have been lightly studying this illness for the past 15 years, I read no anecdotal stories nor did I talk to anyone that had gone through it.  I had no idea it could start off with flu like symptoms.

• I also would have been more aware of other’s illnesses and listened for the coughing so I could start treating my brood before any symptoms appeared.

• I would have treated them all earlier like I did with Case #5.  Her pertussis was a breeze compared to the others.

• I found out about the formula below too late, but I would have tried this:

Dr. Christopher’s Whooping Cough Remedy

• To make this remedy you will need the following herbs:
  1/2 ounce hyssop
  1/2 ounce red raspberry leaves
  1/2 ounce turkey rhubarb
  1/4 ounce bayberry bark
  1/2 ounce thyme

  Simmer the first four herbs for 15 minutes in 1.5 pts. of distilled water. Pour this mixture over the thyme and steep, covered, for 30 minutes, then strain. Take approximately one tsp. of the concoction (more or less, depending on the patient’s age and severity of the cough), as needed.

ALSO:
http://herballegacy.com/Whooping_Cough.html

Thyme and Mistletoe formula:
2 grams thyme
5 grams mistletoe
infuse in 1 pint of water and strain. 1 tablespoon each hour as needed. For children adjust according to age.

Make a thyme infusion. Mix on part of the infusion with 1 part honey and give when the cough is troublesome.

Whooping Cough formula #2:
2 oz. Marshmallow Rott
2 oz. Thyme
2 Pounds Yellow D Sugar or 1 Pound of Honey
1 Quart Distilled or D-cell water

Simmer herbs slowly, covered, down to 1 pint, strain, press and return the liquid to the clean pot. Add the sugar or honey, and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let simmer slowly for 5 minutes, skim as is necessary. Cool, bottle and keep in a cool place.
Dosage: 1 tablespoon every 2-3 hours. Children: 1-3 teaspoon fuls accourding to age.
Administration: Feed child fruit juices, especially pineapple, and keep off starchy, greasy and mucus forming foods. Improve the diet to accelerate healing and to prevent the condition from recurring.

Whooping cough formula #3
1 oz. black cohosh, tincture
2 oz red root, tincure (ceanothus americanus)
1 oz blood root, tincture
1/2 oz lobelia, tincture

Mix and shake well. 15-20 drops in honey water

In a Nutshell

• Lots of Sunbreeze oil and gummy’s on hand
• xpac (Infection Fighter here)
• chillax (Chill here)
• Respritory essentail oils here and here
• Probiotics
• Fish oil
• Lobelia
• Nightly essential oil baths
• Camp Pertussis in my room
• Avoid refined sugar and milk as much as possible
• The above formula

Last Words

I never want to, nor do I expect, to ever see this illness again.  I am glad it over with, so I never do see it again.

Vaccinated or not, educate yourself on this.  You want to be prepared for this, ladies.  Have remedies on hand.

See you never again, pertussis.  You are the teacher I hated in high school, but learned a lot from.

This Sucks

Nasal Aspirator.  Suction Bulb.  Bulb Syringe.  Snot Sucker (my kids’ favorite).

Whatever you call it, I know you are familiar with it.

In fact you are probably so familiar with it that you don’t question it’s use whatsoever.

It’s just a standard thing that is used on babies.  In fact it has to be used, right?  And why WOULDN’T you want to use it?  Besides the fact that no one dreams about one of these coming at them.

Look, I’ve had one of these things on hand at all my births and floating around my house for months and months postpartum.  I love these things, I think their great.

But I love these things like I love epidurals, c sections, and baby formula.

Use with caution and only when indicated.

Many times I have seen a suction done on a 1-2 minute old baby that was borderline abusive, and for no good reason.

Before suctions were invented, were babies just dying right and left for lack of a bulb suction?  I don’t think so.

Slow Down Turbo

The first time I ever questioned the use of a suction was actually at my 2nd birth – a homebirth – where no suction was used.  I had been a doula a short time and all of them had been hospital births and I had never read a thing about the pros and cons of suctioning (in fact, I don’t think there was ANY literature on it at the time) and seen it so often I thought it was necessary for every baby to be suctioned. Up to that point I had seen birth videos where babies were not suctioned, but I really didn’t think about it until….

Baby girl was born, and that bulb suction that came in the birth kit just sat there unused.  I thought ‘huih’, but being on my birth high, I didn’t ask any questions, but I didn’t need to.

My own experience taught me that not all babies need to be suctioned.  From that knowledge I started questioning, ‘What babies do need suctioning and what are the risks?’

I’m a Humanitarian

I don’t think anyone would say that it’s a good idea that newborns be handled roughly, but the fact is, they are.  They are poked, jabbed, tossed around, exposed to cold and bright light and noise, and separated from ‘their source’ (ie their mothers) for hours on end.  Sometimes the way a birth goes down, this is necessary, but most of the time it’s a big fat nuisance and dangerous, in fact.

Studies of shown that the more gentle the birth, the healthier (and happier) the newborn.  This has a ripple effect that can be seen months, and sometimes years, after the birth.

So is it important that we eliminate as many of the jarring acts we commit on newborns as possible?  YES!

Is suctioning one of them.  YES!

The Thick and Thin of It

Without going into the semantics of why most babies don’t need suctioning (the protective mechanisms that an unmedicated vaginal birth provides), let me just tell you why you might want to look for a caregiver that does not routinely suction.

The Risks (as cited in Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding):

No demonstrated benefits: randomized controlled trials have shown no difference between infants who have had routine suctioning and those who have not.

Mispatterned tongue movement: “The tongue muscle group can be mispatterned by early superstimuli such as deep or repeated suctioning.” ie interferes with breastfeeding.

Defensive tongue position: “Physical irritation of the posterior palate creates a reflex guarding of the airway by the tongue…This is exactly the opposite of the anterior-to-posterior tongue peristaltis needed for breastfeeding.”

Pain, possibly leading to aversion to feeding:  “Suctioning a vigorous newborn (except as needed for resuscitation) can cause physical damage to the oropharynx, causing pain during feeding attempts.”

The evidence is strong enough that the American Academy of Pediatrics makes a point of discouraging suctioning in its breastfeeding policy, recommending that physicians: “avoid procedures that may interfere with breastfeeding or that may traumatize the infant, including unnecessary, excessive, and over-vigorous suctioning of the oral cavity, esophagus, and airways to avoid oropharyngeal mucosal injury that may lead to aversive feeding behavior.”

Stuck On You

So, like so many birth practices done in the past and today, this is one of those things that is done without any hard evidence to support it.  How and when will it end?  When you say it does.  Once again, you cannot afford to wait around and just cross your fingers that your caregiver is the one who ‘gets it.  You have to be proactive and either ask and then hire to a caregiver who’s suctioning rates are low, or demand it in the throws of birthing your baby.  Once again (again) hiring a doula helps you out here.

Additional Sources:

http://www.bestforbabes.org/booby-traps-series-attack-of-the-giant-bulb-syringe

But while many have been led to believe that this is just one of those unavoidable factors that go hand-in-hand with being pregnant, the reality is that there are quite a few things within your control that can either reduce or completely eliminate the symptoms of morning sickness.

Why Morning Sickness?

To resolve the problem of morning sickness, you first have to understand the cause behind it.

Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy are most often caused by one of two things:

1. Either your liver has become overburdened from metabolizing Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG – the same stuff used in the current HCG diet fad, and the hormone responsible for the “positive” result in a pregnancy test), OR…
2. You may have low blood sugar, a condition that is easily remedied.

Consequently, your strategy for reducing the impact of this nausea on your life is to provide your body with adequate liver support, and to ensure that your blood sugar does not dip too low.

Tips for Reducing Nausea During Pregnancy

Here are a number things that you can do to reduce your nausea and vomiting, and perhaps eliminate morning sickness altogether:

1. Avoid an empty stomach by nibbling on crackers or fruit every 15 minutes.
2. Take red raspberry leaf tea and Yellow Dock decoction (8 oz. 3-4x per day) or in capsule form (5-15 capsules daily). If that doesn’t help, drink raspberry leaf tea from a large water bottle throughout the day to keep it in the bloodstream.
3. Take lavender, clove, peppermint, and lemon in tea, capsule, or essential oil forms.
4. Eat a snack right before bed and during the night to prevent your blood sugar from dropping in morning.
5. Sit up for half an hour upon rising in the morning. Drink juice and eat toast. Get out of bed slowly.
6. Eat a high protein and carb diet. Include foods such as toast, honey, bananas, potatoes, grains, soups, pastas and vegetables.
7. Take ginger available in a variety of forms.  Ginger may be used in candied (find at health stores), capsule (5-15 per day), or tea (24-32 oz. per day) forms. For tea, boil sliced ginger in water for 10 minutes and strain, and then sweeten with honey or agave.
8. Ensure that you are getting  an adequate supply of B Vitamins including brewer’s yeast in tablet or powder forms or catnip in capsule or tea forms.
9. Take a break from synthetic iron pills which often cause nausea and supplement with iron rich foods (leafy green vegetables, chlorophyll, alfalfa, brewer’s yeast, black strap molasses, Vitamin C, spirulina, beets) or yellow dock decoction.
10. Switch water sources as contaminants in tap water such as lead, chlorine, cyst bacteria, e. coli, organic and inorganic matter are toxic and rob nutrients from your body and your baby. You may consider investing in a reverse osmosis drinking system or buying bottled water from a reputable company.
11. Wear anti-nausea wrist band called Sea Bands, available at most variety stores.
12. Eliminate milk, meat and fried foods for a while as they are the most difficult foods to digest. Acquire nutrients and protein intake through other sources.
13. Visit a massage therapist or acupuncturist.
14. Take a warm bath or place a heating pad or hot rice sock on your stomach. Rice socks are made by putting rice in a cotton sock, tying a knot in the end and heating in the sock in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.

Any one or a combination of these tips might have a significant positive impact on your morning sickness, so experiment to see what works best for you.

Have additional ideas or things that have worked for you? Be sure to leave a comment below!

Luckily, this could not be further from the truth.

It’s possible to have a vibrant, energetic pregnancy if you provide your body with the right fuels to accomplish that.

While it is rarely diagnosed as such, a lack of energy during and after pregnancy is often the result of iron deficiency in the body, commonly referred to as anemia.

Anemia can have a number of adverse effects, including the aforementioned hazy thinking and lack of energy, as well as reduced quality of breastmilk and mood postpartum, and other complications during pregnancy.

Suffice it to say that iron is an extremely important nutrient to monitor.

The problem with this is what to do about it.

Your doctor will likely prescribe a traditional iron supplement, which may do an OK job of improving your iron levels, but can also leave you constipated and bloated.

The good news is that there is a natural remedy that works WONDERS in this department, and it’s extremely cheap and easy to prepare.

Yellow Dock – Nature’s Iron Supplement

Yellow Dock Root

Yellow Dock is an herb that boasts a good concentration of iron that is easily absorbed by the body, and also improves iron absorption in the intestines. You can find it in capsule form, but it is far more effective when prepared in liquid form (instructions below). Forget coffee, Monster drinks, Red Bull, or 5 Hour Energy. Yellow Dock is nature’s energy shot.

You may need a higher dosage than I recommend below at first, but there’s no harm in taking as much as you feel you need. At most health food stores you can buy it in bulk, and you can also get it online at Mountain Rose Herbs (I don’t have any business affiliation with this website, but can highly recommend their products as I use them myself.)

This formula revitalizes your blood supply, restores healthy iron levels, and helps to rid the blood of impurities. Many of my clients have had both their doctors and midwives check their iron levels while on this Yellow Dock preparation, and have seen their iron levels normalize in just a few weeks!

Here’s how to prepare Yellow Dock as an oral supplement for anemia:

Yellow Dock Iron Formula

2 oz. Yellow Dock root, cut form (mountainroseherbs.com)
1 quart distilled water
2 tbs. honey, or to taste

Preparation: Put Yellow Dock into a glass quart jar and cover with boiling distilled water. Let sit overnight. The next day, empty the mixture into a saucepan and heat on the stove on low, uncovered. Let simmer until the liquid has reduced to about 1 1/2 Cups. Strain and squeeze through a cheesecloth or muslin. Add honey. Refrigerate. Mixture keeps for up to a month in the fridge.

Dosage: 1 Tablespoon daily (2 Tablespoons if symptoms are severe)

Note: I’ll admit that Yellow Dock is NOT the most palatable of herbs. However, the benefits of feeling great during your pregnancy are well worth it. Stick with it, and let me know about your experiences!

Is NONE of my Food Sacred?!

Ah, orange juice.  So pure.  So natural.  So refreshing.  Or so I thought until I found out the industry’s dirty little secret.

I drink orange juice everyday.  Let me rephrase.  I DRANK orange juice every day.  In fact, I was beginning to think something was wrong with me.  I drank it A LOT.  Almost addictively.  It was becoming an expensive habit.  But I never gave myself a hard time over it because it was orange juice…what could be so wrong with drinking a lot of orange juice, right? (Besides the fact that it is pasteurized, but I digress…..)  Afterall, I wasn’t buying it from concentrate, which is way worse for you.

Well, now I know why I was drinking it so incessantly.

• There’s a reason why your orange juice always tastes consistent i.e. the taste never changes.
• There’s a reason why Tropicana doesn’t taste like Simply Orange.
• Besides pasteurization, there’s another reason why the shelf life is really long.

Hey kids, an you say ‘Aseptic Storage’ and ‘Deaeration’?  These words of the day are brought to you by the orange juice industry itself and should replace ‘Fresh Picked’ and ‘Natural’.

Most, If Not All, Store Bought Orange Juice is Made the Following Way

What I thought was a product that was merely grown, picked, squeezed, pasteurized and then put in a carton is not that simple of a process.  The step between pasteurizing and packaging is an open secret in the Orange Juice industry and is standard industry practice.

After juicing the oranges, the juice goes to giant holding tanks and the oxygen is removed from them. This means that it can safely sit in there for up to a year.  This also means that the liquid is now tasteless.  What gives orange juice its flavor has 100% to do with the oxygen in it!

Flava Flave….Packets

So how come your orange juice tastes like – well – orange juice, then?  Ah….the company add in flavor packets.

When the juice is stripped of oxygen it is also stripped of flavor providing chemicals. Juice companies therefore hire flavor and fragrance companies, the same ones that formulate perfumes for Dior and Calvin Klein, to engineer flavor packs to add back to the juice to make it taste fresh. Flavor packs aren’t listed as an ingredient on the label because technically they are derived from orange essence and oil. Yet those in the industry will tell you that the flavor packs, whether made for reconstituted or pasteurized orange juice, resemble nothing found in nature. The packs added to juice earmarked for the North American market tend to contain high amounts of ethyl butyrate, a chemical in the fragrance of fresh squeezed orange juice that, juice companies have discovered, Americans favor. Mexicans and Brazilians have a different palate. Flavor packs fabricated for juice geared to these markets therefore highlight different chemicals, the decanals say, or terpene compounds such as valencine.

Flavor and fragrance packets!  That means that ‘they’ have targeting specific neuro pathways and receptor sites in my brain that do set up addiction.

You have no idea how upset I am.  We have all been duped.  But maybe I should be grateful for finding this out.  It has motivated me to finally buy that juicer I’ve been meaning to.

On the Hunt

So, one by one I am emailing all the juice companies and will continue to post the good news I hear back as I get it.

From Naked Juice:

ConsumerRelations@nakedjuice.com to me

show details 11:15 AM (4 hours ago)

Amy:

We’re always glad to answer questions about our totally unfooled around with juices and smoothies.

Naked Juice OJ does not contain any flavor packets. Our all natural juices and smoothies are made from the best bare-naked fruits, with no added sugar, preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, and over 3 servings of fruit in every 15.2 oz bottle, just for you.

We hope this information is helpful, Amy.

Michael
Naked Juice Consumer Relations

Source: Squeezed.  What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice

oh look! a chicken!

Yep, this T shirt is funny t-shirt if you don’t have a kid with ADD.

No one wants their fantasy daydreams of lazily playing with your kids, having them pay attention and understand what you are saying the first time are replaced by hyper activity, misunderstandings and constant distractions.

I mean every parent experiences the hyper inattentive kid, but not all the time like parents of ADD/ADHD kids do.

Gambling With Your Child’s Brain

But neurological disorders like ADD and autism seem largely a matter of the roll of the dice to most parents.

Not anymore.

New studies reveals that

…there is a strong predictive relationship between pitocin in labor and subsequent ADHD development in childhood. The occurrence of ADHD in the pitocin group was 67.1% as opposed to 35.6% in the non-exposure group.

Ouch.  An almost double the risk.  Considering the induction seduction our society deals with and this leaves us with a massive burden doesn’t it?

Multiple Insults

Couple this with the fact that ultrasound has been shown to harm the fetal brain and ultrasound effects are being studied in connection with setting up risk factors for disorders like Autism and ADD.

Scientists at Yale (Ang, et al, 2006) found that exposure to pulsed ultrasound waves affects the movement of neurons (nerve cells) in the brains of rodents. Neurons are generated in one area of the developing brain and migrate to the cerebral cortex. This migration of neurons is one of the most delicate, complex and critical processes during fetal development. Anything that could change how and where brain cells grow and develop also may change basic brain functionality and all processes that depend on this phase of nervous system organization.

In addition, researchers at the Mayo Clinic characterized the audible effect of a typical ultrasound scanner as equal to 100 dB, equal to the sound of a subway train entering a station (Fatemi, et al, 2005).

What pregnant woman do you know who HASN’T had an ultrasound?  Shoot, there are ultrasound boutique’s in the mall by where I live!

Look, induction is just not all that it’s cracked up to be.  It’s time we turn our cultural attitude around to one of patience and trust.

Risk vs. Benefit

So when you are faced with the question of induction, you really have to decide if the risk of harming your child’s brain, among millions of other risks, is worth the benefit.

There are a few parenting topics that raise the emotional heat index at lightning speed:

• Vaccines
• Circumcision
• and Co Sleeping

It wasn’t until the mid 1800′s that solitary sleeping (ie baby in a crib) even became an option with the invention of cribs, multi room houses and baby bottles.

As people began imitating the elite and crib use became more popular, doctors began recommending against co sleeping and fabricate reasons to justify their bias.

“You could roll over and kill the baby.”
“It will harm your sex life.”
“Your child will become dependent and spoiled.”

None of these assertions were based on science, but coming from a medical authority, those assertions were taken (and likely given) as medical advice and seen as ‘healthiest and safest’ by most parents and therefore those beliefs crept into the collective consciousness as truth.

Now to add to the many studies supporting the benefits of co sleeping, new science is out in the AAP’s journal and The Journal of Neonatal Nursing.

The AAP study found:

“There seem to be no negative associations between bed-sharing in toddlerhood and children’s behavior and cognition at age 5 years. “

So, no you aren’t screwing your kid up by bed sharing.

The Nursing study found:

“…breastfeeding mothers had more sleep periods in 24 hours than bottle-feeding mothers. Breastfeeding mothers slept more than bottle-feeding mothers when co-sleeping….”

So, yes, you will probably get more sleep if you share a bed with your baby.

Additionally, previous studies have shown that bed sharing reduces the risk of SIDS and other breathing, hormonal, and bio-regulatory irregularities.

So the next time your pediatrician or well meaning friend tell you that co sleeping is harmful or dangerous, you will know better.

Update: Study

Newborns Need to Be Near Their Mothers at Night

Published October 19, 2011 | The Wall Street Journal

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Significant physiological stress and disrupted sleep patterns were recorded in 2-day-old newborns who were physically separated from their mothers but remained within close proximity in the same room, according to a study in Biological Psychiatry.

Research has shown that close contact between mothers and newborns in the first few hours of life significantly improves breastfeeding rates. Sleeping in the same bed, however, is strongly discouraged in Western countries.

Heart-rate monitors recorded the physiological responses of 16 South African newborns, 10 boys and six girls, during one hour of skin-on-skin contact with their mothers and one hour facing her from a bassinet. Mothers were 17 to 40 years of age and had no post-natal complications.

Compared with close maternal contact, separation triggered a nearly three-fold increase in autonomic nervous system activity, including heart-rate and respiration changes, and an 86 percent decrease in quiet or non-rapid eye movement sleep, the study found.

A drop in body temperature could explain the sleep changes but infants aren’t well evolved to cope with maternal separation, researchers said. Disrupting important early maternal-neonatal interactions may affect later development, they said.

In fact, I don’t know anyone – from great grandma’s to teens – who hasn’t enjoyed a Blessingway once they experienced it.

After all, I can’t think of why anyone wouldn’t want to do a Blessingway instead of a baby shower!

They are so much more meaningful and create such an opportunity for connection, a primal need of women during pregnancy.

Rather than give you a run of the mill post of what a Blessingway is and how to do one, I think it is better told in pictures.

This Blessingway was given for my one of my nieces, Julene.

She moved to another state the very weekend we did this celebration, and as such I am unable to attend her during the birth.

Tragic.

I am so glad that her mother, sister and mother-in-law will be her support along with her new midwife and husband, though.

What a treasured memory this is for all of us.

Enjoy…..

If you’re ever in the Salt Lake Valley, stop in to visit Heather Shelley at Feels Like Home Birth Suites!

Photos by my great 15 year old daughter, Roma.

I’ll be honest – this question annoys me to no end because there is no clear answer.  Being a “good” patient can either get you what you want or almost kill you.

This news piece on CNN Health insinuates that it’s clear – it pays to rock the boat.

Be an empowered patient, rock the boat, question everything, don’t worry if you’re doctor likes you, this is business and not personal.

1. Ask lots of questions. If you don’t understand something, ask for clarification, and if you still don’t understand, ask again. The doctor or nurse might be visibly annoyed, but that shouldn’t stop you. Remember, your health depends on your ability to comprehend what the doctor is telling you.

2. Don’t worry whether your doctor likes you. If you hesitate to do anything that might upset the doctor, such as asking lots of questions, you’re putting your health in jeopardy. While it’s a natural inclination to want to be liked, your health comes first and your popularity second.

3. Remember that this is a business transaction. You’re paying the doctor for a service; you’re not in a popularity contest. Of course, you’re respectful of the doctor, just as you’re respectful to a waitress or your car mechanic, but you don’t owe it to your doctor to be the perfect patient.

Apparently they haven’t been in an L&D room with a woman at 8 cm who has done all those things.

Mantra Busted

For the first few years of my professional birth career, I totally preached CNN’s mantra above to my hospital clients.

Until…..

I started seeing trends.

• Women who asked lots of questions, got bullied, demeaned and talked down to.
• Women who didn’t care if their doctor liked them got treated like crap, had unnecessary interventions performed without consent regularly and had unpleasant birth experiences.  Yep, punished.
• Women who treated their births like a business transaction had major postpartum depression.

You end up putting yourself at risk for the very problems you are trying to avoid.

A typical doctor/patient relationship may be able to handle CNN’s approach, EXCEPT when it comes to maternity care.

What’s a girl to do?  Just be a doormat and accept whatever is handed to her and thank everyone for their abuse along the way?

According to this report, that is apparently what most pregnant women do, and our abysmal outcomes that occur as a result are inexcusable.

“…women in the USA have a greater lifetime risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than women in 40 other countries. For example, the likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth in the USA is five times greater than in Greece, four times greater than in Germany, and three times greater than in Spain. More than two women die every day in the USA from pregnancy-related causes. Maternal deaths are only the tip of the iceberg. Severe complications that result in a woman nearly dying, known as a “near miss,” increased by 25 percent between 1998 and 2005.

During 2004 and 2005, 68,433 women nearly died in childbirth in the USA. More than a third of all women who give birth in the USA—1.7 million women each year—experience some type of complication that has an adverse effect on their health.”

Childbirth is the most intimate and personal act anyone can experience, and the way you are treated – not to mention the clinical outcome itself – can follow you for the rest of your life.  This is why CNN’s tips do not apply in such a simplistic manner.

If I were to write that piece for CNN,

these are what my tips would be:

1.  Ask lots of questions BEFORE the birth. Be prepared to leave and find a new caregiver in a heartbeat if you are ever treated negatively for doing so.  A good caregiver should welcome questions.  It is both of your best interests.  An educated client is a more satisfied client.  A doctor who educates his clientele has less lawsuits.  Any caregiver who makes you feel like a burden for asking questions is insecure about his/her practice and really shouldn’t be trusted with this life and death experience and your lifelong memories.  Those who you birth with should feel like close, personal friends who you trust enough to know they aren’t going to freak, and will respect you, if you say you just don’t feel good about XYZ procedure, position change, or smell in the room.

2.  Worry if your caregiver likes you. And if they don’t, or you don’t like them, run – don’t walk – out of the office.  You and your caregiver HAVE to have a friendship.  It is essential to a healthy outcome.

Imagine this scenario.  You are in the hospital, in the L&D room, 10 cm, pushing.  You are probably on the bed with your lady parts out for the world to see.  In pain, more than anxious to be done and hold your baby.  Your doctor waltz’s in, very stand offish and almost ignoring you because frankly – he didn’t like that you asked so many questions and dared have a doula with you.  Oh yeah, and that stupid birth plan.  Didn’t want an episiotomy, you say?  Well, we’ll see about that.

In the throws of a contraction, you’re doctor says, “Yeah, that baby sure is taking a long time to crown.  I know you said you didn’t want an episiotomy, sweetie, but your perineum just looks so rigid and tight, I think it will really speeds things up.” And before you or anyone else can say ‘wait!’, it’s done.  I really wish I could say I haven’t seen it happen.

You will be in a very vulnerable position during birth, literally.  Yes, it will be very easy for people to take advantage of you.  You HAVE to be able to trust you caregiver and vice versa.  Your caregiver MUST like you if you want to have a safe and happy birth experience.

3.  Bring cookies and essential oils. Look, those nurses are overworked, underpaid, and sometimes more qualified to catch your baby than your doctor is.  That’s not to say they are perfect, but they are incredibly tired and busy.  You need to make friends with them quickly because they are your advocate with the doctor until he shows and up and you will be seeing more of them than of him.  Bringing them cookies or gifts can be seen as bribery or sucking up.  But I see it as a an offering of friendship and peace.  And once you start diffusing essential oils in your room, they will be more willing to accommodate you, doctor included – trust me.  Essential oils are therapeutic for EVERYONE.

4.  Bring a Doula. If your caregiver doesn’t like it you have two choices.  1.  Get a new one who does.  2.  Don’t tell him about her, and don’t announce her to the doctor unless it comes up.  Of course, I recommend number 1, but I realize some of you won’t/can’t switch doctors.  About 1/4 of the births I’ve gone to, the doctor didn’t know who I was or why I was there, didn’t care and frankly I was okay with that.  I am there for the mom, not him and sometimes what he doesn’t know makes everyone happier.

5.  Educate yourself and make your “worst case scenario” decisions before the birth .  How can you choose anything if you don’t know what your options are?  In a perfect world, the doctor would have nothing but your best interests at heart.  But there are a lot of things besides yours and the baby’s health that he’s considering when your doctor recommends something:  a.  being sued.  b.  losing hospital privileges.  c.  himself (rest, hunger, his vacation schedule, his next appointment, etc.)  d.  social impact (how are his collegues/partners going to treat him if they hear this labor/birth didn’t proceed in an “accepted” way.

It Could Have Been the Worse Case Scenario Questionnaire

When large numbers of yeast cells die in a short period of time, the body has a difficult time detoxifying them quickly. As a result, yeast toxins enter circulation and can cause symptoms in the mucous membranes that cover the surfaces of most organs in the body, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestine, sexual and urinary organs, sinuses, ears, and bronchi.

Those who are in stage 2 or higher of yeast overgrowth tend to feel worse, not better, when they begin balancing yeast because of die off.

Because most babies and toddlers are still only in stage 1, they tend not to experience negative symptoms of yeast die off.

Though this can be a disturbing experience, it is actually a sign that the treatment is working. These symptoms are the predictable result of yeast die-off, also called the Herxheimer reaction.

Each person’s die-off reaction is different.

In some, preexisting symptoms are exacerbated; in others, new symptoms appear. Symptoms can last anywhere from several days to two weeks, usually starting on the third day of balancing yeast. Typical die off symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, greasy hair, stomach upset, gas, burping, and vertigo, fatigue, brain fog, low grade fever, headache, sore throat, body itch, muscle and/or joint soreness or pain, feeling as if  coming down with a flu .

To reduce or eliminate die off symptoms:

• Take a strong, daily probiotic
• Strong, daily greens supplement
• A daily coffee enema gets rid of the yeast as quickly as it is dumping.
• More water should be consumed.  4-6 fluid ounces of warm or hot water every forty-five minutes, throughout the day
• Rest
• Peppermint essential oil internally
• Chorophyll drops as needed
• 1/2 C of cooked brown rice daily
• Dry skin brushing before and after a shower stimulates your liver and helps your elimination pathways open.
• Take measures to have more bowel movement.  Senna, Smooth Move Tea, or On The Move from Herbalogie.com
• Grind a small amount of flax seeds in a coffee grinder until fine, light and fluffy, then stir a heaping tablespoon into a glass of lukewarm water, let stand for about ten minutes, stir again and drink on an empty stomach
• Try an epsom salt bath, or a baking soda bath, to help draw out toxins.

If you do not effectively rid the yeast as it is dying off and dumping, it can possibly settle in other areas of your body, such as your joints.  Yeast die off symptoms are a sign that the system’s eliminatory pathways are overburdened or as oftentimes happens, blocked.

Individuals with elevated heavy metal levels may have special problems with yeast die-off reactions.

If you experience yeast die off symptoms and refuse to do an enema, I would recommend backing off of your herbal or essential oil dosage.  This would mean that your road to yeast balancing will take longer and may be more difficult than had you done enemas.

Maintenance

Since we are constantly exposed to yeast overgrowth triggers, such as heavy metals and stress to say the least, after you balance out initially, it is highly unlikely that you will never need to rebalance your gut.

Taking a probiotics and greens supplement daily, in addition to improving your diet is just the first step to keeping your gut in check.

Just for good measure, you may want to spend at least one month out of the year taking the yeast herbs daily.  January is a great time to do this, as it is right after the holidays when we are barraged with sub par foods and stress.  Treating for yeast after a particularly stressful event would also be a good idea.

Also, meditating, exercising, laughing and engaging  other stress reducing activities as part of a permanent lifestyle change are in order.  Additionally, consider going off of as many, if not all pharmaceuticals, including birth control pills, would be ideal. Learning how to use ‘natural antibiotics’ so that you can reduce or eliminate treating with prescription antibiotics would be a high priority.

Resources:

Myfeelgoodfoods.com

Herbalogie.com

Mountainroseherbs.com

http://candidayeastcure.com/do-you-know-what-are-candida-albicans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prebiotic_%28nutrition%29

http://www.drhotze.com/Wellness-101/Yeast-Overgrowth.aspx

http://www.coconutdiet.com/candida.htm