HOW TO CURE ITCHINESS DURING PREGNANCY

Several weeks ago, my belly started itching.  I didn't have a rash and my skin wasn't really stretched yet, so it wasn't just a normal itchy pregnant belly (if there is such a thing).  This was crazy itchy.  I couldn't stop itching.  Scratching was not offering relief.  I couldn't sleep for two days.  Two days of no sleep + itchy, itchy, itchy skin + wild toddler = slightly crazy mom.  On the second night of no sleep, I found myself googling my situation and realized it might actually be my liver causing this insane itchiness.  So, after waiting until a more respectable hour, I texted my midwife.  She sent me a magical recipe for a liver detox that changed. my. life.

Ingredients:

2 cups of white grape juice

2 cups of apple juice

2 cups of cranberry juice

1/4 cup of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar with the 'Mother'

Make sure and use juice with NO ADDED SUGAR.

Directions:

1.  Mix ingredients together.

2.  Take 2-3 tablespoons every 3 hours, for a minimum of 4 times a day (ideally with meals).

Within a couple of days, the itchiness was completely gone.  Shut the front door!  After a couple of weeks, I stopped taking the detox.  If I noticed any itching starting up again, I resumed taking 3 tablespoons and it would again, quickly disappear.

I wanted to share this because a lot of pregnant women are prescribed medications, which always carry a risk.  Some women are even induced because the itchiness is so bad, which I totally get.  I probably would have started pulling my hair out if I had to go another night without sleep!

Hopefully this helps some other poor, itchy mamas out there desperate for relief!

Disclaimer:  This is not medical advice, just my personal experience.  You should still consult with your doctor or midwife about any pregnancy concerns.  

29 WEEK BUMP

ASOS Skater Dress in Leopard Print

How far along: 29 weeks

Due: Thanksgiving 2015

Gender: Don't know, won't know.  

Weight gain: about 25 lb.

Belly button in or out: Just flat

Sleep: Meh.  It definitely would be better if I wasn't waking up constantly to pee.  

Movement: Lots of partying is going on from bedtime until the early morning hours.  Hopefully this changes when the baby's born.   

Cravings: Pears.  I love pears.  And honey mustard, which is totally new because I've never been a fan.
Food aversion: None that I can think of.  

Feeling: Pretty good!

Fun fact: Baby Polk weighs a little over 3 pounds and is the size of a butternut squash!

Birth plan update: A couple of months ago I started having some spotting, which was nerve-racking, to say the least.  Though I'm still seeing my midwife regularly, I've also met with a high-risk OB (one who's natural birth friendly) to monitor things.  Turns out my placenta is low, but the good news is 90-95% of the time it moves where it's supposed to as the uterus grows.  If it moves where it's supposed to, I'm good to go with the home birth.  If it doesn't move, it's a total game changer.  I'll have to have a hospital birth, possibly even a C-section.  We'll know more in about a month, so in the meantime, prayers are appreciated.  

Violet update: Ever since Violet started talking a lot more, she hasn't been napping.  This is week three of mutiny no naps.  

Naps used to look like this----I'd lay her down and say, "I love you.  Night, night," and Violet would say, "Nigh, nighhhhhh," then fall asleep within about 15 minutes.  

Here's what naps look like now----I'll lay her down and say, "I love you.  Night, night," and Violet says, "Nigh, nighhhhh," then after about 3 minutes, she'll escape out of her sleep sack and and jump up ad down in her crib singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" or to her "Cinco, Cinco" for like an hour until she wants out and starts yelling, "Maaaammmmaaaaaa!"  

I've reached out to some other moms and it seems my chances are about 50/50 that she'll resume her naps.  I'm not really likin' those odds.   

22 MONTHS OLD

At 22 months old, my baby girl definitely isn't a baby anymore.  She is for real talking now.  I've said before how quickly she's been picking up new words.  Now it's like warp speed.  She is learning new words lightening fast.  In a matter of a couple of weeks, her vocabulary has quadrupled.  It's nuts.

Violet has shown an eagerness to learn new words.  She hands me things to tell her what they are and then she'll try her best to repeat it.  Some of my favorite learning tools that she also loves are her alphabet puzzle, number puzzle, her bath letters and numbers, and her learning flashcards.  (Right now, she's only using the alphabet, colors and shapes, first words, and numbers decks.)

Some of her other favorite things are:

Favorite activities: Jumping all over the house.  And every time she jumps, she says, "hop! hop! hop!"  Impromptu dance parties.  She also likes to chat on her play phone.  Whoever she talks to must be pretty funny too, because she is always laughing.  And she loves to read under blanket forts, but it's even better if Neil's in there, too.

Favorite song: "The Wheels On the Bus" and I'm almost positive it's because she especially likes the part where the "people go up and down, up and down, up and down" so she has another excuse to jump.

Favorite book: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen.  Violet is sorta obsessed with this book.  It gets read probably a dozen times a day, at least.  She also has a slight obsession with hats, so she really, really likes to wear a hat while reading it.  And ideally, everyone else in the room is also wearing a hat or two.  (I should mention, most things can be hats----shorts, towels, tupperware, etc., so no one has an excuse to be hatless.)

Favorite foods: Pomegranate seeds, cantaloupe, and cheese.

Favorite toys: Her puzzles, and she really enjoys coloring and stickers.

We make her sing for her supper!  Now that she's a full swing talking toddler, she's gonna have to pull her weight!

This is such a fun age...definitely my favorite so far!  I love that we can be silly with her and she is just as silly back.  It's so much fun to see how excited she gets when she's learned something new.  I hope she always has this love for life and learning.

10 YEARS AGO

The first church built in Slidell in 1886.  Photo taken in 2013.  

Ten years ago, I was a freshman at LSU.  I'd come home to Slidell, a city just north of New Orleans, for the weekend to celebrate my younger sister's birthday.  Instead of birthday festivities, we were driving away from home, about 1,000 miles away, to where our nearest family lived, to escape one of the deadliest hurricanes in recorded history, Katrina.

My story isn't that noteworthy compared to many I know.  I wasn't there when the water came in.  I didn't witness the destruction of all of my possessions.  I wasn't rescued from my rooftop.  I didn't watch a loved one taken away by the water.  My loss was nothing compared to what many experienced.

A few days after Katrina made landfall, I had to return back home.  With zero cell phone reception, I boarded a plane headed for Baton Rouge hoping one of my friends got my e-mail asking for a ride from the airport.  Otherwise, my plan was to look for a police officer, or maybe a woman with children who'd be willing to drive me back to my dorm.  My first flight, I was the only person on the plane besides the captain and flight attendant.  Thankfully, when I arrived in Baton Rouge, my friend was there waiting.

About a week later, I was able to catch a ride back to my hometown, unsure of if my home would even resemble how I left it.  The drive that normally took a little over an hour, took six.  So many trees were down everywhere, it felt empty.  Without power, the darkness felt pretty eerie, almost scary like the scene from a horror movie.  And the smell.  The smell was a combination of death and decay, and it lingered for too long.

At home, we had one A/C window unit run by a generator and we ate MREs.  No trees fell on our house.  No water came in.  No one I loved or even knew had died.  We were very fortunate.

Over the years I've met people who shared their stories of loss with a numbness.  People who had to throw away their only family photos because they were saturated or covered in mold.  People who came home to the piece of land that their house once stood on.  People who witnessed what happens when evil preys on the weak during times of devastation.  People who were in the Superdome when the lights were out, when the toilets overflowed, when the children were crying because they were hot and hungry, when the women were crying because they were raped.  Bodies floating.  Newborns separated from their mothers when hospitals were evacuated.  Elderly in nursing homes left behind to drown.

Thankfully, that's only some of the stories.  Just a few even.  Most of the people I know, even those who experienced loss, can also share stories of the blessings they experienced after the storm.  Stories of those who opened their homes to the homeless and food to the hungry.  Stories of strangers who left their comfortable homes to camp in parking lots so they could help gut and rebuild a house or a church.  Stories of how the storm, despite being the most devastating time in their entire life, had restored their faith in God and in humanity.

Like everyone I know from Louisiana who has since moved away---I might be here in Texas, but today my heart is in Louisiana.

The pilings of a former home washed away by Katrina.  Photo taken 2013.

27 WEEK BUMP

How far along: 27 weeks---the last week of my second trimester!
Due: Thanksgiving 2015

Gender: Don't know, won't know.  

Weight gain: ...like almost 25 lbs (insert wide-eyed emoji) which leads me to believe my scale was wrong last time and that I must have a 20 pound baby in my belly

Belly button in or out: Not really in or out---more like it's flush with the rest of my stomach

Sleep: You know, not so great.  It could be our super uncomfortable prison mattress.  Jon and I recently ordered a new mattress and I'm pretty psyched about it.  

Movement: There's been a lot of kicking on my right side.   

Cravings: Strawberry kefir and cottage cheese have been pretty tasty lately.
Food aversion: I don't really have any aversions at the moment.  When I was pregnant with Violet, and for like a year after, there were a bunch of foods I couldn't even say without shuddering.     

Feeling: Pretty great most of the time.  I get some lower back pains occasionally and some unpleasant reflux at night sometimes.  Nothing really compares to how horrible I felt during my first trimester with Violet though, so all this stuff is just a walk in the park.  

Fun fact: Baby Polk weighs about 2 pounds and is about as long a head of cauliflower! 

VIOLET LATELY

It has been so incredibly hot here in Texas, going outside to play is pretty much not happening.  Seriously, I never see any of my neighbors, or kids riding their bikes, or people walking their dogs.  Some might call this a heat wave, but I'm gonna go ahead and call it like it is.  This is a heat tsunami.  Our outside time is basically walking to and from our car when running errands.  Of course Violet is at the stage where she wants to buckle herself into her carseat and I just patiently melt in the sun until she's done, because it's too cute to see the sense of achievement on her face when she's done.  

Violet is about 21 and a half months old now and she is such a little sponge.  She is fascinated with numbers, colors, learning her body parts, and just new words in general.  Poopall is purple.  Hawk is heart.  Gagoo is goggles.  And for the past two mornings when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast, she said, "Ummmm, eye pea (ice cream)?"  No, Violet, we're not having ice cream.  What else do you want?  "Ummm, ookie (cookies)?"  Ya can't blame a girl for trying though!

She doesn't like food on her face or hands even more than ever.  Any minor things that go wrong---her tower of blocks falls over, she accidentally tears a stickers, or she spills her bowl of frozen peas (at least she's eating vegetables, right?) it's like some biblical disaster has occurred.

Despite her toddler meltdowns---like when she flipped out because I put some bananas in the freezer---she's still the sweetest little girl.  She likes to feed her baby doll grapes, and share her banana with Neil, and give Jon all of her chicken stickers.  And all day long I get hugs and kisses, so I can't complain too much.    

24 WEEK BUMP

How far along: 24 weeks
Due: Thanksgiving 2015

Gender: Don't know, won't know.  

Weight gain: about 15 lbs 

Belly button in or out: In

Sleep: Sleep is good!  

Movement: Baby does a lot of late night dancing!    

Cravings: My weakness is definitely sweets.  I can hear the mint chocolate chip ice cream (or "eye pea" as Violet says) in my freezer calling my name right now.
Food aversion: Ugh.  Sweet tea.  Sweet tea used to be my meth.  I could not say no.  However, it doesn't taste quite as good coming up as it does going down.  So, I think sweet tea and I are gonna take a little break.  

Feeling: 98% of the time I feel totally normal---minus the alien movement going on inside my belly.  The other 2% of the time I am having random nausea/throwing up and sciatic nerve pains shooting down into my hip. 

Fun fact: Baby Polk weighs more than a pound and is about as long as an ear of corn! 

Other news: We finally had an ultrasound done a couple of weeks ago.  Only Baby Polk knows his or her gender.  He or she was sitting up and even the ultrasound technician wasn't able to see.  It was so exciting to see the baby's fingers moving around and little baby feet kicking.  Sweet Violet wasn't too keen on what was going on though and was pushing the ultrasound tech's hand away!