Preparing for Baby, Nesting

What do I need to prepare for the baby?
As I come closer to my due date (just about 2 months) I am not only having a great time playing around in the "baby room" but thinking about the birth and what things I will need that day and during the immediate days to follow. I have been reading a book that a friend passed on to me at a rapid pace and am already about a quarter of the way through it.
What to Expect the First Year

Many of the things covered in this book helped me cover some of those items I didn't think of.
Get a nursing bra?- My question was whether or not to get one so I can leave the house to get more? Or at least be somewhat covered in case I need to run somewhere...
What I decided to do was get a couple of wireless cami-type bras that are super comfortable as well as easy to whip a boob out of if need be. They are comfortable and I'm wearing them already. My reasoning is that I will never know exactly how big I'm gonna need the bra to be until the "milk comes in." Sounds like a milkman will be showing up. Cute image, but no. Also, from what I've been reading about the frequency of feedings and napping (both by me and the baby), it doesn't sound like I will really be getting dressed all that often. So, on that note...
Sleepwear- I bought myself a pair of pj's that are a button up top and pants. The buttons make for easy access for nursing. Now I can at least look somewhat presentable when I've been in and out of bed all day. The bras I got will give a little support underneath as well. I also made sure that the sleepwear is season-appropriate. It will still be winter when the baby comes, so I bought flannel. I may also get myself something a little lighter when the time comes.
Diapers- This is an obvious one of course, but there are specifics to discuss. We have decided that we would like to try using cloth diapers. I also decided that in the beginning, disposable would be more practical for the learning process, especially with those first few diapers being filled with meconium. I have a friend who gave me a 40 pack of the best diapers you can get as far as bio-degradable/planet-friendly is concerned. I have learned that I will need to take care of as many as 7-10 dirty and wet diapers in the first few days. That being said, I can maybe get through the first week on this pack. So, I am ordering 2 more packs to cover myself for hopefully the first 3 weeks. The ones we're looking at are made by Seventh Generation.

After we get through the majority of those, we will see how big the baby is and re-evaluate. That will be a good time to start getting our cloth diapers and covers together. I must remember to consult my group of knowledgeable mothers on their recommended brands!
Baby Wipes- I am buying a couple of packs of biodegradable wipes from the same company as well as I wanted to make some of my own. I figured that if I am going to be washing cloth diapers, it shouldn't be too much of a big deal to add the wipes to the load. I took some hand me down receiving blankets and cut them to size (to fit in a wipes-warmer I also inherited). Just a few blankets made 4 dozen wipes... which apparently will last only a few days.

For the liquid on the wipes I decided to go with some advice on a website I came across and get a soap foaming pump. I plan to use Dr. Bronner's tea-tree scented soap concentrate. This soap is made with all organic oils and ingredients and the first ingredient is coconut oil, which sounds great to me since I've been using it on myself. It doesn't take much of this stuff added to water to get a nice foam going. I will most likely squirt each wipe as I use it with the foam instead of leaving them all sitting in liquid. We will see when the time comes, if this is a practical method or not.
Must have items registry items- This is just a list of stuff I did not even think to add to my registry until I spoke with a mother of 3 (2 of which only having just arrived in August):
*Nail clippers/scissors
*Shampoo
*Sunscreen (won't need for a little while, but it's good to look into brands)
*Nasal aspirator
*Baby thermometers
*Pacifiers (we don't want to use them regularly but will have an emergency pair)
*Teethers (can be needed within a couple of months)

*Size range clothing - Newborn stuff is very small, so I went back and registered for mostly 0-3 months      and 6-9 months and have a very few hand-me-down newborn items. I was a big baby and therefore expect a big one myself...

*Coconut oil - instead of diaper rash cream, lotion, anything... has anti-bacterial properties

Hello nipples!- Nipple care seems to be a huge deal, which is cool because I've had them all this time and now they are gonna get some use. I've been reading about bleeding, cracking, mastitis, plugged ducts and infections and all kinds of good stuff. I decided to stock up on necessary nipple needs. I am ordering Lasinoh gel pads and lanolin cream. I have a bag full of nursing pads that were leftovers from a mommy friend. So, those are taken care of. The gel pads look really cool because they can be warmed up or put in the fridge for cooling relief. Apparently you're also supposed to let your nipples air-out. "Don't mind me guys.... I'm just letting my nipples air-out." That'll go over well when company's here. Haha.

Nesting
We have a second room in our apartment which would be the baby's room, but we also need it for guests. So, I haven't really got all of my baby things set up. I do have most of the gifts laying out so I can look at them or pet the especially soft blankets he got. It won't be a full-on nursery until he starts sleeping in his own room. We decided that we will have the baby sleep with us and are ordering a co-sleeper to pull up right next to the bed. Why are we co-sleeping? Well, firstly because I will be breastfeeding and nothing could be more convenient than having the little guy at an arm's length for those late night feedings.
The second reason he is sleeping with us makes me think of when we got our first puppy, Olive. We tried to "crate-train" her at night and lost hours of sleep during that month or so. She would cry and cry and even got her mouth stuck in the metal grid door trying to get out. We brought her into our room, which made it a little bit better. The first night we decided to let her sleep in our bed with us, she slept with no problems and we all woke up late the next morning and it's been that way ever since. The poor little girl just wanted to be near a warm body. She didn't know any different from being with her mom and litter-mates. My point being that this little guy has been with me for 7+ months. Why would I stick him in the other room just because he came out? Imagine how terrifying that must be for a newborn to go from a warm tiny space with a heartbeat to a cold and dark expansive room.
So our guest/baby room will be for play and hanging out on the daybed when we have no one staying with us.

I put some black contact paper with retro-looking yellow flowers on the inside of the hutch for an extra touch. I wasn't worried that it might not look masculine enough. We also have the "Bumbo" seat with removable tray. There was a recall of these because people were putting them on counters and table tops with their baby in it and then walking away. Go figure, some of the babys fell and hurt themselves. I think I will manage to be smarter than that.
The blue thing on the hutch is a baby bath with a robe and sock set on top of it. We've already got a small collection of books for whenever bedtime stories start. Looks like we're on our way to being prepared? Not nearly.
Our bedroom needs a complete overhall. I got a changing station, painted it and papered the shelves with a thick wrapping paper that has a faux birch bark look. This will go in our room. Yes, I am partial to turquoise right now. I was gonna go for black except this will match the color on the armoire I painted (staying out in the hall).

We also have a crib for unattended napping in our room. The co-sleeper is still missing and if I can wedge the glider in there, we are golden. This excludes my mission to find a way to hang a mobile when the ceiling is impenetrable concrete, and the shelving I'd like to put up with other assorted baby eye-candy.
I guess the nesting instinct is me going into the room with the baby clothes and petting the blankets and working on little projects in there. I am enjoying looking at all the stuff we have for him and imagining a little baby laying on the shaggy rug and rolling around. Yes, it is currently my favorite room in the house. My next order of business is making the actual room we will be spending the first month or two in fully equipped with diaper changing, breastfeeding and sleeping necessities. If we could just install a kitchen upstairs, we'd be set.
Note to self: I also need a diaper pail!

My mother-in-law is making me and Ellis a needlepoint masterpiece to hang on his door. I'm so excited to see how it will turn out. This is the inspiration collage I made up for her.

I know some of this decor stuff can be boring, but I'm all over it. So, I tried to limit it all to this post. We will see how our bedroom pans out and possibly go over it's functions and maybe some of the cute little things I wanna do in there. It's blog related, I swear.... Nesting is a "primal" instinct...

On the food side of things, I made this amazingly easy meat sauce which we ate over yam starch noodles called No Oodles. Still primal and going strong! (And seriously looking forward to my first reunion with coffee - decaf while breastfeeding, of course)

To make this: I bought 2lbs. grass-fed beef from Trader Joe's and their package of fresh organic basil. Browned the meat in a giant sauce pan with big splashes of red wine, coffee (one of my cooking secrets), and about 1/2 tbs. sea salt. Then added one can of kirkland brand organic tomato sauce and one can of their organic diced tomatoes (which I put in the bullet with some fresh thyme, garlic powder, onion powder). I poured half of that in with the meat and kept enough liquid in the bullet to mix with the whole bunch of basil minus the big stems. Oh yes, and a little bit of oregano. You can also use straight up italian seasoning. I always taste as I go and add this and that accordingly. 

Favorite Foods and Working Out

Breakfast has pretty much been the same every morning, with the exception of adding a smoothie every other day. I love my eggs. They are my favorite thing to eat and believe it or not, bacon is second. My body just really wants that choline I guess. Sometimes when I'm done with breakfast I think, maybe I could just do the egg part again. I haven't had too much trouble with the greens. Spinach is my first choice, but I know kale is better. I try to switch off every once in a while. I even tried taking some sauteed mushrooms and leftover kielbasa and adding it to the kale mix. Good move.

Favorite Foods
Most of the time the food we are really drawn to or have strong cravings for contain some nutrient that our body is telling us it needs. I think the first thing is pretty obvious, as it is something I have every morning (see above pics).
Cholula- This is something I used to eat back in college days and decided to recently buy a bottle because I remember loving it's smoky flavor. It's not a very hot sauce, but the taste is amazing. I have been regularly dousing my eggs with it in the morning, but now I'm starting to lighten it up a bit and appreciate the taste of the actual eggs.
Seaweed salad- I bought a container of this at Costco and had to pry myself away from eating it all in one sitting. It is a little on the sweeter side and has an alkaline feeling in my stomach which makes it good for me to eat when feeling a little nauseous. Seaweed has numerous beneficial nutrients including:  iodine, calcium, vitamins A and B-12, protein and fiber. I have been worried a little about my calcium levels because I haven't had broccoli in a while and I know that it is the best source of calcium of all green plants. But wait! Actually, seaweed is the best source. I really just found this out after having decided we should have broccoli with dinner. Broccoli contains 1 third of the amount of calcium compared to a portion of seaweed that is 35% smaller. Now I know why I want it so bad.
Horseradish mustard- We bought this at whole foods (it's their brand) and I can't find enough excuses to eat it! I love it. What could possibly be in it that I need? Besides boosting the body's intake of certain vitamins and minerals it also contains small amounts of selenium, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium. The mustard seeds themselves have insignificant amounts of various vitamins and minerals as well. This one may just be a typical vinegar/salt craving.
Pickles and Tahini- This is my substitute for pickles and peanut butter. By no means is this a craving I developed while being pregnant. The combination of pickles and pb has been around since I was a kid and my dad used to make it into sandwiches. I loved it then and still do, but since I don't eat peanut butter I had to find a comparable substitute. Tahini had the right salty alkaline qualities to offset the crisp, cool dill pickle. Sesame seeds are also on some lists for superfoods during pregnancy because they contain high levels of calcium besides their contribution to daily needs of thiamin, phosphorus and copper.
It's funny how I thought I wasn't getting enough calcium.
Lamb- The lamb meatballs we made the other night were amazing as usual and of course go extremely well with the homemade baba ghanouj and tahini I've been eating. It would seem as though I'm on a middle-eastern kick. The lamb is obviously helping with the high amounts of iron a pregnant woman needs to keep up energy levels while growing all that extra blood. I am truly lucky that we have access to such high quality lamb through our CSA with Herondale Farm.
Tomatoes- I have been eating quite a lot of tomatoes lately. I don't know if it is because we have access to so many during this time of year, or if I'm just drawn to their sweetness. I really like the little grape tomatoes I can pop in my mouth like candy. We have also been buying some heirloom tomatoes from farms and some of these are just amazing sliced and eaten as is. The flavor is crazy sometimes, like it has been seasoned. All it takes is a little splash of balsamic or a pinch of salt and I could eat a bowl full of tomato salad. I am definitely missing the luxury of goat or feta or buffalo mozzarella cheese bits though.  :(
Taken from LiveStrong.com:
"Like most vegetables, the tomato is nutrient-rich, supplying your body with essential vitamins and minerals needed for good health. A 1 cup serving of chopped or sliced tomatoes contains 25 mg of vitamin C, 27 mcg of folate, 1,499 IU of vitamin A and 427 mg of potassium. Vitamin C is necessary for the formation of collagen, and the support protein for your skin and ligaments. Folate is a B vitamin necessary for the formation of red blood cells and DNA. Vitamin A supports growth and health of teeth and bones. Potassium is a mineral needed for proper heart function and muscle contractions."

Besides the above foods, I have of course been having cravings of milk and cheese and soft, squishy rolls with onions on them and all the other things I see at the store. I smell all the cheeses on display at Whole Foods and daydream about my favorite sharp cheddar to the point of almost tasting it. I smelled a baguette the other night and was having a really hard time walking away from it. I'm pretty sure I seem like a crazy person... but it is worth it. I smell my husband's sangria, barrels of roasted coffee beans and anything that has an aroma to stop me in my tracks. It's always only the things I can't have. Sometimes I think if I smell it long enough I can recall that smell and imaginary taste later when sitting on the couch imagining my future re-introduction to these foods. It makes my mouth water and I almost start chewing on my own tongue. I decided that as soon as I can eat bread and cheese again I will get myself a baguette and a good hunk of cheese and put slices of the cheese in the baguette and eat it just like I did in France at 16 years old. The way I figure it is, if I breastfeed for a year after my due date I only 560 days until I can have this dream come true. If I breastfeed for 1 1/2 years that makes 742 days. Geez. That's not a bummer....

For lunch today I had leftover spaghetti squash with meat sauce and a little seaweed salad for some greens. This meat sauce is a total comfort food for me. I can't get enough of it! Definitely gonna have a huge stash of this for when the baby comes. Below is a picture of a dinner we had with sausage and organic farm peppers and an heirloom tomato and arugula salad on the side. Also another favorite meal maybe because it is so extremely easy.

Working Out
I finally got off of my lazy ass yesterday and went to the gym again. I haven't been feeling as exhausted during the day as I was before, so now I really have no excuse for not working out.

Yesterdays WOD:
Squat cleans- I did 5 at 65lbs. - 5 at 85 lbs. - 5 at 105 lbs.

10 chin ups (I did ring rows)
15 sec Support hold on the rings

3 rounds (I only completed 2 in the time allowed)

Barbell Complex:
5 – Deadlift
2 – Hang power clean
2 – Front squat
2 – Front rack lunge (alt legs)
2 – Hang power clean
5 – Deadlift

***10 rounds***

-The entire complex must be unbroken. If the bar is dumped at any time, the round must be started over
-increase the weight by 5-10 lbs each round

I did 8 rounds total: 5 rounds at 65 lbs. - 1 at 85 lbs. - 1 at 75 lbs. - 1 at 65 lbs.

We got to see our little guy/girl on Tuesday at a sonogram appointment. I will get into detail in the next post.

Dinner tonight is fish and broccoli. We bought some wild Hake at Costco. It is a mild white fish and comes in a long skinny piece that reminded me of fish and chips.

Breastfeeding

This morning I started off my breakfast with a chocolate, banana, almond butter and coconut shake. Not too shabby, right? This is something I have found gets my digestive system moving a little bit (helps me poop) before I put some solid food in it. I will hopefully be getting some more of the powdered greens (chocolate flavored this time) to add to the mix to make it more effective. A little while after this I had my usual breakfast with eggs, a wilted green, a piece of the best batch of bacon we've gotten from Herondale Farm and a couple of tomatoes because they are sweet and delicious on top of giving me extra vitamin C and other benefits. I have also stopped taking probiotics in the morning to curb the nausea that they seem to cause.

Breastfeeding
I certainly don't want to pass judgement on anyone about their personal choices but I happened to be a pretty opinionated person and this is an attempt at a warning that my following comments may offend those who choose not to breastfeed.
The only two reasons I can come up with that are acceptable for not breast-feeding your child are: 1. if you physically cannot do it (be it a health problem, impossibility to latch, being a male/male couple, etc...) and 2. complete ignorance about it, which is barely acceptable.
Why when you choose to be a mother (hopefully it is a conscious decision) would you not want to give your baby the best start in life that is available to them? First of all, let's just take a look at the difference between breastmilk and formula under a microscope.

Here is another example of how much breastmilk contains in comparison with formula and cow's milk.
What are the benefits of breastfeeding you ask?

Benefits of breastfeeding for the baby
1. A 50% less cases of ear infections for infants EBF (exclusively breastfed) at least 3 - 6 months
2. A 42% less chance of eczema for infants EBF at least 3 months
3. Babies have 64% less vomiting and diarrhea with any breastfeeding vs. none
4. A 72% less rate of lower respiratory tract infections/like pneumonia, bronchiolitis and
    hospitalization with EBF at least 4 months
5. Asthma is less 40% for children who were breastfed at least 3months
6. Obesity is less 4-24%
7. Type 1 Diabetes is less 19-27% for infants breastfed at least 3months
8. Type 2 Diabetes is less 39% with any breastfeeding vs. none
9. Cancer: ALL less 19% with breastfeeding at least 6 months; AML less 15% with breastfeeding
    at least 6 months (these are two kinds of leukemia’s that affect children)
10. SIDS less 36% with any breastfeeding vs. none

Benefits of breastfeeding for the mother
1. Type 2 Diabetes is less 4-12% for each year of breastfeeding for women without a
    history of gestational Diabetes
2. Pre-menopausal breast cancer less 4.3-28% for each year of breastfeeding
3. Ovarian cancer less 21% for any vs. no breastfeeding and evidence for dose response (i.e.
    greater protection with more breastfeeding)
4. Post-partum depression occurs less for short breastfeeding moms vs. no breastfeeding

Those are just the more scientific facts. Let's talk about all the other things:

-A woman's body will return to pre-pregnancy shape much faster than a non-breastfeeding mother because a feeding mother burns a ton of extra calories as well as she is producing a hormone while doing it that causes her uterus to shrink back to normal size much faster.

-It's free! How can you argue with that? It costs nothing but what you feed yourself and it's always there. You never have to mix up formula, warm a bottle and test it before feeding your baby at 3 am. Plus you will have less bottles to clean.

-Breastfeeding provides your baby with the perfect balance of fat, protein, vitamins and provides preparation of the digestive system for future feeding. You cannot simulate this mix with anything else because it is alive with white protective bloodcells.

-You will have better bonding with your baby and more time to do it. This is preventative of postpartum depression.

-Your baby will be smarter! Not just because of the nutrients you are providing but also because of the time you are spending with your newborn.
-Your baby will most likely sleep better at night as your milk supplies him/her with melatonin during those evening feeding sessions.

Here are two great sources of in depth information on the subject from Web MD and the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Here is a very important read about why a mother may have trouble with breastfeeding because of her baby's tongue. This is an unfortunate situation to find yourself in and thankfully this very smart mother did all of the research for us. You can bet that my husband got his tongue checked by me after reading this and my baby can expect the same thing when it comes out.

For lunch I ate leftover lamb meatballs with homemade baba ghanouj, horseradish mustard, red onion and pickles on top of arugula. Sounds like a weird combo, but it was delicious!

For dinner, we met some friends at Joe's Crab Shack. My sister-in-law told me about their buckets of shrimp and crab and I'd been thinking about it ever since. How could I not try that? Well, the place is a little hokey but the food was good and it was a fun experience. I think that the specific bucket I ordered didn't have enough seasoning on it, as I was trying to be super-primal. Also, the lobster wasn't as worth the work as the crab. Next time I will order differently, but I would do it again.