Running Postpartum: How to get back without hurting yourself

Every time I have a baby I feel like I start back at level 0 with running and exercise. Let me start by saying that I may not be the model of the typical "I just had a baby and can't lose the baby weight". For the most part my body bounces back pretty quickly with all 3 kids so far. So this is NOT about weight loss, this is more about getting my stride back and getting my routine back and regaining my running muscles back and restrengthening my core.

Lets be real here for a moment, women's bodies are amazing, they take 10 months (40 weeks) to grow and support another human life, your organs shift and take new places, your rib cage expands, your core muscles separate and you then give birth to this new life. So if you don't feel like you can go running 5 days postpartum, THAT IS OK!

Then once we have had the baby we are healing a wound inside us the size of a dinner plate. Yes I see you measuring that with your hands right now. Oh and we are then feeding this new little life with the milk we are producing. So our bodies are doing a lot!! Here are my tips on running postpartum.

Be easy on yourself!

Don't feel like you HAVE to get back to running, go back when you know you are ready. If you want to wait till your 6 week visit with your midwife or doctor to make sure you don't have diastasis recti, that might be wise. Any damage you do is harder to repair as opposed to just waiting for your body to recover. 

Enjoy the 'baby moon'

Your little squishy baby is only a newborn for a few weeks, you can't get that time back. The pavement will always be there, your running shoes aren't going to wither away. But your newborn baby will be little and need you for such a short time, enjoy it!! Cuddle, nurse, sleep and be a mom. Running can wait. 

Find your core...its in there somewhere

Strengthen your core muscles before you lace up your shoes. Your pelvic floor and core muscles have been through  A LOT! They need some help going back into place, some good tips on that can be found here. 

Do a plank everyday for just 1 minute a day to help regain your core. There are a TON of other exercises to do, but start out small. If the baby is napping you can plank for a minute, then do whatever you wanted to do. Sleep, eat, take a shower... ahh the simple things in life...

You know.. squat!
For those pelvic floor muscles, I love the quote from Ina May Gaskin “Squat 300 times a day, you’re going to give birth quickly.” 
So true!!! Granted you already gave birth by this point, what she is saying it build up those pelvic muscles and they will do their job. Post birth we can't see them like we can our flabby stomach or stretch marks on our thighs. But the are so very important!! You don't want to worry about running and realizing you can't control your bladder, or worse.

A great article I found on squats and how to do them propperly is here

Stop Doing Kegels: Real Pelvic Floor Advice For Women (and Men)

So, don't be intimidated by those moms who go running at 5 days postpartum, they are not you! You only have this baby once enjoy it. When you do go back to running take the baby in the stroller or leave them with dad, up to you! Just make sure your core and pelvic floor are tightened then hit that pavement with the confidence that you just gave birth to a baby so you can do anything!!!

Homeschooling with a toddler and a newborn

Yes you read that right! I am homeschooling our oldest who turned 5 in May and have my 3yr old underfoot and a newborn baby. Recipe for crazy? Maybe...

The good thing about all this is that I am not the first one to do this, other moms have done it and will do it in the future. And guess what? They lived! Granted the timing of having a newborn and it be the first year I start homeschool is not ideal, but we will make it work. I really loved reading about Raising Arrows experience on her blog, this lady is a pro! 8 kids and homeschools them all! I got some great ideas from her.

You may be asking:

How??
We have a relaxing 'life is school' approach to school. Can you imagine having a five year old sit at a desk all day everyday and be asked to do book work? That is a recipe for disaster! As we all know boys have a ton of energy, asking them to bottle it up all day in our mind just seems stressful for the parents and torture for the child.

We do a lot of hands on activity work for the oldest. For example: we did a day at the local park brought frisbees, balls, excetera.. and while we were there we did some exploring. We found two snakeskins, cicatia shell and a ton of other bugs. Allowed them to touch, question and investigate these on their own, Science. We estimated the length of the snake skin and then measured it for real to see if their estimation was correct, Math.
When we got home we pulled out our animal encyclopedia and looked up all the things we found, Reading.
Watch videos online about snakes shedding their skin and that concluded our school day. Stressful? No! Educational? Yes!

We do some book work and hand writing too but I try to make it as enjoyable as possible for all. Along with that we use Reading Eggs for the 5yr old and ABC Mouse for the 3yr old.

But when the oldest is working on something that he can do on his own, like writing words or Reading Eggs. I focus on the younger one, maybe doing a puzzle or having him paint.

Keeping a 3yr old busy:
The busy box was one of the best ideas I saw! It's a collection of things that the younger kids can play with and keep busy with while I help the older one. This special box is only pulled out when it's school time, he thinks of it as his school box.
He also is learning how to write and read at the moment. I find that we can combine learning like they did in the days of the one room 'school house'. More on that later too...

The newborn:
We all know new babies sleep alot, I think it's a way to help the moms get used to managing the new dynamics in their family :) I wear the baby in a wrap or sling when I can. As he is getting bigger I can put him on a play mat in the school room too. There have been many days I'm nursing the baby while doing school! Hey its a science lesson!

We bake:
I like to cook if you could not tell.. Baking is my first love in the kitchen though. Once a week I do a baking project with the kids. They have to read the ingredients, follow the directions, measure, mix and I put it in the oven. I will be sharing those recipes soon....
I make them help with clean up too ;)
One day we measured everything in metric!! Talk about a well rounded education.

Why?
Why do we homeschool? This is strictly our thinking so please don't be offended if you don't share this thought. We are the parents, who better to teach them. We know them best, how they learn, what they like, what would motivate them. We constantly learn new things everyday, so do they. That is school, life is school. As they get older we will be adding  more structure into the school day,  making it longer if need be. But basically filling in where they need help and helping them excell in what they love.

And my favorite question...
"What about socializing?" 
We do! I promise!! These kids are far from socially awkward. We do play dates, have friends and do our ministry work too. So they get exposure to ones older and younger, knowing how to talk and interact with ones of various ages is important.
We also have a local homeschool group that we do field trips with. It's a large group of families that at least once a month we get together and do an educational field trip. They get to associate with ones that are older and younger than them in that group as well. Plus being able to be part of a school group and all wear matching t-shirts makes them feel special :)

Is homeschool for everyone?  No. But it works great for us and maybe will for you as well.

Review of Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle

Review of Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle

Let me just say first off that no one 'gave' me this book or was I funded to write this review, this is purely my own investment of funds to get it.

First the look: A very comfortable book, I loved the pictures and how inviting it was. I liked how each recipe was marked with a 'GF' for Gluten Free and 'E' for Easy, etc.... I of course went to the 'E' ones first on my first recipes that I tried out. It is a very comfortable and not pretentious at all.

The food: I have been looking for a Vegan Indian Cookbook for some time, but the idea of curry everything was a but much for my husband. I quickly learned that 'real' Indian cooking does NOT involve those jars of curry! The list of spices I would need are neatly found in the front of the book as well as list of other ingredients that would be good to have. Very convenient for when I went to the Indian store, walked in and handed them the page and said "I need these please". Most of those spices I dared not pronounce. Side note... 3 huge grocery bags full of spices only cost me $60!!

Mali Kofta

The recipes: I decided to try out 6 varying recipes and made sure they all were marked with a green 'E' for easy. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they truly were! Most of the recipes in this book are just one page long for instructions and the ingredients list. Being a busy mom of 3 kids this was right up my alley, simple, delicious and healthy food for my family and in under an hour. All of the recipes I tried out came out fantastic! Her level of spices were just right, not to much and not to little. I think the true Indian spices made all the difference too. 
I liked how she suggested substitutions for ingredients too, that helped out a lot for days when I ran out of Tofu or other things. 

Indian Pot Pie

 Our family loves Indian food and eating it out all the time would make us go broke! But this book makes anyone happy to stay home and eat Indian whenever they want. If you have been looking for an Indian food cookbook and you are vegan then get this cookbook! You will be licking the Mango Curry off your lips before you know it and come back looking for more. 

The tale of our OP home water birth baby (AKA baby #3)

I have been MIA for a while I know... but its all with good reason. We had our newest little one August 19th 2015. So here is his birth story and some pictures as well..... baby #3 was truly a different birth that is for sure, as you will see...

It all started the day before with a visit to our midwife Kaleen, from Tree of Life Birth Center. I was 39 weeks 3 days and so so ready for this baby to come. I had been trying to walk him out, since running was off the table. Spicy food, pressure points, chiropractor visits to make sure he was in line. Yet... nothing... I would get some strong contractions but nothing that stayed. This was my longest pregnancy too and my 5 foot 3inch frame was getting tired of the extra 30lbs I had put on. The other boys came at 38 weeks 6 days and 38 weeks 1 day, so to me this was torture. His head was hitting my pubic bone and I knew it! Every step was like a bowling ball hitting my pubic bone and it was getting to me, I. Had. Enough. So when we went on the Tuesday to visit Kaleen she asked if I wanted to be checked. I told her "Normally I say wait and the baby will come when he is ready, but yes go for it!"
Very quickly she started to chuckle "His head is RIGHT THERE! +1 station and 3cm." "Oh good!!" I said, "So anything we can do to speed this up?" She offered to sweep the membranes a little, this was not painful so I don't think it was as bad as everyone makes it sound. But she just did a little sweep and told me to go home rest and call her when it was time.

So we went home, and waited.... and waited.... and waited.... she send me a text that night around 6pm "Anything?". "Nope nothing significant" I replied, More waiting. I sent a text to a friend that had just had her baby a few days before and had her midwife do the same thing. "How long till you went into labor after you saw your midwife?" "about 3 hrs" she said. Here I am 6hrs later and nothing!!! Come on baby!!!

After dinner at my parents we went home, by the time we were going to bed I was getting uncomfortable and had some lower back pain. But nothing that made me think I was in real labor. So I was tossing and turning all night, but deep down I knew this was the beginnings of labor but I wasn't ready yet. My sister had to drive 2hrs to get here, it was 1 AM and I wanted to just sleep, nothing seemed lined up for this baby to come tonight. So I got my headphones, sat on the couch and listened some relaxing magazine articles and fell asleep. I woke up at 3am still with the back pain, and just tried to lay down or sleep on the couch recliner and wait to see what happened. Thankfully I fell back asleep till 6:30AM and woke up knowing this was it. It was a feeling of relief and excitement and joy that we would finally meet this baby, and soon. Bring it on!!

I told my husband that this was it and we are a go! He called my dad who he was going to work with that day and told him change of plans, baby is coming. I called my sister who for once in her life had a dead battery on her phone. Timing huh? So once I called her hubby's phone I told her "you may want to head on out here, this seems to be happening". They thankfully had bags packed weeks ago so they headed over on their 2hr trip. My labors before had a good record of being quick! So the need for speed was a real thing for them!!

The next phone call was to my midwife, who thankfully lived only 10-15 minutes away. She quickly dropped her kids off at school and came over. Once she got here I was sitting on an exercise ball to help the labor not come on as quickly, the moment I stood up or walked around all I could do was stop and focus on the pressure. So sitting it was. Kaleen checked for baby's position while I sat there. "I feel legs and knees, I think this is an OP baby" she said. OP means his back is against my back and not butt sticking out towards the front, the whole pregnancy he was in 'perfect position' with butt out and now you go and change?? She assured me he will come out either way so no need to worry about it. I quickly got on hands and knees to see if gravity would bring him around. But in looking back I think it was to late, I was in full on labor, he was in position and head was beyond engaged. But can't blame a girl for trying :)

My other boys were in 'butt out' position the for their birth, so with baby #3 he decided to be different. But it also explains why I was  having back pain! Back labor! Hello!!

My hubby got the tub blown up and ready before the midwife got here and once she was here I could hear the water going in while I labored on the ball in the living room. Once my mom and dad got here I was just getting in the tub. My sister was stuck in traffic! The major highway was shut down! Of all the days!!!! I tried not to let it bother me and just went into labor mode. Mind you this whole time I was talking and fine between contractions and was starting to doubt myself if this was really it. It was not that bad at all! I was eating, drinking, laughing and talking, like it was no big deal! There came a point though that a 'serious get down to business' hat came on and this was a go. My sister finally got there in time for me to really push.

With the last 2 labors I was able to 'breathe' the baby down and out. No real big pushing till maybe the last bit with the head. So I was doing the same thing for this one... but nothing was happening. I changed to hands and knees, tried again... nothing. Squatting... nothing. What is going on?? I remember asking at one point "Can you see the head yet?" "No, not yet." My midwife replied. What?!?! 

Thank goodness I had a history with my midwife and she knew me and how I normally labor and deliver. This one was going to be different, a tougher baby, and she knew it. After my unsuccessful changing of positions and nothing happening. She suggested I lean back on my hubby and pull my knees to my chest. That sounded so uncomfortable! But if it got him out and going then lets try it. His head needed to go under my pubic bone, all this time I had felt him hitting it but not going under. So he needed some direction on where to go. Once I got into the new position he was coming! My bag of waters were bulging and to get things moving my midwife offered to pop them with her fingers. Pop! All the fluid was clean! Good lets keep going. 

The pushing I had to do was the hardest I've ever had. I had those horrible thoughts run through my head 'He is not coming out' 'You will need to be transferred' ... I told all those negative thoughts to jump off a bridge!! Instead I told myself "you have done this before, you can do it again" "Your body was made to do this" "Trust your instincts". And I'm glad I listened to my positive thoughts! The crazy pushes and intense pressure was like nothing I'd had before. But I knew it was worth it. 

He came out facing up! OP baby for sure! It was head, forehead, face, and then he shot out facing up the whole way. Never turned or moved from that position at all! The crazy part was that with OP babies the widest part of their head it was comes out first, not the top crown of the head like most babies. I have a history of big kids too, he was no different, 14.5 inch head, 14 in chest, 9lbs and 22 inches long. This was NOT a small baby. No wonder he was a tough guy to get out! An hour of pushing total, but he came in 30min from the bag of waters being broken. 4 hours of labor total. My longest labor and longest pushing phase too. 

He came out crying and alert too! A beautiful baby boy covered in vernix and a nice little indentation on his forehead of where he kept hitting my pubic bone. It went away quickly though. We are so happy he is here and healthy :) He latched on right away and hasn't stopped eating since. 

What does real labor feel like?

We are getting closer, as I write this I am 39 weeks and 1 day. The longest I've been pregnant yet! My others came at 38 weeks 1 day and 38 weeks 6 days, so this feels like eternity to me!

So that question all first time moms have "What does real labor feel like?". Recently I was able to be a 'doula' (I'm not certified so I use that term loosely) for a good friend's labor and delivery. She was first time mom and we had that "what does labor feel like?" chat. Granted, everyone is different and every person's pain tolerance level is different. So what I felt may not be the same for you. But I hope my experiences can at least give you a good basis.

With our first I Googled that question, read every book I could on it and STILL in the throws of labor I wasn't sure it was the real thing. I learned very quickly my pain tolerance level is high! Woo hoo!!
With baby #1 I woke up to annoying back pains and put a heating pad on it and when back to sleep. Woke up an hour later and just couldn't get comfortable, took a hot shower and realized that when the ache went into my legs that this just may be it. But that wonderful break you get in between kept teasing me and making me think it was just more 'practice' contractions. Ether way I woke up the hubby and said "maybe call the midwife I think I might.... (pause for 1 min to give into contraction)..be in labor". Once he saw that he called her and woke her up, since it was 1A.M. We made our way to the birthing center, I walked in like it was no big deal and apologized to her up and down for dragging her out of bed. Stopping along the way to lean on the couch to have a contraction. She looked at me not sure if it was real or not, but said we would go and 'check'.

Once I settled into the big bed they had there she 'checked' me and started laughing. "You are complete! 10cm!! How did you not know!?!" We both had a good laugh about that.

So there you have it! Pains that went into my legs and ones that made me stop mid sentence and think of nothing else.

Baby #2
Again I doubt myself to much, this one was similar. We were out doing shopping for a friend's bridal shower and needed to run to Target too. While at the first store I had to stop the cart while we were shopping and give in to the feeling. But we kept going, I was not totally sure this was it and don't like to be thought of as a drama queen. So I told my husband "just keep looking for the dish towels they want then we can head out". Little did I know the 'head out' phrase was literal.

We got in the car to go to Target, only a 3 min drive, and once we got there I told my husband "you run in and I will wait here with little man in his car seat". In that short time it took him to get bananas and come back it suddenly hit me THIS WAS IT! I called him on his phone and told him "get back here we need to go home! NOW!". The intensity went from 'ok I can bear it'..... to... 'holy cow I am going to give birth in the car!' In only a few minutes too. By the time we got home the midwife was on her way and that tub needed to be set up in record time. That is a birth story for another time....

So baby #2, the hunching over on the cart to deal with the intense contractions and then the sudden ramp up in the intensity.

With baby #3 this is all yet to be determined, this one has given me those silly 'practice contractions' or Braxton Hicks for months now. The pressure has been there for weeks, so I am at a loss. My only thought is that they will get intense enough where I can't think of anything else. But we will see....

Preparing for a Home Birth

Home birth.... 2 words that when put together scare people still to this day. Why? We can all thank TV and Movies for that! Those horrible images of women screaming and cursing at who ever is in the room, doctors and nurses all at the other end of the woman poking and prodding and shouting at her to "PUSH" while she is laying on her back and feet at strapped to torture devices to keep her in optimal position so the doctor doesn't have to bend over. Poor doctor, we need to cater to him or her.....

Yeah I'd be scared to!! Maybe is a form of birth control for people? So when I tell people we are planning our 2nd home birth and 3rd out of hospital birth they give me the "Have fun with that (insert eye roll)" or the "What is wrong with you?" speech. I used to try to explain to them its not what you think, I'm not going to the woods with the wild animals to give birth. We WILL have a midwife there and she brings modern medical equipment. But by baby #3 I've changed my approach to "What do you think a home birth looks like?"

The answers can vary from people that are right spot on, to the out there ideas of chanting and incense with no help at all just the mom squatting in the woods next to a deer. Riiiight.....
From there I can better explain to them what really goes on!!!

 I like the comparison that Ina May Gaskin uses in in one of her books. Would you rather... have a bowl in the middle of the floor, be told to poop in there in front of a room of people, most who you don't know and have them all yelling at you to "POOP!!!" and do it quickly or else!! Or... would you rather have the privacy of your own home to do as you please, when and how you want, with the audience of your choice and with low or no lights and go when you feel ready. You tell me....

We are now at the safe zone of 37 weeks or more where a home birth is good to go! With that we also have to have some things on hand. Some items are needed other are just a personal preference. Also by baby #2 I realized its not so much the birth items you need as much as its the POST birth items!

So here a few my favorites:

•  Coconut Water with Pineapple 

great for during the birth for keeping electrolytes up and its just good an refreshing too! And After baby too its great to have while you are nursing.

• Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera 

Its a life saver for post baby recovery!! Put some on a large over night pad and put it in the freezer, you have.... Padcicle! The greatest comfort to a recovering bottom.

• Arnica

A great thing!!! You can use it with no affects to you or the baby. Its great for post birth with bruising and helping the uterus to contract down and help you not be in as much pain. Win win!!

• Vitamin C

Keep those electrolytes up!! Its great for drinking while in labor to replenish lots electrolytes and keep energy up. I drink it now too even before the baby comes.

Vegan Cauliflower Gratin

Are you ready for this? Do you like comfort food? If you answered yes to at least one of those questions then prepare yourself for the yummy treat I am about to show you.

Level of difficulty: kids were at my feet the whole time, they could have helped too!

Time: 20min to prepare and 20min to cook

Vegan (yes Vegan) Cauliflower Gratin

4 lb (2 large heads) cauliflower florets
2 cups precooked brown rice
4 TBSP coconut oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 TBSP all purpose flour
3 cups non dairy milk (coconut, almond, soy) room temperature
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried Italian herbs (whatever you have on hand, I used oregano, basil and parsley)
1 cup nutritional yeast and 1/4 cup for topping
1 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella cheese (I used Daiya) and 1/4 cup for topping (it was one bag for me)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
pepper

*make sure your brown rice is done before you start... we all know how long it takes to cook*

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with olive oil or use your coconut oil to grease it

Cut cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and steam for 7min. Combine the cauliflower and rice in a bowl and set to the side.

In a large pot (you will see why you need a large pot at the end), warm the coconut oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Saute until softened. Add the flower and cook for another minute. Slowly start adding the milk, stirring after each cup to combine. Turn the heat down to low and let thicken. Add the nutmeg, cayenne and Italian herbs, stir. Add in the nutritional yeast and vegan mozzarella, stir. Let it all melt, may need to turn the heat up to medium again. Now take that bowl of rice and cauliflower and add it to the large pot. (Glad I warned you about the large part right??) Add salt and pepper to taste, stir to combine and coat the rice and cauliflower in the yummy cheese sauce.

Pour into the 13 x 9 pan, even out and top with nutritional yeast, vegan mozzarella and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges start to bubble and you have a nice brown top on part of it. If you think the mixture looks to dry feel free to pour in some more of the milk in to it.