Pregnancy

Placenta Smoothie

By Jen | February 12, 2010 |

Before giving birth at home, I watched my fair share of homebirth videos. As disturbing as it was to watch a woman in so much pain, push out a baby, it was almost equally disturbing to watch the placenta just fall to the floor later on. Ew. Delivering the placenta ended up being more stressful than delivering the baby. No joke. Delivering a placenta is something I never even knew about until I had to do it the first time. If all goes well, your placenta just sort of falls out after the birth (like I watched in on the youtube videos), not right away, but eventually. Well, my placenta was stubborn. Maybe it knew what was in store for it! I guess my bladder was way too full and for some reason, I had either the worst case of pee shyness or I just physically could not urinate. The…

The Birth Story of Matias Cutler Powell

By Jen | January 8, 2010 |

I had been so worried that baby boy Powell would not come on his own and I would have to be induced again, just like I was with Maisie. I really wanted a homebirth and that wouldn’t be possible if I went over 42 weeks. At 41 weeks I went in for acupuncture. Let’s just say that was a bizarre feeling. Little needles in my hands, legs, feet and even my pinky toes! Then to the needles they hooked up little things that looked like jumper cables, which they ran some weird currents through. It was enough to make me sweat just sitting there. I went in for another treatment on December the 7th (almost 42 weeks) and was also prescribed and started on a homeopathic remedy to help me relax and not be so sad. That same night I had a couple REAL contractions. I had been getting used…

My Pregnancy Pains

By Jen | August 27, 2009 |

Such an adventure. I remember being about seven months pregnant with Maisie and literally running/wobbling full speed to catch a bus or metro in order to not be late for our appointment to look at an apartment. We did this for a couple weeks before we found the right apartment. This time around is almost no different. We are looking for an apartment again, but this time around I am six months pregnant instead of seven. It also feels like the the baby might just shoot out at any point when I try to run across a street or run to catch a bus. I don’t remember that feeling with Maisie. On just a normal day in “the OC” I would complain to my sister that “my regions hurt.” Yeah, she would make fun of me and tell me to be quiet because people could hear! Well, now I am…

Rules When Speaking to a Pregnant Woman

By Jen | November 13, 2008 |

OH YES! There are rules! I’ve been thinking a lot about pregnancy lately. Partly because I can’t wait to settle down somewhere and get pregnant again and partly because I have a lot of friends who have just either had a baby or are pregnant right now. It got me to thinking of all the crazy, ridiculous, rude, and inappropriate things that have been said to me during and right after pregnancy. So now that I am not boiling with anger or shame or insecurity anymore, I thought it would be fun to share them! I have to warn some of you though, you may be reading words that came from your lips. I am not trying to be passive aggressive in confronting you as many people say weird things to pregnant women. I just thought there should be a little lesson from one who has experienced some funny comments.…

Mustache

By Jen | June 10, 2007 |

I realized that I haven’t been very good at writing on here. I mostly talk about Maisie because she is a HUGE part of my life right now. I find myself talking about every detail of her. Even her poop. It is getting out of control. So I am thinking to myself, "this blog is all about my issues (thus the name ALL MY ISH), so maybe I should talk about those." So because you have been missing out on all my latest issues, here you go! I have a mustache. That is latest issue. No, it isn’t a hair mustache, but a sun spot mustache. I got the good ol’ pregnancy mask when I was pregnant and it has decided to stick around post pregnancy. It just happened to appear on my upper lip. Justin called me Jean Pierre on the metro today. Nice. We had been out in…

HAIR!!!!

By Jen | March 11, 2007 |

There is hair everywhere! I can’t handle it. I just can’t! I am in the post pregnancy stage where one begins to shed their hair. I am scared I am not going to have any left if it keeps falling out at this rate. It is everywhere. In the bathtub, on the bathroom floor, living room floor, well, on every floor! I also find them in annoying places, like wrapped around Maisie’s little hand. I am scared one will get wrapped around her neck and strangle her during a nap. Ok, not really, but I swear these hairs have a mind of their own finding themselves in all sorts of places. I have never been much of a shedder. My friends in college, now THEY were shedders. No offense girls if you read this! But seriously, they would shed something that looked like a dead mouse. Ew. Mine is still…

chubby chubbertin

By Jen | February 17, 2007 |

Why do I stuff myself to the point of sickness??? I have these freakin’ twenty pounds to lose from the baby (but I am only aiming for ten as I don’t mind keeping on a few for the baby till I am done nursing) and it is not helping when I go butt crazy eating everything in sight!!! I was doing so good until I had one little mess up day. Justin and I decided that because we walked around Paris and back a few times that we deserved a cheeseburger and fries from the little burger stand around the block. And yes, I told the guy to put the fattening hamburger sauce on it as well. Yum. I got to chatting with the burger guy while Justin was out buying diapers and we somehow managed to carry on a conversation in our broken French and English. I was actually…