Eat What Feels Good

After writing about my second child's birth story I realized I should share my first experience as well, especially since during Maryn's story I referenced my first birth often. We knew Ollie was going to be a girl and she was named pretty much since before she was conceived. I was 4 days past my due date with her and hoping to go into labor naturally since I had an induction scheduled but I did not want to be induced. With everything I'd heard and read about the chances of c-section being higher with inductions, I was scared. At 12:38 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2017, my water broke. I was laying on the couch, literally just waiting for this exact thing to happen. I had even put on my "Feel Good Labor List" playlist on Spotify about 20 minutes before. We went out to breakfast that morning, and when we got home I cleaned the toilets. We were ready for things to start moving! It's funny to think back on because when you're overdue, you typically haven&#

I did it!  She is here and she is amazing.  I think it is so important to tell my birth story so I can process it, learn from it and heal from it. Spoiler alert- everything was "fine" in the sense that everyone was healthy and our lives were never in danger, for which I am so so grateful. However, I believe there is emotional recovery after any birth, especially when it doesn't go as expected (as in this case).  I had an unexpectedly unmedicated birth- as in NO epidural- and I am floored. That was not my plan. Au naturale in my mind was reserved for the strong, the warrior women, those that had the amazing ability to rise above the pain and perceive it as purposeful. Women who believed they could do anything. I couldn’t hold a candle to those anomalies. I had wished I could be like that with my first birth, but after experiencing contractions with my first daughter and quickly asking for an epidural, it wasn’t on my radar to try to go without. Now I realize that an

My TMJ pain came on suddenly and caused me extreme anguish at times. Here is my story and how I got rid of it.  TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint, which is where your jaw connects to your cheekbone on either side. People who have acute or chronic pain at this site often refer to it as "TMJ," though truly it's "TMD"- Temporomandibular disorder.  One commonly known cause of TMD is teeth clenching or grinding, which often occurs while sleeping but can continue throughout the day as well. For as long as I can remember I have been a teeth-grinder, and my husband used to tell me he could hear me doing it at night while I slept, which makes me cringe. After I had braces as an adult, my teeth alignment was improved and I now wear a retainer that is built up to prevent grinding. It works for the most part.  Despite knowing I have been a grinder, it never really caused me pain so I didn't worry too much about it. However, this past fall I experienced two sepa