Carrot, date and walnut muffins

Its been constantly raining outside and with breastfeeding I seem to need something sweet every day!  So I wanted to make some healthy muffins using no sugar (a little honey only) and stick to dairy free.  I made up my own recipe and it came out quite nice!!!  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp bicarb
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 1/4 cup of Self raising flour
1.5 cups of grated carrots
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/4 cup good quality vegetable oil (don't use olive oil)
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey

Method:
Place dates and water in a small pot and bring to the boil.  Remove from heat and add bicarb and ginger.  Set aside for 5 minutes and then mash with a potato masher.  Sift flour and cinnamon and add walnuts.  Mix together and make a well in the middle.  Add rest of ingredients and mix together until well combined.  Spoon into a muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees celcius. 

These are not sickly sweet but goes nicely with a cup of rooibos tea.  Enjoy!

Fitted cloth vs disposable Nappies

Before having Eve, I thought that I would like to have less impact on the environment and try out cloth nappies.  I didnt want to purchase a full set for in case I didnt like them but got a stash of 11 from different companies.  I tried a few different types from Baby Beehinds (http://www.babybeehinds.com.au/) and also Cushie Tushies (http://www.cushietushies.com.au/). 

My experience with these when Eve was a newborn was that they would leak and then get everything full of poo or wee.  This meant that I had to not only wash the nappies but also had extra sheets and clothes to wash. From 3 months on they are working much better and not leaking as much now.  Also, with Sydney winter weather instead of line drying them I was mostly putting them in the dryer which meant that all the extra water and electricity was and extra impact on the environment anyway.  I then tried out biodegradable nappies which worked out on almost double the price per nappy.  They worked fantastically well but definitely not a cheap option...  So here are my thoughts on Cloth vs disposable nappies:

* If you are using Cloth nappies to save money in the long run - great option - make sure you get enough so that you only have to wash every 2nd day
* If you are living in a nice dry warm climate where nappies can dry on the line these are a great option - especially from 2-3 months on as they are a much fit then and doesn't leak anymore
* Consider using cloth nappies whilst at home and disposable whilst out, and perhaps even cloth nappies during the day and a disposable at night as this will assist bubba in sleeping longer without having to change the nappy
* If you dont like the idea of cloth nappies, want to do your extra bit for the environment and can afford it, go for biodegradable.
* or if your budget doesn't allow for biodegradable nappies and you dont like the idea of cloth nappies look at other ways of saving the environment e.g. using natural baby products, washing detergents and cleansing products; using baby's bath water to do washing and ensuring that you dont leave heaters and lights on unneccessarily. 

My Birthing Experience

I always had a feeling that bub would come a little early, and as suspected, 2 weeks prior to bub’s  due date I woke up in the middle of the night with my “show”.  Mild contractions started, however I remember thinking how mild and manageable this was!  My pre-labour went on for 1.5 days and although tiring it was really not much more than “period pain”.  I kept going with the breathing techniques taught in the CalmBirth course which helped alot.  Contractions became closer together and when they were 3.5 minutes apart we headed for the hospital.  I got into the bath that night which pretty much stopped all contractions.  The obstetrician came in the morning and said that I was 2 cm dilated.  When I speak to other mothers at this point they go “holy shit, how much longer is this going to go for – yes I will get induced and give me the epidural please”, although I found that with the calm breathing and my approach to birthing I just stayed in the moment – I didn’t think how much longer or how long it has been – rather just stayed in the now.

Whilst examining me, the obstetrician accidentally broke my waters and then the contractions came in full swing.  I was fully dilated 2.5 hours later and another 2 hours after that Eve was born.  Transition was the most challenging – I was using my calm breathing and closing my eyes in between and then screaming during contractions – hahaha – must have been a funny sight!   My husband was extremely encouraging constantly telling me how great I was doing and that what I was doing is the most natural thing on earth.  The “pushing out” wasn’t that bad –  I didn’t find it as challenging as the transition stage. 

Once Eve was born all the hormones that were released made me feel amazing. Research shows that some of these hormones are blocked if drugs are used during child birth (refer to Sarah Buckley’s book Gentle Birthing, Gentle mothering).  I felt a rush of energy afterwards and can truly say it was the most empowering experience of my life!!  What made it so empowering was that I did this and I was in control – I wasn’t at the mercy of medical intervention but used the natural resources every woman is equipped with to have a baby.

I do believe that there is a place for medical intervention – in fact if it wasn’t for that my sister would have died during childbirth so I am extremely grateful for this – however I believe too often women are going for medical intervention when it is unnecessary.  Having done it naturally and comparing my experience with friends and family who didn’t I can honestly tell you that you feel so much more rejuvenated and fantastic after a natural birth.  If you had a natural birth or perhaps an epidural or caesarean, what was your experience like?

Preparing for Natural Childbirth

To start this blog I think it important to start at the very beginning!  My outlook on birthing was open minded.  Too many times have I seen programs, overheard stories or read books about mothers insisting on Natural home water births for their first child imagining quiet music whilst baby easily pops out – only to be rudely shocked when things go wrong and they get rushed into hospital for an emergency caesarean and then feel depressed afterwards because feel they let themselves down.  By no means am I against home water births – however I think having a certain expectation about your birthing experience when you have never done it before could result in disappointment. I decided to go easier on myself:  I was going to equip myself with as many tools as possible to make my child’s birth a natural one, but have open minded expectations, if on the day it didn’t go the way I planned I was going to go with the flow and not be hard on myself if things go wrong.  Here are the tools I equipped myself with:

·         After months of pondering whether to go public or private – booking myself into both ! – I finally found an obstetrician that had a passion for Natural birth - he was fantastic and advised me to do a Calm Birth Course.

·         We enrolled for a Calm Birth (http://www.calmbirth.com.au)  This course just really made sense to me – bases its philosophy around the fact that women fear birth – they call it “fear, tension, pain syndrome” and essentially after hearing from every woman how excruciating child birth is your body goes into fear mode when labour starts – this gets adrenaline pumping and adrenaline is responsible for “fight or flight”, resulting in blood being pumped to your extremities (to fight or flight), leaving less blood and nutrients where it is needed at the time which is around the uterus.  The course teaches calm breathing techniques and also taught my husband what his role will be – which is not to try and “save” me but support me. 

·         I read some books on the matter:

-Gentle birth, Gentle mothering by Sarah Buckley,

-Natural way to better birth and bonding by Francesca Naish

·         I did prenatal yoga

·         Regular acupuncture – studies show promising results that  regular acupuncture during pregnancy reduces the length of labour http://www.medicalacupuncture.org/aama_marf/journal/vol17_3/article_2.html

·         Took some vitamins to assist – magnesium in particular which assists with muscle contractions and improves energy much needed for childbirth.

In the next blog post I will discuss my birthing experience