Wk 34 - Passport to freedom

Last week I had regular doctor's check and it was happy one!
Apart from getting the knowledge that our little boy keeps growing well (5 lb 13 oz / 2.6 kg) and strong vitals, I got clearance to get on my feet and take on modest activities. As well as swim. Joy, oh joy!!!

I got so excited! I have done walks, minor pregnancy related exercises and taken on the normal cleaning the house and doing some of the cooking. Of course listening to my body at the same. The combination of the growing Sisu and very minimal cervix support does set certain limits.

But in general it just feels good to be able to get out for a walk or join my husband to grocery store. Yes, I am excited to get to go to grocery store!

For the weekend we left Houston city and went to see family in Galveston. To get out of the house for 2 days after 10 weeks of bed/couch rest was like visiting Disney World. Lovely weekend!
Time spent with family, in the lazy river, at the beach...*happy sigh*.

My bro (brother-in-law) was also up for the fun task; take some pregnancy photos. He is excellent photograph, even though it is just his hobby, I think he should make it a part time job :) I have a whole lot of catching up to do with my hobby photo-shooting. I had already given up on the thought of getting any pregnancy pics...cause going to a stranger and paying heaps for it does not fit my logic. But having the session with someone we know makes it a fun adventure for all. We got lot of great pictures too! Galveston beach is perfect place for photo-shooting. Especially at the time when the sun starts to set.

Now my husband gets to practice babysitting by watching after me....as he and I have slightly different view on what is within the "allowed activities" and what is not ;) He is too good in looking after me and Sisu, could not ask for more.

My take on the nutrition during pregnancy

There are surely as many views on pregnancy nutrition as there are pregnancies. For a first time pregnant mother-to-be it can be though tough to find the way in the jungle of information. Thus wanted to share what has worked for me. My style is combination of Finnish and American research based information and most of all, common sense.

I have been interested in nutrition, as well as nutrition supplements since I was a teenager. I worked as a side job during school breaks at the sports nutrition importer and got to learn a lot about importance and impact of nutrition and supplements to body's ability to perform. I admit openly to be bit of a nutrition and exercise freak. I love keeping myself updated about the latest research and experiment as well. Of course always listening to my body.

The importance of nutrition has only increased its importance to me during the pregnancy. In particular when I was ordered to bed rest. As ensuring that one can give the body what it needs but at the same make sure that you do not overload it and keep your weight gain in the healthy levels. The below list is naturally on top of a healthy meal diet, which should include good variety of healthy foods. For me this meant healthy home cooked meals, supported with daily vegetable and fruit additions and no sweets. I have been limiting the overall intake of sugar to very minimum. Only during the late 3rd trimester I have allowed myself occasional desert. Just because sugar can have so much negative impact on the pregnancy but also later in life for the child.

Please note that these are just my personal preferences and things, which have worked well for me. As each person is individual and their body reacts to pregnancy differently, listen to your body and use your common sense, as well as your personal preferences.

Prenatal Vitamins
I started taking these the moment we started talking about wanting to start trying to get the new family member going. For me this meant for me just changing from daily vitamin to prenatal vitamin.
I ended up choosing GNC Prenatal Formula with Iron (LINK) but without DHA (Omega 3).
Reason for this was simply lessons learned from sports. Due to the increased blood amount iron will be one of the crucial building blocks to keep the nutrition flowing to the baby. The better hemoglobin, the better capacity for the blood to carry oxygen.

If one needs additional iron to support Floradix is a great product. As it is liquid, it is absorbed well by the body and minimizes the stomach irritation.

Fiber

Important support during pregnancy and the further one goes in the pregnancy, the more one learns the importance of it. I have been fiber fan always and eaten my full rye bread instead of white bread. In Finland we have full rye bread, which has high fiber consistency. I have luckily been able to find few places, where one can order Finnish rye bread.
Apart from that I enjoy good portion of Metamucil every morning, followed by fiber rich breakfast: steel cut oats with berried and mix of milk & greek yogurt.

With this approach I have not had any issues of constipation during pregnancy. Also was able to avoid hemorrhoids till this week. Sisu's has grown so well and has taken the start position, which I think to be the reason the pressure has grown.

Omega 3
I chose to take Omega 3 / DHA separately because of my experience of mixing DHA to a multivitamin results to issues in allowing the body to take the maximum benefit of the DHA. I have taken Omega 3 / DHA supplement separately since...I was a little child myself. My nanny gave me spoonful of fish liver oil everyday. All the other kids hated it, where as I was always eager to get my daily portion :)

Omega 3 is important on so many counts, for the mother and the baby. Starting from positive impact to one's mood / mental balance, i.e. minimizing the risk of pregnancy or post pregnancy depression. For the baby it support the brain, visual and neurological development. Since the intake of fish products should be limited to the recommendations by the various medical sources, one needs to make sure to get enough Omega 3 otherwise.
I took already before the pregnancy GNC Triple Strength Fish Oil 1500 (LINK) and decided to continue with it.

Mainly because it has really that what my body needs and it had good rating by various consumer tests. I personally try to avoid, apart from multivitamin supplement, to buy product that has a hole host of things mixed in. I take vitamin-D and Omega 3 separately, again to help to make sure that my body can absorb what it needs in the best possible way. Often when too many different things are mixed into one tablet, there is no guarantee that your body is able to take everything in.

Probiotics
There have been even few recent Finnish studies supporting the additional intake of probiotics during the pregnancy and also during breastfeeding. Link to Reuter's article about one of the studies.

Impact to skin rash / eczema
The outcome of the study support that intake of certain probiotics during pregnancy helps to reduce the risk of eczema and other skin allergies. I read through the research and listed down the probiotics used in the test, hunted for the product which has the same selection of probiotics. The study also showed that children to mothers, who took probiotics during the pregnancy and breastfeeding, were prescribed less antibiotics than comparison group's children. (LINK to the study)

Impact to weight management and gestational diabetes
There are studies, which show positive impact of the intake of probiotics during pregnancy to avoiding gestational diabetes. As well as positive impact to weight management during pregnancy.

Impact to colic
Studies show also positive impact in reducing or avoiding colic. This is due to baby's improved flora of the bacteria in the intestine organs. In Finland one starts to give probiotic drops to the baby few weeks after birth as a normal procedure. Where as in US the probiotic drops are all labelled for colic treatment. Giving the baby the probiotic drops well before any colic symptoms even appear help to mitigate and minimize the colic related intestine organ related issues. (LINK to WebMD)

Again, you will find hundreds of products but the trick is to take the time to investigate the product content and ensure you get the quality content and the right probiotics. PB8 has all the probiotics, which were used in the pregnancy studies I have read.

Vitamin D 
Whether living under the sun or not, vitamin D is necessary addition to the regular diet. Especially during pregnancy. I have taken additional vitamin D supplement for years already. Simply because when I lived in Finland, the amount of day light is rather limited during most part of the year.
Vitamin D has impact to helping Omega 3 to absorb better and those two together contribute a great deal to mental health.

During pregnancy the studies show that proper vitamin D intake helps to secure baby's proper development. It helps to reduce also the risk of preterm delivery.

I did a wide search on the various studies to understand whether the dose in the prenatal vitamin is enough. I saw few studies about the benefits of taking high dose of vitamin D during pregnancy (LINK) and decided to go with that.

In my case, I have been able to avoid gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. My blood pressure has been 90% of the time giving great readings. Only few times for some reason when at the doctor's office, it was momentarily higher. Excitement or what it may have been.

The more I read about the studies around the above mentioned, the happier I am that I chose this path. Am sure that once Sisu is born, I get real life data to confirm my personal research :)

TGIF - Simple Joys of Life & Slow Life

Life in today's world is hectic, easily overfilled with sensory overload. If there is a moment of peace & quiet, one escapes the calm moment to a shopping mall or grocery store...just because.

Myself, and many I know, have tough time to "just do NOthing". Yet, that is as per the recent research results one important skill in preventing one to burn the candles from both ends. I think during the past 7 weeks I have finally learned the skill, even managed to make peace with it....and strangely enough, enjoy it.

The amazing energy charge one has after a moment of not having done anything special, just letting the mind run its own path. The trick to the energy charge is first to get rid of the feel of "I should be doing something useful" and enforced feeling of guilt that us over-performers first link to such activity of doing "nothing".

What it ultimately leads to as well is the awareness of simple joys and positive things in the daily life.  One gets also lot more ideas that way. When the mind is not over crowded or sensors are left to rest, instead of focusing on wants & wish to have & co., one starts paying more attention to here and now. One does not try to operate the mind but allows it to "take a walk in the park". I feel also that I am able to be more present now than I have been before. All of this is again positive development to all the relationships and maintaining them, not to mention what's needed in the future with Sisu.

Spotted interesting info from a Finnish Baby magazine: Recent study shows that if parents are not present when interacting with the baby, the baby is not getting the necessary responses to its communication attempts. Which leads possibly to slower development in communication but also on the emotional side as well. Starting from as little thing as whether the baby gets easily response to the eye contact with the parent and of course the amount of skin contact, since skin & body is in the beginning the antenna of the baby.

A simple joy moment example: Me knitting on the couch...and then stopping it, cause my attention is
directed to observing my husband cooking in the kitchen. Not sure how long I happily drifted in that activity, just simply enjoying watching him fuzzing around. We did not talk, he did not even notice I was observing. He was so happy in his own world. Such a beautiful moment, happy and so much pure positive energy with very little effort.

Another simple joy is the feeling of happiness, which carries on for days, when getting audio & video calls from near and far.  The happiness just takes over the whole body and mind, keeps making me smile even few days later.
I like the feeling I have managed to gain; there is nothing else I need to do right now. I can and WANT (This is the most important part; Wanting to give the undivided attention) give my 100% concentration to the call and the discussions. One can easily get that organized in normal life too...just stop and focus on the call or on the person one is talking with. I have had the habits of not taking calls when visiting a friend & family or having visitors. Yet, calming the mind to focus fully on the other persons story and just taking it in, that requires conscious adjustment and the will allow one to do so.

It is nice feeling when my family & friends from across the Atlantic take the time to send message or call. Makes me so happy to hear from those, who are with in the spirit all the way from there. Funny....before I was closer by and visited them on regular basis but at the same busy working as well.
The network here, family and friends. One knows to appreciate it now even more than before. Having the time just to talk, not just catching up but talking about life and their experiences.

Acknowledging that family & friends, near and far, have a choice and lot of other things to do...yet they want to hear how I am doing or stop by for a visit. There were times before, when I sometimes felt afterwards, that I was not able to fully listen or focus on the person...cause my mind was working on 10 other things or nagging about something I should be doing to be really efficient.

Now one is able to focus on the calls & visits in a whole different way and the mind is not trying to race through 100 others things parallel.

There is also the amazing positive force of getting support from people, who I have not even met, but who are fighting in same spirit their own battles. Or people, who are friends of my American parents and send their best wishes and share that they include us 3 in their prayers. Makes one really humble and thankful.

In this current slow life....the difference between weekday and weekend kind of vanishes when one is on bed/couch rest. Yet, one can make a special feel to them. Today I decided to allow my feet enjoy the Friday feel. Have not done that for a while. When I run, I have the habit at least once a week treat my feet...but lately, well have not been running, so have kind of forgotten that nice routine.
Whether running, pregnant or not, feet appreciate the attention and pay it forward to your whole well being. They don't say for nothing that feet are the foundation to your entire body :) and in Asian culture feet are the gateway also to stress relief and mental well being. Another good old saying comes from Germany "your feet are your auxiliary kidneys".

Alkaline foot bath, nice brushing and scrubbing with Clarisonic supporting the activity. At the end my feet were as smooth as baby's butt :) Apart from that I was nearly dancing around and felt like a new person. The great side effect of the alkaline foot bath / bath is its detox effect and how it helps the skin to restore its balance. I have long ago stopped using anything else than ph balanced shower gels but alkaline boost every now and then, makes wonders :)
Meine Base alkaline salt: LINK

Maybe next Friday I put on a really lovely facial mask and get my husband to laugh at the same :)

Happy TGIF!!!

Positive side effects of bed/couch rest - Mental growth & relationship development

Who would have thought that so much good can come out of what my doctor calls "torturing" i.e. spending weeks in bed/couch rest? Initially I did not realize how positive this whole experience can be.

The most simple side effect is what has been the most difficult one for me to achieve in the past years....letting go of being in charge and allowing myself to need anyone.
The is positive side of being very independent but in a relationship it can also cause challenges. Moving to US was first good step in the development. I was in a completely new and strange environment. I allowed myself to need my husband to help me to get settled. He did such an excellent job in it and continues doing that every time something new comes my way (dealing with taxes, health insurance, etc.).

Now I have taken the second, even bigger step. Since I cannot do anything much, I had to let go and allow my husband to take over running the household. After first few days I realized how positive this change was to our relationship! We both were thrown outside of our comfort zone, yet had to work as a team. My role was to allow my husband to do things in his way and stay out of "his kitchen" (as it is called nowadays) and his role was to take on everything to keep things rolling.

I used to hear from him the statements that he does not cook, nor does he like doing laundry or grocery shopping. What I have noticed while observing...he is an EXCELLENT cook! He cooks some Finnish dishes better than I do, he spices them up nicely. He is amazingly reliable grocery shopper, event without a list he knows to bring the right items. He seems rather content too :)

My husband has, due to his own positive experience in all this, helped me also to get away from feeling guilty about not being able to do anything. Every time I have tried to offer help or trying to sneak to the kitchen help, I get a loving but firm command:" Couch, now." or "Yes, you can help by going to the couch and keep me company or just look pretty."

Goes without saying how happy and proud I am of him, not to mention so very grateful. I would even date to say that our relationship has changed positively, we have strengthened the bond between each other. We have been a great team since day one but we are now even a stronger team together.

I am extremely happy and at ease, as I know that after Sisu is on this side of the belly, we can really operate as a strong team to tackle the daily life together. This time has been good practice for what's to come. Thanks to this experience we trust each other more in allowing both the space & style each of us does things but also trust each other more in daring to ask for help and allowing to be helped.

One day on the couch gave me the idea of wanting to take this time as self development as well, prepare myself for what is to come.
I have done that in few different ways; I purchased a package of sessions with an energy coach / spiritual life coach. We do the sessions via Skype, which is great, as my mobility limitation plays no role that way. In addition I have knowingly worked on my own and taken a deeper look inside of me, to the person I am, as well as what kind of person I want to be and what are the changes coming ahead, how do I want to deal with those, etc.  On top of that I have read about practical, psychological and spiritual sides of caring for the baby & parenting.

My coach has helped me to get simple tools to allow the warrior in me to get a calmer state. Especially during night time. I have been able to sleep better the past few weeks than I have in months...despite being pregnant at this stage. Either Sisu is more gentle during the night or sleeping mainly too...but apart from few nights, I have not woken up to him kicking. Other things we have worked on is to prepare for the birth and bonding with the baby.

I am talking to the baby every day and he is coming to my dreams on some nights. One night the following experience gave me goose bumps; I was deep in the dream and heard child voice shouting loud in Finnish: ÄITI!!! ÄITI!!! ÄITI!!! (MOM!!! MOM!!! MOM!!!) I woke up to that and first wondered what was wrong, I was worried. Second later I realized that I had been sleeping deep and sound on my back. That is at this stage of pregnancy a big no-no because of weakening the blood supply to the baby.

I have not been nervous about giving birth too much before but now I am even less. I don't know why...but I am actually looking forward to the experience when the time comes.
In my view I get to be the tool to add life to this side of the curtain. After having had to allow people I love to move to the next room, behind the curtain...it fills me with positive emotion finally to be able to help to create a positive balance for a change. Help our little boy to be born and help his soul to jump to the carousel of life. For a moment I get to be tightly connected to the universe.

My coach gave the nice idea to think about the birth as a family adventure or day in the amusement park. The roller coaster and the all the crazy rides, which make one feel the sensations...sometimes not far from the pelvic pressure and the rest.
My husband loves amusement parks as well. We have been taking some of the most fun rides together. So, we talked that this experience will serve well to that list....adventure ride for 3 of us together.

Remains to be seen how this chess game of the universe plays out and whether my moves help to prolong the game till full time :)

Baby knits - fun nesting activity

I have always liked knitting socks and other smaller items. Especially during winter months I used to knit few pairs of socks, hat or scarf.
After moving to Houston that hobby has stayed in the background. I guess mainly for two reasons; lack of time and the heat does not invite to knit.

The nesting effect during the pregnancy has materialized itself in my case as the urge to knit for the baby. Probably since that is an activity which I can perform from the couch.
I just got the baby blanket ready and it makes me so happy. The blanket is big, soft and thick...comforting. The color mixture just makes one happy.

Once the blanket was ready, it reminded me of a line from the Sibelius movie. Sibelius and his sister promising to look after each other:" I will knit you a pullover so big that you can observe the world safely through its loops. I will knit that pullover be so thick that even the longest thorns will not

reach you through it." In my case the pullover became a blanket :)

So, yesterday I was wondering what to knit next. Especially now when I realized that little-Sisu will be living through the Houston "winter months".
It isn't winter for Finns but from a small baby perspective it means that he needs something warmer to wear....yeiiii! Socks, hats, little mittens and maybe a little jacket...which can all be knit.

Like said previously I was "just" an average sock knitter but thanks to internet one can always find a forum / page, where there are plenty of ideas and get advice when needed.

Ravelry is awesome page! I have also found lot of the knitting blogs be excellent source of inspiration and pattern information. Webs has also apart from yarn lot of free patterns.

Today I finally decided to knit as my next project so called train socks and mittens. They are very timely due to their history, Finnish war immigrants but also because simply lovely. Exceptional socks, which stay well in the feet of a little one.

https://silmukoidenseassa.wordpress.com/tag/junasukat/

Those socks originate from Finnish history during 1939. A mother was escaping the war (WWII) with her 2 month old baby girl by train. It was winter but the little girl did not have any socks. The train from Vaasa had to stop because the rail track had been destroyed as a result of bombing. While waiting for the tracks to be repaired the retired handcraft teacher started to unravel her pullover and made socks for the baby girl. Those original socks still exist and since then, the happy mother has continued to knit socks for new born babies, as has her daughter.

See the Finnish train sock pattern and history in English: LINK

One month in bed / couch rest - tips on how to maintain the sanity :)

It is now one month since I went through the exciting hospital experience (LINK), which was directly like from Dr House tv series. Little Sisu* is still happy in his belly-apartment and together we have managed to get now 4 weeks further spending the days strictly in couch / bed rest.
One of the most asked question I get from everyone is:" How does someone like you manage to stay sane through the days in bed/couch rest?"





So, what do I and we do...to keep the days interesting?
I have built somewhat a routine to the days, just to keep mental activities going.

Relaxing early morning
I get up when my husband gets up around 7.30 am. Yes, one could sleep in...but for some reason I
feel that sleeping would spoil the day. Thus, I am quite happy to get up early also during days off / weekends. I am sure that opinion / habit changes after Sisu is on this side of the belly :)

My husband and me have our morning talks (read: mostly I talk and with the help of my talks & voice, he manages to wake himself up), morning routines and then I enjoy slow breakfast while reading the Finnish newspaper (Helsingin Sanomat) from iPad.

Now Sanoma Magazines / Sanoma Lifestyle has enabled lot of magazines to be read in digital format (YEII!), as a side addition to the newspaper digital order. So, some days I am enjoying the possibility to read Finnish magazines through my iPad. Some days, I read those magazines out loud to allow Little Sisu to get more accustomed to the Finnish language.

Brainy activities
During the day I try to engage my head....means I read a lot. Dive into data and information around pregnancy and delivery as per US process. Gain better understanding of all the insurance related processes and to understand what my insurance covers / does not cover.

I am not able to participate in person any pre-birthing class, so I am reading books and studying through internet related information.
Why do I put so much effort to it? I read somewhere...that average person makes a careful study and comparison through internet and consumer reports before buying e.g. a TV. Why would one not prepare the same way for the most important event too? Especially when one does it for the first time.

I think that when I know roughly what the process is and what is coming, I can relax and focus on helping to make the birth as comfortable as possible for the baby and myself.

Bonding with the baby - we have daily Belly Bud sessions and I keep talking in Finnish to Sisu. I really enjoy the daily bonding activities. Nicest is to notice how he keeps reacting to those.

Some of the books I read are not focusing so much on the physical process but on the spiritual side of it. I will write more about that later and my overall book reference list.
In short: I have since child believed that souls continue to the other side and some of them return to this side through rebirth. Luckily my mother and grandma were both very supportive of my beliefs. I got so inspired after a long discussion with my grandma, which lead me to write a study of the topic during religion class at school. I read piles of books related to the topic. I recall her being so proud when I shared my paper with her.
I am so enjoying to have the time again to read related literature, and no more focused on to the soul / spiritual side of child birth. 

I also have taken the habit to write my blogs, if not every day, every other or 3rd day.
It is my way to keep all you readers entertained :) but also share the news from here to family & friends across the globe. Having lived and worked in various countries....creates the dilemma that my loved ones are not just in one country but spread across several continents and time zones. So, no matter where I am, only part of my loved ones are near.


Social activities
Which leads nicely to one of my favorite activities....talking or chatting with family & friends (near & far) through Facetime / WhatsApp / Skype / Viber etc. I am absolutely thrilled to have now the chance to talk or chat with family & friends in Finland, Germany, Russia or Singapore in real time during the week!
As an example one of the little joys of my day: my nephews know how to call via Facetime and they can tell the time. So, now we can talk during the week instead of just weekend. I can show them "how big Sisu is now" and they can share their latest Lego designs. Words cannot express the joys of being able to see and not just hear.

Also my American Mom and Dad have taken the habit to Facetime call if we haven't seen each other for a while. So, it works near & far :)

Some days I have visitors, which creates fun change to the routines. When having visitors or talking / Facetiming with family & friends, the limitation to stay on the couch creates nice enforcement to focus on the talks instead of doing something else at the same. I have enjoyed learning away from the habit, which my professional life pushes one into....trying to do several things at the same time. Now, one has the joy of focusing and learning to be more present again.

Non-Brainy activities
I was told to sleep as much as I can....so on some days (read: most days) I take afternoon nap. I am nowadays convinced that Japanese approach, allowing people to nap during the work day should be implemented everywhere.

In the evenings time to "hang the brain to the coat hanger" as we say in Finland and take advantage of Netflix :) (Thanks to my Mom!) Currently I am hooked to catching up on Royal Pains. LOL! So, suitable tv series to watch when you are on bed rest. I keep laughing that related to my last name and bed rest, the tv series is a perfect match.

While watching Netflix, I normally knit. Right now progressing a nice and soft baby blanket with a hoodie triangle in Finnish & Texas Long Horn color combination. Once that is ready, moving on to the next knitting project :) But can tell you this, wool socks are not any longer the most top on my knitting list. Texas heat changes the interest area to other projects :) :)

Fours weeks have passed and till date have not gotten bored. Keeping my "legs crossed" that Sisu and myself have many more weeks like this ahead of us :)

*For those interested:
The baby's project name / nick name is Sisu.
From Wikipedia:"Sisu is a Finnish word that cannot be translated properly into the English language, loosely translated to mean stoic determination, bravery, guts, resilience,^[1][2] perseverance and hardiness,^[3][4] expressing the historic self-identified Finnish national character."

Despite the bumpy pregnancy Little Sisu has not given up on us. On the contrary....he has grown throughout the pregnancy ahead of schedule and with strong kicks. Which I am so happy about...but at times those ninja kicks also keep me on toes to run to the bathroom :) As my younger nephew already made very clear, the Sisu name will stay as the nickname used by us who love the child. How can you possible say anything else than "YES, of course!" to that suggestion.