Working from home and other things we do to prepare for birth

I started working from home yesterday. It's kind of nice, but at the same time it sucks because my co-workers still at the office aren't attuned to the ways of pregnancy, so it feels like they think I can once again do everything now that I am at home and can, theoretically, work in my pajamas (if I stayed in my pajamas all day I would also stay in bed - not getting dressed makes me feel like a worthless member of society).

In reality, I can't do anymore than I could when I was at the office in uncomfortable clothes; now I just am able to try and get more than six hours of sleep a night and I can walk around all uncomfortable like in my flip flops and eat little mini snacks all day.

On the plus side, working from home has seriously helped my timing - there are some things I do every day. Some of these are specifically for my health and have nothing to do with baby, some have everything to do with baby.

For example: for the last I don't know how many years, we've made smoothies in the morning for breakfast. I swear these smoothies are a huge contributor to my overall good health, both before and during this pregnancy. They're made with plain, nonfat organic yogurt (I don't want my milk tainted with chemicals and don't want to drink a cow's milk that has been, either), a mix of frozen berries (we buy them by the two bagfuls at Costco), a banana, lean whey protein powder, ground flax seed and now black strap molasses (for the iron).

I also take, twice a day, an herbal liquid iron supplement, along with an iron tincture made with yellow dock to help the iron absorb (both are not so yummy so I shoot them with orange juice - vitamin C also helps absorption). Calcium inhibits iron absorption so I have to time the iron to be on an empty stomach (for maximum effectiveness) and to not eat for a while afterward. They say wait an hour but I can't do that, so I usually call it good at about 45 minutes. The iron supplement stays in the fridge so I didn't bring that to work with me - too many questions when people see it in the communal fridge.

Two times a day I take three little homeopathic tabs made up of arnica and some other stuff that I can't spell or pronounce. It's friendly name is EZ-Birth and it's from Canada. They taste like sugar (delicious!) and I just let them dissolve under my tongue. Can't take these when I have just had orange juice or brushed my teeth, or eaten or drank anything else that is strong and will overpower the teeny bits of magic herbs in the tabs, so that's 15 minutes on either side.

I'm also drinking 2 - 3 cups a day of pregnancy tea, which has raspberry leaf, chamomile flowers, nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, oat straw and peppermint. Good for your uterus, I'm told. It's tasty. No cross-contamination issues here, although if I drink it later in the evening it becomes good for peeing.

Also, vitamins, 3 times a day. Not a big deal, I just have to remember to take them.

And evening primrose oil. Not to go into detail, but suffice it to say it's not going in my mouth, so no timing issues here, although I've found some times are better than others.

All in all, we do so much to keep these babies inside all warm and nestley (not the chocolate) and then - boom! 37 weeks hits and it's all you can do to get the baby out. It makes me SO grateful to have chosen the traditional, non-medical path of care, though. If I was doing all this with chemically based, non-natural products I would probably be pretty sick and, even worse, would be sending all those chemicals to my baby.

With this regimen, the most unnatural thing I'm taking is probably the plastic of the little cup that I use to measure out the iron supplement.