Green Smoothies...YUM!

My First Green Smoothie

Looks like a big glass of grass, but tastes great, and the health benefits are AMAZING!

So I had my first glass of green smoothie Tuesday May 24th.  I have been really studying the benefits of raw foods lately in my quest for health.  I came across the green smoothie idea on greensmoothiegirl.com about a year ago and have been getting emails from her since.  I kept being led back to her website in my research and finally decided to order the digital download, 12 Steps to Whole Foods by Robyn Openshaw.  Basically, you do one step a month for a year.  I love her approach, it is so realistic.  She is a mother of four super healthy children and teaches you how to incorporate her ideas for your children as well.

The first month is having a quart of green smoothie every day. I was both excited and curious about this step.   Excited because doing this gets you about 15 servings of fruits and veggies a day!  Curious if I would actually enjoying drinking blended greens and fruits!  I was so happy when the taste was awesome, I love them.  I have had one everyday for almost 2 weeks now.  

So far I have noticed several benefits.  The main one being more energy.  After I drink my smoothie in the morning, I feel like actually doing something.  Having a newborn and 2 toddlers, this is AMAZING! lol  For this reason alone, I will continue to drink them every day.  

A few other benefits I'm noticing are:  better moods, clearer skin, shinier hair, fewer sugar cravings, and improved digestion and elimination.  I haven't lost any weight yet, but my body just shed 24 pounds after delivering Ava Mae, so I'm not expecting it to let go easily for a while.  Plus I am breastfeeding and don't want to lose to quickly and mess up my milk supply.  I do have a goal to lose 20 pounds in 4 months.  That will have me back to my pre-Noah weight.  Once I get there, I will strive to lose 10 more, but if my body wants to stay there, that is my happy weight and I'll be content.  

Here is a video link to how I learned to make a green smoothie from Robyn.  In the video you will see that she is using an awesome Blend Tec blender.  I have been using my Oster beehive blender but ordered a Blend Tec last night and am SO excited to get it!  Jason told me we could get one when the Oster burned out.  It worked great for about the first week.  Then Jason himself started wanting me to make him smoothies also.  This became so time consuming since I can only make one quart at a time and the blender takes a while to mix it all up.  It also began to show signs of soon burning out, so after some complaining and explaining a new blender means more smoothies for him, I was told to order one! :)  YAY! Thanks honey.  So you don't HAVE to have an expensive blender to make them, but I now see WHY you NEED one if you plan to make them everyday.  Plus, they do SO many other things that it makes it totally worth it to me. 

I am also reading the book "The China Study".  Every single whole foods resource I encounter has recommended this book to be the first thing you read.  Since I just started reading it, I don't have a lot of comments about it, but so far it is eye-opening!  It is based on the largest nutritional study ever conducted.  It describes the link between nutrition and disease and how animal-based foods are linked to disease, while plant-based foods heal them.  

So I'm doing great getting my plant-based foods into my diet through my green smoothies.  Jason and I are still dealing with old habits and emotional issues a bit, but they are getting better.  The cravings for those foods are starting to really diminish, which is fantastic!  I'm trying to look at this as adding to my diet the healthy plant-based foods instead of this is all I can eat.  Slowly I think we will be able to really eliminate the disease causing foods just out of natural response.  I don't want to ever feel like I am controlled emotionally by foods, what I can and can't eat again.  So far the simple act of a green smoothie daily has made this whole foods transformation so much easier.  I encourage you to watch the video and check out greensmoothiegirl.com.  There are tons of other great raw, whole foods websites out there too.  Green smoothies are yummy and while I'm still working on a recipe my kids like, I am so excited to finally have a way to get raw fruits and veggies into my family's diet every single day.   

Ava Mae's Birth Story

Welcome home Ava Mae

I woke up at 3:30am on Tuesday, April 27th with contractions that were very crampy.  I didn't think much about it since I had been having false alarms for a few days, and thought I was just having stomach cramps along with the contractions.  The pains were getting stronger and closer together, but I still had my doubts that this was "it." lol  Jason heard me pacing and groaning and got up to see if I was okay.  I was irritated because I was in pain but wasn't sure if it was the laxative I took earlier or labor.  We were sitting on the couch after I had a major pain and I heard and felt a pop.  I sat there and nothing happened, then I remembered this is what is felt like when my water broke with Noah.  I stood up to go to the bathroom and sure enough my water had broke.  Welcome panic!!

I told Jason to call the hospital and my Mom to come over and stay with the boys.  Even though I had so many early signs of labor, I wasn't prepared.  My bag was barely packed and I grabbed my toothbrush, deodorant, and thyroid medicine to add to it.  Why I chose those items I don't know, I was in major freak out mode.  Then the pain was getting super intense.  I had a contraction that made me literally raise the kitchen table off the ground and started telling Jason that we needed to leave NOW!  So he called our neighbor, Billy, and told me to get into the car.  He backed out and started to leave so I began freaking out and crying because I thought he was leaving the boys alone.  I was in so much pain that I couldn't think straight, everything was magnified.  Billy waited with the boys until my Mom arrived.

The ride to the hospital was crazy!  I was having contractions every 3 minutes and I felt so much pressure.   It takes about 45 minutes for us to get to the hospital and I was scared that she was coming in the car.  Jason was driving like a husband with a wife having a baby in the car.  There was a bit of cussing at cars who wouldn't get over, begging baby to wait, and "go faster unless you want to meet her now!"  

We get to the hospital at about 5 a.m. and NO ONE was at the front window, it was a ghost town.  Jason was banging on the windows and I just sat down.  It seemed like forever, but was only a few minutes.  I could barely walk through the contractions but I just got up and started walking towards the Women's Center.  The registration clerk came slowly strolling down the hall and told me I needed to come back up front to register.  Think again sister, I am NOT walking back up there.  So she goes to get me a wheelchair and they roll me back to a room and Jason goes back to register me.

The ultra-calm nurse (this annoyed me at the time, lol) got me changed into my gown and checked me.  I was dialated to a 3, so we had some time.  Even though the contractions were still coming every 3-4 minutes, knowing this relaxed me a bit and I calmed down, which made the contractions calm down too.  

So for the next two hours, I am having contractions and trying to work through them.  I was praying alot and as the contractions came, I naturally began praying in the spirit.  Even though the pain didn't disappear it calmed me and helped me get through them.  Jason was praying with me and rubbing my back, I was more comfortable sitting up at this point.  Then I started having some back labor and my pelvic bone (which is tilted) began hurting really bad.  About this time my OB arrived and checked my cervix, and I was at 4 cm. and still having 3 minute apart contractions that were getting really intense.  I prayed about whether or not to have the epidural and felt peace about it, so I told her to go ahead and send anesthesia on over.  

The anesthesiologist did a great job and soon I was relaxed and free from pain.  I could still feel the tightening and pressure from the contractions but I was finally able to rest.  I kept progressing and at about 9:30 a.m. I was at 5 cm.  About this time I had Jason to turn on some praise and worship music, this helped me relax even more and I was able to rest a little.  There was a wonderful spirit-filled feeling in the room and when the nurse came in to check me, she said "you guys must love the Lord."  :)  We had been blessed with a wonderful Christian nurse, FAVOR again!  

When I got to about 7 cm, my blood pressure began to drop and the baby's heart rate was dropping a little too with contractions.  The nurse came in and had me lay on my side and gave me oxygen.  I was feeling a little strange and began to worry a bit, but she was keeping a close eye on the monitors and calling my doctor often.  When I got to an 8, things weren't improving so they decided they needed to monitor the baby internally.  They use a device that attaches to the baby's scalp, so of course I was upset about this, but I knew it was the best thing to do in this situation.  The monitor showed that the baby's heart rate was okay and they continued to watch my BP rate closely.  

At about 11:30 a.m. I was fully dialated, my OB was about to arrive, and the nurse got me ready to start pushing.  My contractions were farther apart now, so it took me about an hour to get to the point of pushing her completely out. I was really relaxed and the music inspired some dialogue about God, church, etc. between my nurse, OB, and I.  I just started sharing the love of God.  Jason later laughed about it and said, "you were ministering between contractions!"      

She was kind of stuck under my pelvic bone (this has happened with all three deliveries) so the doctor mentioned the possibility of using a vacuum to assist.  I DID NOT want this to happen again, since we had to have it twice with Noah and it wasn't a pleasant experience.  So I got super motivated, pushed as hard as I could, and at 12:27 p.m. on April 27, 2010, Ava Mae Seyer was born.  And to confirm the presence of the holy spirit, the song "My Beloved" by Kari Jobe was playing as she was born.  This is a song that has meant a lot to me during this pregnancy and I often sang it to her.    

      

We are so in love with our beautiful baby girl.

Baby Shower, Boys healing update, and Blogging break

Me and my sweet boys

Today my wonderful sister Amanda hosted a baby shower for me.  It was a beautiful day and baby girl now has several adorable outfits to get her started.  I have a feeling this girl business is going to get expensive. lol  I loved having my boys there with me.  Jason had to work so they got to stay and have fun at the party, I'm so glad they were there.  Noah has been so excited about "sister's birthday party" and I know he is going to be such a sweet brother to her.  Elijah will too, but I have a feeling some jealousy issues may abound from my Mama's boy.  Although several people I would have loved to have seen couldn't make it, it was great being able to talk with those who came in a more intimate setting.  Big showers and parties stress me out a bit because I feel like I can't connect with the people as well.  Today was perfect. :)

Good news for Noah!  He had a great check-up at Shriner's this week.  His spine has had no changes, which is great.  The three different disk defects are placed in positions along his spine that are compensating for one another as he grows, so the curve is still mild.  Praise God!  So we don't have to go back for another year!  So excited to hear that because it is a long day when we drive there! :)  He also had a great eye appointment this week.  His eyes are responding wonderfully to the eye drop treatment, his vision has improved drastically in the right eye.  So he only has to do the drop once a week instead of daily!  WOO HOO!  And if all looks well in two months, we will stop the drops altogether.  So it was a great week for my blessed, healed little boy.  I am so thankful for this week of miracles!    

I have recently been so consumed with "life" that blogging has fell low on the priority list.  Elijah was sick for two weeks with what we thought was a stomach virus.  It actually turned out to be giardia, a parasite, and he is being treated with antibiotics to get rid of it.  I'm so happy to say he is feeling so much better, it was a scary situation.  We dealt with the same issues with Noah when he was about the same age, and I couldn't believe it was happening again.  So I'm pretty sure that we have our answer for what Noah went through as well, same exact symptoms and everything.  Too bad no one caught it then, poor guy was sick for months. I just felt like something more was going on and wasn't going to stop until we found answers, my spirit was telling me it was something other than a virus.  I've learned to listen to that inner voice because God cares about my babies and wants to help me when I have no answers.  Thank you Father for guiding me to the right places to heal my sweet boy.

I am now 36 weeks!!  I am starting to really feel the discomfort of the last few weeks and will be resting as much as possible until she gets here.  Now that Elijah is doing better, I'm hoping that will be a little easier.  I have a few more things to do to get ready for the baby, diapers, etc.  But nothing major, the nursery is almost done and I need a few post-partum items.  I am just ready to hold my sweet girl and get into the routine of life with 3 children.  :)  We are so blesssed.  

So I am anticipating a break from all things online very soon.  I have to prioritize and blogging, facebook, etc. may not be something I have much time for.  I am actually pretty hormonal lately, and feel like I need a break, since it annoys me to be online quite often.  My thoughts are very focused on my current state of being and the upcoming new wonderful arrival.  I just feel like it's time to rest, reflect, and just be still until she makes her entrance into the world.  My mind needs to be calm and still to prepare for labor.  And after she is born, well, extra time will  be spent sleeping, not online! lol  So if you actually read my blog, (I think that is very few people anyhow) lol, I may be out of commission for a bit and enjoying this wonderful new season of life.  Blessings and peaceful days to all!