Baby Blessing

My husband and I decided that we would love to celebrate the birth of our child in the tradition of the Navaho Blessingway. I knew that the traditional American baby shower wouldn't be something we participated in, when I became pregnant. I appreciate the fact that people love to throw these events for an expecting Mom, but I wanted something deeper and more heartfelt that would bring a sense of positivity to baby and I going into baby's birthday. I wanted to gather with family and friends, eat wonderful food, enjoy each others company and receive all the wisdom and blessings everyone had to offer.

There are several ways to incorporate the traditions of a Blessingway into your gathering. During our blessing, we had an area set up where our family and friends could choose to write a letter to our unborn child for them to read when they are older. Toward the end of the evening, we passed a candle around the room and received everyone's blessing in the form of wisdom, stories, advice or whatever they chose to share with us.

I am so glad that we did this! The positive vibes were amazing. We had ours a month ago and I am still on a blissful high from everyone's beautiful words. I know that my unborn child heard every word and felt all the love that surrounded them. I will now go into baby's birthday knowing that they will be birthed in the most positive way possible.

Here are some resources I used to plan our Baby Blessing.
http://blessingwayceremony.com/
http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/blessingway/a/aa102202a.htm
http://thebirthsource.homestead.com/blessingway.html

Birth Beads

Birth beads are a wonderful way to celebrate the upcoming birth of your baby. You can choose some of your favorites with special meaning to you or you can participate in a bead swap with other Mama's due around the same time that you are. Either way, it's great to sit and string the beads as you visualize your baby's birth day.

I participated in a bead swap with other ladies in a Mama's group I belong too. We are all due in March and thought this would be a great way to connect with each other during our births. We chose beads with special meaning to us and sent those along with encouraging notes to each member of the group.

I sent aquamarine beads. It is my birthstone and may be the birthstone of our babies. Aquamarine stones are very calming and are known to reduce stress.






The beads I received.


I was so excited when I received my beads. It made my heart sing to read the messages of love from the other Mama's. I sat and focused on each of those messages while I made my birthing necklace. I visualized how I would be wearing it, holding it or just looking at it during my labor time. It may seem like such a small thing, but I really think this necklace will help me through labor and I will cherish it for all time.

Chiro's for Prego's

Ahhh, the chiropractor.
I never thought of going to the chiropractor before becoming pregnant. I never had any body or joint pains that bothered me that much. Sure, there was a running injury here and there, but nothing I felt needed chiro attention.

At the beginning of my 2nd trimester, I became immobile. I was aware of the relaxin hormone and what it does to a pregnant body, but I had no idea the pain it could cause. It started out as just aching hips and trouble getting up from a seated or laying position. For weeks, I was on the verge of tears several times throughout the day. Then, it got so bad that I would get stuck in mid stride while out walking. The last straw was when I got stuck getting up from the toilet. I was in so much pain that I had to have my husband help get me out of the bathroom and into bed.

I had been reading up on some other women's experiences getting adjusted while pregnant. Some needed pain relief, others wanted to adjust the position of the baby toward the end of pregnancy. I spoke to my midwife and she recommended a chiropractor that dealt with pregnant women.
I hobbled into the office for my first visit. There was a consultation followed by a few minutes on the roller bed. I don't know the technical term for it, but it's basically a heated bed with rollers underneath used to loosen you up. It was relaxing. After that, the chiro assessed me to see what type of adjustments I would need. Then, he got started and snap, crackle, pop we were done. It was an odd experience, but after about 20 minutes, I felt so much better. As the day went on, I felt even better. The next day, I was like a new woman! There was still some soreness, but nothing like I had been experiencing. Keep in mind, everyone has a different reaction to a chiro visit and may need more than one adjustment.

I am now in my 3rd trimester and just went back for an adjustment last week. I was starting to get stuck walking again and had been dealing with sciatica. http://www.spineuniverse.com/conditions/sciatica/pregnancy-back-pain-sciatica
Once again, I'm feeling like a new woman. This time however, I could not tolerate the roller bed. Since the 2nd tri, I can only lay on my back for a couple of minutes and all that motion was making me sick. So, he used some other techniques to loosen me up before the adjustment.

Mama's, please don't spend your pregnancy in pain. If you haven't already and you feel you need to, go see a chiropractor. Just make sure you check with your health care provider and find someone who works with pregnant women.

Mmm, Carrot Cake

After juicing a ton...o.k, alot of carrots, I needed something yummy to do with all my carrot fibers I had leftover. Obviously, carrot cake was the first thing that came to mind.

I didn't want to treck to the store for additional supplies, so I looked into my cabinet to see what I could put together, that would be somewhat healthy and delicious.

Here's what I came up with.

2 1/2c flour
1tsp baking powder
2tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp pumpkin pie spice
1tsp vanilla
3/4c brown sugar
1c coconut oil
3tbs cornstarch
2c carrot fibers from juicing (you can also use shredded)
14oz canned pineapple drained (reserve the liquid)
1/3c of the pineapple juice
3/4c shredded coconut
2 handfuls of raisins
2 handfuls chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil and flour baking pan. I used a bundt pan.
In seperate bowl, mix all other dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream oil, vanilla, sugar and cornstarch together.
Add in pineapple and juice.
Mix in dry ingredients along with coconut, raisins and nuts until just combined.
Do not over mix.
The batter will be thick like a quick bread.
Pour into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


I didn't have any glaze or frosting ingredients on hand, so we enjoyed it without and it was perfectly delicious!
This cake is very moist, so you don't need to have one.
After the first day, I picked up some things to make a quick glaze and it was good that way as well, just a little sweeter.