***Guest Post***Enjoying the Free Bounty Alaska Has to Offer

*This is a guest post from my husband, Bryon.  Give him props.  This is his first blog post and I think he did awesome!!!*

This morning I decided to take a couple of picking buckets along with me while walking our son to the bus stop.  Two hours later I made my way back home.  Oh, and the bus stop is only a 3-4 minute walk from the front door.

Do you ever find it hard to stop picking?  The wife and I joke about having a little OCD when it comes to picking berries.  Oh but there are a few more over here let me just get these then we can go in.  Yeah right, that never happens.

Off to the dehydrator for most of these little beauties.  The Birch boletes dry nicely, the quaking aspens dry up dirty (discolor but are still good), and this will be the first try for dehydrating the slippery jacks.

Picked too many for the dehydrator, oh well I guess we can always make some more fried mushrooms out of the little slippery jacks.

This was our dinner last night, deep fried slippery jacks (Dipped in egg and breaded in 1/2 and 1/2 bread crumbs and flour), along with hamburgers with sauted slippery jacks (sauted in 2 tbsp butter and garlic)

Rowan, Tell Us How You Really Feel...

One finger speaks volumes....

He was telling us even before he was born!

I love my baby boy!!  Don't worry Rowan, I used to do this a lot too (except I was old enough to know better!)

Shhhh...Be Very, Very Quiet...We're Hunting Mushrooms

No, not the psychedelic kind....well, we've found them....but we've only ingested the boring, edible, non-psychedelic 'shrooms, PROMISE!

Since we have moved up to Alaska we have taken a larger interest in foraging.  This is something that has always sparked curiosity in me and now I am finally starting to educate myself on it.  While we've done a few types of foraging, mushroom hunting is our big interest at the moment.

Alaska has TONS of different types of mushrooms.  It is insane how many types exist!  We went and bought some books (any hobby that lets me buy a book is a hobby that I like!) on mushroom identifying and have been researching the internet extensively.

We found at least ten different types in the woods around our yard alone!

These are the mushrooms we found in about 30 minutes around our house!

After we collected our mushrooms we looked through our books and attempted to identify them.  The next step was to make a spore print of the types we wanted to identify further.  Call me paranoid, but I want to make sure that we are accurately identifying the mushrooms we intend to eat.  No reason to make an ER trip for an accidental poisoning

After about 12 hours, this is what shows up on paper.

We have now increased our confidence in identifying certain mushroom types.  We have tried a couple of different mushrooms to eat.  The puffball variety is fantastic!  We have also tried the birch bolete and the trembling aspen bolete.  I have enjoyed the flavor of all of them.  Of course we are being very careful and only eating a small amount of only one type at a time just in case!  They are exceptionally good sauteed in butter with some garlic added.  And for all of you texture nuts out there (I'm one of them, not judging!) the texture didn't bother me in the slightest!

Example of a puffball mushroom.  We didn't eat this one because we had handled so many mushrooms that day and were worried about cross-contamination.

Birch boletes that we found.

We definitely will always retain a healthy respect for those 'shrooms that can kill you.  However, now that we have some knowledge, wild mushrooms don't seem near as scary!  In fact, some are quite tasty!!!

Crazy Things My Husband Does in His Sleep

At approximately 2:00 am this morning, I wake to my husband thrashing around frisking me.  I asked him what he was doing and the conversation goes like this:

Me:  What are you doing?? (in a half-asleep voice)

Bryon:  Looking for the eggs I bought.

Me:  Well, hopefully they aren't here in the bed.

Bryon:  Of course they aren't! (In a "did you seriously just say that" tone)

Me:  I think you are dreaming.  I love you.

Bryon: What?  I couldn't hear you.

I repeat myself.

Bryon: Okay, love you too.

I thought by this point I had woken him up out of his dream...then he started frisking the bed and me again.

Bryon: I guess they aren't here.

And he rolls over like nothing ever happened.

I love my husband! He makes me laugh in the middle of the night!! :)

Why, Yes I Did Eat My Placenta!

I have intrigued many of my family and friends by telling them that I ate my placenta after Rowan was born.  I'll let that sink in for a minute...

***FYI There will be pics of my placenta in this post, I'm just letting y'all know now before you delve too deep. If you can't handle that...turn back now!!  But, it's not as gross as it may seem.***

Okay, so I didn't fry my placenta up and eat it with a side of french fries.  I had it encapsulated.  Placental encapsulation is actually not as uncommon as you might think.

Backing up a bit.  Long ago, when I was still pregnant and working (seems like eons ago now!) I was having discussions with my friends at work about eating placenta.  What?  You don't have these conversations with your coworkers??  See, one of my CNAs (from Kenya, let's just throw in the culture mix, otherwise this might get even odder) wanted to eat my and another person's placentas after birth.  Only he wanted to do it all cannibal style.  Or he wanted our breast milk to treat eye infections...Now most, if not all, of these talks ended in all of us laughing but it got me to thinking, what is so great about the placenta that other cultures know and we don't?

I remember hearing a couple of years ago on the radio that there were websites that actually gave recipes on how to prepare and eat placenta.  At the time, I was thinking there is ABSOLUTELY no way I would ever do that!  Who in their right minds wants to eat placenta?  Seriously.

Fast-forward again to the time when I was pregnant.  I was talking to my sister and she was telling me about this fantastic blog that she reads, MODG, and how the author had her placenta encapsulated. ***side note, I absolutely love this blog and it makes me laugh out loud and someday I want to be besties with the author (no I am not a stalker!)***  My sister sent me a link to the specific entry about the placenta.  I read it (then proceeded to spend the next three days getting caught up on the MODG story) and then did some research on my own.

Consuming the placenta is supposed to decrease postpartum depression, aid in faster recovery, help your milk come in faster, and provide you with a TON of vitamins and minerals (think, you are consuming the organ that provided all of the nutrients to your baby).  It also does some other beneficial things, but those were my top reasons in my decision.

I discussed all of this with my husband and he was all for it as long as I actually took the pills because we had to pay to have this done.

I wanted my midwife's opinion also before I committed to anything and when I mentioned placental encapsulation to her she got super excited.  I mean "you have just won a million dollars" excited.  Turns out she is a mega-fan of the placenta.  She even gave me the card for a doula that provided encapsulation services.  I contacted the doula (who was extremely sweet and I recommend her to anyone in the Washington area!) and got everything arranged.  After this experience, if I was still living in WA with my next kiddo I would see about her doula services, she was so nice!

After I delivered my placenta, it was placed into a biohazard bag and then a container so that my husband could deliver the placenta to her the next morning.  We just had to keep it refrigerated (not frozen) until delivery.  She emailed me some pics of the prep work and I received my placenta capsules the very next morning.  I wish I could have observed the process, but I was kinda in the hospital...

My placenta was so big, the doula thought that Rowan was around 9 lbs (he was 7.5)

Kinda icky, I know, but at least it's healthy!

I got a ton of capsules, more than the average I guess.  The instructions were to take two capsules three times a day for the first two weeks postpartum.  I followed the directions and I think it made a difference.  Mood-wise, I was much more emotionally stable and less down compared to now (depression sucks, but that's another entry).  I did have to stop taking them for a few days because the instructions said to stop taking them temporarily if any kind of infection develops.  I guess that the placenta capsules can actually drive the infection further into the body making it harder to fight.  I had a UTI a few days after I got home (sheer hell, let me tell you!).  After that pain when away though, I started the pills again.

If there are leftover pills I guess they keep forever.  They can be used during times of "extreme emotional stress" or can be saved for menopause.  The B vitamins deactivate though if they are frozen.  It's recommended to keep them in a dark, cool, dry place (like my bedside table).  I actually have a lot left over.  I'm thinking about starting them again to see if they can improve the down feelings.

Do I recommend placenta encapsulation for you? Maybe.  I think they helped me, but then again, I have no other birth experience to compare it to.  Next time I give birth I am planning on doing it again.

I leave you with a couple of pics.  I documented the initial dose for my sister since she couldn't be there to observe.  Enjoy!

My first dose.  They were very "fragrant" when I opened the jar.

This is part of my umbilical cord preserved in the shape of a heart.  It turned out really cool!

And I thought I would be eaten alive by bears? Shoot...

It's not the bears you have to be worried about living up here in Alaska.  It's the freakin' mosquitoes!  I swear, every time we go outside we get swarmed.  And leaving the doors or windows open?  Forget about it!

When I went to buy bug spray the first time around I wanted the least amount of chemicals, something natural...Yeah, the stuff I bought I think attracted them more than anything.  After this, I had Bryon spray me with the deep woods stuff that has DEET in it.  It works...for all of 30 minutes or so, then you had better reapply or look out.  A word to the wise, don't spray it on your lips!  This was accidental and it numbed them like lidocaine for longer then the bug spray lasts!

So instead of doing the flee-fly mosqeeter dance for the rest of the summer, we broke down and invested some money in a Mosquito Magnet.

Bryon hard at work putting the Mosquito Magnet together.

YOU HEAR THAT YOU DAMN MOSQUITOES?  

WE GOT YOUR NUMBER!!!

You can see the mosquitoes in there, it was hard to get a good pic.

How does this work one may ask? Magic.  Actually, I'm not to sure, but it runs on propane and emits carbon dioxide and some other thing that humans put off to attract them.  It is supposed to cover an acre of land and the numbers will be drastically reduced in just a couple of weeks.

This might be one of my new favorite things!

It's already trapped a ton of them and it's only been on for just a few hours.  Relief, it's just a magnet away.  Ahhhhh!

Rowan's Birth Story

Now that Rowan is two months old I figured it was time to get back into the swing of blogging.  The following is my labor and delivery story.  Don't worry there is no graphic images, but if one comes to mind, apologies all around!

First off, I have to thank my super wonderful husband, Bryon, for being there and supporting me.  I don't think I could have made it through without you.  I don't think I can even begin to express the depth of gratitude and love that I feel for you!  Thank-you feels almost inadequate.












Now, for the story you all have been waiting for!

As far as birth plans go, I had one.  That's about all I can say about it.  About 97% of it did not come to fruition, but since my main goal was to have a happy, healthy baby, then what does it matter when it's all said and done?

My water decided to break at home at approximately 5:40 p.m.  It was one of the weirdest feelings I have felt.  It was a small gush, almost like I peed myself.  In fact, I had just peed so I was wondering if maybe my bladder had decided to empty the rest of the way.  I went out to the living room and asked Bryon what it felt like when you water breaks (because it had totally happened to him before, right?).  The decision at that point was to keep an eye on things because I wasn't 100% sure that it was my water.  Then, I decided to go sit on the couch.  Gush again!  From there we decided to go into the hospital, but only after we ate dinner (which was almost ready).  We were telling Asher what the plan was and he asked me, "Are you sure you don't have the runs?"  This made me laugh and gush some more at the table.

After we ate, I threw the few last minute items I needed in my suitcase and we loaded up the car and headed to the hospital.  At this point, I was having contractions, but they were similar to the ones I had been having so I wasn't in pain really so to speak.  We were almost to the hospital and we saw a black bear!  My first live one out in the wild.  I wanted a picture but there were cars behind us, plus there were a couple of people that looked like they were approaching it for a picture.  Maybe it would have been a cool pic of "When Bears Attack." But I digress...

Anyways, we get to triage on labor and delivery and get all hooked up into monitors and such.  I'm still gushing fluid and we figure out that there is meconium in it.  Not good.  Then the midwife comes in and does my exam.  I'm not even dilated to a one.  She wanted to start Pitocin which I absolutely did not want.  We talked her into giving us time to get this labor going on our own.  The plan was to walk once I was admitted.  She reluctantly agreed to this.  The nurse came into complete my admission and that's when the holy hell! contractions came.  I could not talk, tears started leaking out of my eyes, I didn't want to breath etc.  Asher was still with us and he was so sweet.  He kept telling me how strong I was and that I could do it.  He made me so proud of him during the whole process!

Once my admission was complete, we were taken to the labor and delivery room.  I had a pretty sweet room.  It was humongous!  Bryon's friend came and picked up Asher and then we started trying to work on this labor process.  The contractions were hurting pretty bad (I think that is an understatement).  I tried the birthing ball for about 20 minutes. I tried swaying my hips for just a few.  Then I made the mistake of laying down.  Let's just say the walking never happened.  I tried as hard as I could to breath through the pain.  I kept thinking (and verbalizing) if the contractions would just stop for five minutes then I could refocus.  It was like as soon as one contraction would calm to where I could breath normal again another one would start.

I finally broke.  As much as I wanted a natural delivery and as much as I wanted to try the tub and stuff it didn't happen.  I thought if I tried the IM and IV Nubain first then I might calm down enough to be able to go the rest of the way without meds.  Well...it took like 30-45 minutes to get the meds ordered which feels like an eternity when you are in severe pain.  By the time I could get the medicine I had turned into...

THE PATIENT FROM HELL!

You know, the one you can hear screaming clear up and down the hallway.  The one that can't focus on anything or listen to anything.  I yelled a lot of curse words (luckily not attacking anyone or thing in particular).  Mostly I was just crying "Please make it stop!!"  I think they gave me some oxygen at that point because Rowan's heart rate was starting to drop.  The Nubain finally arrived and it helped for about 10 minutes.  Then the whole mess started all over again.

I was in the hospital all of four hours before I said, in a very controlled tone, "I...want...an...epidural."  To which I received.  I had to have the epidural placed twice because the first one only numbed the right side of my body.  After the epidural was placed, then Pitocin was started because I could no longer naturally augment my labor.  I was stuck in bed for the next 19 or so hours.  After my pain was under control, I kept apologizing to everyone, Bryon, the nurse, the midwife.  They all told me it was okay, that they didn't really have a problem with it, but, as a nurse, at some point (in the dark recesses of my brain) I would have thought that my patient was completely over-dramatic.  Would I ever admit that to my patient?  Of course not.

I was a much happier camper after some pain meds and three hours of sleep!

The next several hours consisted of resting in bed, watching movies, nothing too exciting.  There was a moment where I puked.  I drank a lot of Sprite, took some IV Zofran.  I ate a granola bar at some point.  There were a couple of times that everyone got all excited (in a worried way) because Rowan's heart rate decelerated.  Then everyone would help me re-position until it came back up.  Rowan did not care for me on my back at all, and he didn't so much like the left side (but I could get a couple of hours at a time over there before he acted up).  I got more boluses and stuff for my epidural (since I had one, I didn't think I should have to feel pain).  One of the CRNAs told me that I must metabolize the meds quicker than most.

Moving on to the exciting part...it was finally time for me to start pushing!

Pushing is harder than it looks.....

I think I pushed for about two hours.  I am so glad that they had a mirror because Rowan's head became my focal point.  They had to tell me not to push a few times to give him a break and let him recuperate.  It was so hard not to push during those times!  Another thing, and this is way TMI, I know, but it's part of the experience...I had poop that needed to come out!  Nobody would take it out and I resorted to begging even. They were all, push it out, and I was all, I am and it is stuck!  It was sooo uncomfortable!  The nurse and the midwife were trying to tell me it was the baby's head pushing on my rectum but I knew better....it was the poop.

-Moving on-

He was bigger than we thought he was going to be!

I finally pushed my baby boy out and the plan was for him to go right to my stomach.  Unfortunately, Rowan did not breath spontaneously so they had to whisk him away to the warmer.  The NICU team was on hand for the birth already because there was meconium in the water.  I could tell Bryon really wanted to go over there, but he looked a little torn and I told him to go see our boy.  The team suctioned Rowan's cords and then he had to have some PPV (positive pressure ventilation) via a bag-valve mask.  He became more alert, but not quick enough so there was talk of him being transferred to the NICU.  Everything was like tunnel vision and slowed time for me at this point.  Thankfully, he perked up and started to cry!  Meanwhile, I delivered the placenta and they had to give me some medicine to prevent hemorrhaging because my bleeding wasn't slowing like it should have.

Once everything was under control, I finally got to hold my little man.  I cannot even put into words the feelings that went through me at that moment.  It was one of the happiest moments of my life!  All of the hard work of pregnancy, labor, and delivery were totally worth it!

And that was how Rowan was introduced to the world!