Postpartum Helps & Living Real

Healthy Foods that Help PostPartum:

Eggs & Avocado: High in Serotonin

Kelp/Seaweed/Dulce- Good for thyroid- very vulnerable postpartum

St. John Wart- Herb/Tincture

Sepia 30c- Homeopathy for Mood Swings(when your critical & snappy)

Natrum mur 30c-homeopathy for weepiness

Pulsatilla 30c- Homeopathy for women desiring sympathy and company

Platina 30c- Disappointed in everyone and seems aloof, also she feels like shes alone in the world, weepy

Cimicifuga 30c- Feels like she's in a black cloud

Anacardium 30c- Better while eating , but sad again soon after. Deep loss of confidence. easily angered and given to hatred. Failing memory.

For a guide on using Homeopathy... I would suggest:

"Homeopathy: An A to Z Home Handbook"
by Alan Schmukler

For a free copy online goggle him and go to first link.

After having five babies and never really experiencing postpartum depression or anxiety the way it is described, I used to think that it wasn't real and it was some woman's made up excuse for being mean, weepy, and full of worry ( along with a whole gamut of other emotions and challenges). I actually believed that if women were stronger with the Lord they could have self control over their thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc...

Well, after having Ethan I experienced the fears, the anxiety, the weepiness, the lack of control. Now that I am on the healing end of things, my heart has been convicted of how judgemental I was. I really never believed postpartum blues or depression was real. Now I have to admit that through out the time I was struggling I went in and out of being the Word of God. When I came home I was ill... trying to recover from my massive postpartum hemorrhage, which knocked me off my feet, I couldn't take care of my family or home. That depressed me. I couldn't stand hearing the boys arguing in the other room and being able to get up and help them. I really stressed out when the kids would get hurt, thinking if I was better that they wouldn't have gotten hurt. I felt like I was expecting too much from my older children because they were having to do sooo much more around the house, rather than just being kids. I didn't have thank fullness in my heart for the help God had provided in Keziah and Kirsten. Instead , needing their help made me feel less of a mom. All these thoughts contributed to me struggling with anxiety, stress, worry, and anger even.
I don't know where I would be today if I didn't have the Lord Jesus and the encouragement from my mom, and other christian mentors in my life reminding me this was just a season and that I was a good mom. I had such low self esteem and I allowed that to make me angry. I found myself apologizing all the time for my bad attitude, my whining, my crying, and yelling.
Wow, I am so glad we are out of that season! I am sure my husband & kids are as well.

What I learned from this?
That postpartum blues/ depression is real. That it is spiritual as well as hormonal and chemical. It is real and women who have it need other women in their life helping them. I pray for the moms I know that are having babies soon... pray for them for this tough season. I did enjoy Ethan tremendously, it was just overwhelming for a few weeks. Only the Lord and His Word can help you to see your own sin in a season like this.
Mark Hamby once said in one of his "Transforming Seminars" (by lamplighter), "I have seen a lot of people in pain and dying and they have a joyful attitude." Our true self can be revealed, our sin, selfishness, struggle with giving up control, what ever it is...
When I heard this is motivated me...
I realized I wasn't being the person I was meant to be in Christ. I needed Him to be my strength. I needed to give him the control. I needed Jesus to refresh the atmosphere of my home. I feel as though we are getting back on track, finally. Although not completely... home schooling is not in full force, but we will get there eventually. The Lord is teaching us all something through the process. Having people praying for me and being open and honest about my struggles allowed my brothers & sisters in Christ to be praying for me specifically. It was very humbling for me to show my weaknesses and be real. But that is what God wants from us. How else can the Body of Christ function the way it is meant to. We are supposed to carry each others burdens as well as lay them at the cross. How can the church do that when we are all putting on masks and pretending everything is okay? The reality is that even with Christ we still experience struggles in this life, we are not perfect because we are Christians! We are imperfect and fully aware of it, we are just able to receive God's grace and live in Joy & Freedom!

I hope if you are struggling with postpartum or have friends that are this gives you a little insight into what they might be dealing with. Let us lift one another up in prayer. We are all humans made by the same creator trying to live our best life here. Lets Love one another. We were created for love.

After Birth Care Products

Sitz Bath Iced Packs
First make the sitz bath herbs like you do tea... french press work the best with this bulk tea... but we boiled the tea...strained it with cheese cloth...then stored & poured from a mason jar.


Then you pour sitz bath into pads and freeze.









How to use a Sitz Bath:
Make a concentrated amount of the sitz bath tea, pour in tub hot and add water to tub until the desired depth. The more water you add the less concentrated the herbs obviously, so remember you want the bath to be as strong as possible for effectiveness.
You can also order sitz baths to use on your toilet so you dont have take a bath.
You can buy them online at Cascade Health Care located in Portland... heads up though... you can not purchase anything by dropping in on them, order only. Visit them at 1Cascade.com

Sitz Bath Herbs
are a great way to help with quick healing after childbirth!


After Birth Sitz bath
I learned a trick from my midwives...
soak the afterbirth pads in sitz bath and freeze...
then wear to bring down inflammation down prevent hemorrhoids.

Another way to prevent hemorrhoids during pregnancy and after birth...
www.wishgardenherbs.com sells bummeroid cream... it works great!

Treating Swine Flu Naturally

We are finally on the upswing from getting hit with this SWINE FLU!

I am finding myself eating my words; when I made fun of how people were freaking out over this H1n1 scare.
"It's a pandemic!"

Well that "pandemic" got a hold of one Tolpin and made its contagious way through the lot of us over these past 2 weeks.

So to make every thing we have gone through worth something. I desire to help you, the mom, get ready for or treat this virus as best as possible without the Tamiflu.

The Symptoms very from one person to another but ours where fairly similar among each of us. You can look up symptoms on- line easily, but I will say one thing. Once you have it... you know you have it, because there isn't anything quite like it (Or at least anything I have personally experienced).
We were told from on-line sources that if you have the H1N1 you "won't typically" have certain symptoms... not true. We tested positive and had symptoms that the 'professionals" said were only typical of the seasonal flu.
My personal belief because of seeing it first hand... I agree that most people will contract this virus. So you need to get prepared!

2 Very Helpful Books:

Doctor Mom's Natural Healthcare for Children
by Kathy Duerr

"Homeopathy" An A to Z Home Handbook
by Alan Schmukler

There are many good ones out there... these 2 are my favorite of the 4 I have!

Of the 2 books, I used the second more during the swine flu period.


Basic Things you can do to build up immune system:
Echinacea
Vitamins (C, B-6, B12, D, all of them really)
make sure you have a good source of Zinc for vitamin absorption
Eat Healthy ( no fast food / restaurants- we think we got it at a nice restaurant on a Sunday night)
Excercise & Sleep Well- Nap

Golden ticket item: Dr. Zeff (my naturopath) has made a H1N1 tincture from the nosode
call his office and they can mail you one ($10 per bottle)
Salmon Creek Clinic, Washington
1-360-823-8121

He also has a seasonal flu tincture and flu prevention (each $10)


What kind of things should you have on hand to treat symptoms of the H1N1?
Epsom Salt (Lots of it)
Humidifier(s)
Vick's Vapor Rub (lots of it)
Electrolyte drinks
Frozen Chicken Broth or Chicken Noodle soup
(made ahead of time so it is easy to serve)
lots of clean towels
Tea (throat Coat, chamomile, peppermint, cherry bark)
Elderberry Syrup (for sore throat)
Cough Drops
Popsicles
Salt Crackers


Common Homeopathies:
I have only used Boirin Homeopathics
*Oscillococcinum*
(instead of giving full tube of contents.. my dr advised using a capful every hour- your choice of course)
Belladonna (30c)
(for a fever with red heat face.. sudden fierce fever- also headaches)
Gelsimium (30c)
(for a fever where there is drooping teary eyes.. pale face... fever high... hands cold)
Aconite (30c)
(you can use this for sore dry cough/ good to give as soon as you see symptoms of flu)
Nux Vomica (30c)
(vomiting... constipated... tummy upset... oversensitive to light and noise-irritable)
Spongia Tosta (30c)
(for croupy cough)
Antimonium tart (30c)
(wet-non productive cough- thick mucus in lungs)
*Eupatorium Perf (30c)
(for aches and pains in body... hacking cough)
Phosphorus (30c)
(when pneumonia threatens- )

Post Influenza Remedies:
Phosphoric Acid (30c)
(seems both tired physically and mentally)
Influenzium (9c-200c)
(use lower numbers for post flu... 200c for preventative (once a week))

Above all of these those is the homeopathic tincture for sure...
these are homeopathic pellets you can give one pellet every hour as needed generally speaking... if you have questions just ask... I may not know the answers but if I do praise the Lord I can help!


Other Treatments to be done while Ill:


Wet-Sock treatment:
Learned from Dr. Mom's Book:
Soak feet in warm foot bath (I add Epsom salt for detoxing), while feet are soaking having a pair of socks soaking in a bowl of ice water.
Yes, ICE WATER!
After ten minutes or so of soaking, ring out ice cold socks put them on feet and put wool socks on top. Hop in bed for the night and for a common cold you should feel better by morning! It works like a charm... for swine flu... it gives reprieve from the 4-5 day long fevers.
This shocks your body slightly... you've got to try it!

Hydrotherapy:
Learned from Dr. Zeff
Take a hot towel 9as hot as person can stand and ring it out and lay it on torso (wherever ailment... I have also used this for mastitis and it works great).
Then once the towel cools have someone bring you and ice cold towel rung out as well and place it in same place after removing first towel.
Leave until it becomes warm.

This is great for reducing fever quickly.

Just a side note on fevers, I tried everything to reduce their fevers... even tylenol and children's motrin. I stopped after a couple usages because it only brought the fever down by .2-.4 , not a significant enough number for me to justify continuing use.

Vick's Vapor Rub:
so most people know to put good old vick's vapor rub on a kids chest when they can't breathe through their nose at night. My grandma, who was raised on the farm, taught me this trick when my son Austin was getting croup chronically.

You take a liberal amount of Vick's and massage it onto the child's feet. Then you put their socks on and put them to bed. Helps with any coughs... especially croupy ones! Plus kids like getting their feet massaged!


drink lots of good water... we personally use Kangen Water (alkaline ionized water)

If you have this and you have these weird symptoms which we had...

Legs attacked by virus ( yes it happened to my nine year old for 2 days and I gave her Eupator. Perf every ten min for 3 times in one hour and then every hour after that and she slowly got her ability to stand on them and walk. It can be scary but most likely it will go away. Worth going to the doctor for that though... they need to rule out that it did not get into the child's spinal cord by doing their basic, non invasive tests.

Another weird thing that happened to all the kids was eye sensitivity and head aches...horrible head aches! Our three year old though, woke up with an eye totally swollen shut ( he looked like he just got in a fight with Rocky). My naturopath had me give him Pulsatilla (30c)... within five minutes the burning and itching went away and he could sleep. He woke up looking totally normal.

Above all else we found ourselves on our knees in prayer. Drawing closer to the Lord! he hears our cries and the cries of our children. it is always scary to have kids with super high fevers over a long period of time (we are talking days at around 103.5). Remember that a fever is healing... I think of it as cooking the flu to kill it!

Lord, protect our dear friends and their little lambs!
Put your hedge of protection around them that they might be spared this horrible illness! Give all of us wisdom in how to care for our children! Let us help one another and work as the Body of Christ on Earth to serve one another. Bless those who have so graciously served our family. Protect them Lord!

May you have a healthy Fall & Winter!
Any other suggestions please feel free to leave a comment!

Treating Mastitis

Natural Remedy for Mastitis:
(Nursing Breast Infection)

Echinacea Tincture (1 dropperful every 3 hours or as needed)
Emergence-C Packets (1 every 3-5 hours with water)
Phytolaca Decandra (Biorin pellets) (1 pellet under tongue, directly followed by Belladonna)
Belladonna (Biorin pellets) (1 pellet under tongue)

Use the homeopathy Biorin pellets as needed until you get a grip on the infection
I ususally put an hour between treatments unless it is really bad then only 30 minutes

In addition:
Eating cabbage raw or blanching cabbage leaves and applying them to the infected breast relieves pain and brings down inflamation

Hot water bottles are great to use before nursing your baby because it can help the milk flow more easily

Apply a couple treatments on Hydrotherapy...
go to my Doc Baker's website:
www.jaredzeff.com/hydrotherapy.html

Dr. Jared Zeff is a very trustworthy Naturapathic Doctor who gets my recommendation.
If you are looking for a doctor who cares like Doc Baker cared in Little House....
He is the doctor for you!

My Story of Health & Healing:
So over the past few years I have felt my health declining dramatically.
Having five babies in a row with not much of a break has been hard on me... as it would anyone.
As you know I do not have easy pregnancies.
I usually start having morning/day/and night sickness of the worst kind (intense vomiting) a few weeks after conception and it often lasts as long as the pregnancy... ending the birth process with one last upchuck. I have had two pregnancies were my vomiting wained at around 7-8 months.
The vomiting has been so sever that I usually have to get at least a few IVs for re hydration and in my last pregnancy back was thrown out (bulging herniated disc).
This last pregnancy I went to a Water birth Center (Andaluz), where I was treated by midwives. They helped me so much more than any midwife at a hospital or doctor ever did. I had tried all the treatments and expensive meds for nausea and vomiting and none of them worked (not to mention they were bad for me). They recommended I take phosphorus (Biorin). It worked amazingly!
Over the past 9 years of pregnancy and nursing I have increasingly struggled with getting mastitis as well. I have developed an allergic reaction to all cilin drugs so I am unable to take most antibiotics to treat this. That was my first motivation to finding an alternative route to treating myself. Then upon further studying I learned about yeast infections post antibiotics, I started trying to rebuild my system with Acidopholus (the good buggies... Flora in your intestines).
Chronic Fatigue, stiffness of joints and back, crankiness... All these symptoms began to hit me quickly. When I usually would recovered from childbirth and get my rythm back this last time I didn't experience that. I was exhausted physically. Of course that should be a bit expected since we as moms don't get much sleep.
After many misdiagnosis and feeling very discouraged I found Dr. Zeff. His preventative approach includes educating the patient to be more independent of their health. He mainly focuses on food intolerances and believes we are "toxic" if we are eating things our bodies can not properly digest. I will blog on this some other time, but for now I want to leave you with this:
My growth through this process has lead me to trusting in the Lord in a new way.
Anything can become an idol...
I have learned that in good health it is easy to serve and live in your own strength. I have been learning how to do those things in Christ's strength since I feel often like I have none of my own.
I am also LEARNING (this is taking a while for me) to not put busy-ness as a top priority. I hold a very high standard for myself ad my family in many areas such as cleanliness. I think I used to believe that old saying, "cleanliness is next to godliness." I have since slayed that dragon and am living much more joyfully in my clutter. To help with this process though, we did spend a few days de-cluttering. I want to continue this process in more areas of my home, but need to get well right now. I think that people get distracted from really knowing God and serving Him by taking "care" of the non-eternal "things" we own. I used to spiritualize it. I thought, if I can not take care of it, then I shouldn't have it, and I "need" it, so I have to take care of it. I need to be a good steward of the "blessings" He has given me. Which is true to a certain degree, but I also think that when we are so "blessed" and less "blessing" others it is easy to have too much to care for. That's what happened to me. My desire is to be available to God. To let him use me. If having so much stuff to take care of means not being able to hear Him or be available to Him. Then I don't want it!

It is easy to get consumed with food intolerances, or homeopathy, or healthy living (making bread, driving to buy raw milk, taking care of chickens, gardening, etc...). Be careful not to make them idols. I have struggled and fallen in this area. When I feel like all I am learning is how to care for my family. I believe that God doesn't want any of these things to come in the way of serving him or fellowshiping with others. We have to be aware of the fight we are in as Christians. The evil one wants to distract us from God and His service. When we get inward focused, we grow spiritually unhealthy. If we stay outward focused... serving others and loving people we can remain closest to God's heart.

Don't get me wrong taking care of our families is our high calling, it is our service, our mission. I just am speaking from the experience of getting so focused on health that it takes the place of studying God's word. When you get so tired from researching on the computer that you don't have the energy to open up the Word. Then there is a priority out of wack.
This was my mistake. Now, even though I feel the urgency to know how to cook for my family to meet their dietary needs, I am going about it at a slower pace... giving myself grace and allowing myself the time to learn because I need to keep God first. It is easy for me to get "addicted" to learning certain things. If I am not personally growing I get depressed. It is my conscience acknowledgement that I am in ever need of improvement and that God is never done with me.
So I have to be careful to not get distracted by worldly knowledge and focus on Christ.

"My sheep listen to my voice... NO one can snatch them out of my hand." John 10:27-28

"God who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies"
Romans 8:11

Jesus said, I am the resurrcetion and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." John 11:25

I am mortal, we all are. Our bodies will fail us even when we take the best care we can. We do need to be good stewards of the temples He created so we can serve HIm to our fullest ability. However, we will not die before He calls us home. And He has the power to heal. Let us not forget that even with something like Mastitis God wants us to call out to HIm to heal us.
We all will perish, what I have been experiencing is the reality of a used, mortal body. But GOd can do miracles and He does. He likes to use people who are weak to glorify Himself. Well Lord, I am weak. Use Me!

May you have many blessings of health and spiritual growth!

Building our Defenses and Curing the Sore Ear!

These past 2 weeks my family has been fighting a nasty bug... bronchitis, ear infections, and everything that goes with it.
It has been a hard 2 weeks but I have learned a lot through it all.

Thanks to my new friend Janet at church and my dear friend Shawn I feel more empowered in how to take care of my children with out using antibiotics.

Both of these friends told me they use garlic oil and olive oil (essential oils) for ear aches. Garlic is antibacterial! I had no idea! I used it tonight and my ears feel so much better.

I know there are many people out there that NEVER use antibiotics... and if they can get by without that is fabulous. However, I have experienced certain times/sicknesses where I have felt an infection was out of control and the only option seemed to be antibiotics. Knowing that they kill all the bad bugs as well as the good ones I always load my kids up on vitamins hoping not to catch something else with their compromised immune system. Janet told me about ACIDOPHILUS.
Wow! i had no idea these even existed... where has this been all my life! "All the good bugs," as Janet put it!
According to Dr. Sears and many other websites/ professionals, Acidophilus "is the powder form of the normal, friendly bacteria called flora that lives in our intestines. Our intestinal flora helps to regulate our digestive system." Yeast also lives in our intestines and when we take antibiotics our bacterial flora can get depleted. When there is an imbalance of yeast and flora the yeast can overgrow and can lead to a number of problems. Some include thrush, candida, yeast diaper rashes, yeast infection in the breast, and more. Taking Acidolphilus can rebuild up that flora in the intestines and guard us against yeast infections.

Today I went to New Seasons and got me some of these good buggies! They also make Primadophilus for kids! So since I had one little boy with a near bursting ear drum I had to do antibiotics... but at least now I can boost his system with these buggies!

The last treasure I learned about today were these awesome EAR CANDLES! Once again I had never heard of such a thing. What an awesome treatment! Shawn helped me do it this afternoon. it worked amazingly... it was pretty yucky so I apologize for the disgusting photo but isn't it amazing how much ear gunk I got out of Kelsey's plugged and aching ear! She is doing so much better!
you can see more on these at www.wallysnatural.com

I would love to hear from you! What other tricks of the trade do you know? Any other homeopathic treatments? What have you found works well?

Magnesium During Pregnancy

At my last appointment with my midwife she suggested taking Magnesium to reduce leg cramps (charlie horses)and restlessness during the night. Trusting her I got a bottle of supplements, came home and did some "research."

To my surprise there is tons of info on Magnesium and Calcium during pregnancy. The added benefits by far out weigh the possible side effects. In fact, it seems more logical to think that it is more of a danger not take magnesium. of course it is always wise to have the advice of a medical professional even when taking supplements.

The basic advantages to taking magnesium during late pregnancy are: reduction of leg cramps, better nights sleep, repair to body tissue, helps build strong bones and teeth, regulates insulin and blood-sugar levels, and helps certain enzymes function properly. Magnesium and calcium work together though so it is important to keep up on taking calcium while taking magnesium. Magnesium relaxes muscles, while calcium stimulates muscles to contract. There is research that shows that proper levels of magnesium during pregnancy can help keep the uterus from contracting until week 35.

Do you need supplements? Probably not, not unless you are experiencing some of the things I mentioned above (leg cramps, high blood pressure, diabetes during pregnancy, etc...) I had horrible morning sickness, like I did every time so it is great to be replenishing my body. feeding the baby doesn't end once baby is born... there is still breast feeding. So I need to re nourish my body so I can produce a healthy supply of nourish able milk. You can get a good source of magnesium from certain foods: green leafy veggies, whole grains, nuts, meat, milk, pumpkin seeds, tofu, etc...

One of the best benefits I have found though to taking the pills so far is that research indicates that magnesium helps with the efficiency of labor. I am all for that! I have to say also that in my last trimester I have had bad leg cramps and restlessness at night during all of my pregnancies (4 so far). Once I started taking the magnesium supplement within a week or so the leg cramps disappeared. Now I am just hoping for the more efficient labor and delivery.

Obviously I am not a doctor, but I wanted to share this new wisdom I gleaned from my midwife whom I trust greatly. She is such a gift to me. If you are pregnant and more curious about the benefits of magnesium during pregnancy I would ask your doctor as well as do some easy research online. It doesn't take long to google magnesium and pregnancy and read a few articles and the benefit could be great for you!

By the way, I wanted to say a congratulations to my friend Brandy on her news of baby #3! We Praise God for your special blessing!
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