Holistic tips for fighting an ear infection and constipation

While Abbi was fighting off her random virus, it appears that an infection snuck in her weary body. Her temp sky-rocketed and she started screaming all the time and it was obviously something new. So I took her to my favorite holistic doctor on yesterday and she confirmed what I suspected -- she had a virus that was pretty much gone, but now had a really bad infection in her ear. You might think an ear infection is no big deal since kids get them all the time, but let me tell you -- it must straight out hurt because it makes for a completely miserable baby! I honestly have not been able to set Abbi down (other than a quick trip to the bathroom) since Saturday afternoon. This afternoon is the first time she has slept on her own (much thanks to my holistic dr. and chiropractor!) since the infection hit. She still screams when anyone even so much as touches the right side of her head (and you really don't want to be in the same house when I give her drops in her ear!) but her fever went down and she actually allowed me to lay her in the crib this afternoon so I do believe that she is improving. I'm desperately hoping to sleep in my own bed tonight!

I thought I'd write out the recommendations from my holistic dr. so that I would remember them next time and in case they might be helpful to you. We are also having trouble with Karlie getting constipated (she got dehydrated when she had the fever and it hurt to have a BM and now my stubborn 2-year old is refusing to go! So my holistic dr. gave me some tips for that as well.

For ear infection:

1. Drop hydrogen peroxide in her ear canal 4-6 times/day. (She recommended doing it while nursing because Abbi would be opening and closing her mouth and it would help, but after I saw how much she hated the drops, I decided I didn't want nursing associated with pain.)

2. Hydrogen Peroxide in vaporizer at night and during naps

3. Ear oil 2 times/day made of olive oil, mullein, garlic, St. John's, and MSM

4. Immune Support:

Probiotics

no sugars/ friuts

Collodial Silver 3 times a day

elderberry syrup

zinc 15 mg

Garlic on feet

oregano oil on feet and rubbed on skin behind infected ear

For Constipation: Magnesium Citrate with potassium -- helps relaxes muscles and go more easily

...it also helps with sleep, restless leg, focus, emotions, muscle cramps, etc

It has begun...

Have you been enjoying celebrating the advent? My little ones sure have. I thought that after giving so many fun Christmas ideas in my last post, I should update which ones we are actually doing. I definitely had to narrow down my choices to keep the sweet season of advent simple.

Last year I wanted to do the Jesee tree, but I just didn't get it together in time. But I went ahead and made the ornaments so I would be ready for this year and I was ever so glad that I did! The girls have really enjoyed the Bible stories and putting the ornaments on our tree. I love Ann Voskamp's jesse tree devotional and made the ornaments with her templates, but I also read about a Jesse Tree storybook and decided to purchase it for our girls because I knew they would enjoy the pictures and storyline a bit more. It is about a grumpy old carpenter who is carving a Jesse Tree for a church and a little boy who begs him to tell the story of each carving. The readings are a little long for Karlie, but Karis absolutely loves it.

I really wanted to do an advent calendar with random acts of kindness for each day, but I just didn't have enough time to get it together before December got here. I'm thinking about just setting aside one day each week (probably on our day to run errands) starting with the new year to do a random act of kindness with the girls. I really want them to start thinking about how to be kind to others all the time, not just at Christmas.

I am not a crafty Mama. I really want to be and I really enjoy doing crafts with my girls, but I'm not usually one to plan ahead well in that department. If we have time to do something fun, we usually end up baking! But my Karis loves "making decorations" and the fall season had me scanning Pinterest moments before she woke up, trying to find something to make with what we had on hand. I stumbled upon "Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands" and immediately knew it would be worth the $4.99 to have something all planned out for me, using everyday household items, that would be an easy craft to point back to the story of Christ's birth. And we have loved it! We haven't been able to do our craft every single day due to a busy holiday schedule, but it has still been worth every penny to me.

I have to admit that the most exciting part of my girls' day, however, is probably opening up their daily Christmas book. I was just going to do one book each day, but they were so excited that I just couldn't make one of them wait til the next day. So yes, we will open 50 Christmas books before Christmas. Thank goodness for the library!!!! It is amazing how excited they get when they open a book, even though they might have read the book 50 times last season. What a fun tradition! I found a great list wonderful Christmas books to request at the library HERE.

My thoughts on making it through labor naturally

I have a friend who recently asked for recommendations for scriptures to meditate on during labor to help get her mind off the pain. I honestly had never thought of such a thing (sad, huh?), but I wrote to her what did help me the most and what scripture I thought would have helped me the most. I thought I'd post my response in case it might be helpful to anyone else hoping to get through childbirth naturally. Having a baby is the most awesome and thrilling (although also the most painful) experience ever and is more than worth the pain!

There were three things that helped me the most when I was in the most pain:

1. Just reminding myself that my body was created to do this! I seriously said over and over in my head to myself, "This is what I was made to do!" Reading the book Ina Mays Guide to Childbirthwas the best thing I did to prepare for the pain. It is very hippy-ish, but after reading all the birth stories you will be totally convinced that you can do it and also have an idea of what to expect so that you won't think that your labor is unusual or more painful than it ought to be and give up.

2. Reminding myself that there will be an end to the pain -- somehow knowing that the pain was only for a short time was a huge help to me. Relief will come! Also, except for during transition, God gives us a break between contractions that helps tremendously. A contraction is utterly miserable, but usually only lasts about a minute and you often get a two minute break. Two minutes may not sound like long, but it is a huge relief when you are in such pain!! Breath a huge sigh of relief and thank God in between contractions for the break and the chance to re-group.

3. Focusing on the baby... imagine snuggling him in your arms! Be thankful for each contraction because it brings you that much closer to holding him! Try not to think in terms of just "enduring" each contraction, because they serve a great purpose and you will end up tensing up and fighting them, rendering them less useful. Use them and help them by swaying your hips slightly. Picture the baby coming further down the birth canal with each contraction. A lot of times I would chant in my head, "she's coming, she's coming!" Each contraction brings you that much closer to your precious little one! So exciting!

So although I didn't really have a scripture, I guess I just focused on being thankful -- thankful that God had created me to do this, that there was relief from the pain, and that I would be holding my baby soon. So I would recommend 1 Thess. 5:18 to meditate on:

"in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"