Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Drug Free Labor?

What is the definition of a drug free labor? To me, the most obvious answer is no drugs. However I find that for some reason, others define it differently.
-Some define it as no epidural but access to other drugs (such as narcotics & sleep aids).
-Some define it as no epidural or narcotics (but sleep aids okay).

Monday, September 14, 2009

A Baby Name Story

Remember when I discussed how I wasn’t going to tell anyone my baby name ideas for a variety of reasons? Well all of those reasons came to fruition when I told my mom “an idea” of the type of name we like.

It has been really hard to not discuss the names we have in mind and get feedback from people as that is what I do with almost EVERY decision. However, I really don’t want anyone’s feedback unless it is positive so why take the chance? I was discussing names with my mom – probably a couple months ago now, and she is dying to know as she is as curious a person as I am most times, so I threw her a bone. I said that one of the names we like is Spencer (knowing that we liked the feel of it but probably weren’t going to use it) and that specifically I liked ‘Spencer Reid Nelson’. However Tyler vetoed that combo as I had gotten it directly from a TV character whose name is Spencer Reid. I was arguing that we know it sounds good together that way LOL Anyway my mom was like “Ooooh, I really love Spencer” blah blah blah. Okay cool. But as much as I like the name, “baby” doesn’t feel like a Spencer to me at the moment. She tried to prod for more names but I didn’t want to give her any more.

Then a few weeks ago I was talking to my friend Vanessa about names and how we were still unsure of what we were going with and Vanessa said “your mom told me a name I really like but I don’t want to tell you cuz then you won’t use it”. I made her tell me anyway thinking it was a NEW name suggestion I hadn’t heard when she said “Spencer”. I thought “oh great. Good thing I’m not actually thinking that name cuz obviously my mom shared it with other people already.” And for us, since we’ve found out & revealed the gender, I want to keep something a surprise announcement for when baby comes. Otherwise they’d be like oh okay, baby spencer is here. Big whoop.

THEN, on Saturday I had lunch with Vanessa, Melody & Dale (Mel’s brother) in Edmonton. Again, I brought up names cuz I like to try to get suggestions from people. Melody says “I don’t like Spencer, it makes me think of Spencer Pratt” [noting that I didn’t say Spencer so she must have heard it from Vanessa]. Again, good thing I’m not actually 100% for that name or that would have bummed me out. Though I have to say, I don’t think Spencer Pratt has fame staying power and that by the name my kid goes to kindergarten I’m pretty sure everyone will have forgotten who Spencer Pratt is and any associations with the name.

The point of my story is that when I threw out this red herring name, I got [unrequested] negative feedback about it and people found out about it that I wouldn’t want to know about it. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few people who ended up giving birth to boys & using Spencer in the Peace River area now too (as that is my other reason for not wanting to share, don’t want to plant the name seed into people’s minds). It makes me really glad I didn’t share any of the names that are closer to my heart.

SO, we still have quite a few names in our name bank, probably like a dozen, with a couple front contenders. I feel like I maybe know the name combination I like but I have to see baby AND I have to get Tyler to agree.

Friday, September 11, 2009

what google has to say about me

I was cleaning out my email and found an old interactive survey type email. It was hilarious & fun so I have to post. Thanks for sending it to me Kyla back when you had a desk job & no baby to take care of!

Go to Google.com and enter the following stuff in:


1) Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search;
Cutie Crystal Needs a Home!

2) Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search.
Crystal looks like the Moreau's Island offspring of Britney Spears and a raccoon.
[if you're not familiar with moreau's island this is NOT a compliment lol]

3) Type in "[your name] likes" in Google search
As well as working and playing casual games, Crystal likes to shop and garden. And she reads tarot cards and tea leaves for fun. ...

4) Type in "[your name] says" in Google search.
Crystal says new exercise program is industry first

5) Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search.
Watch crystal wants to dress you like a rich Iraqi

6) Type in "[your name] does" in Google search.
Crystal Does the Party

7) Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search.
~crystal hates liars~

8) Type in "[your name] goes" in Google search
Crystal goes to Europe AND
Crystal goes psycho on Twyla

9)Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search
Crystal loves progress

10) Type in "[your name] has" in Google search.
Crystal has a ball

11)Type in "[your name] had" in Google search.
Crystal had an affair during her marriage, though she claimed to still love Quicksilver

12)Type in "[your name] feels" in Google search.
Crystal feels like a dim sum kinda day

13)Type in "[your name] drinks" in Google search.
Crystal Drinks (UK) Limited

The Travel Set I Want...

I know that logically it shouldn't matter all that much what the color & style of my travel set is...but I love this! And that's what I had in mind originally but it wasn't available when we were looking. So it has all the functionality of the set we bought with the color scheme I like & is on sale for $199 (regular price $270) and the one we got from Sears was $230 so it's even CHEAPER. Grrr...hopefully I'll find someone to buy it. Postive Thinking!


Tuesday, September 08, 2009

2009 Fall TV Premiere Schedule (according to Crystal)

I watch entirely too much TV...but really how DO you define "too much"??

Wednesday, Sept 9
America's Next Top Model on CW
So You Think You Can Dance on FOX

Thursday, Sept 10
Vampire Diaries on CW

Thursday, Sept 17
the Office on NBC

Monday, Sept 21
Heroes on NBC

Wednesday, Sept 23
Criminal Minds on CBS
Law & Order: SUV on NBC

Thursday, Sept 24
CSI (original/Las Vegas) on CBS
Mentalist on CBS

Friday, Sept 25
Medium on CBS (yes that's a network change & Medium used to premier in Winter instead of Fall so Woot!)
Law & Order (original) on NBC

Sunday, Sept 27
the Simpsons on FOX
the Cleveland Show on FOX
American Dad on FOX
Family Guy on FOX
Dexter on HBO

Monday, Sept 28
Lie to Me on FOX

Tuesday, Sept 29 Hell's Kitchen on FOX


So that means my TV life is as follows (though I PVR stuff so I am not chained to a specific night):

Sunday (4 Hours)
-Fox Animated Line Up (Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show)
-Dexter
-True Blood

Monday (1.5 - 2 Hours)
-Lie to Me
-Jon & Kate + Eight

Tuesday (3 Hours)
-Hell's Kitchen
-So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Canada

Wednesday (5.5 Hours)
-America's Next Top Model
-SYTYCD Canada, Results Show
-SYTYCD USA
-Criminal Minds
-Law & Order: SVU

Thursday (4.5 Hours)
-SYTYCD USA, Results Show
-Vampire Diaries
-the Office
-CSI
-the Mentalist

Friday (2 Hours)
-Medium
-Law & Order

21 Hours of TV lol

Sunday, September 06, 2009

All About G Diapers

Danielle responded to my inquiry regarding G Diapers, & for your convenience I've recopied it into a blog posting...
G Diapers, an Experience Story from Danielle:
G diapers are made up of a cloth exterior called "little g pants", a waterproof and breathable liner and an absorbent inner liner. The absorbent liner is flushable, compostable and tossable. I choose to throw them in the garbage because I do not trust my toilet. G diapers break down in 50-150 days whereas conventional diapers are estimated to take approximately 500 years, possibly more. If you choose to flush, you must tear open the absorbent liner and allow the inner core to fall into the toilet. You then stir with the swishstick (included in your starter kit). Once the flushable inner liner has broken apart, flush the toilet, then throw in the rest of the flushable inner liner. My sister-in-law has flushed and said it works really well. She was very surprised at how well the inner layer broke down. Keep in mind that you can only compost wet flushables. Toss or flush the poopy ones.
I love g diapers. I think they are adorable and I love that they are enviromentally friendly. Everything in the flushable inner liner gets reabsorbed into the earth in a neutral or positive way. The little g pants come in orange and cream in the starter packs, but there are tons of pretty colors available to purchase seperately. The initial start up cost is expensive [FYI from Crystal - not expensive compared to cloth diaper route]. The starter kit sells at London Drugs for $36.99, but often goes on sale for $29.99. It includes 2 little g pants, 10 flushable absorbent liners and a swishstick. I recommend having at least 4 little g pants, so you could either purchase 2 starter kits or buy the fancier little g pants seperately. The flushable refills are a few dollars more than conventional diapers, but I think it's money well spent. Lakelyn has not had any trace of diaper rash since we switched.
It's very sad to try and picture how many diapers end up in landfills. How many do you go through in a day? A month? In a child's lifetime? How much space would they occupy? Would it fill a room in your house? Your whole house? More? Now imagine all of the diapers in the world. Try to picture that huge mountain of diapers that is not going to go anywhere anytime soon. It's actually pretty shocking.
Like all products, g diapers are not perfect. Because the flushable, absorbent liner just sits in the water proof liner, it can bunch up, which can lead to leaks. This is why I recommend having 4 little g pants. That way you shouldn't have to do laundry every single day. On average, I would say that we experience a leak once every 4 or 5 days. Poop gets on the waterproof liner more often than that, but you just rinse it and hang it to dry. G diapers recommends having your extra little g pants preloaded with the flushable liners to make changing fast and easy. I agree. When I'm out and about I always carry an extra preloaded g diaper, a few extra flushable, absorbent inner liners and a big ziploc bag, in case we experience a leak. Here's a brief summary.
PROS-Flushable/Compostable/Tossable-g diapers are absorbed back into the earth in a neutral or positive way-break down in 50-150 days so they are not filling up landfills like conventional diapers-breathable which means less diaper rash or no diaper rash-adorable, little g pants are available in many colors-guilt free
CONS-start up is quite expensive-flushable refills are a little more expensive than conventional diapers-flushable absorbent layer just sits in waterproof liner and sometimes bunches up, causing leaks (Although I should note that conventional diapers can leak too.)-have to launder dirty and wet little g pants therefore g diapers are slightly more work than conventional diapers
Like I said, I love g diapers! I highly recommend spending the extra money and trying them. BTW, according to the website, g diapers are available at 5 stores in Red Deer. They are London Drugs, Baby-Pops Inc, Highway to Health Inc, Hap-E Bab-E and Nutter's Bulk #3.
I also had lunch with Danielle yesterday so I got her to show me the diapers in person. They look great & simple to use so I am really excited and want to try them. I talked about & showed them to Tyler today (via the website's videos) and he agrees that they sound good. So we are going to be a G Diaper Family!

Funny

The News: A television or radio show where they begin with "Good Evening" but then proceed to tell you why it isn't...

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

What My Name Says About Me...

Crystal
-The name Crystal creates a very independent, practical, analytical nature with skillful business abilities.
-You desire freedom from restrictions and authority in order that you can pursue your own ambitions.
-This name gives you leadership qualities and you are seldom happy in positions where you must direction from others.
-Material and financial success are the focus of your interests, but sacrificing much for material ambition will result in a lack of harmony and balance in your personal life, particularly a lack of appreciation for social courtesies and things of a more inspirational nature.
-Although the name Crystal creates the urge to be creative, independent, and self-sufficient, we point out that it causes a materialistic, somewhat self-opinionated approach that frustrates higher humanitarian qualities.
-This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the reproductive organs, and tension or accidents to the head.
Tyler
-The name of Tyler creates a very aggressive and independent nature, one with big ambitions, giving you original, progressive, large-scale ideas, salesmanship and promotional ability as well as the excellent business judgment which enables you to gain the financial accumulation to which you feel entitled.
-You have a versatile, restless nature, and could do any job well, although you would not like to do menial tasks.
-You are seldom satisfied and are always seeking something new.
-Although the name Tyler causes an active mind and a restless urge to explore new ideas, we emphasize that it causes an unscrupulous, materialistic approach that frustrates higher humanitarian qualities.
-This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the solar plexus and reproductive organs.
Source 2: http://www.paulsadowski.com/NameData.asp [says to use full name on birth certificate]
You entered: crystal ghislaine mcken
Your number is: 3
The characteristics of #3 are: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.
The expression or destiny for #3: An Expression of 3 produces a quest for destiny with words along a variety of lines that may include writing, speaking, singing, acting or teaching; our entertainers, writers, litigators, teachers, salesmen, and composers. You also have the destiny to sell yourself or sell just about any product that comes along. You are imaginative in your presentation, and you may have creative talents in the arts, although these are more likely to be latent. You are an optimistic person that seems ever enthusiastic about life and living. You are friendly, loving and social, and people like you because you are charming and such a good conversationalist. Your ability to communicate may often inspire others. It is your role in life to inspire and motivate; to raise the spirits of those around you.
The negative side of number 3 Expression is superficiality. You may tend to scatter your forces and simply be too easygoing. It is advisable for the negative 3 to avoid dwelling on trivial matters, especially gossip.
Your Soul Urge number is: 3
A Soul Urge number of 3 means: With the Soul Urge number 3 your desire in life is personal expression, and generally enjoying life to its fullest. You want to participate in an active social life and enjoy a large circle of friends. You want to be in the limelight, expressing your artistic or intellectual talents. Word skills may be your thing; speaking, writing, acting, singing. In a positive sense, the 3 energy is friendly, outgoing and always very social.
You have a decidedly upbeat attitude that is rarely discouraged; a good mental and emotional balance.
The 3 Soul Urge gives intuitive insight, thus, very high creative and inspirational tendencies. The truly outstanding trait shown by the 3 Soul Urge is that of self-expression, regardless of the field of endeavor.
On the negative side, you may at times become too easygoing and too optimistic, tending to scatter forces and accomplish very little. Often, the excessive 3 energy produces non-stop talkers. Everyone has faults, but the 3 soul urge doesn't appreciate having these pointed out.
Your Inner Dream number is: 9
An Inner Dream number of 9 means: You dream of being creative, intellectual, and universal; the selfless humanitarian. You understand the needy and want to help them. You would love to be a person people count on for support and advice.
You entered: tyler evan nelson
Your number is: 3
The characteristics of #3 are: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.
The expression or destiny for #3:An Expression of 3 produces a quest for destiny with words along a variety of lines that may include writing, speaking, singing, acting or teaching; our entertainers, writers, litigators, teachers, salesmen, and composers. You also have the destiny to sell yourself or sell just about any product that comes along. You are imaginative in your presentation, and you may have creative talents in the arts, although these are more likely to be latent. You are an optimistic person that seems ever enthusiastic about life and living. You are friendly, loving and social, and people like you because you are charming and such a good conversationalist. Your ability to communicate may often inspire others. It is your role in life to inspire and motivate; to raise the spirits of those around you.
The negative side of number 3 Expression is superficiality. You may tend to scatter your forces and simply be too easygoing. It is advisable for the negative 3 to avoid dwelling on trivial matters, especially gossip.
Your Soul Urge number is: 22
A Soul Urge number of 22 means: The Soul Urge of the master number 22 is very much that of the master builder. You would like to use your abilities in an important humanitarian undertaking, and have an innate desire is to express the significant power you feel in a concrete manner, as a builder, engineer, diplomat, etc. In some way you want to make a considerable contribution to the world.
The 22 gives a broad, universal outlook with a rather practical and common-sense approach. You have especially high intelligence, with an unusual perception and awareness. This number often denotes a high degree of diplomatic abilities and high ideals. You are a very capable person and you may possess special leadership abilities that you can and should develop. People respect you and recognize your superior foresight and vision.
The negative side of the 22 soul urge is a high degree of nervous energy and a tendency to be very dominating. It is unfortunate that all who possess the urge of 22 do not use its energies to the greatest advantage; but then it should be recognized that these energies are understandably the most difficult to focus and direct.
Your Inner Dream number is: 8
An Inner Dream number of 8 means: You dream of success in the business or political world, of power and control of large material endeavors. You crave authority and recognition of executive skills. Your secret self may have very strong desire to become an entrepreneur.

G Diapers


So my lovely friend Danielle is suppose to be test driving "G Diapers" and letting me know if they are good are not. The premise of them is that they are a hybrid between cloth & disposable diapers...offering a better environmental impact but continuing to offer the convenience of disposable. Plus I think they are suppose to be a little more cost effective than disposable? But I'm not sure about that. The liners are biogradeable & flushable and are said to breakdown in 50-150 days.


I have baby brain so I can't remember if Danielle has reported back to me about them yet or not. So I figured I would post a short blog about it (since she is a frequent reader) and let her respond on here (or if it's lengthy I might repost it as another blog).


If y'all want to check out the website in the meantime it is http://www.gdiapers.com/ I know they sell them at Baby Pops in Red Deer, though I'm not sure where else they might be available...

Unnatural to be Natural

I’ve realized recently that I am struggling against what may be my authentic self.

I am interested in the “natural” world…by this I am including meditation, crystals, organic foods, alternative health, back to basics stuff...but no matter how much excitement I start with, it peters out. Yet I always make time for getting my hair cut & colored, getting my nails filled, etc.

As I’ve explored my birthing options, I wanted to try for the hypnobirthing & more natural methods but I struggle with just picking up the books & finishing reading them. Yet when we had our hospital orientation I completely resonated with the nurse and her points of view & sense of humor. For as long as I can remember, I have always said that I would get “the works” when it came to drugs during labor and its only recently that I’ve considered alternatives. I have been listening to women’s birth stories via podcasts (pregnastic is the website & podcasts) and they have been wonderful to listen to. The women start out pregnant and discussing pregnancy issues on the show & then when they have their babies and come back & tell their story. It’s based out of San Diego, so it is Americanized, but the experiences are fairly parallel to Canadians I would think. I’ve probably listened to about 20 birth stories and have heard the full spectrum from lovely, natural births to complicated natural births, to medical interventions to planned c-sections.

The key thing I have picked up from all their stories is that you should be as knowledgeable as possible going in so that you can make educated decisions as you go along so that you can be satisfied with your birthing experience. You can’t control what happens during your birth, but you can be in control of the decisions as they come up and thus feel that you did the best you could with what you had.

As I’ve been contemplating my birthing decisions one lady’s comment stuck out in my mind. She had a natural birth & enjoyed it, however she said one of the reasons she thinks she had such a positive experience was that she has been a runner for many years and thus has great stamina. Well lets be honest, I am not in great shape and don’t have great stamina! I also have a pretty low pain threshold and don’t have the best attitude under pressure. Last night I woke up with a bit of a gas cramp and I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it through that LOL So I’m thinking, that in order for Tyler, baby & I to have the best birthing experience for us, I’ll be opting for an epidural. Compared to laughing gas & the other narcotics, I am most comfortable with the epidural as they believe it doesn’t pass through to the placenta (& if it does, it’s probably minimal). My two biggest concerns with the epidural is that sometimes epidurals can slow down contractions and also that the epidural could wear off before the actual baby coming out moment. As for other risks, the nurse at our orientation said that there has never been a case in 20 years of anyone in Canada having spinal injuries (or anything related like that) from an epidural.

Realistically, looking back I have been pretty liberal during my pregnancy rather than conservative. I have continued to dye my hair, get my nails down, take a prescription drug, accidentally ate a few chocolates that had vodka in them, consumed junk food regularly, drank coffee and didn’t take my prenatal vitamins or exercise much (despite my original best intentions)… The only things I haven’t done are hot tubs/steam rooms (which I’m not that into so it wasn’t a sacrifice), drinking alcohol, every other drug and avoiding my skin products that I know are ‘unsafe’ for pregnancy. Hopefully my baby survives me and my lack of self discipline! In addition we were pretty liberal/untraditional in terms of wanting to find out gender, having a few extra ultrasounds, stuff like that.
There are some things I would like to avoid during the birth though. I haven't heard many good things about pitocin (the drug they administer via IV to induce contractions) and people's experiences with it. I don't like the sounds of episotomies, the vaccuum, forcepts...
So ladies, most of you have had your babies. What were your birthing experiences? What were you happy about, unhappy about, etc?