The end of a pregnancy can be so grueling, uncomfortable, and just plain exhausting! I only sleep 2 hours at a time right now because my body is equipped with a timer that goes off when my bladder accumulates approx 2 tablespoons. So then I hoist this tank-like body out of my bed to sleepwalk to the bathroom, step on a kid toy or a husbands shoe, curse a little...eliminate the 2 tablespoons and roll my eyes and go back to bed....oh wait, my body has realized I am trying to go back to sleep...cue the acid reflux...
In 2 hours I will do it all over again....I wish I could talk myself into just wearing an adult diaper, lol...but I just cant bring myself to do it.
2 times in the past week I've revisited the morning sickness stage (if you know what I mean) and I've also had a pulled muscle in my neck for the past 5 days....its been rough, I need a hug.
All of this has put me in a negative and depressive mental state and I want to turn that around asap... so for starters I will be reducing my hours at work to part time for the next 2 weeks and on maternity leave after that to get ready for the baby. Part time starts today and that has already lifted my mood tremendously....I can nap! Its time to take care of ME!
Oh yeah, to get ready for birth i've been eating 6 dates every day...whaaa? I know it sounds weird but read this....
" a study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology which concludes that eating 6 dates daily during the last four weeks of pregnancy “significantly reduced the need for induction and augmentation of labor, and produced a more favorable, but non-significant, delivery outcome”. Some significant findings:
- Cervical dilation was significantly greater in the date-eating mamas upon arrival at the hospital
- 83% of mothers who consumed dates had their membranes intact upon admission at the hospital
- 96% of the women who ate dates went into labor on their own
- Use of Pitocin (synthetic Oxytocin) was significantly lower in women who consumed dates (28%), compared with the non-date fruit mothers (47%)
- The latent phase of the first stage of labor was almost 7 hours shorter in the date-eating mothers compared with the non-date fruit eaters (510 min vs 906 min). Not bad for eating a few dates!
- the study demonstrates a significant reduction in the amount of postpartum bleeding experienced by women who consumed date fruit compared to women who received synthetic oxytocin (Pitocin).
So I thought...why not?
