Holistic First Aid Kit

I keep a few items in my house and my vehicle that can help with many problems. This is a list of my favorite items:

 Activated charcoal-This can be used in an emergency if a poisoning happens. You should then head to an emergency room as well. 

• Arnica 30c-I use this for pain relief for my children and myself, for any bumps or bruise pain, sprain pain or to reduce swelling. The cream form can be used on sprains and bruises.   
  

•  Bug Balm Repellent-Used as a deterrent for mosquitos on children ages six and up. 
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Calendula Calendula officinalis-Tincture and cream can be used for wound care, scrapes, scratches and cuts, but do not use if there is a foreign object or infection as it encourages quick skin growth.  
  
• Catnip Nepeta cateria-would be used in a tea or infusion for breathing issues like mild asthma or bronchitis symptoms, but can be used also for diarrhea. Topically it can be used as an antifungal and antibacterial agent. 
  
•  Chamomile Matricaria recutita-to be made into a tea for stress relief, inflammation and pain relief. 
  
• Clove Oil-This oil must be diluted, but can be used for toothaches. You can apply it directly on the tooth or around the area of the tooth. 
  

 

• Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium-Used for high fevers, prevention and treatments of migraines in a tea. This is not to be used for children. 
  

 

• Lavender Lavendula augustifolia-Essential oil-Mixed with a carrier oil Lavender can be used for scalds and burns and has an anesthetic effect. A spray in alcohol can be made to be sprayed on clothes for anxiety, or on a pillow for insomnia. 
  

 

• Mullien Oil-Used for earaches or a build up of ear wax that may be causing pain. 
  

 

• Peppermint-Mentha x piperita-Peppermint tea is a great remedy for gas, as an antacid, or for fever (it helps you sweat).  This shouldn't be used with children under six, from one to six years of age, spearmint can be substituted.
  

 

• Rescue Remedy-This is made from flower essences and helps with panic, shock, or stress.
  

 

• Shepherd's Purse Capsella bursa-pastoris-Made into a tincture Shepherd's purse can aid in blood clotting. Give 2-8 mL 3/4 times a day. 
  

 

• Urtica Urens 30c-To be taken for stinging, burning pains for allergies, stings from insects, sunburns and rashes. 
  

 

• Witch Hazel Hamamelis virginiana-should be used topically in a compress and for bleeding, reducing bleeding, and can also be used for hemorrhoids. 
  

 

• Yarrow Achillea millefolium-is useful as a topical disinfectant. As a tea it can be used for fevers and colds, and it can also reduce bleeding. Should be used in older children and adults only. 
  

Carrier oils should be used for all EO's.  These can be oils like Coconut, olive oil and almond oil. 

NIH. (2020, December). Feverfew. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/feverfew#:~:text=Feverfew%20is%20promoted%20for%20fevers,as%20an%20antiseptic%20and%20insecticide.

Petersen, D. (2020). Nat 303 Holistic Pathology & Protocols (19th ed.). ACHS.

Sah, A., Naseef, P. P., Kuruniyan, M. S., Jain, G. K., Zakir, F., & Aggarwal, G. (2022, October 19). A comprehensive study of therapeutic applications of chamomile. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9611340/

Silberman, J., Galuska, M. A., & Taylor, A. (2023, February 7). National Center for Biotechnology Information. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482294/

USDA. (n.d.). Idaho Panhandle National Forests - Learning Center. Forest Service National Website. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/ipnf/learning/?cid=fsm9_019150#:~:text=The%20leaves%20were%20mashed%20with,the%20clotting%20time%20of%20blood.

 

 

 

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Infant Gut Biome

    

    Before birth, one would think an infant has little need for a good gut microbiome, as they are fed directly by the cord to the bloodstream. However, we know that the maternal diet is essential in creating a microbiome in the infant at birth. Some bacteria are shared through the placenta, but birth is where the biome starts. To start an infant off well, many things have to happen, and we cannot always control all the factors. Diet is one that we can control. Studies on how the diet affects the bacteria transferred to babies started with a study on rats, how their diets affected their gut biome, and how that transferred to their pups. This study concluded that a high-fat diet changed the gut biome so that the bacteria shared during pregnancy, birth, and lactation was not highly varied and was mostly pathogenic rather than helpful. (Mann et al., 2017)

    In human studies, we found similar results. In a study published in Genome Medicine (Chu et al., 2016), mothers were separated into high-fat and standard or low-fat diets groups. The infants’ stool and meconium were tested, and a few areas on the body for bacteria and the bacteria were then sequenced. Enterococcus had a marked increase in the high-fat diet group and a marked decrease in Bacteroides, which aid in supporting mucosal immunity. These changes persisted up to six weeks postpartum, even with some of the infants being breastfed. So we know that maternal diet will affect the infants’ gut biome even several weeks after birth.

    Along with diet, we know that mode of delivery, medications, and breastmilk can also affect the development of the gut biome. Starting with birth, the gut biome can change based on delivery. If mom has antibiotics or delivers by cesarean section, the transfer of bacteria from the vaginal canal is either incomplete or altered. However, the composition in the milk doesn’t change much by these factors and has more to do with a mother’s diet and BMI. (Demmelmair et al., 2020) Some small studies showed an increase in harmful bacteria over helpful in the milk in cesarean section milk, but other studies show little to no difference. The inconsistencies may have to do with the area or hospital practices instead. Also included in the study were the differences in breastmilk and formula. There was a higher increase of diversity in healthy bacteria in infants fed breastmilk, particularly at the breast, than those fed by bottle, tube, or formula. While all of this may seem upsetting or daunting as having to have antibiotics or a cesarean section are out of our control, there is hope.

    Mothers can prepare a healthy gut biome for their infant by eating a regular fat diet and limiting healthy fats that feed beneficial bacteria like bifidobacterium and lactobacillus before birth. They can then continue this diet after birth for their milk. Breastfeeding over formula feeding has long been proven to be the best food for infants, and it’s true also for the gut biome. Even if other factors alter the gut biome, breastmilk can help heal and change it over time. It’s been found that bacterial diversity is also determined by maternal weight and diet but still improved over formula, which feeds primarily harmful bacteria, just with lower variety. (Cabrera-Rubio et al., 2012) Colostrum tested showed only a few bacteria, mainly from the lactobacillus family, but by six months, including those bacteria Veillonella, Leptotrichia, and Prevotella were also found. Maternal diet did affect the diversity by limiting these healthy bacteria while having increased levels of coccus-type bacteria.


    While these studies show that diet is vital in developing a healthy gut microbiome for infants, and the importance cannot be understated, we can also affect the biome after birth by breastfeeding. Breastfeeding provides a higher diversity of healthy and helpful symbiotic bacteria that strengthens the gut and our immunity. We don’t always choose how we give birth or need medication, but we can control our diets, and we can seek help in breastfeeding so that we offer our infants the best start in life.

References

Cabrera-Rubio, R., Collado, M. C., Laitinen, K., Salminen, S., Isolauri, E., & Mira, A. (2012, July 25). The human milk microbiome changes over lactation and is shaped by maternal weight and mode of delivery. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 96(3), 544-551. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.112.037382

Chu, D. M., Antony, K. M., Ma, J., Prince, A. L., Showalter, L., Moller, M., & Aagaard, K. M. (2016, August 9). The early infant gut microbiome varies in association with a maternal high-fat diet. Genome Medicine, 8(77). https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13073-016-0330-z

Demmelmair, H., Jimenez, E., Carmen Callado, M., Salminen, S., & McGuire, M. K. (2020, March 9). Maternal and Perinatal Factors Associated with the Human Milk Microbiome. Current Developments in Nutrition, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzaa027

Mann, P. E., Huynh, K., & Widmer, G. (2017, November 28). Maternal high fat diet and its consequence on the gut microbiome: A rat model. Gut Microbes, 9(2), 143-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2017.1395122

Some Updates

So, last year was a crap show, wasn't it?  The government is taking liberties to destroy freedoms and keep everyone scared.  

But anyways.  My husband left active duty last year as well.  He's now part of the Texas National Guard, so once our house sells here, we'll be moving to Texas.  I'm looking forward to it.  I'd like to be near Dallas, but really it depends on where my husband gets a full-time job on where we end up.  But I found a Korean grocery store in Dallas.  I want to be able to go shopping there often.

So, anyways, school is going well.  I'm at the end of my second semester.  I'm enjoying the less mainstream education.  While we use the mainstream curriculum, it's awesome to get the complimentary medicine add ons, with research to back it all up.  I really am just in love with this school.

In worse news, my sister died last month.  It's been hard for my nieces and for me.  I did spend a good week with my nieces, though, and that was so nice.  I need to prioritize more time with my family.

My school was amazing, though, and completely understanding in the fact that I'd be late with some assignments.  Like I said, such an amazing school.  If you're interested in CAM education, or more holistic education in different things, check out ACHS.  They are accredited as well.  Great staff and professors!

School, moving, and transitions

 It's been a hot minute.  But here I am, back to writing.  I won't promise to write regularly, because it would likely be a lie.  We are getting out of the army (I may or may not edit my blog definition/title) and my husband is joining the national guard in Texas.  It'll be a change for us, as neither of us have ever been to Texas.  And on top of that we're still homeschooling our kids, and I'm actually starting school this fall for Holistic Nutrition.  So that will be fun to try and manage, while also trying to deal with my health issues.

But I'm hopeful we will be able to get everything done that we need to get done.  As of right now we are mainly focusing on trying to get my husband a new job/career that he'll enjoy preferably, but will also pay the bills.

As of right now though, I am pretty excited to share what I learn in my classes, about nutrition, and also herbals, as I'm taking that as an elective.  

I hope everyone is well.

Ah, so here we are

8 months out from leaving Korea and I've barely updated y'all on what's been going on. I had a relapse in my chronic fatigue, which has been re-named but it's hard to remember. So, like I said, relapsed which means, a lot of exhaustion and sickness happening here and so most of my good days are spent doing school or out exploring. I need to make a post of nothing but Korea pictures to share.

Thanks for sticking around, I'm considering getting a Facebook page for my many posts since I'm on there more often. Maybe. We will see.

Our first (and only) internationally born child

Moving to Korea was an adventure.  We had to move early because I ended up pregnant earlier than we had been planning.  Being due just a few days before my husband's report date, we had to move our moving up by 2 months at least.  Which we did.  We got to Korea on August 17th. 

I was 33 weeks pregnant and unsure about where I'd end up delivering.  I started prenatal care with the military hospital up at Yongson and to be honest I was pretty surprised at the care there.  It wasn't as bad as I was expecting considering the stories.  They are obviously heading in the right direction as far as care.

I still was not okay giving birth in a hospital.  We found out that I couldn't stay at lodging up at Yongson for half price unless I gave birth at 121 and I was not comfortable with the idea of driving anywhere while in labor at all so around 36 weeks we started looking into or homebirth options.  I was still not comfortable with the idea of unassisted birth although Michael and I did put a lot of discussion into it.  I just preferred the idea of having someone there to assist for those "just in cases."

So we contacted a homebirth midwife.  She was completely hands off in some ways, and hands on in ways I wasn't expecting.  But, all in all I'm glad we called her.  She was really only there for a short part of my birth, but I LOVED her assistant Jasmine.

So, my birth story:

On October 10, 2015, around 10am I had some bloody show.  I have a history of short labors so we called the midwife and let her know.  She sent her husband and assistant out because she was teaching a class.  My labor was very slow to start.  Early labor lasted a very long time.  All day in fact.  Contractions were slow to establish, but they were pretty intense when they were showing up.  It wasn't until around 5pm, after doing some sprints around the building for about half an hour, that my contractions finally picked up.  That's when I'd say active labor started.  The birth pool was set up, and I swayed and moved, and walked around, and leaned, during contractions.  It was very different from my other labors in that I felt the need to move between contractions during this one.  I was also able to breathe, instead of moan through them for the most part for the first part of active labor.

I was in and out of the birth tub a few times, until I think it was closer (to be honest at this point I was fairly exhausted so details are pretty fuzzy)  Kids were in and out of the room, Michael was in and our of the room, and at some point I just lost track of who was there.  Jasmine was awesome at helping me relax during and between contractions.  We had to live and press in on my stomach to get Isaac to engage and drop down because of how relaxed my muscles are.  I do remember hoping that I'd still give birth on the 10th but it was looking less likely.  The contractions kept coming and I was slightly excited when my thoughts turned irrational (thinking drugs would be nice) because I knew he'd be here soon.  At some point Rosa showed up....but I honestly don't remember when.

And then like always the fact that I was pushing kind of snuck up on me and surprised me.  Wasn't as easy as Katara, Isaac's water wasn't breaking while I was pushing and I think that scared me, although I'm not sure why.  Obviously it made pushing harder, but I think it would have been cool if he'd been born in caul but I kind of freaked out at the fact that it wasn't breaking.  At that point I know there was a flurry of activity, and Rosa helped guide him out as I pushed.  He came out all in one push though, head, body and everything.

And he was born. 

Isaac Lee came on October 11, 2015 at 12:49am weighing 8lbs 1oz and 21" long.  He came out crying, and with a short cord like his sister Willow.

Oh So Many Things to update!

We made it to Korea!  I'll have to save some pictures and share them later.  Too much to update now.

So, we went through the easy process of EFMP which was just a meeting confirming any medical or educational care we may need and then we got the green light for that.

We had a little snag with CS when we didn't have a paper filled out that we needed, stating that I was not a sex offender, but after we got that in I'm pretty sure we got the green light on CS within a week.  We were excited!

Then it was time to set everything up to actually move and boy was that stressful!  A LOT of rearranging times, dates, and movers who threw tantrums.  But we made it out only wasting a little over a week of Michael's leave time.

We went to FL and NC to visit family, and took a trip to Sea World.

Then it was time to go.  We drove up to Fort Gordon for a night, then Atlanta to drop off our van.  Another snag, because we didn't actually turn our van in, Michael's cousin awesomely did, and then we flew off to Seattle!  The kids were pretty excited about their first plane ride.  We were all exhausted by the time we go there though, and from there it kind of just got worse.  lol 

We pretty much stayed up all night to get through security, check ins, and then finally, around 8am we actually boarded our flight.  All 7 of us in one row.  We flew from Seattle to Japan where we stayed while the plane refueled, and then from there to Suwon, South Korea.  It was afternoon of the next day, and we were all very tired, from travelling, being on a plane for almost 12 hours, and from the time differences.  We'd lost half a day (13 hours) in the flight.  We got bussed to Osan to go through customs, and get one of our pets and then we were finally on our way to Yongson!

We had to do a very late night briefing (I say late night but I think it was only 9pm) and then we could go to bed.  We checked into the Dragon Hill Lodge (or DHL) and we all kind of crashed.  The hotel is very big and pretty.  I wish I would have explored more.  But, we went to Humphrey's the very next day after Michael had arranged with the pet center to pick up our 2nd cat from the airport, and we rode the bus with one cat to Humphrey's and our 2nd was brought to the gate here.

We arrived late evening and our sponsor helped get us checked into the lodging here on post.  From there my husband started in-processing! 

All in all, even with all the stress, it ended up being an easier process than I was expecting and now we are settled in our on post house (which will be another post) and we have our vehicle, and.....we have a new baby!  Our first international born bundle of joy! :)

Moving to Korea

Command sponsorship has been pretty painless so far.  My husband went to his levi brief and filled out a bunch of paperwork.  I had to sign a few and then turn it in.  The passports were pretty easy, we filled out the application online and then just printed them out for our no-fee passport.  We needed our birth certificates, SS cards and the form.  We got them back in 4 weeks.

Then EFMP was an online questionnaire for each child, asking developmental questions and a quick interview to verify all medical and education needs, and done!

Then after a little complications on our side needing a paper signed we finally got a confirmation number that we had been put in for command sponsorship, got our tracking number and the website to track it on, and all in all we knew we were approved a week after everything was submitted!  Easy Peasy!

Next on the schedule, my husband put in for early report, so he had to fill out his leave form for PCSing to reflect us leaving at the earliest point possible.  His orders say that he can report up to 60 days beforehand and since I'm pregnant, the earlier the better for my flying.  His leave form was approved and now we're just waiting on orders!

I'll update more about Korea once we move. :)

New Adventure

So, my husband has orders to South Korea.  Again, I know.  3rd times a charm though right?  So this time we're going to attempt to get command sponsorship and the kids and I will hopefully be going with him to Korea in October.

Fingers crossed anyways.

So I figured I'll post in here what we do, and when and how I go through this process because I know I'm totally lost and there's got to be others who are too.  This process seems extremely overwhelming and documenting our journey to Korea will help to keep me from going too crazy.

So far my husband was scheduled a levi brief and I was informed to get all my kids medical records for when we go to the screening since we're seen off post, and to bring Steven and Willow's IEP for speech (which I've already gotten from their speech therapist at the school)

So, fingers crossed and hoping things go well.

So where do you go if facebook doesn't work?

To complain that facebook is not working?  Your blog.

Sigh, more time to lesson plan I guess. :)