The Hunt for Organic

When I first told my bestie that I was pregnant, she asked her mom about tips for pregnancy. One of the few her mother gave me was to use organic for everything I put on my skin.

I have never been an organic person; in fact, my own mom has called me a "chemical person" just because I did not even care to look at the ingredients in a beauty product. And believe me, I use a lot of them.

Recently (but still before I got pregnant) I have been concerned about cosmetics and skin care made out of natural ingredients such as mineral or herbs. But whole-organic? Never heard of; do not even know where to start.

Again, I began my journey of exploration on Google.

Lists of certified organic brands came on when I put "organic skin & body care" in the search engine. I clicked one of them, titled "Top 25 USDA Certified Organic Skin Care Lines"

It did overwhelm me for a while trying to decide which ones to choose from. I have to admit that I am a "judge-the-book-by-its-cover" person, especially for products, so one particular brand attracted my attention: Earth Mama Angel Baby

But to come think about it, I am in urgent need of replacing my ENTIRE beauty line, from shampoo to lip balm, because when I checked my shower supplies, everything had sulfate and paraben in it, which just stressed me out. Therefore I used social networking again and found out that Whole Foods Market doesn't just have organic food, but also organic beauty supply in a sister store called Whole Body, which in Nashville is conveniently situated right across from Whole Foods.

Then I went with another married friend of mine, and we stepped into the store with limited research done. Luckily the store salesperson was super sweet, helpful, and honest. According to my skin type, she recommended a line called Juice Beauty, which happens to be ranked within the top 25 on that website as well. The store also has local-made organic bar soaps sold by weight (meaning you can cut a piece of soap out of a humongous bulk), which just smells heavenly and all natural. In addition to the soap and the facial skin care, I also bought shampoo, conditioner, and a lip balm. Here is a picture of my prey that day:

Left to right: Acura leave-in hair conditioner; Juice Beauty Clear Skin sample/traveler kit; Mongo Kiss certified organic lip balm (vanilla honey flavor, hmmm); Andalou hair conditioner and shampoo; locally made organic soap

I tried the juice beauty right away that night: it was comfortable and moisturizing, with no dry-out effect for the cleansing gel. However, the smell is kind of horrible for me. But I can stand the smell, especially when I don't have any alternatives for any of these yet.

I did go to the website again for Earth mama Angel baby trying to see whether I could find something else, and it seems that all of their soap product is versatile for multiple usage. Just to be sure, I talked to them on Facebook, and the person answering the questions was very patient and helpful, and even offered a code for 15%discount. So I went to the website and ordered another line from them, just to be used after I am finished with the Whole-Body-Purchased line. Here is what I bought:

So here ends my hunt for organic for now. I will probably post product reviews after I get t o use all of them. The notion stays the same: get the best during pregnancy for your baby and yourself.

A New Mom's Worry and Fear

This probably happens to all of us: as soon as we find out we are pregnant: we start thinking back about what taboos of pregnancy we broke; then as the pregnancy goes along, we are paying attention to whatever we eat. However, as new (especially first-time) mom, we sometimes forget about the special role we just started taking. And some of the times, the condition just don't allow us to choose what we know is the best for our baby.

Here are some scenarios of me.

Scenario 1: right after the pregnancy test showed as positive

I am at the bathroom sink, looking at myself in the mirror: well, what I was really doing is to look at my newly-colored, not-so-well-showing hair. It was supposed to be brown, but because of my already-dark shades of the hair, the brown only shows up under sunlight or lights.

Then I realized how more awful it could be than just not looking like what I wanted: it is hair color! it is a DYE! Chemicals! I colored my hair with over-the-counter hair color just for fun and a little bit of change one day before Valentine's to surprise my hubby, but who knew I could be pregnant then? What to do what to do what to do? I was driven crazy by the sudden sense of realization, and started Googling the answers I needed so desperately.

After some number of page- and forum viewing, I came to the conclusion that, over-the-counter hair color is mainly not harmful for the baby if only used once during early pregnancy. That gave me a relief of sign.

Scenario 2: Pink Meat, what?
I was eating at the school cafeteria, and somehow chose steak over chicken. Now remember that I am not originally from here, so I forgot that steak could be cooked differently; and since it was cafeteria food, it was not customized. Anyways, I started eating and most of the meat was well done. Only the latter part of the steak showed a little of pink meat, and pink juice leaked out when I was cutting the steak. Being a new, first-time mom, I forgot about my new identity, and ate the entire thing. It was not until shortly after when I reflected back did I start to panic. OH MY GOODNESS IT IS RAW MEAT! Well, not completely raw, but still pink. What if it had bacteria? I remember when I first told my closest friend that I was pregnant, she asked her mother for advice for me; the first thing her mother ever said was to stay away from sushi and any other raw- or not-well-cooked meats. Cold sweats was coming down: what should I do?

Again, I used the power of social networking: I posted the situation on the pregnancy forum embedded in the iPregnant app, and got some answers immediately from veteran mother-to-bes.

Turned out again that it should be fine. Just don't make a habit of it, they say.

Scenario 3: OH NO THE PROFESSOR HAS BRONCHITIS
The professor of Literacy for Diverse Learners came in and started coughing. She also told everybody that her doctor diagnosed her with Bronchitis and she is on a certain kind of antibiotics.

I just wanted to run out of the room. Bronchitis and she is still coming to class? Really?

But I couldn't, because we had to do a presentation that day, and it was a group project; how I performed would influence how my partner did, and we just put so much effort into this one.

So I suffered through the entire 3 hours, trying to get as far from the professor as possible, while at the same time worrying about whether I would be affected or not. I was never a germphobic (not even to airborne diseases), but everything changed after I discovered I was pregnant.

I only want to say that mom's worry and fear are common and natural, because we all want the best for our precious baby. What I can say now is that we just need to try our best for our babies, and don't fret about the rest.

February 24th, 2014: How did we find out

Today is supposed to be the first day of my period after I get off my birth control, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't come; or maybe I should say that I was hoping that it wouldn't come. I have been feeling weird for a couple of weeks: first it was the excessive secretion that came out of nowhere; later came the cramps on the belly and backache to the point that I was going to faint in the school library and had to sit/lay in the bathroom waiting for one of my friends who lives nearby to bring me Tylenol; then it was nausea; but it was not until I drank an entire gallon of orange juice in two days and my breasts started hurting did I think about the possibility of me getting pregnant.

So , I took a home pregnancy test as soon as it reached the date when the prints on the pregnancy test box tells me that it could detect the pregnancy hormone (hCG for the real medical term), albeit of the low accuracy rate (somewhere around 50%). The vertical line of the positive sign kind of showed up, and I was elevated; yet hubby could not see it at all! Still, I was it as a semi-confirmation anyways, and became extra careful of whatever I was eating or doing.

After 4 days of anticipation and waiting in misery, I finally was able to take the pregnancy test again today, the first day of my supposed menstrual period, which would bump the accuracy rate up to 99%. And finally, there was the clear, blue plus sign!

I AM PREGNANT!

I am going to be a mommy!