Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Weird Dreams

The weird pregnancy dreams have started already. The other night I dreamt that I had delivered the baby by myself before the midwife arrived, and when she did arrive, she kept dropping it on the floor. This newborn was also able to sit up by itself and it helped itself to some lettuce off its father's plate. I'm not sure if it was a boy or girl, but it looked weird, like something you would find on a horror movie. Dropping it probably did nothing to improve its looks.

Last night I dreamt that Marc and I had bought an eccentric little house in a small rural village from Sora and her husband Matt. I have no idea why these people showed up in my dream, but I recognized certain features of the house from supposed blog postings they had made describing it. (These blog postings are entirely a fiction of my dreaming mind, btw.) I was quite taken with the house, but forsaw a lot of renovation work that would be required to bring it up to snuff. When I looked out one window, it was to see a large construction site for a big box retailer. I don't know what they were doing in a small rural village, but there you go. That's dreams for you.

Pregnancy Rash

The dreaded rash has made its return, though so far, it appears to be confined to my right arm from my underarm to the elbow. The severity of itching and irritation depends on whether or not I eat anything to which I have acquired a new sensitivity, or if I forget to take some of my supplements.

At least I know what I am dealing with: Candida Albicans. I have cut out all sugar, starchy foods, all grains, beef, pork, fruit, coffee, tea, processed foods, and dairy in an effort to starve it out. Alas, progesterone, one of the hormones that sustains pregnancy, is one of Candida's favorite foods! When I discovered that, I felt less guilty because my diet has been pretty good and I couldn't figure out why I get such an overload during pregnancy. Apparently I produce progesterone in goodly amounts which makes the yeast happy.

I am using a three-pronged approach to attack this problem and keep it from overwhelming me like it did the last time:

1. Starve it as much as possible by removing as many things as feeds it
2. Anti-fungal herbs which are safe to use in pregnancy
3. Boosting my immune system through a combination of glyconutrients and colostrum supplements.

Some days are good, others are not so good. It isn't merely the rash and itching that gets me. A lot of the mental depression and mental fog are a result of Candida as well, as well as a general feeling of blah, and a lot of that depends on what I eat. Some days I stand and scratch my head and wonder what I can eat since I sometimes never know what will provoke a reaction, despite trying to be careful. Yeast infections tend to cause other food allergies to appear, and they can be quite arbitrary with some things being okay one day and not okay on others.

[Sigh] I won't complain too much though. Last time I did this I got a healthy nine-pound plus baby out of it and only six pounds of weight gain. And I do have more choices of what I can eat than women in other parts of the world where food is in short supply.

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