Ava Detects 5 Fertile Days

Work at Home Mom blog

Babymaking, Parenting, & Working at Home

Archives for November 2018

It’s my due date but I miscarried

My due date is almost here, but I won’t be having a baby. I’m sure that I’ve mourned enough over this miscarriage. Yet I’m becoming increasingly aware that I won’t be having a baby this week like I was supposed to.

Being that it’s the week of Thanksgiving, I was looking ahead and thinking that I wouldn’t be seeing my family this weekend like we usually do. But rather than missing our yearly trip to Michigan, we will be attending Thanksgiving dinner with my husband’s family. And I will see his cousin who is about 30 weeks pregnant. We’ll do all the things we normally do for Thanksgiving. And for that I should be thankful. I know I should be! I am very thankful! Yet part of me is not.

Maybe it’s my fault for not properly grieving the other babies that I’ve lost. We had an ectopic pregnancy right before a successful IVF in which we had our daughter. Since I was pregnant with our daughter when the due date would have been, it didn’t even phase me. Or maybe it’s because we were never given a due date?

Six hours after seeing the heartbeat in my fallopian tube, our baby was being carved out of me. I was told the pregnancy test was negative, so I never got excited. It all just happened so fast. That baby came and went in a matter of hours.

Immediately after recovering from the ectopic pregnancy, we did an embryo transfer. That transfer was successful and both embryos implanted. Yes – 2! Sadly, at my 9 week appointment, we found that baby B’s heart had stopped beating. I was crushed. CRUSHED. But I was still pregnant and after some time, I was happy that we still would come to know baby A who is now a delightful 4 year old little girl.

Bottom line, this isn’t my first loss. So why does it feel so painful? Truth is, I’m crying now over baby B. I guess that none of these losses were any less painful.

After the ectopic pregnancy loss, my husband and I went on a spontaneous trip to Key West. It was short, but wonderful to get out of town and do something fun. When we lost baby B, we still had baby A that we were very much looking forward to meeting. I guess it’s what happens afterwards that helps to shape the path of recovery.

I think what I’m suggesting is distraction. I’m certainly not saying to ignore the pain entirely. But having a distraction, or something else to focus on, is a great way to ease the pain of a traumatic event.

I don’t know that a distraction will work for me this time though. I don’t know that we’ll keep trying and that’s part of the pain. Have you been here? I don’t think there are answers. Just empathy.

 

How to Make Natural Foaming Soap!

One of my “plans” for feeling good about life and making a good life for my family, and especially my kiddos, is to reduce chemicals and add natural products. One of my favorite ways to do this is by using essential oils! In this post, I will tell you how to make Foaming Hand Soap! It’s great because you’re eliminating nasty chemicals, and you’re saving $$$ too!

Essential Oils

My husband always says I’m a hippy, and maybe he’s right. I just love the natural aspect of essential oils. I started using Young Living a long time ago. There are other brands too, like Doterra. Both these brands are very similar and if you are familiar with them, you know they have a history together. 😉

I want to share a Foaming Hand Soap recipe I got from a friend… (thank you, Laura and Theresa!)

But before that, if you’re new to essential oils, I want to make sure you know that there IS a difference. It’s so important that you use a brand that is reputable!

If you want to take a look at Young Living, it’s just www.youngliving.com. If you want to make a purchase, find a consultant that you know, or you can use my friend’s #, 10069101. But don’t feel obligated! I just want to make sure you’re using something that’s a superior quality!

Also, a trick for getting the YLEO (Young Living Essential Oils) for less $$…

  1. You could become a member to get a discount. (I do this! But I gave you my friend’s # above because she’s a guru!)
  2. You can order, for example, Lemon Vitality, which is 5ml, versus the regular Lemon which is 15ml. You get more for your money with the larger bottle, but if you don’t have the money to put out for it, the “Vitality” oils are the same as the regular, just smaller! Also, anything labeled with “Vitality” can be consumed.

Also important to know – you don’t have to use any EO in the recipe below! It’s just a really nice bonus to be able to have fragrant soaps! I’m excited to make a pumpkin spice fragrance for the fall and pine for the holidays! Eeks!!

So enough of that, here’s the recipe I wanted to share so you can make your own foaming soap – minus all of the nasty chemicals in the soaps you buy from the store!

Foaming Hand Soap Recipe

  • 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Glycerine
  • 3 Tablespoons Pure Castile Soap
  • 10-12 drops of your favorite EO
  • fill pump with water

Vegetable Glycerine – I use this one from Now (I’ve used this brand before, so I feel good about this one!)

Pure Castile Soap – I purchased this one at my local Costco. I’ve used this soap over the years and always loved it, so I was happy to see it as an option for my EO soap! I noticed you can also get this brand unscented for your sensitive baby!

Foaming Soap Pump – I ordered this 8-pack so I could have 1 for each sink, plus extras for gifts for my mom and MIL. Here’s another  4-pack option.

Essential Oils – I’m using Young Living Essential Oils. It’s important to note that you don’t want to use anything acidic in the plastic bottles. I noticed on Amazon that you can get glass jars too, but I was looking for something more budget-friendly, so I’ll just avoid the citrus oils!

Cost Per Bottle

Vegetable Glycerine: We need 2 T for 1 batch. The 16 oz bottle was $9.99. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup. Sixteen ounces = 2 cups. So at 2 T, that’s 16 batches per 16oz bottle. That comes out to $0.62 per bottle of soap.

Pure Castile Soap: We need 3 T for 1 batch. The 32 oz bottle was $15.99 (Click on the link above and you can find it for less too, this is just the one that I use.) Thirty-two ounces = 4 cups = 64 oz. So at 3 T, that’s 21 batches per 32-oz bottle. So the total comes out to $0.76 per bottle of soap.

Foaming Pumps: The 4-pack option is $9.99, so that’s $2.50 per bottle. But you can refill them over and over!!

So the total cost for 1 foaming bottle of soap is $3.88. Sounds very similar to buying a new pump of soap at the store, right? BUT, the cost to refill is only $1.38!!

Take the refill cost, times the number of refills you can get from the materials above, (that’s 16 total bottles of soap based on the vegetable glycerine since it’s a smaller bottle). So take the refill cost of $1.38 x 16 = $22.08. Or you can just buy a new pump at the store for $3 each and spend $48!

Summary

Remove chemicals AND Reduce your cost!!! It’s a win-win!!!

♥

P.S. the links above are my affiliate links. What that means is that I will get a little kick-back from Amazon for referring you to their products. It doesn’t cost you any more to use my links. And I appreciate it very much!

Enjoy!

Remember to join my mailing list so you always know what’s going at the Work at Home Mom Blog!