Pregnancy Part 20

Today we have a friend dropping by. He has experience in the formulation of personal care products. I want to ask him about some specific ingredients and what is their purpose in products such as the ones shown below. I started writing about this topic in a previous post.

LOTION / BODY OIL

 

 

 

 

SHAMPOO / CONDITIONER

 

 

 

 

FACIAL CLEANSER

 

 

SHAVING CREAM

 

So what I ended up doing is writing a big matrix (table) with all the banned ingredients on the rows and all the products I use on the columns. If the product contained a banned ingredient, I put an "X" in the corresponding box. It made the process of sorting out all the information a lot easier.

The common ingredients I found in some of the lotions I like a lot were parabens. Specifically, methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- and butyl- paraben. The parabens are used as preservatives. They are found in 75-90% of all cosmetics. They are the second most used ingredient (after water). After a 2004 study, it was found that parabens can cause breast cancer due to their ability to function as estrogen-mimics. Some "natural" formulations are using oats, pomegranate, pineapple and ginger instead that achieve the same purpose.

The common ingredients I found in shampoos are quaterniums -7, -10, -15, and -18. The purpose of this ingredient is as a germicide. They have antimicrobial (specifically antibacterial) properties. The reason they are not recommended for pregnancy is that they have been shown to be teratogenic in animal studies. Pregnant mammals gave birth to babies with birth defects if exposed to quaterniums.

An ingredient that is not recommended for pregnant women is diethylamine (DEA). I didn't see that listed in any of the products I looked at, but I did see some analogous chemicals: dimethylamine and triethanolamine. The function of these amines is to act as surfactants. When we spoke to our friend in the business, he mentioned that DEA is no longer widely used. In a 1998 study, products containing DEA were found to be carcinogenic, but the FDA does not consider it harmful.

A second ingredient I found in some of the lotions I like a lot was diazolidinylurea. It is added to cosmetics to function as an antiseptic (preventing the growth of disease-causing microorganisms). The problem with this ingredient is that it releases formaldehyde. The reason formaldehyde is undesirable is that it can lead to abortion, birth defects and premature birth. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen.

One way I have tried to protect myself against formaldehyde is to put some plants in my bedroom where I sleep that are known to clean the air. One is called "Mother-In-Law's Tongue" and the other is called "Pothos." The botanical names are Sansevieria trifasciata and Epipremnum aureum, respectively. You can see that I put these plants (and several others) in my room just prior to the embryo transfer. Not every plant survived, but the two I just mentioned are still going strong, along with an Aloe vera that is also noted in a NASA study to remove formaldehyde from the air.

There were several compounds that I kept seeing over and over as I read through the ingredients of all the products I use (or wish I could still use). One ingredient is dimethicone, which is a skin protectant that smooths crevices in the skin. It is found in many creams that claim to tighten the skin. A second compound that I saw over and over was phenoxyethanol. It is an oily bactericide.

One interesting story that came up in this research was how in 2008, a French health association criticized the freebies given away in maternity wards at hospitals, characterizing the products distributed as a "toxic cocktail" of baby cosmetics. This led to the health minister requesting a label marking certain products as unsafe for pregnant women and young children, which I believe was unsuccessful due to lobbying by the European trade association. I have a similar story. One of the freebies that I was given either from "Motherhood Maternity" or the "Babylist" registry contained a shampoo and conditioner from the Herbal Essences product line. The shampoo contains quaternium-18, which I found is something that causes birth defects. So even though it's free, it's not right to give it to pregnant women in their first trimester!

In short: 

SAFE TO USE

CT Organics Face Wash, Lotion and Deodorant

Clinique Face Washes and Lotions (with SPF)

Burt's Bees Belly Butter and Body Oil

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Stretch Mark Cream

Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Shampoo

Nature's Gate Shampoo and Conditioner

UNSAFE TO USE

C.O.Bigelow Mentha Vitamin Lotion (parabens and diazolidinylurea)

Bath & Body Works Tahiti Sweetie Lotion (parabens and diazolidinylurea)

Gardener's Lotion containing Jojoba Oil (parabens)

Secret Deodorant (aluminum)

Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo (quaternium)

Herbal Essences Conditioner (dimethylamine, quaternium)

Head & Shoulders 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner (quaternium)

Skintimate Shaving Cream (triethanolamine)

References
Winter, Ruth. A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, 7th Edition: Complete Information About the Harmful and Desirable Ingredients Found in Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals. Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale, 2009.

Pregnancy Part 19

This month I had a few major things happen at the OB: blood pressure still normal (118/80) and weight gain on track, glucose tolerance test (passed!), screened for anemia (not a problem), got TDAP shot, fetal heart rate check (150 bpm), and the doctor measured my bump with a tape measure (fundal height). We turned in our hospital pre-admission paperwork. We wrote out our birth plan and advance directives.

View this post on Instagram

Weeks 25, 27, 29 #babybump #pregnancy #curvesandswerves #maternity #fitatforty #fit4baby #expecting #notshy #proudmomma

A post shared by Kayla Kaiser (@hamerk02) on Dec 28, 2019 at 11:04am PST

We spent all day Saturday (12/14) doing hella cooking. I am really enjoying eating healthy that week, which means low sodium. It's still difficult to get the correct balance between protein, carbs and fat, but when I follow the meal plan more closely, I have no trouble meeting the daily recommended amounts of micronutrients (calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and iron). I never did upgrade to premium MFP, which I had considered doing because you can set the RDA for macro and micronutrients. For example, the RDA for calcium and iron is higher for pregnant and lactating women.

Diet / Meal Planner

Week 27 - Dec 9-15 - 26% (seven fast food)
Week 28 - Dec 16-22 - 51% (four fast food)
Week 29 - Dec 23-29 - 37% (four fast food)

Symptoms

Week 27 - Dec 9-15 - heartburn
Week 28 - Dec 16-22 - fatigue/exhaustion, heartburn, BH contractions, bloating, diarrhea, bleeding gums
Week 29 - Dec 23-29 - headache, neckache, backache, rib pain, heartburn, vivid dreams

I have been enjoying a couple of audiobooks, streaming through hoopla, an app where you can borrow library holdings digitally for 3 weeks. 

"Expecting Better" by Emily Oster

"The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" by La Leche League International

We found out our food processor was broken on Thanksgiving, so we're in the market for a new one.  If you read the second review it explains exactly what happened. Sadly, you can't buy a new "work bowl" separately so the whole thing is just garbage now.

For the medical part, the pregnancy is going along smoothly, but having arrived in the third trimester I am feeling my anxiety and stress creep back in to my brain. It's maybe the increased progesterone.

Polese, Barbara & Gridelet, Virginie & Araklioti, Eleni & Martens, Henri & d'Hauterive, Sophie & Geenen, Vincent. (2014). The Endocrine Milieu and CD4 T-Lymphocyte Polarization during Pregnancy. Frontiers in endocrinology. 5. 106. 10.3389/fendo.2014.00106. 

Pregnancy Part 18

It's funny how time slows down when you're in the middle of a big transition. What I mean by that is that when you're going through IVF and FET, you count time in weeks+days. Then in pregnancy, you count by weeks or months. Then when you have an infant or toddler, you report their age in months. I was noticing this last night at my new FIT4BABY group in the West San Fernando Valley (Woodland Hills).

I started getting itchy legs at 9 weeks pregnant and it continued throughout the 2nd trimester. I switched up my skincare routine at 16 weeks pregnant and haven't looked back. I've written vaguely about this product before, but the Mentha Vitamin Body Lotion is awesome. My former skincare routine has changed during pregnancy.

Sepideh Yaghmaei, owner of CT Organics

First of all, I changed out my deodorant for this:
https://ctorganics.com/collections/deodorize/products/all-natural-deodorants
I placed a big order on July 29th, 2019. By then I would have been 5 weeks past frozen embryo transfer , or 3 weeks after the two week wait. But I've been blogging about CT Organics products since at least 2017. And after searching my Gmail, I found that I was using it as early as 2013. Our Kaiser Wellness Center website shows that we were working on the formulations in 2012.

Diatomaceous Earth Deodorant Ingredients: organic coconut oil, raw beeswax, organic shea butter, diatomaceous earth, arrow root powder, baking soda, activated charcoal, tea tree essential oil, cold pressed lemon peel oil, frankincense essential oil

Secondly, I started using this lotion on my legs and hands:
https://ctorganics.com/collections/hand-body/products/coconut-shea-butter-lotion-nerloi-frankincense
I don't even know when I got this lotion, I know that I didn't really need it until pregnancy. I used it on my stretching skin (belly and back) during the first and second trimester and on my itchy legs and raw, red and itchy, cracked hands. The version I have came in a pot not a tube, so it must have been a sample that Sepi gave us. But you can get your hands on it by ordering through her website or on Amazon.

Coconut Shea Butter Lotion (Tahitian Vanilla Blend) Ingredients: purified water, sweet almond oil, organic coconut oil, organic Shea Butter, raw beeswax, non-GMO sunflower lecithin, , frankincense essential oil, ceteareth 20, Glyceryl oleate citrate, caprylic triglyceride, gluconolactone, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate, vanillin, Tahitian Vanilla Essential Oil (CO2 extract), calcium gluconate

After I confirmed that I was pregnant, I was terrified of doing anything in the first trimester that would jeopardize the fetus. I found a list of banned chemicals on one of my pregnancy apps and wrote them all down on this markerboard.

There are an alarming number of chemicals in skin-care products and it doesn't make sense to me that these things are not good for pregnancy but allowed for non-pregnant people. If these substances are bad for human life, why are they allowed at all?

Xom3 Balm Ingredients:

So I threw out lots of things such as nail polish and put aside all the aluminum-containing deodorants. I got rid of any products with salicylic acid and packed up my chemical sunscreens. I checked all my shampoo, conditioners and moisturizers for the other ingredients listed there under bullet points 4, 6 and 7. I also read that no drinking herbal tea and no using essential oils. Despite this, I did use a bit of my pal Mandy's balms.

Mandy Gough, owner of XoM3

When my hands are cracking, there's nothing like a layering of Mandy's balm, topped with Sepi's Coconut Shea Butter lotion, and if they're still itching a coating of C.O. Bigelow Mentha Vitamin Body Lotion. There's another hand lotion I used that contains Jojoba oil and it is formulated to soothe and deodorize gardener's hands, I'll have to add this later since I can't find it on a Google search.

Finally, I wanted to discuss some commercial products that I can't live without now. The first is from Bath and Body Works called Tahiti Sweetie that is a body lotion with monoi oil. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued. I remember buying like 5 tubes of it when I realized it was going out of production, but I think I'm on my second to last tube now!

 

This is my gentle cleanser for every day.

 

This is what I put on immediately after cleanser.

This is what I put on top of my moisturizer.

Clinique Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50 Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 6.3% , Zinc Oxide 4.0%

Ingredients: Water\Aqua\Eau , Dimethicone , Butyloctyl Salicylate , Polydiethylsiloxane , C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate , Isononyl Isononanoate , Diethylhexyl Succinate , Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate , Methyl Trimethicone , Butylene Glycol , Ethylhexyl Methoxycrylene , Lauryl Peg-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone , Silica , Dipentaerythrityl Tri-Polyhydroxystearate , Laureth-4 , Cetyl Peg/Ppg-10/1 Dimethicone , Dimethicone/Peg-10/15 Crosspolymer , Dimethicone Silylate , Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein/Pvp Crosspolymer , Triethoxycaprylylsilane , Dimethicone Crosspolymer-3 , Isostearic Acid , Caprylyl Glycol , Polyhydroxystearic Acid , Dipropylene Glycol , Phenoxyethanol , Iron Oxides (Ci 77492) , Iron Oxides (Ci 77491)

I am realizing now that I sound like a total hypocrite, since the ingredients for the products I am discussing here may not be safe for pregnancy. But at some point, I must have decided to abandon the safety of the first trimester and go for whatever could soothe my dry skin and acne.

Just like Bill Cosby says in the 1983 standup routine called "Himself," you've fooled around long enough. I have to start doing something work-related since I've been here for 3 hours and all I've done is write this blog post.

Pregnancy Part 17

Officially, I am ready to stop working. I have arrived at work (reluctantly) and I am so not in the mood to do anything work-related. I have no idea how some women work right up until they give birth, unless they have no other alternative. I assume if I had to, I would figure out a way to do it.
Week 24 - 40% (five fast food)
Week 25 - 34% (two fast food)
Week 26 - 29% (six fast food)

I am absolutely obsessed with preparing for the baby's arrival. All I want to think about is getting little baby clothes, bibs, diapers, sitting in a rocking chair, reading to the baby, putting my feet up, getting all the furniture put together so it's ready. Yesterday, I put together the stroller and practiced all the features of folding and unfolding and converting it so that it's ready for the baby carrier.

After letting the store "Motherhood Maternity" add us to some list, we have been getting a couple of magazines. One is called "Parents" and it's kind of silly because over half of it is advertising. There is a lot of advertising that is directed at parents-to-be and new parents. I think it's kind of unfair. There's another magazine they also send us called "InStyle" and I have yet to even open one of the issues. I guess I'm just not stylish enough.

On Saturday, I spent some time in the bedrooms packing away clothes that won't be used while I am in the third and fourth trimesters. I did some KonMari folding of things that I might wear, to make it easier for dear husband to fetch me things if I can't climb up and down the stairs. I packed away all non-nursing bras and all non-maternity pants. I think I'm ready to go back to the Motherhood store and pick up a few wireless nursing bras. Oh and maybe also a maternity swimsuit. Ahem, tankini.

Assuming baby arrives on time, we have 15 weekends left. Next weekend we are celebrating dear husband's birthday and the weekend after that we are celebrating Christmas. We spent last weekend doing our Christmas shopping and wrapping presents. I feel kind of strange waiting for baby showers that haven't even been scheduled yet. I don't know when they will be, who will be hosting, and whether anyone will buy anything off of our registry. 

One new product that I just got in the mail today is papaya chlorophyll chewables. I only tried them this morning for the first time, so I can't say they have changed my life, but I will keep you updated as I enter the third trimester, assuming the heartburn continues getting worse and worse.

A lot of people on my bumpers group are talking about maternity photos. I don't know how I feel about memorializing the pregnancy. I think I would be happier in the long-term with photos of the baby once he arrives. The only thing I was considering was a "pet photo with Santa" at the Northridge Fashion Center. I thought it would be cute to have a picture with a pregnant bump and our little doggie and Santa as baby's 0th Christmas.

CSUN group

I went to a women's holiday tea party last night. It was fun to sit around and discuss the intersection of motherhood, spirituality and organized religion. I don't really remember how we got on the topic but we started talking about what religions each of us were raised and what we consider ourselves now. It was a common thread that many women selected their family church based on what would provide a stable foundation for their children, including good Sunday school teachers.

My Grammerly tone detector says this post has been classified disapproving, dissatisfied, and forceful. Wow. I guess I really am having a case of the Mondays. I tagged this post beauty because I tried wearing makeup yesterday and it went kind of well and kind of not so well. Considering taking a professional photo, I want to put on a little color. I think the lipstick I ended up wearing (in the photo above) goes far enough towards something but not too much.

Finally, this week at Bradley class we'll be working on our birth plan, which I am hoping includes a full consideration of Advanced Directives. I guess I'll be putting together a folder or binder containing all pertinent information to bring with us to the hospital. I have already started a Google doc that will be a packing list for our hospital bag.

Pregnancy Part 16

There are only two weeks left of fall. We have entered the rainy season here in Southern California. We survived Thanksgiving. We watched the birth video at our Bradley class. We toured the labor & delivery suites at the hospital. I helped out with Operation Firefly.  It is 10 days until our next OB appointment, the one where I will do my glucose tolerance test.

Here is a round-up of the symptoms for the past month:

Week 22 - Nov 4-10 headache, neckache, backache, heartburn, abdominal itchiness

Week 23 - Nov 11-17 acne, abdominal aches, heartburn
Week 24 - Nov 18-24 heartburn, headache, tender breasts, Braxton-Hicks contractions

Week 25 - Nov 25-Dec 1 heartburn, tender breasts, heart palpitations
Week 26 - Dec 2-8 heartburn, headache, leg cramp, heart palpitations

I get check-ups from a nurse via phone through my health insurance. I told them about the heart palpitations and they suggested I call my OB, who suggested I call my PCP, who suggested urgent care, but I'm refusing to go to urgent care because of exposure to sick people. I plan to just wait until my next appointment and see how my blood pressure reading is at that time.

I tried to write a blog post earlier in the week but I was just too exhausted to actually write anything. I had planned to teach a lesson (at this very moment) about how writing can help you learn new things, but I asked my students to RSVP whether they wanted to attend class or not and 7 out of 9 people said they would rather not attend. The other two didn't respond, which I take as a no. I got so sick of students giving me excuses why they couldn't be in class and I have so little energy, I just made an executive decision to give them the option to vote. I'm not going to waste my energy getting upset that the students aren't attending class.

We got rid of some more e-waste from our home and office. I love the Nicole Bernson SAFE Center. Seriously those people rock my world. I did a bunch of letters of recommendation for students applying to PhD programs. It was hard because I had some old files that are no longer accessible, so I had to just start from scratch.

The Thanksgiving holiday was a good one. My aunt and her new husband came to stay with us. We had a nice dinner ready and waiting for them when they arrived in town. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and then walked to campus. They sat in on my lecture and then we walked home. It has been fantastic weather, cool and humid, with super-clean air. I am loving it. Then we did all the shopping for the big meal. Thanksgiving day we watched a live stream of the Macy's parade, which is one of my annual traditions. We started preparing the food, baking a pie crust, chopping veggies, etc. My cousin came over and baked a sweet potato pie while my aunt took a nap. We baked a pecan pie and I made a layered banana pudding. We got the shrimp boil going and it was super easy and fun.

When I start to feel a bit of pain in my belly, it has been helpful to kind of swing it side to side. I don't know if that settles the baby or just distracts me from the pain. Putting on music and doing a bit of light dancing has really been helping me beat the blues. I find I have a very hard time just sitting, my back gets really stiff and I just feel miserable and restless.

The day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) we avoided all the shopping craziness and took a public transportation adventure to Exposition Park. We went to see the space shuttle and an exhibit about dogs that we've been wanting to see for months. It was great for me to do all that walking because like I said, it's been torture to just sit still. I also had the tastiest ice cream at the Grand Central Market.

Over the past two weeks, I had the occasion to enjoy a particular food so much that I actually started bawling over it. One was a fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon roll. The other was the banana cream pudding. I get some strong cravings, I assume due to pregnancy and/or nostalgia, and when I get to eat exactly what I wanted, the emotion is just so overwhelming.

After our guests left, we had a few days of just sitting around the house with our feet up. One thing I did was use a Black Friday promotional code to order our travel system (stroller + car seat). The price dropped from $449 to $229 and then I had a 20% off coupon on top of that. I think about it all the time and I'm checking the FedEx tracking constantly to see when we can pick it up. Someone purchased the first item from our BabyList registry. I realize not everyone will follow what we picked out, but it is really nice that at least for those who enjoy shopping from a registry, it's there to give them an idea of exactly what we would want.

We also spent about 3 hours dealing with Sprint to decide what to do with our cell phones. I enjoy my phone a lot and I feel bad getting rid of it if it is working fine. So we decided to purchase our devices instead of upgrading to the newer model.

I found it hard to return to work after the 4-day weekend. I started chanting to myself "Keep it Simple" to just remind myself that I don't have to be amazing, I just have to show up and not get too dramatic. I had a fun time learning EquatIO with some women at my university. It's a program that helps you make your equations accessible for those who are blind.

In our Bradley class, we watched a video of natural childbirth. The woman was pretty calm throughout the whole thing and she had a good amount of patience. Her doctor was also super calm. It was almost freaky. It was interesting to see the hospital right on the same day. Unfortunately, they have only so many labor & delivery rooms, which were all full at the time of the tour. They did show this video and recommended we watch another two videos that were filmed at our hospital.
https://www.ellentube.com/studios/momsplaining/momsplaining-with-kristen-bell-babies-babies-everywhere-part-1.html
https://www.ellentube.com/studios/momsplaining/momsplaining-with-kristen-bell-babies-babies-everywhere-part-2.html

Even though I can't ride my bicycle right now and I won't be going to this weekend's Metro BEST ride or CicLAvia - The Valley, I still went out and helped hand out free bike lights during CSUN's operation firefly. It was hard being on my feet so much on Tuesday, I even took the afternoon on Wednesday off and went home to put my feet up. I had such a headache on Wednesday. I guess it's getting pretty real that the third trimester is just around the corner (i.e. next week!)

It's almost time to pack the "hospital bag" and I'm not sure exactly what to put in there. I have some pregnancy apps that make recommendations, but I guess I'm just finding that all a bit overwhelming right now. A few things our hospital suggested are PILLOWS and NIPPLE CREAM so I guess I will start making that list and packing that bag.

In other family news, it's one week until we see "A Christmas Carol" at the Glendale Center Theater. My nephew just had surgery yesterday to repair a torn ACL. So we will be visiting with them in Newport Beach in two weeks (Babymoon Part 4, I guess). That way they won't have to travel up to see us on Christmas day. Then, we're having a Christmas dinner at our house in about 2.5 weeks. My brother-in-law will be staying the night with us. Dear husband has a week off (between Christmas and New Year's Day) so I'm really looking forward to relaxing at home together.

In other work news, it's 1.5 weeks until our department holiday pot-luck and white elephant gift exchange. I enjoy getting together with my colleagues and playing this fun game, but it does mean that I need to get all the ingredients for the dish I will make (banana cream pudding again) and buy two gifts for exchange. Not to mention holiday shopping for family, which I suppose we will do this weekend.

I got such a great gift from my "Secret Stork" which was arranged through my reddit monthly bumper group. I spoke with a colleague who has had 3 deliveries (the 3rd was a set of twins at age 39) and she told me that it's good to read about other people's experience of pregnancy, whether through an online community, a blog or an actual book. It can help normalize all the strange feelings. I remember reading lots of other people's blogs about infertility and pregnancy after IVF and it was a big comfort to me, which is partly why I keep writing these pregnancy posts. This year will be among my most active in blogging, so I feel encouraged that this pregnancy experience has given me so much to write about.