New to the forum:

From what I have seen, so far, the natural fibers in food and the moisture from actual food, more than simply drinking water will help me stay regular. I appreciate the advice. The vitamin C helps a great deal, a heaping teaspoon of that with a couple of packets of splenda in a full glass of water even tastes good. I am also thinking about adding Magnesium to the mix, I am reading very good things about that. Eventually, once I am where I'd like to be with my weight I will be spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to maintain balance with food stuffs instead of supplements. I try and raise as much of my own food as possible, fruit vegetable and animal so it's an ever evolving plan--- now with rectocele ever present in my mind.

I have eliminated all overly processed 'stuff' from my diet. I have now five kids and we live on 20 acres where we try to grow a lot of our own food and even raise food animals. We raise our own pigs for pork and we bought a side of beef to be processed at a small butcher near us. It's just important for me not to be purchasing meat especially from the store. We raise as many vegetables as we can and this year we are adding fruits to that.

No bread for me, unless I get my own tail-less end in gear and make it from scratch. Same with pasta. No soda, no coffee, no candy, no chips. Our hens free range with as little supplementation as we can to keep them healthy and moving and consuming lots of insects. So my day starts with eggs, with cheese or sauted onions or mushrooms. I eat fruits like melons and berries and whatever green vegetables I want. It's not so structured that I could give you a typical menu because I feel trapped by such things.

I make both collagen and bone broths, one the bones simmer overnight and for the latter they simmer for a couple of days. You get different things from each. A collagen broth will 'gel' in the fridge because you have broken down all those wonderful connective tissues and a bone broth the bones will go soft and crumble by the time you are ready to strain.

Also I refine my own animal fats. I render bacon fat and any fat I scrape from the top of a broth. The butcher gives me the leaf lard or tallow from what I bring him. Often the lard in the stores have been chemically rendered and I dislike that. The crock pot does wonderfully and it's very hands off.

I guess to sum up:

No processed crap, if mold won't touch it you shouldn't either.

Meat and meat fats, offal and bone broths

eggs, milk and cheese

Nuts

Berries and melons

and whatever green vegetables I desire

And I have had to learn not to panic if I slip up. If I decided to have a burger and fries and a coke, well I did, so what? If I decided to have a glass or two of scotch one evening, again; so what? It's has been, for me about learning what things I cannot take in excess and what things I can have without worry.

I hope that helps you Take2. :D

So I think I have found the

So I think I have found the right combination and dosage of Vit C and Magnesium that will hopefully keep things running smoothly while my enraged hemorrhoid heals and calms down.

It is really difficult to remember my posture. I know I'm new to all of this, even though I had been reading about 'J' spine for a couple of years now. When I was really young, maybe 5, I noticed the curve of my spine and asked my father, who had been in the armed services, what I could do to get rid of that curve and he taught me a 'proper' military posture. I had always prided myself on my correct and straight posture... only to find I may have contributed to these issues!

It's a long road, I know, and I am only now only coming on 6 weeks postpartum. I am trying to be patient and when I am impatient I just study more to remind myself that there are no quick fixes.

I am just so relieved to find the Whole Woman. I am pretty sure that this 5th baby will be my last. My ovaries are about done, their volume extremely low. And if I follow my preferred baby having pattern I'll be in my 40's before i try for another duo. I like 4-5 years apart in groups of two less than two years apart. I have seen that work wonderfully in other families as well as my own. The pairs are never alone, they never remember being alone and they are so close no matter how old they are.

However, when my ob/gyn started talking about possible hysterectomy if my uterus was out of place and surgical solutions that would be traumatic and worse, would be undone if I ever had another baby... it was so final, like a steel door being slammed down. The eventual loss of my fertility is a very depressing subject for me and I'm ok with putting that absolute finality off as long as possible.

My birthing experience has been pretty good. First baby was without an epidural because I had no idea that the pitocin they gave me would likely make my contractions more harsh, he had also pooped in the sack and my water broke. I was concerned about the meconium and possible complications because of that so I was more than willing to take the pitocin to speed things along a bit. I spent very little time actually pushing, I had worked very hard on my deep muscle strength with pilates and when I was in my teens I did a lot of martial arts. Let me put it this way, at 150 lbs at 5'4'' I was a size seven which I felt perfect at. No bones sticking out (I have broad hips and detest looking like a dairy cow), I couldn't see my vertabra and could not see my ribs but they were not far below the surface yet my clavical was well defined visually. First baby, pushed maybe 20 minutes he was 7lb 14 oz and 22.5 inches long and I can't remember the measurement right now but his head was in the 95th percentile... unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, both my husband and my families have those rh negative big craniums. All of my children have been well formed, not fat but having healthy baby chubbies and enormous heads. :P

Second, third and fourth babies I had epidurals. Also pushed shot periods of time but with the epidural my mind was much more awake and not clouded by anything. These they also gave me pitocin because my personal pattern is the water breaking and they get very excited about it all. I was less concerned and yet felt alright that the baby and I would not suffer severe consequences for my choice to allow them to administer the pitocin.

Baby five came on a rocket train. About two hours out from the birth I felt something and yet I waved it off because it didn't seem very severe at all. I have had them administer the epidural when the contractions regularly bring a sheen of sweat to my brow, that has been consistent with being 6-7 centimeters dilated. Then I take a nap until I feel the urgency to push. This time however, we were out, getting chinese food and the first contraction I took seriously stopped me in my tracks on the way into the restaurant. When we got back into the car, food in hand, I started looking for the closest hospital with a maternity ward. I knew I was getting close to popping that baby because of how irritable I had suddenly become, I wanted silence while I had any contraction which with four kids and my mother in law and husband in the vehicle was difficult. My husband wheeled me into the emergency entrance of a small hospital nearby at 8:23pm and my little rocket baby popped out at 8:31pm.

I think, however, that with my current issue that should I choose to have another baby I am also going to have to insist upon a different birthing position. I've never been flat on my back. It's always been knees drawn to my chest at an angle but I'm no spring duck anymore--- I think I'd have to get some assistance from gravity in order to preclude any further aggravation. That is my opinion at this point, at least.

I know, a lot of people probably think I'm insane being 5 weeks postpartum and thinking about another baby when this is baby number 5 but what can I say? I love the babies, I can afford to care for them and I don't feel overwhelmed like I hear other moms talk about. Nothing feels more natural in fact.

for your response. Each time I pair the littles I understand that I am not allowing a full healing cycle to take place. There are a lot of potential consequences and I do what I can to minimize them... now I could do that more successfully because I am coming to understand prolapse and hernia and the like. But the truth is that these risks are ones I am willing to take because of the benefit I perceive I am giving my children.

I have come to realize I come to a more natural posture when I take certain activities. I carry two children at a time, one in a sling and one on a hip and upon examination of my posture, my body had already put itself into a more ideal posture. Also when I do what I call stork stance... when I have to stand for a long period of time, I lift my weaker leg and hook my ankle behind my knee and use the other leg to stand if I feel discomfort or the beginning of any swelling from being immobile for too long. My posture shifts then as well, pulling my tailbone up and turning my hips. I just had never even thought about it before.

It irritates me that in order for me to feel I am within safe distance of medical intervention should it actually be necessary for any further birth (ie. in a hospital) I am going to end up fighting them on birthing position and will likely have to find a doula willing to work with the medical staff and advocate for me. I live too far out in the boonies to take a chance of having a home birth. And I just don't like the idea, at all. I don't want that mess in my home or for my other kids to be with me during that time. Just me, my husband and the new baby... I always feel like isolating myself during birth.

Well, so now that my inflamed hemorrhoid is healed and I have gotten myself 'regular' this seems like a much more manageable problem. I have been trying to be careful with my posture. It's difficult to undo years of training-- but my daughters will benefit. They are young enough to only have a natural posture and I will teach them to keep it.

I am even not all that trepidatious about possibly having another child. I feel like I caught the issue early in its development and that there are things I can do to help it not get worse at this point.

I am very grateful to this forum and the Whole Woman way.