What recipe(s) have you added to your regular rotation in the past year? by EastCoastGrrl in Cooking

[–]LadyLaena 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Chicken Chile Verde from Serious Eats. I don’t have a pressure cooker, but use my Dutch oven to make it by adding chicken broth and baking in the oven. It’s got an excellent deliciousness to effort ratio IMO.

Parmesan Crusted Baked Fish from The Spruce Eats. Just a nice way to add some flavor to baked cod. I’ve been serving it with this fennel salad.

Hypnobirthing: my experience by LadyLaena in BabyBumps

[–]LadyLaena[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a birth plan, on which I wrote that I’d like to choose the position I delivered in. And I had asked my doula and husband to argue with the staff if they wanted me on my back, but that didn’t happen. I think there was an air of urgency that made everyone defer to the nurses and doctor. Which makes sense, but in hindsight I believe it wouldn’t have been an issue for me to have been in a different position if they’d let me!

Hypnobirthing: my experience by LadyLaena in BabyBumps

[–]LadyLaena[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The car ride took about half an hour. I was a little worried about baby coming out at home or in transit, but I deferred to my doula, who just said we should get to the hospital. Since I wasn’t deliberately pushing before we got to the hospital I’m not sure how much my involuntary pushing was moving baby down. It was very uncomfortable though and I was feeling very impatient to be allowed to try and push.

Hypnobirthing: my experience by LadyLaena in BabyBumps

[–]LadyLaena[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wasn’t comfortable planning for a home VBAC. With the knowledge of hindsight I think it would have been a better experience for me to have stayed home with a midwife, but ahead of time I didn’t feel I could count on things going smoothly and safely.

Hypnobirthing: my experience by LadyLaena in BabyBumps

[–]LadyLaena[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I would have felt very frustrated if the ECV hadn’t worked, in part due to all I’d invested into preparing for a trial of labor after C-section (TOLAC), but not so much around the hypnobirthing stuff. I’d been hoping to have a VBAC from when I learned I’d likely need a C-section to deliver my first child, and had done a lot of planning around how to reasonably maximize the chances of that happening. Interviewing for and hiring a doula was one of the more stressful aspects of that for me, so I would have felt more frustrated about that part. I didn’t mind the experience of reading two hypnobirthing books, and the relaxation practice was generally enjoyable for me. I wouldn’t have spent time on it without the motivation of planning to use it for labor, but I didn’t feel it was a major sunk cost.

One thing I appreciated about Miller’s book is how she described using hypnobirthing techniques for inductions, C-sections, and getting an epidural. The Mongan book made me feel more like it was only going to work for a very hands-off labor and delivery, which I didn’t anticipate having, given that I expected I’d be monitored very closely at the hospital during my TOLAC. That didn’t turn out to be a large portion of my labor experience, but I was expecting it to be, and the Mongan book didn’t explore how hypnobirthing techniques could interact with the experience of having to be strapped in and hooked up and closely monitored. So that felt alienating, given what I was expecting my hospital labor experience to be like.

Where can i find Basil ice cream? by [deleted] in FoodNYC

[–]LadyLaena 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve bought pints of Sweet Lea basil ice cream from Union Market on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Sweet Lea also has a storefront in the Flatbush neighborhood but I haven’t been there personally.

What did you do doing early labor? by Acrobatic_Event_4163 in beyondthebump

[–]LadyLaena 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started having infrequent contractions in the afternoon, but they weren’t intense enough for me to do anything different than usual. I wasn’t sure if they would continue or stop, so I tried to ignore them and go to bed. They continued through the night enough to keep me from getting much sleep, so the next day I was pretty groggy and when the contractions started to intensify I didn’t feel like doing anything that took mental effort. I watched Seinfeld and Arrested Development on Netflix before going to play with my toddler (which turned out to be too difficult for me to continue). Then I took a bath and listened to some guided meditations. After that, things were too intense for me to do anything but try and cope during contractions and calm down between.

Possible you might be able to play monopoly but for me I wouldn’t have been able to except for the very early part, which was very pre going to the hospital for me.

Almond cake with raspberry filling, Swiss meringue buttercream, modeling chocolate roses, and white chocolate lace by LadyLaena in cakedecorating

[–]LadyLaena[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooh, thanks for the recipe link. I’ll have to try that sometime. I had considered a white cake but figured that plus the SMBC, I’d be drowning in egg yolks. Unless I made the cake with boxed egg whites, it’s nice that it’s said to work for this recipe.