Generally, I think most of the yuckiest parts of pregnancy happen immediately after the baby comes out (afterbirth, vernix [a.k.a. “cheese”], meconium…). But I do think I have a contender for grossest pregnancy therapy. It is not for the faint of heart, so be forewarned. But it is gender inclusive — so guys, this is for you too! unless you’re squeamish. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to…
“SinuCleanse!”:http://sinucleanse.com/ Also known traditionally as a “neti pot”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_irrigation, this lovely system flushes all the mucus out of your nose and sinuses with a simple saline solution. The result: great heaps of snot blown out all at once. And you can breathe once more when you’re all done! My friend “Jane”:http://ramonamae.com/ says that she does a modified version with her babies by spraying baby saline solution up into one nostril until it comes out the other. The babies don’t love the process, but it seems to help.
p{color:gray}. Photo: This little chiquita makes us feel quite a bit happier than nasal irrigation does.
As you may have guessed by now, I have a bit of a cold, one that I’m worried is turning into a sinus infection. I’ve got an appointment with my midwife on Friday, and if I’m not better by then I may ask for antibiotics. But in the meantime, I’m doing my best to flush out my system by drinking lots of fluids and, yes, irrigating my nasal passages. Yucky, but boy, does it ever help. And if I can avoid taking extra drugs while pregnant, by golly I’m going to do it.
Incidentally, this system is also useful for clearing out the sinuses after a particularly vigorous bout of vomiting. Yuck again, but “better out than in,” as “they”:http://bradfarris.com/ say. As Jon says, their ad slogan should be, “Sign me up for Sinucleanse! It’s the enema for your nose!”
So let’s hear it for the time-honored therapy of nasal irrigation! It may be a bit messy, but isn’t that just part of life with babies?
That is pretty nasty. I am sorry you aren’t feeling well. We are praying for you.
– Our nasty happened last week as I somehow got a flu-ish bug (no one in my family got it, just me) and had projectile vomiting all day and ended up getting an IV. It was so nasty as I never knew I was about to vomit and then it would come full force out any opening (nose, mouth…maybe ears). ICK. But your snot thing makes my stomach hurt….ick.
Been there. Actually my family practitioner prescribed for me to pick up the Dr. Neil’s Sinus Irrigator (I think that’s the brand) it’s just a little box you buy for about $20 and it comes with the squirter and saline packet. I was first tri, and he didn’t want me to take a single thing. I still needed zithromax and vicodin, thankfully my midwife had no problem prescribing both.
It wasn’t until Mo was 6 months old that my allergist that practices natural medicine told me about the neti pot. He said my plastic bottle worked just as good though.
Get better soon!
This sounded so weird to me that I watched the video on the sinucleanse website. I’m still skeptical. Don’t you feel like you’re drowning?
Katrina, sorry to hear about your puking and IV! no fun, especially when pregnant.
Keri — you’d expect to feel like you are drowning, but you don’t because you aren’t inhaling the water, it is just filling up your sinuses & nasal passages. It feels more like you really, really have to blow your nose.
Andy uses the neti pot. I never tried it but he has encouraged the boys to use it. I have tried a breathing technique that I learned from yoga.
Put your pinky finger on one side of your nose, your thumb on the other. Use the thumb to block the nasal passages of your right nostril, inhale through the left. Now use the pinky to close of the right nostril and exhale through the right. Now do the whole thing in reverse. The whole “circle” is one repetition. You should only inhale as much as possible. This helps regulate breathing as well.
I hope that you feel better soon Ann. It is no fun being sick while pregnant.
I love her hair flip! I wish I could get my hair to do that.
Ann and Jon,
Do you use your camera to make the little movies or do you have something else you use? Ours is dieing and yours seems to make nice pics/movies.
-katrina
I know, that hair flip is something else! it is a bit random, but I think she would have done well with hair like this in the 50s. :)
Katrina — yes, we use our camera to make movies. Jon talks about the kind of camera we got in “this post,”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/tracking-baby/ in case you want to check it out.