The good: She arrived without a demonic prelude! As in, no PMS! I was initially bummed to see Lyla's return, but the joy of having avoided my usual demons chased the woes quickly away. Plus I realized that Lyla's return will make following our preferred natural family planning technique possible again. Oh and I also didn't have any cramps which was unusual but delightful.
The most consistent changes I've made as part of my PMS game plan were eating (a lot) more mushrooms, purchasing/drinking organic milk and yogurt, using olive oil in place of lotion/moisturizer, taking more omega-3's and vitamin D, eating more almonds (huge stash in my fridge) and trying to get to bed earlier (I was doing pretty well until the holidays hit). I'm also in the process of a gradual weaning from shampoo/conditioner. I'm using a baking soda and water mixture with a bit of shampoo mixed in and vinegar for "conditioner" (Sorry if I smell like a salad these days... just blame it on the olive oil and vinegar). We also got BPA-free reusable water bottles for Christmas, and I've been really careful to avoid microwaving things in plastic (to avoid environmental estrogens). Apparently something's working. Yay! (Oops, I forgot olive oil in my pic. Dang.)And, speaking of womanly cycles, I'm thinking of reading The Red Tent per Liz's suggestion. She says it's full of birthy-midwifey stuff. Sounds heavenly. I'll be checking it out from the library, I think... if I can ever figure out how to make time for reading books again.
