Pregnancy Acne: $7 solution

I don't know why I haven't shared this little gem yet, but I am now.

I have actually been using this product for a while now, but had gotten lazy and stopped a couple months before I got pregnant. Once I began incubating my little fetus my face broke out horribly! Overnight I had about a dozen pimples pop up. I started using this miracle elixir again and haven't had a single pimple since.

The secret? Alpha Hydroxy face cream sold at any drug store (I get mine from Walgreens) for about $7. It's frequently the active ingredient in a lot of exfoliating creams. You can spend $20 or more on special creams or you can just buy the active ingredient and get all the same awesomeness. If you need more moisture in a couple areas, use your favorite cream, but you'll probably use a lot less of it.

Here's the link to the online store: Walgreens Alpha Hydroxie Cream

The stuff is great! It's basically acid for your face, but with some moisturizing properties. My face has both really greasy and really dry areas. It cuts though the greasy crud, gently buffs off the dry crud, kills off any bacteria crud, and evens things out. Do you have a real problem with the sides of your nose by your nostrils? Yeah, that could actually be caused by a fungus that grows in the moisture that crops up there. This stuff helps keep that junk under control. It also helps gently clear up pimples so they fade a lot faster. Within a week you will see major improvements.

HOWEVER, this stuff isn't great for everyone. It can burn like a bitch if you're sunburned or just scrubbed your face a bit too hard. Read and follow the directions. I, personally, love it and never go without. I believe it is certainly worth a try.

Healing Sciatica. Your ass will thank me.

If you have the misfortune to develop sciatica during your pregnancy then you are probably ready to punch though a steel door in frustration. I developed mine about mid way though my fifth month and all I kept hearing was "It'll get worse" or "Has it brought you to tears yet?" which is not what you want to hear. The doctor, nurses, random medical techs, online resources... everything seemed to say that you might make it a little less painful, but you were just shit out of luck until the baby comes. Having four + months of increasing pain to look forward to is soul-crushing.

I tried swimming, stretching, heat, cold, Tylenol, rest... it just got worse and worse. Swimming was the closest to relief, but only when I was in the water. I had to stop because as soon as I started climbing out of the pool the pain was back in full force. The most frustrating thing was trying to get someone to take the pain seriously. I finally called my doctor in tears because I was terrified of falling down the stairs, or getting stuck in the pool, or falling getting out of the shower. The pain was bad, but randomly losing the ability to put ANY weight on my leg was horrifying. The pain you can deal with, but the thought of hurting your baby is just too much.

Finally I got the number to a chiropractor. Dedicated and targeted massage can also help, but I really hate being touched by strangers and massage has never really worked for me before so I was skeptical. Knowing any appointment was a few days away at best, my husband gave massage a try. For the record, he does not really do "gentle" massages. He's kind of a big, strong man-type of guy and I already bruise easily enough that I don't get professional massages, let alone let his steel fingers loose on my delicate muscles.

He dug his fingers into my hip so hard tears came to my eyes. I held on for as long as I could, but damn, it hurt! When he was done... it didn't hurt anymore. It kind of came back the next day, so he did it again. He dug in so hard something popped! He POPPED my HIP with his FINGERS! And that was the last of the sciatica. Seriously. It was gone. Weeks of pain just vanished.

I don't hurt at all now. Not even a twinge. There was some major soreness afterwards because I had been favoring these muscles for months, but that cleared up quickly.

Talk to your doctor about a chiropractor or strong massage therapist if your husband doesn't have Superman hands. Be specific, because they all seem to have a "shit happens" kind of attitude about sciatica. It wasn't just my doctor, but several other medical professionals, the nurses, online resources... the impression you get is that you just have to deal with it. You don't!

Good luck!