Pregnancy Week 12 and updates

Well, the last six weeks have flown by. I suppose being almost constantly nauseous and so tired just standing upright to have a shower was too much effort some days will do that. In any case, I've started getting my energy back this last week and although certain smells, eating too much at one time and/or being overtired still makes me gag, it's not nearly as bad as it was so YAY!!!

A couple of quick updates: I didn't get in with midwives here (since it became covered under health care there's a huge demand and not enough midwives). So unless I get a miracle (pretty please can I have one?) I'm stuck with the 'low-risk OB group' at either Rockyview hospital or the new South Calgary one (it opens late this summer). Unfortunately it sounds like that means I see a different doctor pretty much every time, and whoever is on call when I go into labour. Luckily, I have a doula who also happens to be partway through her midwife training, so I'm hoping she'll have some helpful suggestions on figuring things out so everything goes well no matter who I get. And by 'goes well', I mean that, barring unforeseen emergencies, I can have as natural a birth as possible in the hospital, with no unnecessary cutting or separation from my little one.

In any case, I have an ultrasound this Wednesday (I'm hoping this will be the only one necessary - they've been connected to ADD and autism in a couple studies), and then bloodwork on Thursday. And then I'm supposed to book a prenatal physical with my family doctor.

In other news, we finally set an official date for visiting the island one last time (before babies make travel more of a production). April 17 - 23rd. And I calculated - looks like my third trimester starts mid June. Sounds a lot closer put that way. So we'll have to figure out when we're going to visit my parents in Sheridan Lake pretty quick too. Also Jon and I have to move before the end of May - the people who own our apartment took it out of the rental pool, and we haven't heard what they want to do with it yet.

Oh, and Jon's boss was transfered to a different store and he's gone (for the second time) from the best manager he's ever had to the worst one. So he's been all stressed about that. It's true - everything changes all at once. Ah well, I'm just looking forward to visiting people, and the green-ness that is my island woods. I've been thinking of doing the Kamana thing again. For sure I'll be doing sit-spot month in May.
                               

Pregnancy Week 6

So I should've been counting my blessings last week about how good I felt. Maybe a little tired, but no more than that.

This week, oh this week.

Monday started out just fine, but I was super tired by the time I got to dance class. It was a struggle just to invert normally, let alone do anything else. By the time I was on my way home I was pretty nauseous.
Tuesday started out ok. Except I usually don't eat before I get to work. That was a BIG mistake. I felt like crap for most of the day, although I started feeling better by the time I got to the dance class I teach and I actually didn't feel too badly by the time I left (I made sure I snacked in between classes).

I felt almost normal on wednesday - I think mostly because I spent the morning in bed with a book and a couple light snacks. Thursday and Friday were worse but I made it through.

Then we get to the weekend. No one signed up for poleflow on saturday so I didn't have to go in (thank goodness). I've been going to bed early-ish (usually between 11 and midnight), sleeping in until 11-ish in the morning, and then having  2 - 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Late afternoon after the nap is when I feel the best.

It's odd, but everyone I've talked to tells me about how they couldn't stand meat. For me, the main thing that settles my stomach is protein. Also, I hate bananas, and they're one of the things that settle my stomach too. Maybe it's the B6 content? Ginger Beer seems to help a bit, but sleep and food are the only things that get rid of it entirely, however temporary that is.

I haven't even puked yet. Been close a few times, but never actually done it (maybe because I hate puking? I'm holding back subconsciously?) In any case, so much for the whole 30 thing. The only things I seem able to eat are cold chicken (usually on a sandwich), cucumber and zucchini, alphagetti (childhood comfort food, lol), canned/fresh fruit, and a bit of soup/broth. Jon can't cook either - he made fried onions the other day to go with steak, and I made him air the whole apartment out even though it was freezing outside. And the chicken he made tonight, same thing.

All told, I'd say that this part of it sucks. On to week 7. Hopefully no more than another month or so of this before it eases up - try to imagine a stomach bug lasting that long. Blech!

Whole 30 Week 1

Well, it seems crazy to me that week one has already come and gone. It's gone well so far, all things considered. I'm a little disappointed - usually after a week of eating the healthy stuff I'm full of energy, my stomach feels great, and my mind feels clear. Instead I keep forgetting what I'm talking about mid-sentence, I'm tired enough that yesterday (one of my days off) I slept in and then proceeded to take a nap, go for an easy walk and take another nap. And my stomach, while not experiencing full-blown nausea yet, definitely feels 'off'. So a little disappointing that I don't feel as awesome as I normally would, but at least I know why I don't feel like my usual self.

My dinners last week were as follows:
M - coconut curry chicken served over spinach with roasted carrots
T - Taco Salad with homemade salsa and guacamole
W - lemon garlic salmon and salad
Th - Egg lemon meatball soup
F - Pork ribs with mashed yam (there was zucchini too, but apparently my stomach didn't like the spices I put on it)
S - roasted chicken thighs, mashed yam, and sauteed swiss chard
S - Chicken Tikka Masala (more curry)

Breakfast was usually eggs or leftovers, and lunches were mostly leftovers as well. We also had our freezer break down this week and we're still waiting for the new one. Thank goodness for coolers and the freezing temperature outside. I'll be spending the next week and a bit trying to use up all our freezer stuff since a lot of it had partially thawed before being stuck outside in the cold-cold again. I'm hoping none of it's been wasted, but I'm keeping an extra close eye (and my super-sensitive sniffer) on the stuff I'm cooking. Here's to another good week :)

Pregnant!!!

So, I think most of the people in my life already know this, but I'm not going to let that deprive me of the chance to write about it.

It all started back at the beginning of the year when there was a sort-of oops during my fertile time (I'd been tracking it with basal body temp. and cervical fluid (anyone who wants to know how I highly recommend 'Taking Charge of your Fertility' by Toni Weschler). We both knew that it was 'condom time' and neither of us thought of it in the moment, so while technically unplanned, I think we both kind of subconsciously decided that it was time. Or in my case my ovaries squeaked and decided for me, lol.

Within a couple weeks my chest was feeling very tender and my sensitivity to smells was driving me crazy. So when I finally used a home pregnancy test the day after my period should have shown up, it wasn't really a huge surprise. Jon actually said 'I told you so' when I showed him the test.

I've applied for all the midwife practices I could find in Calgary, and Tam (my friend who's also going to be my Doula!) tells me that I'll probably find out if I got in or not by the end of the first week of February. So keep your fingers crossed. I know I'll be fine either way because I've got her on my side (at my side?). We actually had a wonderful chat over tea today about everything. It was really awesome to see her again since it's been a while and she brought me some awesome reading material (you know me, I'll read anything I can get my hands on - I just really like knowing as much as I can about how things work)

I found out right before I started this Whole30 thing, which is full of healthy foods so I'm still doing it. I'm going to try to eat paleo as much as possible since it focuses on healthy foods like fruits and veggies and real meats and healthy fats and limits sugars/junk foods. I started taking my prenatal right away, I was already taking fish oil, and I started taking a half dose of iron because I was so tired (I thought it might help). I'm also taking a calcium, along with my rasperry leaf and stinging nettle daily cup of tea. And so far, no sickness. I'm maybe a little sleepier than usual, but it's been much better since I started taking the iron.

And I just have to mention, that as annoying as the heightened sense of smell is at work where I have to deal with the customer's perfume and the disgusting burnt-oil deep-fried smell from the food court, there is a benefit. Food tastes AMAZING. I made my favourite soup for supper last night (egg lemon meatball) and I think it's the best batch EVER. Probably because I can taste things better than I could before. I think I may be having cravings already: I am currently addicted to guacamole, garlic stuffed olives, and on wednesday I may have eaten a forkful of horseradish straight from the jar (it was like manna of the gods, even though my stomach protested the spice a bit before I put some dinner in there with it, lol). I also had smoked oysters yesterday with lunch and they were also the best oysters ever. Not to mention the spice tea Nancy was drinking (my manager at work) smelled absolutely divine. So the extra sensitive sniffer isn't a total drawback.

These are my supplements.

The Whole 30

I promised a friend of mine that I would do this thing called 'The Whole 30' (click for more info) with her. At a very basic level, there are foods that make you healthier, and there are foods that make you less healthy. On the whole 30, you leave the ones that make you less healthy out. The biggest changes for me with this will be no dairy, and making sure any of the processed/preserved foods I eat (olives, pickles, some meats) also have no carageenan, msg, or sulfites. Also cutting out alcohol, but I've been doing that since January anyway for my liver cleanse so that's no big deal. I'm going to try to post once a week about it, with my meal plan and thoughts. I'm looking forward to it. I may even post a few of my favourite recipes! It starts Monday, so stay tuned...

January 2013 Book Club

I went to my first 'book club' meeting tonight. It was nice - met a bunch of new people, most of whom have been friends since highschool. They're all very relaxed and welcoming and it was a lot of fun. Gives people an excuse to get together at least once a month, which is wonderful - something I'd been trying to do with game night last year. My groups of friends aren't closely knit enough I guess to show up for that though so it was kind of a bust.


The book we read was Casino Royale by Ian Fleming - the original James Bond 007 book. It took me about a week to get through (only 4-5 hrs actual reading time). It was ok, but didn't inspire me to read anything else by the author. It was written in the 1950's and you could definitely tell. Bond actually spends some time moping about how they sent him a woman to work with and wonders why women want to do a man's job when they should be at home cooking and cleaning. And then towards the end of the book he suddenly falls in love with her and wants to get married (after a whole week of time together). Some of the stuff around the casino and intrigue about the job was interesting and an easier read, but the often-inserted lengthy descriptions about what the characters were eating, smoking, and drinking were a little tedious. All in all, I'd probably give it a 2/5 stars. I'm hoping it was the later bond books that inspired the movies, because I doubt this one book did it on it's own.
 

I'm still in the middle of 'The Silvered' by Tanya Huff, and the new book club book (we all make suggestions and then draw the book randomly) is 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell. They've made it into a movie, so we'll see what the book is like, and probably go see the movie afterwards.

To a New Year

Well, I've neglected my blog long enough I suppose. After the wedding last May I spent a good 5 months not wanting to do ANYTHING. Too much doing was required for wedding prep. I suppose and I was all doing-ed out. But it's a new year, and there've been some people requesting something to read once again so here I am (love you daddy).

I can't even remember all that's happened since I last wrote. I know I promised to put wedding pics up on the blog and I'm still planning on getting to that, but in case anyone wants them sooner, send me a facebook message or a text and I'll dropbox you a set.

As for what's going on with me in my life...I'm still taking and teaching pole classes. Still working at Nutrition House. Still working on Pagan-y things. I did finally finish my pantheon project and Sumerian deities are very interesting. The project that I'm working on now is an individual deity. I've chosen Nyx, a greek goddess of the night. Very primordial. Still have two kitties, a snake and a spider.

The hubby and I are planning on our honeymoon-beach vacation. He's applying for his passport Monday, so I hope it gets here soon enough for the planned trip time mid-February. And then in late spring we're planning on spending some time in BC with my family. He wants to add in a brief visit to the coast to see his uncle either before or after. We'll see if that works out - if it does I'd like to spend a couple days on the island and squeeze in as much visiting in that area as possible since we'll be there already

I've recently agreed to go to a book club, mostly as an excuse to spend time with a couple friends who live up north (calgary is large and transit times are long). I've been toying with the idea of actually having a book goal for 2013, but I don't really think it's my thing. I don't need a book goal since I read all the time regardless, but it might be fun to keep track of how many books I've read this year. Plus it'll give me something else to write about. .

Book one will be the book club book (meeting's on monday so I hope I'm done soon) - Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (yes, the original 007/James Bond novel)

Book Two will be Tanya Huff's new one - 'The Silvered' I've never read a book by her that I didn't like, and this one doesn't disappoint either. I figure I'll try to do a 'books I've read this month' post.