Working Out and Great Food

This morning I had my usual chocolate smoothie with banana, almond butter, coconut water, cocoa powder, stevia and Amazing Grass chocolate greens. This link is to what I find to be a great deal. It is totally worth buying in large amounts, however it also comes in smaller sizes. I highly recommend this product for any pregnant woman or otherwise. It is delicious when mixed in a smoothie and a huge dose of your daily nutritional needs, especially greens. It is expensive but if you can pay to be more healthy, why not?
I went to the gym as a spontaneous decision and had my eggs, bacon and wilted spinach for lunch. I'm really glad I worked out today and hope that I can start getting back into my every-other-day routine.

Working Out
Today's WOD:

Push Press

3-3-3-3   (I did 55-65-75-85lbs.)
__________

25 Handstand push-ups  (I modified by doing them on a box)

50 Toes-to-bar  (I counted my no-reps too- about 20)

800 meter Run  (I ran 400/rowed 400)

75 Push press  (I Rx'd these)

150 Double-under  (I did 150 single-unders)

***For Time***

Rx: 75/55

I ended at about 34 minutes. I can do double unders but didn't feel like it would be a wise decision to take the workout too much further after passing the 30 minute mark. I was also a little wary about jumping that much knowing it probably would've taken me through another 300 or so singles to get all my doubles. I struggled quite a bit with the toes-to-bar after the first 20. At first it came so easily but I tired quickly. I also slammed the bar into my nose pretty hard around rep 68 of the push presses. Ouch.

Other than that, I felt it was a very good workout.

I feel great today. No issues lately. I am longing to hear the baby's heartbeat again soon. We see the midwife for our first official patient-midwife meeting. Hopefully she's got some equipment to satisfy that longing. I will go over the visit and all of the questions from a list I compiled for our meeting.

I started reading a book I got for my husband called The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin. So far there is not much I don't already know, but I am only just at the beginning and hopefully it will be helpful for him and a possible family-member turned doula. No reason not to get some extra education!

The other day for lunch I made myself an amazing tuna cobb salad (above). I used canned tuna (which they say a pregnant woman should not eat, but I allow myself only 1 can a week or less), chopped heirloom tomato, crisped bacon, hard-boiled egg, avocado, red onion and hearts of palm on a spring mix. I made a balsamic ranch dressing to go on top and it was delicious! Yes, it took a little extra time to make, but I sat down and enjoyed it along with one of my tv shows. 

Another great recipe we've been making is squid salad. We enjoyed this in Croatia on our honeymoon and were able to get calamari for such a great price at costco, that I decided we could certainly replicate it at home. 

To make: clean the calamari thoroughly and cut into rings, parboil the pieces in hot water for about a minute, chop veggies to add such as: red onion, red pepper and a green (parsley, spinach, arugula)

To dress the salad mix in a food processor or bullet: balsamic and apple cider vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, a squirt of mustard of any kind and a dash of some sort of hot sauce (I used my favorite Cholula). Keep playing with it and tasting until you like it. Pour it over the calamari and veggies and chill it or eat it warm. The taste only gets better as it sits in the dressing and fridge.

Before the Bump

I am really happy to be having greens in my smoothies again. I feel like it really helps my system move the food around more efficiently. The greens added to the hydrating power of coconut milk seems to be a great combination. I had a little smoothie this morning with my breakfast and didn't actually eat any greens with the meal. I am also definitely slowing down on my use of Cholula. For some reason it just doesn't taste as amazing as it used to, whether it's because my tastes have changed or because I've overdone it. I still love my eggs though.

Before the Bump
As I am just about to enter the second trimester, I am anticipating and watching for the bump to appear. One of the things about ignoring the rule of waiting till 36 weeks to tell people I am pregnant is that people keep looking at me and saying I look great (not that I'm opposed to that). Its their slightly surprised look when they glance down to my non-existent belly that makes me feel a little like Sigourney Weaver's character in Baby Momma (she is supposedly pregnant but Tina Fey is confused because she has no belly and she's seems to old then says she feels a kick). I feel a little like people think I'm playing a joke.
Now is the time! Now there will be a bump happening and with that excitement comes my thoughts about maternity clothes and stretch mark inhibiting products.
Stretch marks
I have been looking into a couple of products:

Bio-Oil

The reviews on this stuff are great! One I read came from a woman who started using this product at the beginning of the second trimester and never had stretch marks despite them being a problem for her during teenage weight-gain. It seems to be made from natural ingredients and the price is worth the try. I am definitely getting a bottle. They sell it on amazon for a reasonable price.

Mountain Ocean
Skin Trip

I have used this lotion before for sunburns and it was extremely effective in reversing the burn after one application. They also make a soap bar I would be interested in. I received this as a gift a while ago but didn't use it often since I'm not really a lotion toting person. However, I knew that coconut oil has a naturally soothing effect on burns and grabbed this because it is the second ingredient. Unfortunately I tried to take the bottle with me to Las Vegas and they took it away from me, with it half-full. Bummer. I think this will probably be a big help with a growing belly and it smells like the beach. My best friend actually bought it for me because I used to wear coconut fragrant oil as a perfume in high-school. That was my "thing."

Also made by Mountain Ocean
Mother's Special Blend

These products seemed worth giving a shot because they are from a company I like and are geared specifically toward pregnant women. They have an oil and soap bar. I will probably get both when I get the cash. The cost is reasonable and they contain cocoa butter which is the usual "go-to" remedy for stretching skin. I have heard that it doesn't work as well as people think but it certainly could be helpful in a mixture of several effective ingredients.

I never thought I would be so excited to rub lotion or oil on myself, but I am looking forward to an easier way to accomodate the oncoming stretching and want to have a picture perfect, smooth, firm belly.... but who doesn't?

Clothing
It is always exciting thinking about a new wardrobe. I remember my best-friend and I walking past the maternity sections of stores and talking about how we couldn't wait to be pregnant and have a reason to dress in these really cute clothes. Thinking back on it, it seems a little strange that we thought the maternity clothes were so cute but that may be because biologically and historically we were already at prime pregnancy age. Luckily, we both were smarter than the girls on "Teen-mom."
Looking through my closet and my wallet, I realize that I could probably stretch the wardrobe I have to accomodate my changing body for quite some time, as I have never really worn tight clothing. I think it was the picture below that got me all revved up to start thinking about how I will dress as a pregnant woman. I will really be dressing for fall and winter pregnancy, which is a little bit of a bummer because I like the idea of sundresses so much. I will just have to find a way to use them in layers.

What I really love most about this look from the Hatch Collection is the belt below the belly. I feel like many women wear things that have an empire waist and fall over the belly and straight down from there, resembling a sort of tent. Now, I really don't know how this will look on me because I don't have this woman's body to begin with, so I may not even be able to pull it off. However, I certainly don't want to look like I am wearing a tent. It seems as though the trick is to put a hand on your belly to show that you are carrying something other than some extra weight. It looks a little funny to me in photos, so why not just get an accessory to do it for you?
Here are some fall/winter maternity looks:

 I am really drawn to the dress with leggings and layers looks. I love the cropped leather jacket, mens-style shirt and very tailored wool coat and predict a great amount of chunky sweaters/sweater dresses with leggings for myself. My reality is probably a bit more like the last two looks that have a bit of Colorado mountain style mixed with California (another place I live and where I am from). These would be the casual and fancy versions of my usual pants and t-shirt look. This is why I am also excited about the fact that H&M also has maternity clothes since that is right up my alley for budget and convenience. All I need is an influx of money and I am off for new clothes and bras/underwear (those are a whole different story I don't even want to get into).

Diaper Bags
This purchase is so far in the future, but I still wanted to post a couple of looks that I really like. Mind you, these are regular purses that are just oversized and perhaps I am naive to think that this will work just the same as an overpriced diaper bag. These are all right around $50 or less.

The first one is a medical type bag with a structured bottom that would make it easier to see inside the bag when I need to dig for something, however it doesn't have many pockets. The second one has more  compartments and can be carried by a longer strap like a messenger bag, which may be easier when a baby is being carried in the front. The last one is the hobo-style bag that I am always drawn to and seems like something that will stay closed and be comfortable on the side to back part of my body. I am not sure which is the most practical, but the third one is probably the least. Once I get a better idea of what kind of daily maintenance products I will need, I will be able to make a better decision. 

For lunch today I had a tuna wedge salad with homemade ranch dressing. For dinner I made fish tacos and shrimp tacos. The pepper and onion mix I made to act as a filling was really spicy and I may have used too much lime because it started to make me a little nauseous. Other than that, I would definitely make it again with a different filling.

Food and A Couple of Things

Breakfast has been pretty much the same as always: 2 eggs, some bacon, some wilted greens, water and vitamins. I did have someone suggest that I take my vitamins later in the day because of the slight nausea I was feeling. I actually ended up taking them at lunch and realized that perhaps dinner would be better. But, of all the vitamins I take, the probiotic seems to be the culprit in upsetting my stomach. We might have to try another brand as my husband is adamant that I take them with every meal.
We've had a couple of fun meals in the last few days.

On Wednesday night we went to Peter Luger Steakhouse to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We had the most amazing (non-pastured) bacon pictured above, followed by a 36 oz steak for two being polished off in the photo below. I did feel guilty eating grain-fed beef and non-pastured bacon. It tasted amazing as is expected of this famous place. 

This breakfast includes a little salmon patty from the batch of homemade salmon burgers we made on Thursday night.

I made a batch of homemade baba ghanouj by roasting an organic eggplant and blending it in the food processor with some seasoning. This is an easy dip for veggies and should be a constant staple in our fridge.

Saturday afternoon I had a hankering for baking and needed to eat lunch, so I decided to play around with a recipe for pizza dough. I also really just wanted something bready with olive oil on it. I was pretty pleased with the way this turned out, so I will make it again tomorrow for my husband's birthday. In the version below, I did not have any tomato sauce so I blended some basil, spinach, roasted garlic, olive oil, splash of lemon and a little sea salt in the bullet to make a type of pesto sauce. To the top of this I added sliced tomato, red onion and portobello mushroom slices. I did not have any meat handy unfortunately so I followed up the four pieces with a leftover salmon burger. Big mistake. I've been eating too much lately and this was one of those times.

Last night we made orange chicken and wilted bok choy. This was also a whim project and came out pretty tasty but was a big difference from the inspiration dish with it's slimy coated pieces of chicken (gross but yummy). 

I followed this meal up with an amazing fruit salad that had pieces of watermelon, pluot, blueberries and golden raisins, covered with a mixture of homemade peach preserves and a splash of coconut milk. I also added a lite dusting of stevia to make sure it was super sweet. It was pretty damned satisfying. 

A Couple of Things
1. Mosquitos seriously bug. It has been that time of year for a while and I feel like I am walking bait. I don't know if it's because I am growing blood or because I smell different or both. I really feel like mosquitos favor me a hell of alot more than everyone else especially because they never used to be that interested in me. According to this article it is true that pregnant women attract more of these blood-suckers. However, it is not proven and they can only make guesses about why it seems true. While looking for answers I was also coming across articles about west nile virus and malaria. Great. I think I will definitely be purchasing a clip on mosquito repellant or start applying some oils of naturally repelling plants. I do have Dr. Bronner's eucalyptus oil soap. It might not hurt to start using this as a bodywash or just dabbing a tiny bit on the backs of my knees, ankles and inside of the elbow (just figuring these places give off more heat and will cover my legs which get bit the most). We took our dogs to a dog beach the other day and literally walked a 100 yard mosquito gauntlet. My legs look like a braille map of pink constellations.
2. Constipation is a wonderful part of pregnancy. Yes, that is sarcasm and yes, I'm talking about poop... or lack thereof. I have had this problem starting with the grain-fed steak dinner. It is suspect and probably not a huge surprise that changing the quality of my food would cause such trouble. I am not having a meal like this (a kind of quality "cheat") for a while because of how I feel now. It's really been a frustrating last couple of days as I continue to put food in and nothing comes out. I did have my little container of greens that contained psyllium husk and seemed to help with the situation, but we ran out. Not to mention that most of the time if you are not regular to begin with the psyllium tends to add to the problem and just cause bloating. Granted, I did eat at Fette Sau today and had even more amazing bacon than the piece I already showed you. But this is it for low quality meat. No more. Hopefully I will get back on track and be regular again. I apologize for this information, but a person just doesn't feel so hot when they are stuffed up with waste and it really goes to show that what you eat can have a big difference on how your system operates.
3. Symptoms like the faint nausea can possibly be diverted with moving around the time in which I take my vitamins as discussed earlier.
Now, I don't know if this is a pregnancy thing or what, but the other night I had a nose-bleed. Of course my reaction, to be a little dramatic, was to yell "I'm anemic!" I really haven't had a bloody nose in a long time. The last time was at 10,000 ft above sea-level in a super dry climate. It's pretty darn humid where I am now and I remain a little baffled. So, let's just blame it on pregnancy.
Another thing I've got going on is constant burping. My husband yells at me every time I do it, as if I can control it. You know what I say? Tough shit.
This is something that seems to be just recently happening and could certainly be caused by what I'm eating. At first I thought it was happening because of the shredded yam I used in our salmon patties, but I was going again pretty good today and had no salmon at all. It could be the fish oil, although I'm not getting any fishy flavor coming up. It just seems I am full of gas and it's coming out the more controllable end (for now). It's possible my body is just having trouble accommodating the food that continues to go in and not come out.
4. Overeating was bound to happen at some point and having a kitchen stocked with fun stuff to play with doesn't seem to help. The first step is admitting it, right? Checking out my thigh-size in the mirror this morning was checking back into reality for a second. I realize this past week has gotten out of control, but now I know what I have to do to get back on track. I will not overstuff myself. I will be consistent with my workouts again (I worked out on Wednesday, Friday and plan to get in on Sunday).  My usual every-other-day system is back in effect. I will stop eating poor quality foods and cut down on the fruit. Hopefully I can still weigh in at 157 lbs at my Aug. 27th doctors appointment.

Questions: "Pump and Dump"

This morning's breakfast was the same as yesterday's: 2 eggs, bacon, wilted spinach and a handful of heirloom tomatoes. These little things are amazing because each one has a distinctive flavor. I even got one that tasted like a miniature melon or berry, it was so sweet. I've been on a kick adding lemon to my water. I used to hate lemons in my water, but after the trip to Vegas I have just loved the taste. I am wondering if this is my body craving more vitamin C. After all, I don't drink orange juice. I'm definitely getting a little bored with the spinach and think maybe a squirt of lemon will liven it up for me.

I also seem to be feeling a distant nausea that is so faint I am unsure if it is only in the back of my mind or a real possible threat. I ignore it and eat and it goes away for a little while.

Questions

Q: What is it to "pump and dump"?

In my daydreams about when I can eat cheese and drink coffee or wine again, I imagine that I can just pump the breast-milk I would otherwise be giving my baby after these little indiscretions and pour it down the drain. When I bring it up to my husband he argues with me about the fact that the dairy is still in my system and really never goes away. To this I say "Well, then isn't all the dairy I've ever had still in my system? So what's the point of not eating it if it's still gonna get into my baby?" Thus the research begins. How many dumps until the baby will not actually get any dairy in the breast-milk? The same with caffeine, alcohol and grains?

A: It is exactly what it sounds like. You would pump your breast milk after consuming something you do not want to pass to your baby and then dispose of it. The easiest thing to address first is the consumption of alcohol. This site tells us that once alcohol is out of your blood, it is out of your milk as well. So, as long as you have some back up milk if you baby gets hungry, you don't have to dump the milk you produce after drinking. Obviously if you still feel intoxicated, you're not going to breast feed. It might also just be safer to wait until the next morning to pass the milk on to your baby. This is under the stipulation that only 1 or 2 drinks are being consumed (as I generally don't last past one glass of wine or one bottled cider). Likewise, remember that alcohol that comes from grains (beer, etc...) is still putting "grains" into your system also.

Now, I will address grains or mainly gluten, as that is the easiest to find information for. I found this article which makes me think that in between the 4th month and 6th month of breastfeeding it might not be such a bad idea to introduce a little gluten through the breast milk. Why? Well, I think about my husband's lactose intolerance and seeing him writhe in pain after eating one of my favorite recipes that contained heavy cream (in the tiniest amount). This was a while ago and obviously we don't eat that recipe anymore without cutting out the cream. I would hate for my child to never have any gluten introduced into his/her system and then accidentally eat something that contains it and have a dangerous reaction. Heaven forbid it happens when I or my husband are not around. Besides that, for people who have intolerances (lucky me to never have suffered so) wouldn't they rather not have to suffer from severe reactions, should they one day eat something they know they shouldn't? I'm not going to be able to control what my child eats for their entire life and I'm sure they are bound to make some unhealthy decisions at some point. I'd rather it didn't come with such a painful price. I will compare it to chicken pox: It is better to let the child get it and recover than to have the child grow up and get a case of shingles, which can be tremendously worse and possibly deadly. Right?

So the question then becomes, how long does it take to rid the gluten or gluten antibodies from your system. Well, I read one article that says the half-life is 3-4 months which would make the whole life 6-8 months. This is also dependent on how healthy the person is to begin with. This article also suggests that it will take around 6 months to get gluten out of your system. So the "pump and dump" method is clearly not an option for at least 1 grain. If I can discuss this with my husband and get his okay, it looks like I may only be able to have 1 meal that includes grains and that being for the purpose I stated earlier.

I also looked into rice, but couldn't even find what it introduces to your system to cause an allergy and therefore could not find how long it would take to get it to leave. My guess is that it just passes through like food, but that's just a guess.

Dairy is the current argument point, so I will explore that one next. Here's a quote from this article:

"Milk protein can be eliminated completely from a person’s system anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days, depending on her metabolism and the amount of dairy products she has consumed." 

Let's consider this person (me) has no dairy in the system to begin with, is as healthy as one can be, and has a high metabolism from continuous exercise. It is probably safe to assume that if I do not go on a crazy cheese binge or try to do the milk challenge, I can safely "pump and dump" for 24 hours and not have to worry about passing dairy proteins on through my breast milk. This is probably not enough research for my husband and I will probably need to do a follow-up. I'd really like some more specific answers that involve the differences between raw milk/cheese and pasteurized and how those get processed through the body.

Caffeine is hopefully more along the lines of alcohol. One person suggested that you'd have to urinate to get the toxins out of your body, but that doesn't really have and back-up info or make enough sense to me. This site suggests that after 12-15 hours there is no caffeine still in the system while this article says that it can be 3-12 hours for a half dose of caffeine (1/2 cup?). If I do end up drinking coffee, it will most likely be decaffeinated and will contain certainly no more than 20 mg of caffeine. As long as I "dump" one load of breast milk, I can assume that my intake is otherwise completely harmless to the baby.

 

For lunch I had leftover chili, a small salad and some squash bread that I baked today. It was a little too sweet, so I lowered the amount of xylitol before posting the recipe. This has two yellow squashes and two zucchinis and no sugar or grains! It's really really good. I just worried a little about the amount of xylitol because it has been known to cause "digestive discomfort" or diarrhea when consumed in large amounts. No reactions to it yet!

 

Last night for dinner we had blackened fish (half a piece of cod and mahi mahi each) and roasted carrots with dill. This is such an awesome recipe because it is super simple and tastes better than you could ever imagine carrots to taste. All it takes is some sliced carrots (it's easier just to use organic baby carrots out of the package), some fresh dill, sea salt and a fat to cook in. I used a combo of lard and bacon grease. You just roast all of this together until the carrots are forkable. It probably takes about 30 to 45 minutes. The blackening seasoning used on the fish is found here. I put the fish on some arugula to get some greens in the meal. 

Tonight we are having slow-cooked country pork ribs and collard greens with homemade bar-b-que sauce.

Morning Sickness? Working Out and Ice Cream

I am back on the Cholula and trying a different flavor too! The bottom half of the eggs are covered with  the chili garlic flavor. It's good. It's not what I expected and you definitely have to be in the mood for garlic first thing in the morning, otherwise it's probably amazing on tacos. My husband is stoked on it, which makes me happy since I am obsessed with the original. 

Morning Sickness?

Friday morning at about 4 am I woke up to pee and felt nauseous. I tried to ignore it and went back to sleep however, when I woke up later that morning I still felt it. It wasn't an urgent puking feeling but the feeling before that tells you it might get that bad. I started off with a little water before getting up and going downstairs. The first think I did was eat a banana. The sugar/starch base seemed to mellow the queesiness enough for me to make my usual breakfast and even continue with my Cholula covered eggs. The nausea continued throughout the day as a distant warning but never got worse than that. Despite the fact that it made me not want to eat, I did it anyway. Someone once said I love to eat and well, who doesn't? Every time I ate something the feeling went away for a little while. 

Why was I feeling this way? My thought was that it was too late for morning sickness to start as I am already into my 9th week. So, I started thinking that maybe it was food poisoning or that maybe I swallowed too much chlorine during my body-fat test (something we did at the gym involving submerging yourself entirely in a small pool by letting out all of your air... during which I'm pretty sure some of the water went up my nose because I was tasting chlorine for the rest of the night... Ick!). Just thinking about it makes me nauseous. I don't know what was happening here but luckily the next morning it was gone and all I had was a memory of the feeling. By this, I mean that if I thought about it hard enough I could bring the whole nausea back again. Maybe morning sickness is more of a mental thing and if you just try to ignore it and move along your day as you normally would, you could suffer from it less. Wouldn't that be nice...

For lunch I had a salmon burger on some cut organic pea shoots with tomato, big mac sauce, mustard and relish. Today's lunch was my second day having tuna salad, which seems to taste realllllly good to me lately. It all started when I came home on Saturday and while walking up the stairs to my apartment I kept smelling tuna salad on toasted bread. I could actually smell the toasted bread which was really the most enticing part. I ate a ton of tuna salad as a child and at some point decided I was over it. When I got older, I realized I could put more in it than just the mayo and relish I grew up with. So, I got fancy with it and used homemade mayo (equal parts extra light tasting evoo and an egg), onion and garlic powder, fresh organic dill, salt and a splash of white vinegar. To the mixed liquids and tuna I added chopped red onion and some pickle relish. Today I just poured the sauce over the tuna and two small wedges of iceberg lettuce and added some grape tomato slices. It was so good I could make it again right now but I'm waiting for dinner.

Working Out

Friday I did half of Angie instead of the full workout, as this was my first day back after vacation and I was still faintly nauseous.

So, my workout looked like:

50 pullups

50 pushups 

50 situps

50 air squats

my time: 21 minutes and 25 seconds

I went really slow and took my time obviously.

Ice Cream

We bought this coconut ice cream at Whole Foods on Thursday and it was gone by Saturday night. I made it perfectly clear that if there was ever to be a crisis-quencher during the future of this pregnancy, this is the motherlode. This is absolutely without question the best mint and chip ice-cream that a non-dairy, sugar-free eating person could dream of. I dare not say that it wipes out all dairy competition because it has been so long since I have had any. When I am eating this, I don't care about all the other possibilities. Mint chip has been my favorite flavor for a while and we've tried to whip up our own batches with coconut milk and stevia, but I think I can relinquish that trouble to the experts. My husband said I can't eat it all the time because it's ingredient list is not just as simple as coconut milk, stevia, peppermint extract and dark chocolate. Okay, that's fine... but one day I may be moaning my head off for it and I will not be refused. I will save my battle for then.

Holy balls... they make butter-pecan too...... I'm trying that next!

For Dinner we are having chili-fries (my favorite). We made this on Saturday night and had leftovers to eat tonight. How can you not eat these? They are sweet potato fries, but the sweetness is that much better with hot meaty chili on top! My husband made this batch and he must at this point realize that he is supposed to chop the onions a little better (per MY recipe)... I hope.

Restless Legs, Working Out and the Ideal Body

I got up a little later today and still needed some time on the couch before I could muster the energy to make breakfast, and when I did, it was a beauty.
I made 2 eggs, 1 piece of bacon, the last piece of breakfast sausage, butternut squash "homefries," some wilted kale and 3 pieces of apricots (because I cut off the overripe portion). In the glass is a mix of my ginger and peach teas with a little bit of lemon.

Restless Legs
Over the weekend we were wrapped up in the CrossFit Games. We spent more time than usual using our computer as a television. While sitting on the couch I began to feel a little restless in my legs. I've never really understood what this feels like because I've never felt it before. It just made me want to move my legs around. I felt antsy, like I wanted to get up and do something but I really just wanted to sit there and relax. Very confusing. 
Thinking that maybe this had something to do with being pregnant, I looked into it. I found out that it does happen during pregnancy, but usually later on in the 2nd or 3rd trimesters. This site gives a great explanation of RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome). It seems a little strange to me that I would feel it now, especially because I work out and eat well. I can't imagine that it is due to some sort of vitamin or mineral deficiency. Upon further searching I came across a forum where a woman said her doctor explained it as a result of hormonal changes. Okay, that makes sense. 
RLS is usually the feeling of tingling, burning or crawling sensation in the legs. I'm not feeling any tingling or burning, but crawling (like skin-crawling) sounds about right. It's just an inexplainable irritated feeling. Even typing this is activating it. Ugh!


Working Out
Yesterday's WOD:

Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
Snatch, 30 reps
Snatch, 30 reps
Snatch, 30 reps
Snatch, as many reps as possible

Rx:

75/45

135/75

165/100

210/120

My Results: 50 reps (compared to last time I had 60 and was unable to get 100 lbs. over head)

Yesterday's lunch was a salmon salad and today's was a steak-burger salad with ketchup, mustard and a splash of balsamic. Awesome.

The Ideal Body

If I could look like Heather Bergeron while pregnant, I would be a very happy, healthy person.

This is truly my goal. I was never that small even before becoming pregnant, but I can only hope that my arms and legs continue to shrink as I continue to workout and eat 100% primal.

Over the weekend we made chocolate balsamic and cherry shakes. I used 1 can of coconut milk, about a dozen organic black cherries that I pitted, 2 tsp of chocolate balsamic, 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract and 4 tiny scoops (from the spoon that comes with it) of stevia extract. Just put all of it into a blender with some ice and you have a shake. I will admit the balsamic wasn't that noticeable, and the coconut flavor is strong, but it was awesome. This is the best substitute for ice-cream when you are in a hurry.

Tonights dinner was mahi-mahi, hot and sour soup, broccolini and fried rice (cauliflower rice). All of this made by yours truly from fresh organic ingredients. I probably overdid it. It was too much food for me.

Sleep and Questions

Who needs to go to a restaurant when you can have this every morning in your own house?
This gourmet masterpiece consists of 2 pieces of Trader Joe's bacon (only the antibiotic/hormone free), 2 organic eggs with basil leaves (from our potted plant) and butternut squash "homefries" with some spinach. This butternut squash recipe is delicious. I made it over a year ago and now my husband has taken over. It's nice to have him do all the work and be able to just warm it in the skillet in the morning. :)

Sleep
Before I was even close to pregnant, I was telling someone that I wasn't going to be doing any waking up at 5 am with any baby. That baby will just have to learn to sleep in, just like we taught our dogs. We got it down to where if we got up early, our dogs would come downstairs and eat breakfast and then go back upstairs to sleep some more. I'm pretty sure I just got laughed at with that idea.
*Just an interruption here- I just ate everything on that plate and had a smoothie with greens in it and my stomach feels empty still.... what the what?
Anyway, I have found strange things happening with my sleep. I always wondered how parents got up so early with their baby every morning and thought that it was just something they got used to over time. Now I feel like the body naturally prepares itself to become the morning person it needs to be for a newborn. That's good. At least I'm preparing without any effort. It also makes me wonder if the tired spells I seem to have a couple hours later will someday coincide with my babies' post breakfast nap time. If so, I'll take it! Waking up earlier each morning is not just the first thing that's going on.
I am sleep-walking. Now this is something that I've done before many times. Despite that it's called "sleep-walking" it doesn't always involve cruising around your house. Sometimes I would just sit up in bed and start looking around the room or do weird things like trying to hold up the wall behind our bed because I thought it was going to come down on me and my sleeping husband. I actually thought that just pulling the blanket over his head would protect him. It seems now that my dreams, even the super-active ones, are all following the theme of children, childbirth, parenting, etc....
Last night I got up out of bed thinking I needed to take the sack of birthing fluid and/or placenta and bloody mess from it's spot on the floor next to my bed and move it somewhere that it would be safe for later. I bent down to pick this stuff up and (it was really my scattered clothes from that day) thought to myself "Oh, the fluid drained out. Well I better move it anyway." So I gathered the pieces of clothing, one of which was dark and seemed to be the "bloody" item, and walked over to the door and placed them gently on the floor next to our laundry basket. This morning, I had some vague recollection of doing this and went over to see what I was actually moving in my sleep. I saw that it was just dirty clothes.
Another night I woke up and looked over at my husband's side of the bed for some reason and watched the figure of a little blonde boy fade into the objects behind as I blinked my eyes into focus. He had been doing something with the things on my husbands night stand. This is another thing I have done quite a bit. I open my eyes in my sleep and things that I was dreaming about slowly come into focus as objects around my room.

For lunch I had 2 hot dogs again and a side salad. This time I wrapped the dogs with bacon. I followed it all up with a piece of the primal banana gingerbread I made. I didn't write the recipe down but it came out AWESOME! I'll work on that recipe for interested parties.
Tomorrow I will be trying out one of these amazing looking burgers I got from a deal on groupon. They are from La Cense Beef, are antibiotic/hormone free and 100% grass-fed beef from Montana. Their steakburger patties are "a premium blend of Sirloin Steak, Round Roast, Chuck Roast and Flank Steak." The price worked out to only $6 per pound with free shipping ($49 for 24 patties). Can't beat that deal. I ordered them on Monday and they arrived today. These are frozen and look how deep the color is!
Yay MEAT!

Questions
Q: What is meconium? This is a term I came across in my homebirth research and it has something to do with newborns pooping I think.
A: Meconium is literally newborn poop. It's slimy and dark greenish to brownish and apparently resembles tar in it's texture. It is pretty much what has been in their digestive system from inside the womb. I'd put up a picture if it wouldn't be so close to my burgers. Feel free to click the link and check out wikipedia's pics. From what I read on the homebirthing forum, it sounds like a pain in baby's ass to get off and can be easier to remove when you apply oil or vaseline to the newborn's bum in between diaper changes.

Q: Do I need different strollers, car seats, etc... for different baby's ages? I'm talking newborn - toddler, not newborn - 5 year old obviously...   I asked this question because my sister-in-law said she has a ton of stuff to give us for the baby. They are so far aunt and uncle #1 because they will probably save us literally thousands of dollars.
A: According to about.com there are 3 different kinds of car seats. The first kind faces the rear of the car and is used for newborns/infants that are 20 lbs. and under. The second seat is forward-facing and is used for infants of more than 20 lbs. The best option seems like the third. A convertible car seat can be rear-facing for newborns and front-facing for when the baby weighs enough.

Q: What foods/nutrients help prevent or minimize morning sickness? This one I ask on behalf of friends. I am lucky to not have any morning sickness yet. In one place I read that it's not supposed to happen until 7 weeks and in another- from 4 weeks.
A: I thought I read in one or both of my books that there was a nutrient in particular foods that could help to prevent or minimize the onset of morning sickness. When I went back and looked, I couldn't find anything except that "vomiting and nausea during the first trimester were correlated with an unsuitable diet and big infrequent meals." This was found in a study by researchers at the University of Athens.
Jonny Bowden of my 100's book, says that protein-deficiency can cause vomiting, fatigue and loss of appetite. So, perhaps protein is the way to go. It is my favorite thing to eat and I get it first thing in the morning. Maybe it is helping me to avoid these symptoms? When searching the internet I found this site that recommends avocados, proteins and nut-butter to help stave off the nausea.My recommendation would be to have a little organic broth (preferably homemade) in the morning before doing anything. It's all protein, among other numerous nutrients, it's mild on the stomach and full of water to re-hydrate you first thing in the morning.

That's all the questions I have for today.

For dinner, I am making a filet of marinated wild salmon we bought from costco and whatever veggies we have to throw on the side. Lately I've been cutting up a bit of everything and roasting it all with the entree. I'm not allowed to have chocolate anymore except a tiny bit every once in a while, so dessert will probably be a piece of fruit.

Working Out and Shirataki Noodles

Breakfast was better than yesterday. We finally ran out of our breakfast sausage stash and grabbed some bacon from Trader Joe's. It was a nice change with my 2 eggs and spinach.

Working Out
Today's WOD:

Back Squat

5-5-5  (I did 10 of 85 lbs. - 5 of 135 - 5 of 145)
__________

5 – Overhead Squat  (I did 45 lbs.)

10 – Toes to Bar

***12 min AMRAP***

RX 65

My total reps: 4 rounds + 8 toes to bar

I felt really good going into the workout today. I felt great in my gym clothes and the weather was much cooler than it has been. We did a 400 meter run in the warm-up and I actually had an easy time running. I hate running. This wasn't so bad (but maybe that's because I did 2- 200 meter runs to avoid the hill). That's okay. It's a form of scaling it down I guess. 

I will say that this is the first time I really felt pain in my breasts while running. They honestly felt like bowling balls in my skin - very painful. It normally isn't like this. My coach (and husband) said I probably shouldn't run anymore and that I should substitute with rowing. I also could have gone a little heavier on the overhead squats. It was light enough to that I was a little wobbly.

Other than that, I felt great and came back feeling well exercised.

I came home and had an organic arugula salad with tomato slices and avocado. I also had a nice big glass of lemonade with ginger tea and 2 Applegate Farms hotdogs.

Shirataki Noodles
For dinner we had scallops and kale salad with carrot-sesame dressing. I didn't take a picture of that, but here's one of last nights dinner. We had mahi-mahi and roasted veggies on top of shirataki noodles. These things are amazing! They are exactly like regular noodles only made with yam starch? There are different kinds of shirataki noodles, some of which are tofu. Please don't pick those up by mistake. If you ever do see this package, buy every single package they have because you are going to want them.

Homebirth Research

Breakfast was a little weird this morning. Things tasted a little different. I had 2 eggs, breakfast sausage, wilted spinach with avocado, a smoothie and some homemade lemonade. It all tasted just the slightest bit unappealing to me. I got it all down anyway and washed it down with the organic fruit smoothie.

Homebirth Research
My husband and my own personal researcher emailed me a bunch of links with information on homebirth. Several were listings for midwives and a few links for recommended reading, but my favorite is this forum where women tell what they would have done differently the next time they were to have a homebirth. I have read 6 pages and am still going. It's truly fascinating. I even started making a list of these tips and suggestions. Some of the advice sounds like a foreign language to me but I am putting it on the list anyway.
Before I knew I was pregnant, my husband and I watched the Business of Being Born (Netflix has it), a documentary about the differences between labor in a hospital and having a homebirth. It didn't take more than a few minutes of this movie to convince me of which I wanted to do.
After reading through the pages of the forum, it did bring up some realistic concerns:
   1. Our lease is up in January (I am supposedly due in March) and I don't know where we will be living at that time. Hopefully we will move on to something better. This makes it hard for me to start planning the homebirth setup. I really like to plan. I rarely get all or even half of my plans executed, but the process is what I like.
   2. Oh god the perineum- The possibility of tearing sounds way more painful than anything. This is probably now my biggest fear. The aftercare of that whole area gives me a little more of an idea what really goes on. Women are talking about needing to wear frozen tea-soaked maxi-pads post delivery. It doesn't change my mind, but it makes me think about how little I will be able to do in the weeks afterward.
   3. Family time with the new baby- I like the suggestions to have visiting hours. This will be the first grandchild for my parents and I can't help to want to include them as much as possible. My husband says it's just going to be me and him and the midwife. After reading about all the things I will need before, during and after the process, I think that I would want my sister there (if she wants to). She will be becoming an aunt and I think it would be special for her to help with the baby. Plus, she and I have become so much closer over the past couple of years that I can't think of anyone else who will understand what I need or be more helpful (besides my husband). I really want him to be able to be more of the process and not have to worry about running around frantically trying to do everything.
The grandparents and grandparents-to-be may have to keep it short the first day to let the 2 of us rest. I like the sign one midwife made for her patient's door: "At homebirths we mother the mother. Please do something helpful/useful while you are here. Sweep the floor, quietly do the dishes, wash a load of laundry, or take out the trash. But most importantly, limit your stay to 15 minutes."
15 minutes is a little stiff, but I like the idea.

In a search for crossfitters having homebirths I came across a blog with this description in her birthing process: "It was horrible. It was like riding an electrical storm naked and cold and inside out. It was like internal rope burns. It was never ending. I was in that moment for eternity, going through the worst pain I’ve ever felt. Being out of control. Being very inside my body that was being ripped apart. I intoned throughout the whole thing, sucking in air, and intoning again. Riding it out. Higher pitched when it got worse and lower when I felt in control. I was on top of it, beneath it, inside it. Gasping for breath. Knowing what I needed to do and feeling unable to do it. But doing it."
Allllllrighty then. She hadn't even given birth at this point... this was just a contraction.
I haven't found anything about how doing crossfit can prepare you for a better homebirth. I will let my husband, the ultimate researcher, find me some things to read and get back to that.

Taco salad and lemonade is for lunch. I know it just looks like a bowl of meat, but there is diced cabbage and lettuce underneath it all with a drizzle of organic olive oil and ACV. My husband thinks it's funny that I'm on this taco kick, because as he recalls "You hate mexican food." It's a convenience thing on top of being able to eat with my hands like you would a normal taco, or a burger if there were primal buns.

*Symptoms
I really had planned on going to the crossfit gym today, but this wave of exhaustion came over me. At one point my eyes were watering as I struggled to keep them open. I tried to take a nap but I couldn't stop thinking of other things to do. From noon til night, I was just dragging around.
I also feel extra bloated today. I have been bloated this whole time, but today's bloat makes me wonder if I'm further along than I thought, or if there's more than one of these things in there. I did kinda want twins, but decided that if I really enjoy this process, I may want to do it again. That's saying we only really planned on two kids total.

Dinner is wild mahi-mahi and some sort of veggies. Too tired to get into detail.

Watching the Clock

I had wilted organic spinach, breakfast sausage and 2 eggs this morning. I didn't have a smoothie yesterday or this morning but I might have one as a pre-lunch snack. We bought a bunch of bananas that are now super ripe and I am considering making primal banana-nut gingerbread. That just sounds awesome.

*Sidenote: Constipation can be a problem when you are pregnant. Of course, it depends on what you are eating. More fruits and veggies will definitely help with that problem. More greens may also make your (pardon the scientific term) poop look a little more like plant-life. If you choose to supplement your diet with the greens recommended in my other post, be aware that they have a little bit of psyllium  husk in there. This aids in a slight flushing of your system so-to-speak. If you are more likely used to a backed-up system, this may actually just add to the problem. Make sure you are having regular movements before adding this to your diet.

Watching the Clock
Ever since I found out I was pregnant, the time can't go by fast enough. I'm sure it will pick up pretty soon, but I am antsy as hell to get to that first doctor's appointment. I don't know if it's because I don't really know for sure how far along I am, or if it's because I want to be closer to telling more people that I'm having a baby! So, each day my responsibility is to make sure I eat the right things and then what?
I feel like I'm on permanent vacation... passing the time in between meals. I stare at the same picture in my Sprout app hoping that I might see something different than the last time I looked at it. Well, at least it will change again on Wednesday, even though I've already read that page too. I guess I will clean the house.
Only moments later, I read this post. I guess I should be glad I can still do everything I want to except gorge on crazy cheat food.

I ate leftover taco meat in red cabbage shells for lunch. I swear I can eat these all day long. That's an "arnold palmer" in the glass (that's iced tea mixed with lemonade, for those of you who don't know what that is). A couple hours later I was feeling hungry again, so I had a smoothie with a banana, blueberries, coconut milk and half a scoop of greens. I feel like I'm hungry all the time. Even if my stomach feels full, there's still that little nagging hollow feeling just above it. Could be boredom. ;)

Dinner is bar-b-que pork chops and wilted greens and baby broccoli with roasted garlic.