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.

Food Aversions, Constipation and Midwives

It's been a couple of days since I've had greens for breakfast. This is not just because I ran out of spinach, but also because I don't feel I can stomach kale lately. We bought some from a farmer's market yesterday and after reading that it is only bitter when it is going bad, I tried the fresh bunch with today's breakfast and it was fine.

Food Aversions
When I think of greens, I don't think of the picture on the left, I think of the wilted slimy hot mess they will become in order for me to eat them. This picture even makes my stomach turn a little. This has been my problem since my first bout with nausea weeks ago. Things that are bitter turn me off and make me lose my appetite altogether. Salad with a little too much vinegar in the dressing, the fridge full of leaves my husband insists I eat and even the thought of the steak-burgers I got in the mail make me want to go upstairs and sleep through dinner time. Last night I knew I had to get some more greens in my body since it had been days without more than a caesar salad to balance out my nutritional needs. I decided that maybe I could eat kale if I made a soup with the canned organic butternut squash we had in the cupboard. My thinking was that the thick and somewhat creamy sweet squash broth would drown out the bitterness. It didn't turn out the way I expected, but it was damn good. I used leftover italian sausage, red onion, homemade beef broth, butternut squash and some leftover pizza sauce to make a very meaty italian soup. It is quite possible that having this soup with greens in it helped me with my latest constipation problem.

Constipation
This article helpfully discusses why it is that pregnant women get constipated. I was using the greens that I added to my smoothies to help me regulate my system, however these are expensive and not always around. They contained psyllium husk, which is the main ingredient in most fiber supplements. This morning I woke up with my back a little sore and have been feeling full and bloated lately. I thought something's got to give today or I will be in worse shape tomorrow. Luckily, I had some relief this morning maybe from the kale I got down last night or the bowl of fruit salad I made for dessert. It really goes to show you how big of a part fruits and veggies play in your diet.
Another thing I discovered is coconut water. One morning I was having the same issue and decided that I would drink a coconut water first thing on an empty stomach. This proved to be a good move. As I researched a little today, I was able to confirm that coconut water has natural laxative effects. My assumption is that when used on an empty stomach, your body is more easily able to absorb it and not only cause quick hydration (needed for regularity) but have a more efficient laxative result.
One other helpful thing during constipation is exercise. This can be a catch 22 as nobody really feels like moving around too much when they feel "full of shit" so to speak.

Midwives
We met with our first midwife on Friday afternoon and a second one on Thursday. We could continue the interview process and meet with many more, but since we had such great experiences with both of them, we can probably just make a decision at this point. One thing we did before meeting was make sure to have a list of questions. Here is our list based on some of the suggestions made in the homebirth forum I was reading in an earlier post:

-What will we need as far as pool rental, birthing stool and birthing kits go?
-Is there a back up plan if the midwife does not arrive in time?
-is there a problem if the pregnancy goes past the due date?
-How often do their clients tear and what they did to prevent tearing?
-What about harvesting cord blood?
-What doctors do they recommend or work with?
-What insurance do they take, if any? How much will this cost us?
-What is their experience and background?

-How often does a client need to transfer to a hospital?

We were told by both that they have specific doctors they like to work with and would have a list of recommended doulas if we decide to get one. We probably will based on the fact that both really seemed to be in favor of it. Both were willing to travel to where we live, which is 45 minutes away. They also had the same reaction to my question of them not arriving in time. I got a laugh and the response that I was a very lucky woman if this were to happen because that would be record breaking labor time. I really felt comfortable with both women and they were completely open to our lifestyle. I was told that my nutrition and overall state of health would play a factor in whether or not I would have tearing and how much. Insurance will cover most of it except for a doula and possibly the pool rental fee. As far as harvesting cord blood (something for a future post), one of the midwives made us feel like it would be no big deal for her to take care of it and the other suggested we have someone else there to handle it. This was pretty much the only difference between the two of them besides age, location, years of experience and one of them being a certified nurse. Despite the fact that she is not currently a certified nurse (but will be by the time we deliver), we decided (or my husband decided) on the midwife who will handle the cord blood. After all, you do want everything to be taken care of by the people you are hiring right? I think I liked her because she told me I was healthy and seemed to be doing everything right. It certainly doesn't hurt to be flattered and have your own thoughts confirmed. It also sounds a little funny, but I liked that she gave me a hug when I left her office. I found this to be a very comforting gesture from someone who will have a major part in our family for this monumental event and who will (pardon me) be seeing an awful lot of my vagina.