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.

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.

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.