Second Trimester, 3D Ultrasound and Paleo Thanksgiving

I just wanted to give an example of how much spinach I actually eat every morning with my eggs and bacon or sausage. Never underestimate the power of greens!

Second Trimester
I can feel the romance of the 2nd trimester that has been described in my books. It has been easy and wonderful this past couple of months. I've been watching my belly grow, feeling my baby's play and admittingly visiting the gym only about once a week. I am now at 26 weeks and just passed my 100 days-til-due-date mark. I talk to the baby sometimes, sing and try to guess which end is which and what is poking out under my hands. Sometimes I get up and feel the baby in an awkward position and so I massage a little and give him/her time to re-adjust angles. I think the hard wide part of the baby is it's back as it curls up facing my spine. Both of the last ultrasounds have shown the baby facing the rear and using "our" placenta like a pillow. The movements are definitely getting stronger and seemingly more frequent. I think the baby has put on another pound in just the last two weeks. I wish I could somehow find out the weight! My parents were out for the holiday and even commented on my increase in belly size during that time.
I have gained 12 lbs. so far and am still eating the same things. I still have my smoothie every morning followed by a breakfast of egg, spinach and bacon or another breakfast meat. Over the last couple of days, the trusty poop-smoothie has not worked (smoothie does not contain actual poop, just pooping aids). I have suspicions about this problem coming from either my hectic mornings or my recent dinner containing falafel and hummus - the deliciously digestive-disturbing legume based combo. I am pretty sure it was worth the the cheat, but let's hope the problem can correct itself or the third trimester may prove to call for a stronger morning concoction. I did also start taking an extra probiotic alongside what comes in the greens in my smoothie which seems to at least provide some relief later in the day. But, I would so much rather be back to my usual rhythm.
The best part of this trimester is how I feel and how I feel I look. I finally get to be that woman with the beautiful round belly that is so much fun to accessorize. I feel beautiful and have never been more pleased with what I see in the mirror. No sign of stretch marks but I am a little bummed to no-longer have an "inny" belly-button.

3D Ultrasound
My sister told me some while ago about someone who recommended going to an elective ultrasound company to get the 3D and 4D experience. I decided that since both sets of grandparents would be in town for Thanksgiving, it would be the perfect time to reveal the baby's gender. I also was sure they had never and possibly would never get to have an experience like this in their lifetimes. How can you argue with that? Overall it was an awesome experience. I got to see the baby's little hand come up and hold onto his/her ear. I got to see yawning and eyes opening, legs crossed at the feet and soft, full little lips. My baby is so beautiful. I can't wait to have that little face inches from mine!
We had considered doing this again when the baby was a little further along, however things I have heard about the ultrasound waves possibly causing damage to those little vulnerable cells has changed our view. I can't say I would recommend this to anyone without doing the proper research beforehand, as we should have done. I know that I at least picked a place that was run by currently hospital employed technicians instead of someone who has been at a 2-day training seminar. Really look into the company you are going with if you decide to go through with it. There are companies all over that are basically a business-in-a-box and could not possibly offer services with years of training to back them up. Ask questions about training and certifications and be thorough!
This is what we got to see:

Paleo Thanksgiving
This was my first Thanksgiving hosting family in my house and cooking the entire menu for them. It turned out perfect! The menu looked like this:

Organic spinach salad with caramelized onions, toasted pecans, goat cheese and cranberry vinaigrette
Roasted pearl onions with sea salt
Organic mushroom, cherry and hot italian (pastured) sausage stuffing (complete with paleo bread crumbs)
Roasted brussel sprouts with smoky bacon ends
Mashed organic rosemary and thyme sweet potatoes and turnips
Brined roasted organic, pastured turkey with gravy
Homemade grass-fed corned beef
Homemade organic cranberry sauce

Dessert: Primal organic apple pie & Dark chocolate nut and pumpkin custard bars

I brined the turkey overnight on Wednesday and took it out in the morning on Thursday. This turkey turned out amazing. I really didn't even touch it after I put it in the oven. I didn't even have time to baste it once because I was so busy with everything else. It was perfectly cooked, moist and flavored throughout the bird. Since it was an organic, pasture raised bird and the extra parts were still with it (giblets, etc...), I took them  and put them in a sauce pan with a little white wine and let them create a stock. It's a good thing I had done this because there wasn't really any juice in the roasting pan. I took the stock and poured it in the roasting pan and it picked up all the cooked drippings (probably why the gravy was so dark- pic above). To this liquid I added a tsp or so of arrowroot and it thickened up nicely. Salted to taste and this gravy was fabulously rich!
The stuffing was also amazing. This was really an experiment that came out tremendously successful. I will be making it again for Christmas and posting the recipe on the Primal Pantry beforehand. I used cherries, mushrooms, celery, onions and hot italian sausage. I roasted them with a little white wine and seasoning then created a slab of almond-flour crust for the top. When the mixture was just about done I put the crust on top, let it bake and then cracked it open and stirred it in with the filling. The only thing that didn't make it in was toasted walnuts. I had a guest that wasn't a fan of nuts, so I intended on toasting them and putting them on the side but never got to it. I would've liked that little extra crunch but I cannot complain. This may have been my favorite dish on the table!

Working Out
My last WOD was:

3 Rounds
_________

20 - 14 lbs wall balls
20 - SDHP 16kg KB
20 - step-ups (24 inches)
20 - push press 45 lbs.
Row 500 meters

for time (I did 28:26)

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.

Tired, Doctors Appointment and Chocolate

Tired
I really have been exhausted the past couple of days. I was reading on my Sprout app that it is common to do something as simple as a load of laundry and feel like you've run a marathon. This ran through my head the other day when I got up in the morning to pee and had to go back to lay in bed for a few minutes before heading downstairs for breakfast. Sometimes I even come downstairs and need to sit on the couch for about 20 minutes before I can muster up the energy to make myself breakfast. This is the hardest part because I know that once I get the fuel in, everything else will be a little easier. I certainly wasn't this tired last week when I was on vacation, fortunately. Maybe it just has to do with getting closer to the second trimester or the fact that I am overdue for a workout.

This morning I am trying a different hot sauce because my beloved Cholula bottle flew out of the fridge door and shattered a couple of days ago. Wah wahhhhhh.....
This sauce is not cutting it. I will be buying a replacement bottle today! Today's breakfast is wilted spinach, 2 eggs, CSA bacon, avocado and an organic pluot from Trader Joe's (that's a plum/apricot). I am eating this fruit knowing that later today I will be getting back in the gym.

Doctor's Appointment
I finally had my first visit with an ob/gyn. This was just at a women's health center because I do not have insurance or another doctor. Despite the scary scene in the waiting room, both the doc and nurse were very nice and seemed pretty pleased to have two normal and seemingly "educated people"- to use the doctor's words- in their office. The nurse weighed me and it turns out that switching to 100% primal eating knocked off about 3lbs. from my previous 160. YAY! I can still have hopes for a Bergeron-type body! The doc then did a breast and pelvic exam and sent us into another room for a sonogram. Awesome. After he moved the scanning piece around for a few seconds to get a good angle, I could see a little smudge in a dark area he pointed out as the uterus. It looked a little like the graphic I've been staring at on my phone in the Sprout app. Then he hit a button and after some fuzz and what seemed to be my own heartbeat, in came the sound of the little smudge's own heart. Wow. There really is something in there, and its alive! I got choked up for a second and let out a little laugh, and in doing so, knocked the paddle off the perfect view and ended up with the image below. You can still see my little smudge in the dark area at the top, intersected by the vertical line.

After this exciting moment we went into the office again to speak with the nurse about what I need to do to get Medicaid coverage. Luckily for me, it is an easy process and I get coverage as soon as a doctor confirms I am pregnant. There are a couple of hoops to jump through, classes to take and financial papers to track down but it is worth it. Once we've been approved we pick a specific care provider and that's it! Today, my job is to start talking to potential midwives and finding out who takes insurance and what provider so we can make a better choice when the time comes. 

I am also set up for another sonogram in a month. I am just as excited for a better look at this little smudge.

For lunch I had a hot dog from our CSA and an organic pickle. I finally found a store on Staten Island that sells ones with no sugar added in the brine. They are good and now I have to ration them because the store is on the other side of the island and the darn things were $5 for the jar. My favorite snack is pickles dipped in peanut-butter, but I've been off of peanuts for a while now.   :(   It's not a pregnancy craving, its a genius pairing of something slightly salty and warm and creamy with something crisp and cool and acidic. If you've never tried it, get on it (or not, because it's not primal). It's not the same with almond butter either because that stuff is way too sweet.

For my second lunch, which totally ruined my appetite for dinner, I had a primal big mac experiment. I took one of my steak-burgers I got online (grass-fed), chopped up some red onion and the crispy part of romaine and covered it with my version of the big mac sauce made in this video. It was good except the burger wasn't cooked enough and probably could have used some more salt (not to mention it's just not the same without that cold piece of american cheese). This was at 7pm which is normal dinner time for most people. However, real dinner comes at around 10pm when my husband is working. I didn't want to ruin my dinner... it's just that I made the sauce and how was I not going to try it? Needless to say, I had maybe 2 bites of steak and some broccolini with my husband and set the rest aside for another meal.

Chocolate

The battle has begun whether or not chocolate is good during pregnancy. In my opinion, it will make me very happy at times and that's a winning situation altogether. There is the fact that it supposedly has caffeine. I say "supposedly" because of an article I read (here) that another chemical in chocolate called theobromine causes a natural high feeling which is rumored to be what people are mistaking for the effects of caffeine. Some studies suggest that it is beneficial but still needs to be regulated. The recommended maximum consumption of caffeine for a pregnant woman is 200 mg. To me, that seems hugely excessive and ridiculous. I am using raw cacao powder and nibbling on pieces from chocolate bars here and there and through all the numbers I've looked at, 1 gram of dark chocolate (or cacao powder) is equal to 1 mg of caffeine. This means that 1 tsp of the stuff equaling 4 grams has only 4 mg of caffeine. So, when I make a glass of chocolate coconut milk and use 2.5 to 3 teaspoons of cacao powder, I am only consuming 10-12 mg of caffeine. I think that is pretty close to nothing of a risk when you consider all the other health (and mood) benefits of chocolate talked about here and here. I think this is still an ongoing search for me to find better answers about the stuff, but at least for now I have a decent amount of information that says a little may be better than none.

PS. I was a lazy bum and did not work out today, but I did get some other things accomplished instead.

Primal and Pregnant Travel Part 1

Back to my usual Cholula doused breakfast. Ahhhhh.... so perfect and easy! Two of the highest quality eggs, some avocado slices and a piece of pastured bacon are the best way to start my day. Honestly, it was a little tough today. I'm not sure what to attribute it to. I woke up at around 5 am and felt like I could start my day, but tried to fall back to sleep. It took a little while but I managed and woke up again with my alarm at 8:30. I was in and out of sleep for about another half-hour and had to sit myself up and drink some water at around 9. That usually does the trick, but not this time. Instead of heading down to cook breakfast I thought a shower might help me wake up. I was very sluggish and didn't get out of the house until 10:30 when I had planned on being at the gym before 10. It could be a result of the progression of my pregnancy, the time fluctuations between NYC and Las Vegas or, most probably, caused by my lack of specific nutrients and somewhat poor eating during the past week's vacation.

Travel Eating
   For two mornings I ate at the Canyon Ranch Grill in the Palazzo or the Venetian (it seems they are part of the same resort?). This was the closest walking-distance restaurant that offered organic eggs and other organic ingredients. The first morning I had a 3 egg omelette with all of the veggies offered, organic chicken sausage and no cheese. Instead of the potatoes on the side, I had sliced tomatoes and it also came with a nice side of fruit. The second time I went I felt guilty about assuming the sausage was grain-free, so I asked the waiter and told him to include all of the veggies that were organic in the omelette. It turns out that the sausage was gluten-(and hopefully all other grain)-free, however the only veggie that was organic was the spinach (out of a list of about 6 different ingredients). When in doubt, ask. Sometimes you just don't want to be a pain in the butt, but it's your health, your food and your money.
   Please also note I brought all my vitamins as well as extra fish oil and probiotics to supplement the lesser quality meals I consumed.
   The first day for lunch we had Carnegie Deli corned beef and pastrami and I ate the leftovers the next day for lunch. Again, this is not the best quality meat but better than eating a loaf of bread. *Sidenote- while just typing the words "loaf of bread" I remembered that my sister and I used to take a piece of bread, butter it and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar as our grandmother had made for us one time. Just thinking about it spiked a huge craving for butter, bread and sugar.......end sidenote.*
   We had a late night meal from Chipotle which contains meat that is antibiotic and hormone free. This is a decent "go to" option if you are left with little else. I had the bowl with veggies, steak, pico, tomatoes, onions, lettuce and guacamole. You have to tell them right away that you want no rice and beans because otherwise they will just start slapping that shit in there.
   The second night we went to Margaritaville, the restaurant located in the "Jimmy Buffett" portion of the Flamingo. Disgustingly disappointing. I asked the waiter which of their 3 fish options was wild and after checking with the chef he told me all 3 were farmed. Luckily I had texted my husband to find out which of my options was the best and he got back to me after I had already ordered blackened mahi-mahi. He said that it was impossible to farm mahi-mahi. Excellent instinct on my part and clearly the employees of this place were retarded. That's not even the best part. My waiter brought me my blackened fish with my substitute side-salad and the rice I had substituted it for, leaving my steamed veggies nowhere to be found. When I pointed this out to the waiter he said he would bring me a side of steamed veggies and then proceeded to hand me a small dish of green beans! Ummmm..... beans are legumes, not veggies and I don't eat those. Thanks for making me waste rice and beans, your time, my time and my money. The moral of this meal is: Don't eat at a place where the service staff AND the chef may possibly know nothing about food.
   The third morning I went to Hash House a Go-Go. This place is ridiculous and I wanted everything on their menu. Cinnamon rolls sliced and fried up like french toast..... WHAT???!
I opted for a scramble with a side of their griddled mashed potatoes (instead of the fried in canola home-fries). I was aware that this was a meal of low quality ingredients but a step or two above the aforementioned cinnadream. After tasting both the eggs and potatoes I realized that they, despite their deliciousness, they both most likely contained dairy- milk in the eggs and buttered potatoes. Whoops.
This was not a very well executed choice in hindsight. Next time I would probably order eggs over-medium so that I know there is nothing mixed in, and some other substitute for potatoes. It is unfortunate that this place is "twisted farm-food" that does not really have any farm fresh options.
   The last night I had the most amazing scallops drizzled with basil oil and placed on a scoop of ratatouille. I was thrilled. The veggies were most likely not organic, but the scallops were the best meal I had eaten while on vacation. Excellent meal at Mon Amie Gambi in the Paris Paris casino.
   If I had a car and friends that were willing to drive to more options, this would have been an easier trip. I did the best I could without trying to seem a "high-maintenance" eater, which apparently I failed at. Oh well. I'm trying to grow the healthiest baby I know how and that should trump all.

To make up for all the greens I missed out on during the week, I had a big salad with organic lettuce, pea-shoots, arugula, tuna, onions and tomatoes. It was very refreshing.
For dinner we had italian sausage from our CSA and peppers with a side of caesar salad.

Working Out and Raspberry Leaf Tea

Today I put cholula hot sauce on my eggs and it reminded me of a time when my friends and I used to go to brunch every Sunday and eat all kinds of things that were no good for us. Anyway, 2 eggs, 2 bacon strips, kale with tomatoes and avocado, butternut "homefries" and iced tea all went quickly this morning. I woke up very late today and don't know if it's because I had trouble falling asleep last night, me being lazy or just because that's what my body needed. Hopefully a nap will not be as necessary today as it has been the past couple of days.

I think that this will be the last day I eat the "homefries." I definitely need to lower my caloric intake. This may be one of the reasons my body isn't budging with that extra weight. In my quest for the perfect amount of vitamins and minerals on my plate... I added too much food.
So, today's lunch was a smoothie with greens. (Not that fruit is helping much either, but this is on a workout day.)

Working Out
In preparation of my Level 1 CrossFit certification this weekend, I wanted to do a bar complex that involves all of the basic movements to work on my form.

Today's WOD:
5 cleans
5 shoulder presses
5 push presses
5 push jerks
5 snatches
5 overhead squats
5 front squats
5 back squats
5 clean and jerks
5 deadlifts
5 sumo-deadlift high-pulls

2 rounds with 45 lbs.

The first time through my coach watched and corrected the movements, so some of them got 10 reps or 7 or 5. The second time I wanted to hold on to the bar through the first 4 movements, the next 3 and then the last 3 movements as individuals. My personal record for deadlifting is 215 lbs, so 45 is extremely light. But, by the end of the complex it was a nice rest.

Raspberry Leaf Tea
I mentioned this tea as a great thing to drink during pregnancy in an earlier post, mentioning that I was a little wary to try it just yet. I am glad I waited as I have discovered a little more about it. According to my 100's book red raspberry leaf is "probably the best known pregnancy herb. Herbalists and midwives recommend red raspberry leaf for morning sickness and to tone the uterus and help ensure a good strong pregnancy. It is also used to stimulate the onset of labor and to promote an easy labor."
It says that in studies, the herb can actually induce contractions in uterus cells removed from pregnant women but has no effect on those from a woman who is not pregnant. Pretty cool. However, some people think that it's effects on these cells can possibly be harmful for a woman in her first trimester. After all, you don't want any contractions going on at that time when the poor little thing isn't really hanging on all that well. So, I will wait to hear from a doctor or midwife before giving this one a shot.

Today's dinner is brought to us by Herondale Farms CSA. We are having pork chops that are surprisingly the last of our supply. Thankfully our next CSA pickup is next Wednesday and will contain 15 pounds of lamb, beef and pork. I can't stop thinking about the lamb burgers we had... amazing! Pork chops and roasted acorn squash with arugula salad on the side for dinner.