My brother-in-law asked a while back, like a couple years ago what we normally eat for dinners. I am the cook of the house and I thought of this question the other day. It so has it that I record my food so I took a little snapshot from February dinners what I ate. These were MY dinners. I can see something I choose to eat a heavier lunch and only snacked at night. This is what I ate, though I do normally eat with the kids unless I am at school that night, so more than likely the family ate the same thing. Although not mentioned almost all my ingredients are local and organic.

Dinners week February 18 – 24th

Monday: homemade chili (turkey meat, onions, kidney beans, tomatoes, spices), tortilla chips, jasmine rice, mild californian cheddar cheese

Tuesday: homemade hummus and carrots, homemade vegetable barley stew (barley, zucchini, carrots, lentils, onion, chicken broth).

Wednesday: homemade chicken noodle soup (roasted chicken, onions, carrots, celery, egg noddles, chicken broth)

Thursday: homemade lentil vegetable soup, parmesan cheese, ground turkey patties

Friday: ground turkey patties, jasmine rice, carrots and ranch dip

Saturday: steak, cauliflower steamed with olive oil, carrots and ranch dip, homemade; baked garbanzo beans with onions, tomatoes and quinoa

sunday: kids – annie’s gluten free macaroni and cheese, I had plain yogurt with almonds (I had a late lunch of baked: chick peas, onions, tomatoes, quinoa).

Dinners week of February 25 – March 3rd

monday: black bean, monterey jack cheese, short grain brown rice, veggies and dip

tuesday: udi’s gluten free bread and sunflower seed butter (*I ate a Mixt Greens salad for lunch, and didn’t come home till 8pm from class)

wednesday: brown rice spaghetti pasta, homemade tomato basil sauce, parmesan, cheese, steamed broccoli with lighthouse ranch dip

thursday: homemade hamburgers (hamburger, bun, mayo, mustard, tomato, lettuce, ketchup, Colby jack cheese) with open nature cut fries and ketchup

friday: chicken drumsticks, raw carrots with homestyle ranch dip, Brussel sprouts and broccoli sautéed

saturday: lentil and vegetable soup garnished with Colby jack cheese, lean ground turkey patty

sunday: homemade pizza: gluten free crust, tomato sauce, ham, pineapple, mozzarella, carrots and litehouse ranch dip

Interesting. I think I will look back again in a couple months and see how it’s changed or not.

After using a kit, I don’t think you need one. Though it would make a great gift and everything is there, and you can go add to it once you know what you want or need. You could just find instructions online, and just go buy some plaster. You will probably run about the same or a little more for cost. After buying my own plaster, the kit we bought was not overpriced. A drop sheet that is completely plastic would be better, the one in the kit once it got wet the floor was wet too. All you need for materials: plaster, vaseline (some kind of lubricant), and something to protect your floors.

My husband did it with me. He would dip the strips into the water, at first we forgot to take a little water off, so I was drenched. We quickly figured it out. He’d put the plaster piece on me and I would smooth it out with my hands. It does dry quite quickly. By the end I was taking shorter breaths because it was pretty solid. The kit provided vaseline, which I used, but it still hurt a lot to take off. I guess I needed to use even more! It felt like (and looked like) someone was waxing me in a giant strip trying to take it off, especially under my boobs, yipes!

The cast is now complete though the work is far from over to get it to where I want it to be. It looks quite rough like this:

I don’t consider myself a large person but we still used all of the plaster in the kit. I had to go and buy some more today to reinforce it in areas. I plan to reinforce it, trim around the edges, lightly sand it and then use Gesso acrylic paint to smooth it out. This all needs to be done before I get to the artwork part. I am excited for the possibilities of how it could turn out!

…to be continued

So update after last night… I used the ‘extra’ plaster that I bought at Michaels craft store. I must say the stuff that came in the kit was far superior. From Michaels, the strips didn’t take to water as nicely and there were spots that were still hard, they didn’t seem to have as much plaster on them, and were very stringy. The kit is looking better and better by the minute.

Steps I plan to do: 1) do the cast, dry 2) trim edges, reinforce with more plaster, dry 3) use Polyfil or joint compound to smooth out lumps, dry 4) sand to get smooth surface 5) use Gesso to get a nicer surface, dry 6) prime with white acrylic paint 7) drill holes for hanging cast and put in wire for hanging 8/9 etc.)….. start artwork… which probably involves planning what I want on the cast, drawing it in pencil, painting, etc. 10) final step, clear gloss to finish

Onto step 3

I didn’t know cucumbers were acidic until I was pregnant with my first baby and was nearing the end of pregnancy. I was reminded a few weeks ago when I had a Greek salad for dinner…. tomatoes and cucumbers, bad combo for heartburn, needless to say that night wasn’t fun. It’s amazing how your organs get so squished near the end. My husband reminds me that I was pretty uncomfortable and had a really hard time eating near the end of my first pregnancy….. which is all coming back to me now.

Even wearing a bra I feel impedes my digestion now. I feel my tummy gurgling, and sometimes need to take off my bra to feel better… odd I know! My Naturopath laughs and says well you know what will relieve that…. delivery! Not much I can do about it but attempt to avoid the more acidic foods, less raw veggies (though I much prefer them over cooked) and eat smaller meals.  Some foods that particularly bother me and cause upset are: chocolate, some of the more acidic fruits like oranges and raw strawberries…. coffee, black tea would be on my list if I drank it, and as mentioned in particular cucumbers, tomatoes.

My iron has been low so I’ve been taking an iron supplement for some weeks now. It helps, but can be a little complicated to take, on the bottle it says to take it 2-3 hours after a meal, or one hour before a meal, and 1 hour away from any dairy products or other medicines, and best absorbed on an empty stomach… sheesh!. Some iron supplements can really cause upset, but my midwife recommended one that I’ve had pretty good success with called “Bob’s Female Iron Formula”. Available from a few of the local Pharmasaves in Victoria (I found mine at the Cook Street location, but I’ve been told View Royal and Tuscany Village also have it).  I assume it’s named after “Bob” the fellow that owns these particular Pharmasaves in Victoria: www.bobmehrpharmacies.com

I’ve had an aversion to any type of poultry this pregnancy, since about 6 or 7 weeks pregnant, which was similar when I was pregnant with my son. Makes eating a little bit more limiting. I am now able to prepare chicken now, which I wasn’t in my first trimester, but still would rather not and don’t like the smell. Or any strong smell come to think of it. I have a sensitive nose when I’m not pregnant, when I am pregnant it’s pretty unbelievable (and annoying to some) what I can smell.

I don’t really want any type of meat this pregnancy but do eat it (with the exception of poultry) to try to keep my iron up. I didn’t know before that any black tea, even decaffeinated black teas inhibit iron absorption. Needing as much iron as I can to be absorbed, I no longer drink decaffeinated black teas now (normally love them, including Rooibos). My midwife recommends red raspberry leaf tea, not to prepare your uterus for birth, though some think it does, but just for general health as it has a lot of good properties, I have yet to pick some up. The site I read said to drink it from 32 weeks on and increase your intake closer to birth, but that is for uterus ripening. I assume it’s safe and good for you in moderation the entire pregnancy, but would ask your caregiver if you are unsure.

Currently I truly would love to just eat home made mac and cheese all the time, or Alphagetti, haha, but resist…. because it’s not healthy (duh ) and because I am the cook in the house and my hubby is lactose intolerant and my son is off dairy and gluten right now. A far cry from when I craved vegetables and orange or cranberry juice when I first got pregnant. I occasionally crave vanilla ice cream too, milk shakes, etc., probably because the baby is needing more of my calcium stores now to grow her little bones. I do take a liquid calcium supplement twice a day, which also decrease muscles contractions, including Braxton hicks, along with staying hydrated.

Yes sometimes she kicks hard, or shoves her hands into my hips, a muscles or my bladder and I jump from the discomfort or want to pee my pants… but I still like to feel her move. 33 weeks now, so she’s still has a little bit of room, certainly not as much as she did before and mostly stays in the same spot. Most of the time she has her back on my left side and I feel movement and limbs on my right…. or the solid part of her bum or back when she stretches or pushes on the other side. My tummy can look like it’s having quite the party sometimes, particularly at night before bed or after a meal when my digestion is making a racket, she seems to be the most active. I still think she is less active than my son was… I can wake up at night for my trips to the bathroom and baby doesn’t always wake up, I remember my son always woke up.

I will cherish these movements until the babe is born.

It’s interesting the expectations I had going into labour the first time. I wanted this and not that, but had no real idea how it was going to go. Even though I had done lots of reading and research prior to my first birth, no one can really tell you. I was a little disappointed looking back, but overall very happy to be done with it and have had my baby naturally. I reviewed my first labour with my new backup midwife the other day, and also spoke to my Naturopath about it, both who have had children in the past couple years. It was comforting to know that they too did not get their birth wishes… meaning that circumstances took over and things needed to be done, at absolutely no fault of their own and it does not reflect on them poorly or mean they aren’t a strong people because of it.

Don’t let this scare you, but my first labour was long. It does not mean yours is going to be. Every labour and pregnancy are different. I was in pre-labour for about 24 hours or more. I was anxious and thought things would get going. My midwife suggested taking Gravol and trying to get some rest, I should have listened. By the following night she came over and I took some homeopathic remedies to try to jump start things, within a couple hours I was in early labour and contractions were noticeable stronger, closer together and more painful. The next morning I was in the same place, and my midwife stopped by my house again. She decided we should go to hospital to do a stress test on the baby, and she wanted to check my bag of waters as she thought I had a slow leak. I remember going in around 10am on Sunday morning and choosing to stay at the hospital, I was 100% effaced, and 3cms dilated by this point, or so I thought. Looking at my notes I was only a finger tip dilated, but 100% effaced, which I find embarrassing now that I stayed in the hospital. Contractions were coming every 5 minutes, plus or minus a couple minutes and felt quite strong. Reviewing my past labour with my backup midwife she said so after 10 + hours of labour you chose to stay in the hospital and you think you went and stayed in too early? Okay so, you really think after 10 hours of labour it was too soon to go and stay, 10 hours is quite a while Julia…. that made it sound differently to me.

By that evening I was about 3cms dilated, contractions were about the same distance apart (anywhere from 3-8 minutes) but feeling much stronger and painful and I was noticeably more tired having not slept since Friday night, and it was now approaching Sunday evening. Around 7 PM it was suggested I get an epidural to get some rest, after asking everyone in the room that they would not be disappointed in me if I got an epidural, we decided to get one. My caregivers were also thinking it might be necessary to augment my labour as things were taking a long time and more importantly they were concerned about my exhaustion having to deal with strong contractions that were not furthering my progress.

So ladies, when they say once you choose to get an epidural PLAN to be able to cope with labour for the next couple hours in case hospital staff are not available to give you one. Oh SO SO true. I was prepared for a couple hours, but not the 7 MORE hours that passed waiting for one AFTER I decided to have one! A nurse needs to be dedicated to you and in your room to monitor you if you have an epidural, although your midwife is more than capable, it’s “hospital policy” to have a nurse. Around midnight my midwife gave me a shot of Demerol, and checked my cervix before doing so, I was only 4cms. It took the edge off but I could feel the peak of each contraction, so I slept for a couple minute intervals between them. A couple hours later it was wearing off and finally at 2 AM the nurse was ready, and the Anesthesiologist came in (I thought we’d have to wait for him! But not so he was ready). I hate needles (I’ve fainted in the past with a needle) and hate the thought of an epidural, but I can honestly say it was no big deal. I was so exhausted and in pain I didn’t notice.

When you have an epidural you are on your back confined to a bed, I have not heard of any woman who had a walking epidural and was actually allowed to get out of bed. I was hooked up to all sorts of monitors by that point. They have a constant monitor on the baby, and it was turned up too loud, it rung in our ears for days after. My midwife would turn it down, and the nurse would crank it back up. I don’t know if they augmented me with Oxytocin right away or just at the beginning or end. I sort of remember the OB coming in to check on me that my midwife consulted (as things were going on a while and I think it’s in their ‘handbook’ that they need to consult an OB at that point) and asking why I was not get Oxytocin. I remember someone saying well she’s progressing now, but I guess he wanted things to go even faster?! I have no idea if that meant they did give me something after that or not. I’ll have to ask my midwife to look back in my records to see.

My son was having decelerations in his heartbeat after contractions. The nurse (which I did not like, I wish we were able to keep the nurse that relieved her for her break) was scaring me saying I might need a c-section, which was my ultimate fear. My midwife didn’t seem overly concerned as his heart rate was recovering well after each decel. I remember the nurse wanting to put a screw in the top of my sons head to better monitor his heart rate, I midwife kind of looked at her like… you’ve done that before, and politely skirted the issue, luckily it was not done. When he was born we found out the decelerations were because he had the cord wrapped around his shoulder.

Around 5:40 AM or so my midwife checked my dilation again. There was a small lip of the cervix left, she moved it out of the way with her finger as I pushed through it. I started pushing. I pushed for 45 minutes and my son was born at 6:30 AM on the dot.

Because of my exhaustion they were concerned that I would not have the stamina to push the baby out and my uterus would be too tired to do the work. I remember thinking to myself there is NO way I’ve gone through all this and am going to still have to have an operation! I was very determined to say the least and got second wind, I ordered a couple people around telling them how to hold my back or legs and pushed as hard as I could. The OB came in to check on my progress and was like, ‘oh she is definitely making up for a tired uterus no problem, she’ll get this baby out.’

I wrote notes a couple days after my first birth so I would remember as much as I can. It’s funny how my memory alters things. It was what it was. In the end I was delighted to have a healthy baby out of it born naturally. Yes it was long, but that is not abnormal. Labour start and stops, that’s not abnormal either. Contractions can go from 3 minutes apart back to 8 minutes, yup in the realm of normal too. First labours can be longer and yes that’s normal too.

Knowing what I know now I will TRY to listen to my midwife better this time, and REST when she suggests it. I still have wishes for this birth of course, but I am way more open to assessing things as they go along and doing what is necessary. As I found out from the first time, labour is going to go how labour is going to go. It doesn’t mean I am broken or abnormal etc… it just is and it’s all okay!

I swim between the Crystal Pool and Commonwealth now. Crystal I have a pass from master club with, and Commonwealth I have a punch card. I think drop in is about $5.

I finally found a pregnancy lap swim suit and love it. We ended up ordering it online, from a recommendation on my post from my first pregnancy… thanks! We ordered the size they suggested for the size my regular suit was and it ended up being too large, so I ordered another one a size smaller. I still have the unused medium size thinking I may get big enough to fit into it near the end, but not sure if I will need it now. It’s a Lycra suit, so won’t last much longer than this pregnancy as the chlorine tends to eat them quickly. Not pregnant I wear a polyester suit now, which lasts and lasts and lasts… as the sales people say you will get tired of the style way before it wears out! I have to have thin straps on my polyester suits otherwise I get chapped marks on my neck and it looks like I have hickeys all the time. Putting on Vaseline on my neck prior to a swim workout also used to help. Lycra does not bother me.

Pools in Victoria….. now I am a swim snob. I like swimming laps in a pool with other people that obey swimming etiquette. Fast lane for fast swimmers, swim up the rope and down the middle, etc. Hard to find when swimming with the public. I find the cooler the pool, the more I can swim, and the less tired I feel. For example if I swim 1000m at the Commonwealth Pool in their competition pool, I swim faster and am less tired than swimming the same 1000m at the Crystal Pool.

I think the Commonwealth competition pool is the coolest pool in Victoria. Runner up is UVic’s McKinnon pool. Then perhaps the Crystal Pool, then Gordon Head…. Oak Bay Recreation Center being one of the warmest (those are the pools I frequent). None of this is scientific, it’s just how I feel when I get in and based on how I swim. I’ve never been to Juan de Fuca Recreation Center pool but have heard good things. Their kiddie pools apparently are among the warmest, so you aren’t too cold when you are with your little one not moving to keep warm and their larger pool I’ve also heard is nice to workout in.

Not being pregnant Commonwealth and UVic are my top choices for the best swim workout (out of the above). However pregnant the Crystal Pool works well as it cuts down on the Braxton Hicks when I get into the water, which seem exacerbated by the colder water.

Only issue with the Crystal is their large theft problem. I have started wearing my key to my locker on me now while I swim and take only my towel and shampoo to the pool deck. I heard of a swimmer in my club that left only her clothes in a locker, unlocked, and came back and someone had stolen her pants. Her pants!!! Who steals pants? She had to walk out in a towel. The other day a woman brought her back pack with her purse in it to the deck while she swum, which was within her sight for most of her swim. She picked up her bag and her purse was gone.

Swimming is also excellent for pregnant women. It’s not only weightless workout, it also helps get the baby into optimal fetal positioning.

Speaking of fetal positioning it seems my little one, as of my last midwife appointment a few days ago, is now head down. At this stage, I am 30 weeks along, my midwife reminds me that baby still has room to move and can move back to be head up and that is perfectly normal, but reassuring that she is head down for now.

When he was born, our midwife said “take your baby”, so I leaned down and pulled him up to my chest… someone shortly after asked if it was a boy or a girl. I peaked up the blanket and announced boy. Very shortly after I looked up at my husband and said I think he is a _<childs name>____. My husband looked and me and nodded, as if to say ‘okay whatever you want’, in his emotionally exhausted state of having gone through a long hard labour with me. It’s not like I picked the name out of the blue, we had talked and agreed it was our top choice previously.

This time my hubby has made me promise that I don’t “declare” the name until we’ve had a chance to discuss it in private. Hehe, oops! I have promised.

We had a couple ‘back up’ boy names from when my son was born. We still really like them, so it will depend on what baby is like, if it’s a boy what name we choose… and there’s always a possibility that neither would work and we’d have to come up with new ones, but at least we have a starting place.

Girls names are a different story. We have not been able to completely agree on girl names. I have a favourite, which I am still hoping I will “win” on, but my hubby isn’t sold on. I certainly wouldn’t want to name our baby girl a name her Daddy didn’t love too. We aren’t at odds in our disagreements or anything… for example when one of us says I really like the name “Sara” (for arguments sake only) it’s not greeted with “oh I love that too”… it’s “yeah that one is okay but I don’t like ___ about it”. I feel we won’t be able to decide on the name until the a baby is born anyway and we see what he or she looks like. I would like to have some names we both really like so we at least have a starting place.

We both agree we want a strong female name, though funnily enough we disagree on what strong is . I agree with this site…http://pregnancychildbirth.suite101.com/article.cfm/strong_baby_names_for_girls However my husband does think a strong girls name can end with an “e” sound, where I’m not so sure it sounds strong, but more cutesy. Cutesy is good when they are little, but I’d like something she can grow up with and be whatever she wants to be… I think that is every parents wish. Maybe also because in my life I’ve always been called “cute”, instead of pretty, strong etc. and would like my girl to have more than ‘cute’ in her repertory.

My husband has two thoughts… 1) as above, that it is a strong name. 2) More importantly to my husband our sons name starts with a W, he feels we should try to name our second child at the end of the alphabet as well. There is a theory that says people with names close in letters on the alphabet, tend to be drawn to each other or get along better (years ago, we watched a 60 minutes program on names … I wish I could find it to watch it again!). We have yet to find a girls name near the bottom of the alphabet (s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z) we both like.

Then there are always those names you love but someone that the other person once knew brings up bad memories for them, or an association that won’t go away… and those are just out.

I am particularly drawn to girl names that start with the letters: a, c, and e…. and d, and l…. of course there are other letters I like too.

So suggestions??? girls, boys or both.

BTW…. there are some names that I really like, but would not consider naming my son or daughter it for one reason or another, so please don’t be offended.

I am very aware there are people that have fertility issues or sick babies. There are also many women that suffer in pregnancy in silence because it is taboo to talk about not feeling well, as they are afraid that they will be judged. I feel it’s important to acknowledge everyone’s experiences and challenges, they are all different. It’s kinda of like talking about chronic back pain, when there are people who cannot even walk, but the person with the chronic pain still has challenges and experiences that need to be voiced and discussed, and solutions found.

I find that I get women emailing me most of the time thanking me for writing, and tell me their experiences were much the same.

I look forward to getting my “prize” at the end of all this… and prize it will be. I also know my hormones will make memories of these bad times fad, and I may want to have another in years to come. Ahh lovely lovely hormones, otherwise the human race wouldn’t continue to procreate!

But… BUT… I was recommended to a new athletic therapist who is also studying osteopathy. I had a wonderful (which is an understatement) therapist pre first pregnancy and throughout my pregnancy with my son and a very happy back. She was also an athletic therapist/osteopath. When my son was born she moved back home. I do have a history of back pain, but have been able to find relief in the past. I am hopeful that this therapist (recommended by my previous one) can get me back on track (pardon the pun). If not before the birth, after. I am a good student and do my homework (exercises) as I know how important it is to my healing. I am hopeful.

Last week, I think it was Friday night April 2nd I started having Braxton hicks, which in and of themselves are a normal thing of a healthy pregnancy. Mine were accompanied with more muscle pain of the muscles bellow my belly and were tender to touch, and then a back ache. I do have a bad back, but in pregnancy thus far the relaxant hormone present in my system has normally worked in my favour. I was also having a sharp pain in the middle lower abdomen. I started to worry that it could be pre-term labour. After little sleep on Friday night I called my midwife on Saturday and she said from what I was describing it did not sound like pre-term labour. She suggested a couple things, one being more liquid calcium, and also ensure I was remaining hydrated (which I have been, drinking at least 2 liters of water a day), also rest and warm bath. Things subsided a little but not a lot. I went in on Monday and she did an internal exam to confirm things were indeed fine and there was no evidence I was going into labour. On Thursday we went in for our regular midwife appointment and the pain was still on and off . To put my mind further at ease she ordered another ultrasound. I didn’t think we’d get into for an ultrasound for another week or so, but the next day Victoria General Hospital called in the afternoon and said they could fit me in that same day in a couple of hours!

The technician ended up being a sister of a friend, small world! I recognized her as we went into the room. As she was going through the ultrasound she let us know things looked fine and pointed things out. She checked my cervix before I emptied my bladder (yes you still have to drink some water before the ultrasound) and after and confirmed it was a normal length. She also mentioned my amniotic fluid level was normal, and she pointed out the heart, kidneys, and a couple other organs and said they looked fine. She also took more measurements of the baby.

The baby is still head up, and feet up too! She is in what is called a “frank breech” position. Like a little “V” in my uterus. Perhaps this explains some of the discomfort because all of her weight is over my pelvis. I am definitely a little nervous that she won’t be head down in time. My son was head down the entire pregnancy. I am also concerned my midwife might mistake the little bum to be the baby’s head and we will assume she is head down when she actually isn’t. I’m told not to worry about it now, and if it gets to 32 weeks and baby is still head up then they like to start coaxing them down, but it is by 36 weeks the baby needs to be head down. I don’t know how baby is going to get out of the position she has gotten herself into, her feet are up by her head!! Look at this photo (“les” – supposed to read “legs”):

As for the pain and discomfort they continue, and so do the Braxton Hicks. It is hard to get enough sleep currently. The calcium helps a little I think?! My midwife is pretty sure the sharp pain in the middle front I am feeling is pelvic symphysis pain. I also have lower back pain that comes and goes. I will continue with chiropractic and acupuncture to see if that can relive a little discomfort. I am also going to go back to the pool, which I have been away from for at least about 6 weeks with all my colds. My midwife doesn’t recommend the kind of swimming I am used to (I swam with a Masters swim club), but something a little more relaxed. That may help coax baby to get into a better position too, or that’s my hope!

Yes I am still calling this baby a “she”. Still no boy parts seen on this 2nd ultrasound, but wouldn’t want to tell us for sure in case someone was wrong