Only 3 weeks to go and boy am I feeling it. My appetite has increased ten-fold, I am starving hungry every 2 hours, I sometimes even wake in the night feeling hungry, a glass of juice usually suffices, my visits to the toilet have also doubled, thankfully not so much during the night with me waking only once or twice to pee. I feel like I have a lot of energy but when I am out and about I do get tired and even grocery shopping takes it out of me. Putting on my shoes is hard work as is anything else that involves bending down.
On a super good note, I finally submitted my last piece of coursework on Friday for my nutritional therapy course. I just have to wait for the feedback and all being well the certificate. Phew, there were times when I thought it was never going to end, my personal deadline was set for before the baby was born so with that now achieved I can tick that off my 2008 to do list, once I have had the baby that will be the last thing from this years list of things to do and achieve. Admittedly this years list was all about personal development. I’ve already started thinking about 2009 and among being the best mother I can be almost everything else I want to achieve is more career and business based.
I am now counting down the days, I would like my body back to myself and to meet my baby at last. I have a feeling this last step is going to be the hardest. I had what I think was my last set up blood tests last week and the results came back great, my iron levels have risen and are pretty much back to normal which is great news.
In 2 weeks time my mum will be here which will be nice and means I can then really sit back and relax and she can take care of the household chores, so I am really looking forward to that. Then it will be Xmas and hopefully we will have the best Xmas gift anyone could ask for.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
More questions?
I met the other midwife today (there are only 2) and she seemed worse than the previous one, she was much younger and I don’t think she has children of her own. She also seemed to be in her own little world, she was more interested in hearing about England rather than talking about the baby. I expressed a little worry about being induced because of the time of year I am due and she gave me the same speech about it being bad for the baby to stay in there longer than necessary. She basically told me that if I don’t go into labour by my due date they will induce me. Agghhhhh. My husband was there but like me he didn’t say anything, but as soon as we got out of there, he told me not to let her be the midwife on duty when I give birth, (I don’t exactly have a choice, it is down to whoever is on duty at the time). He wasn’t impressed with the whole induction thing either. When I told my mum she told me not to panic and if I don’t go to the clinic until I am in labour they can’t exactly induce me which is very true. It is so hard to stay calm about all these things at the moment especially as I am already anxious enough as it is.
I am trying very hard not to get worked up over it because I know it isn’t good for me or the baby at this point. I have kind of reached the point of not caring so much about things like stirrips, and being kept in for 3 days as long as I am not induced and remain unmedicated throughout I think I can handle the stirrups. Also my husband doesn’t think the vitamin K thing is an issue, he sees it as a good thing if it means the baby is less at risk of having problems later down the line, I’m not so sure. I think I need to have a firm word with my Dr when I next see him and reiterate that I don’t want any medication or interference.
My motherinlaw was telling me the other day that I should go to the clinic as soon as I feel my first contraction yeah right, they will definitely break my waters and/or interfere, and as if I want to be there for all those hours. The less time I spend there the better. She doesn’t really understand my theories and has a lot of faith in medicine and Dr’s because of her past with cancer and miscarriages. Also when she had Panos they were probably more cautious with her because she miscarried so many times before that, I don’t pay much attention to what she says most of the time, not because I don’t respect her opinion but mainly because she is very old-school and most of the time I feel she is just saying stuff for the sake of it, or saying what she thinks I want to hear.
I am trying very hard not to get worked up over it because I know it isn’t good for me or the baby at this point. I have kind of reached the point of not caring so much about things like stirrips, and being kept in for 3 days as long as I am not induced and remain unmedicated throughout I think I can handle the stirrups. Also my husband doesn’t think the vitamin K thing is an issue, he sees it as a good thing if it means the baby is less at risk of having problems later down the line, I’m not so sure. I think I need to have a firm word with my Dr when I next see him and reiterate that I don’t want any medication or interference.
My motherinlaw was telling me the other day that I should go to the clinic as soon as I feel my first contraction yeah right, they will definitely break my waters and/or interfere, and as if I want to be there for all those hours. The less time I spend there the better. She doesn’t really understand my theories and has a lot of faith in medicine and Dr’s because of her past with cancer and miscarriages. Also when she had Panos they were probably more cautious with her because she miscarried so many times before that, I don’t pay much attention to what she says most of the time, not because I don’t respect her opinion but mainly because she is very old-school and most of the time I feel she is just saying stuff for the sake of it, or saying what she thinks I want to hear.
Friday, 14 November 2008
Breastfeeding blunders
Phew only 4 weeks to go till Due date.
I’ve been reflecting a lot lately while getting myself ready psychologically and preparing myself physically by packing my case. I have come a long way since the early days of my pregnancy when I had selfish regrets about falling pregnant in the first place. I still often think that we could be more financial prepared for this but I guess the powers that be think we are ready to become parents and so we have been blessed.
I am still a little apprehensive about the labour itself but am determined not to get too stressed out about it so I can be as relaxed as possible on the day. I’ve started drinking raspberry leaf tea in the hope that it will help the second stage of labour be less painful, quicker and overall easier.
I have also been thinking a lot about when the baby arrives and breastfeeding has been top of my thoughts. I am very glad that I have had leaky boobs since about 5 months and hope it is a sign that I will be able to produce lots of milk. I think one of the reasons why I seem to already be producing milk is because I spend most of my day without a bra on, the freedom my breasts have allows the milk to come easier. Through experience I have noticed that when I do wear a bra which most of the time is for less then 2 hours a day I don’t leak as much. This of course is my theory on the whole thing, but I think it makes sense.
A couple of shocking things I have heard lately which makes me angry is firstly of a woman who stopped breast feeding her baby when the baby was only about a month old because she wanted to start smoking again. I think that is disgusting and the most irresponsible thing any mother can do. Grrrrr.
The second thing I heard was of a mother, during her 3 day stay in the hospital, after giving birth she had milk to feed her baby, but the baby wasn’t taking to her so the hospital gave the baby a bottle and gave the mother some medication to stop her producing milk. WHAT!!!! Isn’t that insane??? Instead of taking the time to work out where the mum was going wrong they just took the easy option and have now taken away her chance of ever trying to breast feed that baby again by pumping her with medication to stop what is perfectly natural.
I’ve been reflecting a lot lately while getting myself ready psychologically and preparing myself physically by packing my case. I have come a long way since the early days of my pregnancy when I had selfish regrets about falling pregnant in the first place. I still often think that we could be more financial prepared for this but I guess the powers that be think we are ready to become parents and so we have been blessed.
I am still a little apprehensive about the labour itself but am determined not to get too stressed out about it so I can be as relaxed as possible on the day. I’ve started drinking raspberry leaf tea in the hope that it will help the second stage of labour be less painful, quicker and overall easier.
I have also been thinking a lot about when the baby arrives and breastfeeding has been top of my thoughts. I am very glad that I have had leaky boobs since about 5 months and hope it is a sign that I will be able to produce lots of milk. I think one of the reasons why I seem to already be producing milk is because I spend most of my day without a bra on, the freedom my breasts have allows the milk to come easier. Through experience I have noticed that when I do wear a bra which most of the time is for less then 2 hours a day I don’t leak as much. This of course is my theory on the whole thing, but I think it makes sense.
A couple of shocking things I have heard lately which makes me angry is firstly of a woman who stopped breast feeding her baby when the baby was only about a month old because she wanted to start smoking again. I think that is disgusting and the most irresponsible thing any mother can do. Grrrrr.
The second thing I heard was of a mother, during her 3 day stay in the hospital, after giving birth she had milk to feed her baby, but the baby wasn’t taking to her so the hospital gave the baby a bottle and gave the mother some medication to stop her producing milk. WHAT!!!! Isn’t that insane??? Instead of taking the time to work out where the mum was going wrong they just took the easy option and have now taken away her chance of ever trying to breast feed that baby again by pumping her with medication to stop what is perfectly natural.
Friday, 7 November 2008
Labour-day Anxiety
I just got back from the Dr who we didn’t actually see because he was at a seminar or something, things here do not work on an appointment basis you can go and see the Dr whenever you want and you just wait your turn. Seeing as we were there I asked to see the delivery room and met one of the midwives, she seemed nice, but when I started asking questions I got the impression she was a little strict and set in her ways.
I was shown 3 different rooms, the first was the prep room where I will be when I am in the early stages of labour, here they will monitor the babies heart, I asked if I will be stuck in bed in that time and she said no, if I am ok I will be able to get up and walk around provided my water hasn’t broken. Then I was shown the second room which is where I will be for the hard labour, and guess what, they are going to make me put my legs in stirrups, I am not impressed, I asked if I could be on all fours or squat and she just kind of looked at me funny and said I shouldn’t be embarrassed to have my legs in stirrups and I will only be like that for the final 3 pushes. Plus it is necessary so the Dr can see what is going on and to prevent any complications like the umbilical cord coming out first or an arm etc, yeah right. I was then shown the 3rd room which is the recovery room where I will stay for about 3 days, it had a cot, some nice pictures on the wall a fridge a tv etc. I don’t really fancy being in there for 3 days no matter how nice they have tried to make it look.
I also asked the midwife a lot of the Q’s I meant to ask the Dr, firstly she said they don’t perform an episiotomy unless it is necessary, well if my legs are in bloudy stirrups as if it wont be necessary. She also said it is procedure to give the baby vitamin K, but nothing else at this stage. She said they will give me the baby straight away to feed if I want before they take him/her away to be cleaned up and put it in an incubator to warm up (not sure if that is necessary). But she said it is also noisy in the labour room at that point and so as not to shock the poor thing they do that to ease the blow of coming into the real world. Another thing I asked is what there procedure is if I am late and how long they will leave me before they induce me. She started to give me a massive speech about how it isn’t good for the baby to stay inside longer than 40 weeks because by that point everything that needs to has developed and something about the longer it stays in there the worse it is. However she also said it depends on where I am at, they will do various tests etc to see if they should induce me. I still have a lot of unanswered questions and am not really happy with a lot of the answers. I really don’t want to have my legs in stirrups. I am a little more worried then I was before now. Not sure what I am feeling, nervous, a little angry that it isn’t the way I want it to be.
I forgot to ask what the anaesthetic is that they give if I wanted it, not that I do, but it is always good to know.
The midwife was young so whatever she has learnt has been probably in the last 10 years. So as far as natural birth goes she probably knows nothing. She was sweet don’t get me wrong I’m just not sure if it is now what I want. But the problem is I don’t really have many other choices. And not many people understand my viewpoint. Yes Panos is on my side but at the same time he is a little naive to what is happening to my body and what will happen to our baby. I feel a little drained and very disappointed and very much out of control of the whole situation.
I was shown 3 different rooms, the first was the prep room where I will be when I am in the early stages of labour, here they will monitor the babies heart, I asked if I will be stuck in bed in that time and she said no, if I am ok I will be able to get up and walk around provided my water hasn’t broken. Then I was shown the second room which is where I will be for the hard labour, and guess what, they are going to make me put my legs in stirrups, I am not impressed, I asked if I could be on all fours or squat and she just kind of looked at me funny and said I shouldn’t be embarrassed to have my legs in stirrups and I will only be like that for the final 3 pushes. Plus it is necessary so the Dr can see what is going on and to prevent any complications like the umbilical cord coming out first or an arm etc, yeah right. I was then shown the 3rd room which is the recovery room where I will stay for about 3 days, it had a cot, some nice pictures on the wall a fridge a tv etc. I don’t really fancy being in there for 3 days no matter how nice they have tried to make it look.
I also asked the midwife a lot of the Q’s I meant to ask the Dr, firstly she said they don’t perform an episiotomy unless it is necessary, well if my legs are in bloudy stirrups as if it wont be necessary. She also said it is procedure to give the baby vitamin K, but nothing else at this stage. She said they will give me the baby straight away to feed if I want before they take him/her away to be cleaned up and put it in an incubator to warm up (not sure if that is necessary). But she said it is also noisy in the labour room at that point and so as not to shock the poor thing they do that to ease the blow of coming into the real world. Another thing I asked is what there procedure is if I am late and how long they will leave me before they induce me. She started to give me a massive speech about how it isn’t good for the baby to stay inside longer than 40 weeks because by that point everything that needs to has developed and something about the longer it stays in there the worse it is. However she also said it depends on where I am at, they will do various tests etc to see if they should induce me. I still have a lot of unanswered questions and am not really happy with a lot of the answers. I really don’t want to have my legs in stirrups. I am a little more worried then I was before now. Not sure what I am feeling, nervous, a little angry that it isn’t the way I want it to be.
I forgot to ask what the anaesthetic is that they give if I wanted it, not that I do, but it is always good to know.
The midwife was young so whatever she has learnt has been probably in the last 10 years. So as far as natural birth goes she probably knows nothing. She was sweet don’t get me wrong I’m just not sure if it is now what I want. But the problem is I don’t really have many other choices. And not many people understand my viewpoint. Yes Panos is on my side but at the same time he is a little naive to what is happening to my body and what will happen to our baby. I feel a little drained and very disappointed and very much out of control of the whole situation.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Low Iron and Tiredness
My latest test results revealed I have low iron. That would explain the tiredness I have been feeling. I wake up late and still tired and within a couple of hours I am yawning again, this of course could also be down to the fact that I have restless sleep because of vivid dreams, waking to pee and not being able to get comfortable. My diet has gone from bad to worse over the past couple of months too due to the many life changes going on; moving house, going to England, living with the inlaws for a short while, during these times I wasn’t taking care of myself the way I should have been and adopted some bad habits. Daily almond milk stopped, fruit consumption declined and salads were scarce. I thought I was invincible forgetting that to remain healthy at such a demanding time on my body needs care and precision. However I have now been shaken back into shape. My Dr prescribed me iron tablets from the local pharmacist; anyone that knows me will know that there is no way I was going to take them. Firstly from a nutritional therapist point of view the iron in those tablets is in an unassimilated form therefore you may as well not take them at all because your body wont absorb them and of course everyone knows about the nasty side effect of constipation associated with standard iron tablets (something I don’t need right now). I am just glad he didn’t even suggest eating meat, which would have really disappointed me and made me see him in a different light. So my action plan is not to ignore the Dr’s orders all together so I have been taking a Solgar supplement which I know is a reputable company who constantly research vitamins and minerals and the most absorbable forms etc. Secondly I looked a little into what foods are best eaten to boost iron levels and as I suspected greens are number 1, so they have been featuring in my shopping trolley massively, I also discovered that pomegranates are also a high source of iron and particularly useful for pregnant or menstruating women. Guess what? They are in season too hooray. Oh and I read somewhere that beetroot is also a good blood tonic so good for iron levels.
My new action plan consists of raw almond milk every day, raw beetroot coleslaw made from beetroot, carrot and a little cabbage dressed in orange juice, flax oil and honey a couple of days a week, salads made with spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and any other goodies I have at home dressed in flax and hempseed oil and lemon juice. And lettuce wraps made from mashed avocado, spinach, parsley and tomato wrapped in lettuce leaves from my motherinlaws garden yummy. I have also been eating tons of mandarins and fresh shelled walnuts. Oh and not forgetting pomegranate juice every day or so, sometimes diluted with sparkling water for a change, sometimes not.
I am really enjoying the new seasons goodies. I can’t decide whether I prefer winter or summer? We have been indulging in walnuts, oranges and tangerines, persimmons, pomegranates, apples, pears, kiwis, chestnuts, lettuce, beetroot, spinach, spring onions and more. And even though the summer had delicious fruits available as well as plump tomatoes and cucumbers, the winter feels more satisfying at the moment maybe it is because I am welcoming the change in flavours or maybe it is because I am getting all the nutrients my body needs for this particular time in life.
As for baby Melissa it feels like his/her little foot has been wedged in my right ribcage for about a month now, so trying to sleep and sit comfortably has been fun. Movement is less but more predominant with my belly sometimes looking like something out of the film Alien. I am unsure if I am waddling yet, I don’t think so and I am not at the ‘holding my back when I sit down and get up’ stage. But I do have to roll out of bed and I do make a lot of noise when I have to get up off the couch.
Party mum went out this weekend both Friday and Saturday night, something I haven’t done for a long time. We just happened to take a walk into town on Friday night and bumped into some friends which turned into a late night. And Saturday night was a friends birthday, it was one of those nights which is full of conversation and laughter and has you looking at your watch at about 3am saying ‘cor blimey where did the time go!!’ We didn’t get home till 5am which was very extreme for a nearly 8 month pregnant woman. I didn’t feel it that night but for the whole of Sunday I had a headache like I’d drunk a bottle of whiskey all to myself and had no energy to do anything, serves me right ay. I think I will take it easy from now on. I guess I am soon to become a mommy I should start behaving like one and being a responsible adult, yeah right, I’ll take it easy but will still enjoy myself when I feel up to it.
The baby cot arrived yesterday and is ready for action on my side of the bed, we just need the baby to put in it now. I opted for a natural mattress called coco-mat we got it from Mothercare and it is made from coconut fibres, I was very impressed with the fact that such a thing is available in this tiny part of the world and the company is Greek, Yay to the Greeks they are finally getting it right. Apparently coconut fibres allow ventilation inside the mattress and it is very hygienic.
The company is also very eco-friendly using 100% bio-produced and 100% eco-processed materials, they do not use chemical materials and only use natural dyes.
My new action plan consists of raw almond milk every day, raw beetroot coleslaw made from beetroot, carrot and a little cabbage dressed in orange juice, flax oil and honey a couple of days a week, salads made with spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and any other goodies I have at home dressed in flax and hempseed oil and lemon juice. And lettuce wraps made from mashed avocado, spinach, parsley and tomato wrapped in lettuce leaves from my motherinlaws garden yummy. I have also been eating tons of mandarins and fresh shelled walnuts. Oh and not forgetting pomegranate juice every day or so, sometimes diluted with sparkling water for a change, sometimes not.
I am really enjoying the new seasons goodies. I can’t decide whether I prefer winter or summer? We have been indulging in walnuts, oranges and tangerines, persimmons, pomegranates, apples, pears, kiwis, chestnuts, lettuce, beetroot, spinach, spring onions and more. And even though the summer had delicious fruits available as well as plump tomatoes and cucumbers, the winter feels more satisfying at the moment maybe it is because I am welcoming the change in flavours or maybe it is because I am getting all the nutrients my body needs for this particular time in life.
As for baby Melissa it feels like his/her little foot has been wedged in my right ribcage for about a month now, so trying to sleep and sit comfortably has been fun. Movement is less but more predominant with my belly sometimes looking like something out of the film Alien. I am unsure if I am waddling yet, I don’t think so and I am not at the ‘holding my back when I sit down and get up’ stage. But I do have to roll out of bed and I do make a lot of noise when I have to get up off the couch.
Party mum went out this weekend both Friday and Saturday night, something I haven’t done for a long time. We just happened to take a walk into town on Friday night and bumped into some friends which turned into a late night. And Saturday night was a friends birthday, it was one of those nights which is full of conversation and laughter and has you looking at your watch at about 3am saying ‘cor blimey where did the time go!!’ We didn’t get home till 5am which was very extreme for a nearly 8 month pregnant woman. I didn’t feel it that night but for the whole of Sunday I had a headache like I’d drunk a bottle of whiskey all to myself and had no energy to do anything, serves me right ay. I think I will take it easy from now on. I guess I am soon to become a mommy I should start behaving like one and being a responsible adult, yeah right, I’ll take it easy but will still enjoy myself when I feel up to it.
The baby cot arrived yesterday and is ready for action on my side of the bed, we just need the baby to put in it now. I opted for a natural mattress called coco-mat we got it from Mothercare and it is made from coconut fibres, I was very impressed with the fact that such a thing is available in this tiny part of the world and the company is Greek, Yay to the Greeks they are finally getting it right. Apparently coconut fibres allow ventilation inside the mattress and it is very hygienic.
The company is also very eco-friendly using 100% bio-produced and 100% eco-processed materials, they do not use chemical materials and only use natural dyes.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Indigestion and sleepless nights
Has it really been that long since my last update? I have been in England again, thankfully it is the last time because I am fed up of packing and unpacking and this time round I got really tired. I was working with my brother in the office Monday-Friday 9-5.30 and every night when I got home I just about had enough energy to have some dinner and then crash on the sofa until it was time to go to bed. I think the weather plays a role on my energy levels. I didn’t even have the energy to see anyone during the week which is unlike me because usually when I go to London I am out every night. Luckily my friends and family were understanding and didn’t demand too much of my time. During my stay I had a stall at the Festival of Life. I wasn’t selling any Raw Greek food this time which disappointed a few of my fans, but no one complained when they realised why. I was there selling mostly olives and Toothsoap, please see my e-shop http://shop.therawgreek.com/ for more details of my products, and I did a food demo where I made and shared raw dolmadakia (stuffed vine leaves), Tzatziki and Halva which all went down very well. The whole day was great I met some lovely people, ate lots of delicious raw food and caught up with old friends. I am also now in love with Conscious Chocolate hint of mint chocolate bars.
As for my pregnancy lets just say I am now looking very pregnant, I am now in my 3rd trimester and the baby has now turned head down ready for action. I recently had been saying to Panos (my husband) that it is between now and the labour day that the baby could turn head down, and over the last few days I have been feeling most of the extra weight in my lower abdomen.In the 2 weeks I was in London the baby and belly grew a lot. My husband was shocked when he picked me up from the airport. I don’t think I am exceptionally big just normal. I am now getting the lovely side effect of indigestion and the discomfort of not being able to sleep on my belly as usual. Other then that all is well with yummy mummy and baby and we now only have 8 weeks to go, who can believe it, the time has just flown by.
It really feels like there are less hours in the day at the moment too.
In between peeing every half an hour, eating smaller meals and more often to deal with the indigestion, sleeping which I seem to be doing more of lately, speaking to my motherinlaw every day on the phone and my mum every 2-3 days (both mean well) thinking about baby shopping lists, researching re-usable nappies and the usual daily chores of working and housework and of course spending time with my husband I don’t seem to have much time left to write my blog work on my newsletter or finish the case studies for my nutrition course. And all the while I am very aware of the birth date getting closer and closer (only 8 weeks to go). I am not yet nervous about the birth and have been reading as much as I can about what to expect and how to prepare for every outcome. If only there were more hours in the day.
I just heard from my friend Eirini in Cyprus who gave birth to a baby boy last Tuesday, I am so pleased and happy for her.
Moving on I am loving grape season and have recently discovered eating raw chestnuts too. Why didn’t I think of that before? It is chestnut season and even though they are a little bit of a pain to remove the furry inner skin they are so worth it.
This is what I found out about the good old Chestnut“Unlike other nuts chestnuts are low in fat and have a good amount of dietary fiber.
They contain large amounts of Manganese, Potassium, Copper, Phosphorus, Magnesium and Iron. Zinc and Calcium are also present in small amounts.
These nuts are enriched in Vitamin C, as well as vitamin B6, Thiamin, Folate and Riboflavin. Good amounts of Niacin and Pantothenic Acid are also present on top of traces of Vitamin A.”
We will soon be going shopping for the usual baby bits and pieces cot, clothes, car seat etc. I can’t wait, maybe then it will finally sink in that in a short time I will have a baby, at the moment it still feels surreal.
We are still getting mixed views as to whether Melissa is a girl or a boy, the suspense is killing some people, I am still ok with not knowing and figure we have waited this long so a little longer wont hurt.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Moving Day
Moving day turned into moving weeks. We finally decided not to buy the flat and are back in rented accommodation for various reasons mainly the unpermanentness of both our jobs and the hubby not being entirely happy with the flat for sale. Our new rented apartment is much bigger then the last and in town which is much more convenient for me.
We moved out of the old place on the 31st August, but by the time we had electricity a phone line and various other bits and pieces sorted we stayed at my mother-inlaws. And didn’t actually move into the flat until a week later, during that week I spent every day at the new place trying to unpack. The whole affair was very frustrating for me and took forever. On moving day I couldn’t do much and everyone kept telling me off for trying. While the guys were lifting all the heavy stuff I had to sit and watch, and then once everything was in the new place it took me forever to unpack because I had to wait for my hubby to come and move the heavy things into the right rooms etc. And on top of it all we were staying at my motherinlaws who kept wanting to feed me all the time, and we were sleeping on a single bed which wasn’t fun in this heat, I woke up with back ache every day.
A week was more then enough with my motherinlaw. I love her to pieces but after a week of her telling me what to eat, when to eat it, when to rest and when to sleep I was ready to leave. Still it was nice not having to think about the housework for a week.
After 24 hours in the new flat the kids upstairs were already driving me crazy. It sounds like we have a herd of elephants living upstairs, and in the evenings all the kids from the neighbourhood get together and play right outside our bedroom and living room windows. Up until a few days ago it was still very hot so we had all the windows open, you can only imagine how noisy it was, still i shouldn't complain pur kids will be making lots of noise before we know it.
I think we are now finally settled and just as life is returning to normal I am off to London again for the Festival of Life on the 27th September. I can’t wait, I wont be selling food this time because it is too tiring, but I will be there doing a food demo and selling my products.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone again, this will be the last time before the baby is born. I am now at the point in my pregnancy that I have been waiting for; people are started to notice that I am pregnant. Wherever I go I get asked how far gone I am, and then I get the shocked disbelieving look and the ‘wow 6 months, you don’t look it’, I love that part.
We have also been having fun now that the baby can hear us and responds to our voices and noises. Every night before we go to sleep Panos gives my belly some really loud kisses and the baby starts to kick, I think it is so funny, then he asks Meli silly things like do you love daddy more and waits for a response, sometimes he gets the answer he wants to hear other times Meli favours me and doesn’t respond to his silly antics.
Now that we are in our own home I have taken charge of my eating habits again and I feel so much better for it. Honey has become my new best friend, maybe it is the association of meli (the name if have given to the baby) meaning honey in Greek. Honey and walnuts are my favourite right now, but honey and apple or pear is good too oh and honey and tahini mixed together spread on fruit is amazing.
Having my blender and kitchen equipment has been heaven, carob smoothies have been featuring every day and I just made the best raw apple crumble, I can’t wait to give some to Panos and see his reaction. I may share the recipe with you some time.
We moved out of the old place on the 31st August, but by the time we had electricity a phone line and various other bits and pieces sorted we stayed at my mother-inlaws. And didn’t actually move into the flat until a week later, during that week I spent every day at the new place trying to unpack. The whole affair was very frustrating for me and took forever. On moving day I couldn’t do much and everyone kept telling me off for trying. While the guys were lifting all the heavy stuff I had to sit and watch, and then once everything was in the new place it took me forever to unpack because I had to wait for my hubby to come and move the heavy things into the right rooms etc. And on top of it all we were staying at my motherinlaws who kept wanting to feed me all the time, and we were sleeping on a single bed which wasn’t fun in this heat, I woke up with back ache every day.
A week was more then enough with my motherinlaw. I love her to pieces but after a week of her telling me what to eat, when to eat it, when to rest and when to sleep I was ready to leave. Still it was nice not having to think about the housework for a week.
After 24 hours in the new flat the kids upstairs were already driving me crazy. It sounds like we have a herd of elephants living upstairs, and in the evenings all the kids from the neighbourhood get together and play right outside our bedroom and living room windows. Up until a few days ago it was still very hot so we had all the windows open, you can only imagine how noisy it was, still i shouldn't complain pur kids will be making lots of noise before we know it.
I think we are now finally settled and just as life is returning to normal I am off to London again for the Festival of Life on the 27th September. I can’t wait, I wont be selling food this time because it is too tiring, but I will be there doing a food demo and selling my products.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone again, this will be the last time before the baby is born. I am now at the point in my pregnancy that I have been waiting for; people are started to notice that I am pregnant. Wherever I go I get asked how far gone I am, and then I get the shocked disbelieving look and the ‘wow 6 months, you don’t look it’, I love that part.
We have also been having fun now that the baby can hear us and responds to our voices and noises. Every night before we go to sleep Panos gives my belly some really loud kisses and the baby starts to kick, I think it is so funny, then he asks Meli silly things like do you love daddy more and waits for a response, sometimes he gets the answer he wants to hear other times Meli favours me and doesn’t respond to his silly antics.
Now that we are in our own home I have taken charge of my eating habits again and I feel so much better for it. Honey has become my new best friend, maybe it is the association of meli (the name if have given to the baby) meaning honey in Greek. Honey and walnuts are my favourite right now, but honey and apple or pear is good too oh and honey and tahini mixed together spread on fruit is amazing.
Having my blender and kitchen equipment has been heaven, carob smoothies have been featuring every day and I just made the best raw apple crumble, I can’t wait to give some to Panos and see his reaction. I may share the recipe with you some time.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Is a boy, is it a girl, no it’s super baby
So many changes have been happening over the last month it is hard to keep on top of it 
all. Not only is my body changing rapidly but my life is all over the place.
Lets start with my bodily changes; I seem to have expanded all over, boobs, bum, belly and thighs, I still think I look fat instead of pregnant, my family in Cyprus took great pleasure in pointing that out to me. Most people look at me in disbelief when I tell them I am already 5 and a half months pregnant because I am barely showing, that makes me feel better, but in all honestly I have always been good at carrying and hiding extra weight. I saw my cousins wife who is 12 weeks gone with her 3rd baby and her belly looks about the same size as mine.
My boobs keep leaking, I am hoping that is a sign that I will have lots of milk when the time comes. Thank god for padded bras.
The baby now weighs about 500g and is 11.5 inches from head to heel.
No sooner did I send my last post, that very night the baby decided to make out it’s mother to be insane and was wriggling around all over the place. I feel the most movement when I am lieing down in a quiet environment, and each day there is more and more belly dancing going on.
We are now taking bets as to what people think it is. So far the majority are saying it is a girl for various reasons and based on different theories. Up till nowI have been told that because my face has sweetened instead of become wilder looking it is a girl. My belly is rounder rather then triangular so it is a boy. I have gained weight all over so it is a girl, Meli started kicking late so it is a girl. It is interesting to hear everyone’s different theories, both our mums think it is a girl and 9 times out of 10 the mums are right. I am still undecided as to what I think it is. Only a few more months to go now.
We just got back from Cyprus and during the first week everyone wanted to feed me. I gorged on figs and prickly pears which cleared out my intestines. By the second week I was able to fend off the family more and was generally eating when I was hungry instead of whenever food was infront of me.
I think I have only gained 2kg (4lbs) this month, better then last month. I am so glad to be home and back into my own routine of eating, and where it is cool enough to sleep at night again. It is so hard when you are staying with other people and relying on them for food. The good thing about my cousins house where we spent most of our time was that she didn’t tend to keep naughty things in her fridge and cupboards, otherwise things may have been worse.
While we were in Cyprus we went on a 3 day cruise to Egypt from Cyprus but because my husband doesn’t have a passport and up till now has been travelling in Europe using his Greek ID card he wasn’t allowed to leave the ferry, something we didn’t discover until the day of the cruise and we had already paid. So I spent most of the day excursion crying because he wasn’t able to be with me. I am not usually a cry baby but a mixture of tiredness, pregnancy and the fact that Egypt was meant to be the highlight of our so-called honeymoon meant I was very emotional. One good thing that came of it is that we discovered electronic cigars which he is now the happy owner of, so with a bit of luck he will now be able to quit smoking completely before the baby comes along.
We are now on a countdown till the end of the week when we are supposedly moving house, things are very shaky on that front at the moment. Hubby is not overly happy about the apartment we want to buy, it is a long story but to cut it short the building is about 30 years old and to the Greeks that is ancient. Very ironic for a race that is so stuck on their ancient civilisation and culture being the best. Either way our contract ends, on our small rented apartment, at the end of the week and the landlord has already found new tenants. I really don’t fancy living with my in-laws again, I love them to bits but it isn’t ideal, when we did it for a couple of months last summer I was on the verge of depression who knows how it will affect my very pregnant emotions now. It would be bearable if it was a temporary set-up but now I am not so sure.
All this uncertainty about the new flat has come about over the last couple of days so my emotions are high, I feel like crying at the thought of it not going ahead. We have been very unlucky in the past with accommodation and in the last 2 years have moved house about 4 times. I just can’t bear the thought of doing it all over again with a baby or being heavily pregnant. My mum is coming over for a month when the baby is due and no one seems to understand that our 1 bed apartment is just too small, even without my mum, having a baby means we will soon outgrow it. I just can’t deal with disappointment right now. And nothing seems to be going right. I hope to report some good news in my next post.
all. Not only is my body changing rapidly but my life is all over the place.Lets start with my bodily changes; I seem to have expanded all over, boobs, bum, belly and thighs, I still think I look fat instead of pregnant, my family in Cyprus took great pleasure in pointing that out to me. Most people look at me in disbelief when I tell them I am already 5 and a half months pregnant because I am barely showing, that makes me feel better, but in all honestly I have always been good at carrying and hiding extra weight. I saw my cousins wife who is 12 weeks gone with her 3rd baby and her belly looks about the same size as mine.
My boobs keep leaking, I am hoping that is a sign that I will have lots of milk when the time comes. Thank god for padded bras.
The baby now weighs about 500g and is 11.5 inches from head to heel.
No sooner did I send my last post, that very night the baby decided to make out it’s mother to be insane and was wriggling around all over the place. I feel the most movement when I am lieing down in a quiet environment, and each day there is more and more belly dancing going on.
We are now taking bets as to what people think it is. So far the majority are saying it is a girl for various reasons and based on different theories. Up till nowI have been told that because my face has sweetened instead of become wilder looking it is a girl. My belly is rounder rather then triangular so it is a boy. I have gained weight all over so it is a girl, Meli started kicking late so it is a girl. It is interesting to hear everyone’s different theories, both our mums think it is a girl and 9 times out of 10 the mums are right. I am still undecided as to what I think it is. Only a few more months to go now.
We just got back from Cyprus and during the first week everyone wanted to feed me. I gorged on figs and prickly pears which cleared out my intestines. By the second week I was able to fend off the family more and was generally eating when I was hungry instead of whenever food was infront of me.
I think I have only gained 2kg (4lbs) this month, better then last month. I am so glad to be home and back into my own routine of eating, and where it is cool enough to sleep at night again. It is so hard when you are staying with other people and relying on them for food. The good thing about my cousins house where we spent most of our time was that she didn’t tend to keep naughty things in her fridge and cupboards, otherwise things may have been worse.
While we were in Cyprus we went on a 3 day cruise to Egypt from Cyprus but because my husband doesn’t have a passport and up till now has been travelling in Europe using his Greek ID card he wasn’t allowed to leave the ferry, something we didn’t discover until the day of the cruise and we had already paid. So I spent most of the day excursion crying because he wasn’t able to be with me. I am not usually a cry baby but a mixture of tiredness, pregnancy and the fact that Egypt was meant to be the highlight of our so-called honeymoon meant I was very emotional. One good thing that came of it is that we discovered electronic cigars which he is now the happy owner of, so with a bit of luck he will now be able to quit smoking completely before the baby comes along.
We are now on a countdown till the end of the week when we are supposedly moving house, things are very shaky on that front at the moment. Hubby is not overly happy about the apartment we want to buy, it is a long story but to cut it short the building is about 30 years old and to the Greeks that is ancient. Very ironic for a race that is so stuck on their ancient civilisation and culture being the best. Either way our contract ends, on our small rented apartment, at the end of the week and the landlord has already found new tenants. I really don’t fancy living with my in-laws again, I love them to bits but it isn’t ideal, when we did it for a couple of months last summer I was on the verge of depression who knows how it will affect my very pregnant emotions now. It would be bearable if it was a temporary set-up but now I am not so sure.
All this uncertainty about the new flat has come about over the last couple of days so my emotions are high, I feel like crying at the thought of it not going ahead. We have been very unlucky in the past with accommodation and in the last 2 years have moved house about 4 times. I just can’t bear the thought of doing it all over again with a baby or being heavily pregnant. My mum is coming over for a month when the baby is due and no one seems to understand that our 1 bed apartment is just too small, even without my mum, having a baby means we will soon outgrow it. I just can’t deal with disappointment right now. And nothing seems to be going right. I hope to report some good news in my next post.
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Over half way there now.
It has been a crazy few weeks. It always is.
We have been busy trying to sort out the paperwork for the new flat we are buying. I also spent 2 weeks in England, having been back a week I am now back on track. But low and behold it will be upheaval again next week when we leave for 2 weeks in Cyprus for our belated so-called honeymoon, I say so-called because it wasn’t what I had in mind for a honeymoon before I got pregnant also we will be visiting family so it wont really be like a honeymoon, however we are going to visit other parts of the island for a few days and go on a 3 day cruise to Egypt so we will have some quality honeymoon time wink wink nudge nudge.
Going to London was exhausting for the 2 weeks I was there I was working 9-5.30 with my brother training for a new job I will be doing from home, so, on top of working every day I was visiting friends practically every night of the week so by the end of the week I was a zombie and now I understand why so many women report tiredness during their pregnancy. I am generally more tired than usual I must admit but I don’t feel it as much because up till now I haven’t had to get up early to work a full day etc. I slept very well during those weeks not waking even once to visit the loo, I guess the climate helps, however I was glad to get home and get back to my routine and diet. Visiting friends often meant going out to dinner which I love to do especially as I have really been craving the exotic flavours of Chinese & Indian and other things naughty (which cannot be found here). I even went through a stage of wanting a sausage sandwich with brown sauce. I didn’t yield to meat and settled for vegan sausages on wholemeal bread, it seemed to do the trick. And yes I did give in to eating Chinese & Indian food, in fact I gave in to a lot of old bad habits, I think it was the mixture of being pregnant and subconsciously thinking I can eat what I like and being back in England where I am surrounded by all my old favourite foods. I am pretty sure that if I still lived in England I would be the size of a bus by now. Thankfully I am back in Greece where temperatures are high and temptation low, but not without consequences. I managed to gain about half a stone in those 2 weeks (4kg, 7lb) and my Dr was not impressed with me when I saw him on Monday. He gave me a little telling off saying that I should not continue this way and I should only gain about 3lb (1.5kg) a month. I totally agree and noticed a massive difference in my size in those 2 weeks, I arrived in London barely showing and left with a belly, I shouldn’t be too hard on myself because I am at the stage where I will start to grow and show but my weight gain was average before now, so now I’m home and more in control of my temptations and food intake I am back to my normal eating habits, raw breakfast, tons of fruit, a cooked vegan dinner with salad, and snacks of raw ice-cream and smoothies etc, and I already feel better for it.
M
y baby is now apparently the size of an envelope (a very nice example don’t you think? I prefer to say a large mango) and weighs about 350g a small amount for the extra weight I am carrying. We also went to Ioannina (a larger town near where we live) to see another Dr for a better check-up and scan, a bit of a waste of money but he looked at the baby’s heart, kidneys, stomach, other organs and limbs, fingers and toes in more details measuring them and the heart rate to make sure our baby is progressing as he/she should be. Of course I could have told you that without paying the extra 80
euro, any how...
Here are some scan pictures, we even got a front view of our babies face which is actually quite scary and looks like skeletor but I am putting that down to the fact that is in fact a scan and I am sure inside my baby is cute and beautiful.
I am now beginning to feel more movement I know when Meli (greek for honey) is on the move, and have only had the pleasure of a kick twice, I talk to Meli everyday telling him/her what a good baby he/she will be for mummy, quiet and easygoing. My motherinlaw keeps telling me that soon Meli will be kicking around and giving me grief (she is talking from her own pregnancy with my husband) but I am not convinced, so far Meli has given me no problems at all and I think he/she will continue this way. Fingers crossed. ;-)
We have been busy trying to sort out the paperwork for the new flat we are buying. I also spent 2 weeks in England, having been back a week I am now back on track. But low and behold it will be upheaval again next week when we leave for 2 weeks in Cyprus for our belated so-called honeymoon, I say so-called because it wasn’t what I had in mind for a honeymoon before I got pregnant also we will be visiting family so it wont really be like a honeymoon, however we are going to visit other parts of the island for a few days and go on a 3 day cruise to Egypt so we will have some quality honeymoon time wink wink nudge nudge.
Going to London was exhausting for the 2 weeks I was there I was working 9-5.30 with my brother training for a new job I will be doing from home, so, on top of working every day I was visiting friends practically every night of the week so by the end of the week I was a zombie and now I understand why so many women report tiredness during their pregnancy. I am generally more tired than usual I must admit but I don’t feel it as much because up till now I haven’t had to get up early to work a full day etc. I slept very well during those weeks not waking even once to visit the loo, I guess the climate helps, however I was glad to get home and get back to my routine and diet. Visiting friends often meant going out to dinner which I love to do especially as I have really been craving the exotic flavours of Chinese & Indian and other things naughty (which cannot be found here). I even went through a stage of wanting a sausage sandwich with brown sauce. I didn’t yield to meat and settled for vegan sausages on wholemeal bread, it seemed to do the trick. And yes I did give in to eating Chinese & Indian food, in fact I gave in to a lot of old bad habits, I think it was the mixture of being pregnant and subconsciously thinking I can eat what I like and being back in England where I am surrounded by all my old favourite foods. I am pretty sure that if I still lived in England I would be the size of a bus by now. Thankfully I am back in Greece where temperatures are high and temptation low, but not without consequences. I managed to gain about half a stone in those 2 weeks (4kg, 7lb) and my Dr was not impressed with me when I saw him on Monday. He gave me a little telling off saying that I should not continue this way and I should only gain about 3lb (1.5kg) a month. I totally agree and noticed a massive difference in my size in those 2 weeks, I arrived in London barely showing and left with a belly, I shouldn’t be too hard on myself because I am at the stage where I will start to grow and show but my weight gain was average before now, so now I’m home and more in control of my temptations and food intake I am back to my normal eating habits, raw breakfast, tons of fruit, a cooked vegan dinner with salad, and snacks of raw ice-cream and smoothies etc, and I already feel better for it.
M
y baby is now apparently the size of an envelope (a very nice example don’t you think? I prefer to say a large mango) and weighs about 350g a small amount for the extra weight I am carrying. We also went to Ioannina (a larger town near where we live) to see another Dr for a better check-up and scan, a bit of a waste of money but he looked at the baby’s heart, kidneys, stomach, other organs and limbs, fingers and toes in more details measuring them and the heart rate to make sure our baby is progressing as he/she should be. Of course I could have told you that without paying the extra 80
euro, any how...Here are some scan pictures, we even got a front view of our babies face which is actually quite scary and looks like skeletor but I am putting that down to the fact that is in fact a scan and I am sure inside my baby is cute and beautiful.
I am now beginning to feel more movement I know when Meli (greek for honey) is on the move, and have only had the pleasure of a kick twice, I talk to Meli everyday telling him/her what a good baby he/she will be for mummy, quiet and easygoing. My motherinlaw keeps telling me that soon Meli will be kicking around and giving me grief (she is talking from her own pregnancy with my husband) but I am not convinced, so far Meli has given me no problems at all and I think he/she will continue this way. Fingers crossed. ;-)
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Is it a bump or just bloating?
I’m in love with fruit leathers. Wow, I can’t get enough. So far I have made them with apricots, Galia melon and banana & orange. My favourite is apricot, it is like sherbert. Thanks Flora for the great tip for putting it in the fridge once it is done; it becomes crunchy and crystally in texture.
Flora Papadolpoulou, for those that don’t know, is the author of Mediterranean Goes Raw, she is also a good raw food friend of mine living in Athens. Her book is amazing and includes all sorts of recipes. I spent a weekend with her in Athens last week for a potluck in the park. We didn’t stop talking all weekend exchanging tips and experiences, plus she fed me some lovely food. I came back really motivated and my dehydrator has been working overtime ever since. About 40 of us got together in a shady park in Athens, with some amazing food and wonderful company, there was lots of talk about future potlucks too, fingers crossed.
My belly is finally expanding. But I still feel I just look bloated. I can’t find my tape measure for the life of me, it is very frustrating. I’ll just have to grab some string and measure that with a ruler, desperate times and all that. The scales haven’t changed for a while, I’m still 66kg (3kg more then before). And there are days when I don’t seem to need as much sleep as before, I am managing to stay awake till about 1.30am and getting up around 9.30am. The heat is killing me though, it is about 35-40 degrees over here at the moment and it is zapping my energy, all I want to do is stay at home and sit in front of the fan, unless there is a trip to the beach involved.
My emotions are all over the shop. Happy or sad films make me well up with tears, I watched Pretty Woman yesterday for the millionth time and cried at the end because it was such a happy ending, I can’t believe what is happening to me, I am not normally so emotional. My husband is actually being quite sympathetic for a change, I told him off for being so demanding and not understanding what I am going through and ever since he has been extra nice it’s kind of weird, am I in the twilight zone? Who knows maybe he is finally waking up to the idea of ‘yes I am pregnant and yes changes in my emotions and energy levels can be expected’.
I have been reading a lot of other raw pregnancy blogs lately and one of the blogs I came across called Pulling Daisies gave details of an interview given by the author of the blog.
http://www.pullingdaisies.blogspot.com/
The post it called Interview for Bueller's and it was published on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
One of the questions asked was:
"I notice you eat some cooked foods? Why do you do that and where do you draw the line?"
I thought the blogger gave a great answer and one that was very close to my own heart, she also put it into better words then I ever could:
“For a time I was overzealous and tried to be 100% raw. I found that for me, in order to stay motivated to stay away from tempting foods, I had to fully immerse myself in raw foods as a religion, including disdain towards cooked food, self-righteousness for having the right way, and contempt for anybody who challenged me. So while my physical health was great, my mental health was rapidly on the decline. I think I was having delusions of grandeur. Most importantly, as I drew closer to the Universe God of nature, I drew further from Christ and His teachings. It was hard for me to have love in my heart with such feelings of self-righteousness.”
Flora Papadolpoulou, for those that don’t know, is the author of Mediterranean Goes Raw, she is also a good raw food friend of mine living in Athens. Her book is amazing and includes all sorts of recipes. I spent a weekend with her in Athens last week for a potluck in the park. We didn’t stop talking all weekend exchanging tips and experiences, plus she fed me some lovely food. I came back really motivated and my dehydrator has been working overtime ever since. About 40 of us got together in a shady park in Athens, with some amazing food and wonderful company, there was lots of talk about future potlucks too, fingers crossed.
My belly is finally expanding. But I still feel I just look bloated. I can’t find my tape measure for the life of me, it is very frustrating. I’ll just have to grab some string and measure that with a ruler, desperate times and all that. The scales haven’t changed for a while, I’m still 66kg (3kg more then before). And there are days when I don’t seem to need as much sleep as before, I am managing to stay awake till about 1.30am and getting up around 9.30am. The heat is killing me though, it is about 35-40 degrees over here at the moment and it is zapping my energy, all I want to do is stay at home and sit in front of the fan, unless there is a trip to the beach involved.
My emotions are all over the shop. Happy or sad films make me well up with tears, I watched Pretty Woman yesterday for the millionth time and cried at the end because it was such a happy ending, I can’t believe what is happening to me, I am not normally so emotional. My husband is actually being quite sympathetic for a change, I told him off for being so demanding and not understanding what I am going through and ever since he has been extra nice it’s kind of weird, am I in the twilight zone? Who knows maybe he is finally waking up to the idea of ‘yes I am pregnant and yes changes in my emotions and energy levels can be expected’.
I have been reading a lot of other raw pregnancy blogs lately and one of the blogs I came across called Pulling Daisies gave details of an interview given by the author of the blog.
http://www.pullingdaisies.blogspot.com/
The post it called Interview for Bueller's and it was published on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
One of the questions asked was:
"I notice you eat some cooked foods? Why do you do that and where do you draw the line?"
I thought the blogger gave a great answer and one that was very close to my own heart, she also put it into better words then I ever could:
“For a time I was overzealous and tried to be 100% raw. I found that for me, in order to stay motivated to stay away from tempting foods, I had to fully immerse myself in raw foods as a religion, including disdain towards cooked food, self-righteousness for having the right way, and contempt for anybody who challenged me. So while my physical health was great, my mental health was rapidly on the decline. I think I was having delusions of grandeur. Most importantly, as I drew closer to the Universe God of nature, I drew further from Christ and His teachings. It was hard for me to have love in my heart with such feelings of self-righteousness.”
Friday, 20 June 2008
Nearly 4 months
Wow has it really been nearly 2 weeks since I last wrote?
I have been very busy in my kitchen. My dehydrator is happily buzzing with my first batch of fruit leather made from apricots. And sweet potato chips. I’ll let you know how they come out.
I also tried Kate Woods Buckwheat porridge for the first time, with a few minor adjustments it is delicious and most recently I made raw granola which has been getting me through the morning. Dairy is officially off the menu. Hooray. Even my husband has been joining me for a raw breakfast when he is around at that time of the morning. I love it when he enjoys my raw food, not so much when he eats it all and leaves me nothing, but there is definitely something satisfying about discovering a recipe that we both can enjoy together.
I also made sesame milk, which was very nice and tasted massively like pasteli (the sesame and honey bars that you are likely to break your teeth on), but disappointingly I had to throw half of it away because it soured quicker then almond milk and I didn’t drink it all in time.
Thankfully there is nothing I am particularly craving, apart from loads of watermelon which sends me to the loo a thousand times a day, so I am now able to get back to my normal eating habits.
Here is something I read recently in a pregnancy newsletter I subscribe to:
Healthy Eating for a Healthy PregnancyHi Gina,It's important that you eat enough of the right nutrients to ensure you and your baby stay healthy. Every day, you should have:
· 6 or more servings of bread, cereal, rice, or pasta (WHAT!?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me!!!!!)
· 3 to 5 servings of vegetables (no problems, make mine double)
· 2 to 4 servings of fruit (easy peasy, 8 servings is my average intake)
· 2 to 3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, or nuts (forget everything except the dry beans and nuts. I am averaging a serving of nut milk a day and a portion of raw granola and with sprouts, and cooked grains a portion of dry beans too.
· At least 8 glasses of water (in this heat I’ve been getting through no less than 2 litres)
I am probably managing everything except the 6 or more servings of bread, cereal, rice or pasta. That is a hell of a lot of carbs, and starchy foods. And what for?????
As a soon to be qualified nutritional therapist I am shocked that it doesn’t mention that those items should be wholegrain where possible. But that is not the point, I can’t see what someone can gain from all those starchy foods apart from a few extra kilos that are often not needed during pregnancy.
According to my recent calculation on fit day I eat about 2000 calories a day.
I met a girl over the weekend who gained 20KG during her pregnancy, that is 44lb’s, over 3 stones for those on UK soil. OMG is all I could say. Well I’m not surprised if she sat on her back side all day eating 6 servings of bread a day on top of the rest. So far I have gained 3kg (about 6lbs) which is less then a kilo a month. A kilo a month sounds like a good plan, but as I always say nothing is guaranteed, so I guess we’ll see.
We went to the Dr today to take him the huge list of test results he had sent me for. I got tested for my iron levels, various STD’s, the risk of having a Downs syndrome baby, parasites, toxoplasma and various other things. The test results were all perfect, as I thought they would be. I doubt I will be doing them again the next time I am pregnant. My iron levels are fine, and I have a 1 in 2 million chance of having a baby with Downs Syndrome. It all shocked the pants off of my Dr. I love proving people wrong. I initially told him that there was no point doing the tests because there was nothing wrong with me, but of course he told me it was standard procedure. Now his and my husband’s mind can rest at ease knowing that we are fine.
Other observations I have made include becoming quite clumsy. I’ve burnt myself twice with the iron. Broken plates, bashed my elbow on several occasions and spilt food down my clothes 2-3 times. All of this in the space of 2 weeks. I can assure you this is not standard behaviour for me. I hope it passes soon.
I also took my belly ring out this week too. It was starting to rub on my clothes and feel uncomfortable. Boo hoo. I loved it, I have had it for exactly 10 years now.
I have been very busy in my kitchen. My dehydrator is happily buzzing with my first batch of fruit leather made from apricots. And sweet potato chips. I’ll let you know how they come out.
I also tried Kate Woods Buckwheat porridge for the first time, with a few minor adjustments it is delicious and most recently I made raw granola which has been getting me through the morning. Dairy is officially off the menu. Hooray. Even my husband has been joining me for a raw breakfast when he is around at that time of the morning. I love it when he enjoys my raw food, not so much when he eats it all and leaves me nothing, but there is definitely something satisfying about discovering a recipe that we both can enjoy together.
I also made sesame milk, which was very nice and tasted massively like pasteli (the sesame and honey bars that you are likely to break your teeth on), but disappointingly I had to throw half of it away because it soured quicker then almond milk and I didn’t drink it all in time.
Thankfully there is nothing I am particularly craving, apart from loads of watermelon which sends me to the loo a thousand times a day, so I am now able to get back to my normal eating habits.
Here is something I read recently in a pregnancy newsletter I subscribe to:
Healthy Eating for a Healthy PregnancyHi Gina,It's important that you eat enough of the right nutrients to ensure you and your baby stay healthy. Every day, you should have:
· 6 or more servings of bread, cereal, rice, or pasta (WHAT!?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me!!!!!)
· 3 to 5 servings of vegetables (no problems, make mine double)
· 2 to 4 servings of fruit (easy peasy, 8 servings is my average intake)
· 2 to 3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, or nuts (forget everything except the dry beans and nuts. I am averaging a serving of nut milk a day and a portion of raw granola and with sprouts, and cooked grains a portion of dry beans too.
· At least 8 glasses of water (in this heat I’ve been getting through no less than 2 litres)
I am probably managing everything except the 6 or more servings of bread, cereal, rice or pasta. That is a hell of a lot of carbs, and starchy foods. And what for?????
As a soon to be qualified nutritional therapist I am shocked that it doesn’t mention that those items should be wholegrain where possible. But that is not the point, I can’t see what someone can gain from all those starchy foods apart from a few extra kilos that are often not needed during pregnancy.
According to my recent calculation on fit day I eat about 2000 calories a day.
I met a girl over the weekend who gained 20KG during her pregnancy, that is 44lb’s, over 3 stones for those on UK soil. OMG is all I could say. Well I’m not surprised if she sat on her back side all day eating 6 servings of bread a day on top of the rest. So far I have gained 3kg (about 6lbs) which is less then a kilo a month. A kilo a month sounds like a good plan, but as I always say nothing is guaranteed, so I guess we’ll see.
We went to the Dr today to take him the huge list of test results he had sent me for. I got tested for my iron levels, various STD’s, the risk of having a Downs syndrome baby, parasites, toxoplasma and various other things. The test results were all perfect, as I thought they would be. I doubt I will be doing them again the next time I am pregnant. My iron levels are fine, and I have a 1 in 2 million chance of having a baby with Downs Syndrome. It all shocked the pants off of my Dr. I love proving people wrong. I initially told him that there was no point doing the tests because there was nothing wrong with me, but of course he told me it was standard procedure. Now his and my husband’s mind can rest at ease knowing that we are fine.
Other observations I have made include becoming quite clumsy. I’ve burnt myself twice with the iron. Broken plates, bashed my elbow on several occasions and spilt food down my clothes 2-3 times. All of this in the space of 2 weeks. I can assure you this is not standard behaviour for me. I hope it passes soon.
I also took my belly ring out this week too. It was starting to rub on my clothes and feel uncomfortable. Boo hoo. I loved it, I have had it for exactly 10 years now.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
A little humour to the Blog
I am now at the 14 week mark and the baby is starting to make a small appearance. My clothes still fit, but my belly is starting to protrude slightly.
I think I have finally had enough dairy and it is no longer something I need to eat every day anymore. Phew. I started to wean myself off it slowly by having almond milk with my morning cereal and I am now slowly coming off the cereal too. I can finally and thankfully stomach nuts again which is great because I recently discovered that almonds are the most nutrient dense nut of them all.
Getting pregnant suddenly makes many women become self trained nutritional therapists. If it is possible I have now become even more obsessed with the food I consume. Not only am I a nearly qualified nutritional therapist and a long term raw foodist I am now an FOPW (food obsessed pregnant woman), however instead of counting calories and grams of fat like I did in my pre raw days, I am now obsessed with the nutrients each food contains. Did you guess? My newest obsession is almonds.
30g of almonds (about a handful) provides:
12% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein. 35% RDA of the valuable antioxidant vitamin E. (almonds are the best wholefood source of Vit E)
As much calcium as a 1/4 cup of milk.
And they are a great source of the folic acid, good news for the pregnant woman
On a lighter note I made another discovery this week. I found another pregnancy blog, but with a twist. It is called Sarcastic Journalist and is a funny view point of a pregnant woman. I haven’t had the chance to read through all the entries yet but so far the ones I have read have certainly gotten a laugh out loud. Check out the Sarcastic journalist here:
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/sj/
In the meantime here are a few hilarious lines from her 14 week entry.
“That’s right: the tiny baby in your belly makes women around the world believe they can give you advice.
My personal favorites happen to be the old wives tales. It’ll happen at least once; you’ll be standing in line at the store and an older lady will approach you. She’ll tell you that since you’re packing on pounds in your rear that it is “a boy!
Wait. Did she just tell you that your butt is fat?”
I love this blog, the week 14 entry is especially funny to me because I happen to be going through similar experiences right now. Now that we are telling people I am pregnant everyone has something to say about it, some advice or their own story to tell. While most of it is interesting, other things are insanely unbelievable. My motherinlaw is especially cautious over me because she had about 3 miscarriages before having my husband. Every time I see her she tells me something else that I should or shouldn’t do. The other day at the beach she sarcastically asked me how I thought the baby might have felt when I was swimming in the Sea, in other words it can’t be good for it. Oh and when I got up to play bat and ball with my husband (our favorite pastime) she nearly had a fit telling me it was dangerous. We also went to a wedding the other day and she told me I wasn’t allowed to go into the church, I really don’t know where that one came from. Other women who have children make me laugh too, so far they have told me not go swimming in the Sea because I might get parasites, and they have told me I shouldn’t be going to the gym and even the lightest bag in my hand is frowned upon and seen as too heavy. Oh and almost everyone I tell tries to feed me something giving me the usual ‘you are pregnant it is ok’, or ‘you need to eat to keep your strength up’. A lot of people hardly believe I am pregnant because I don’t look any different yet. It makes me wonder how big they think I should be, or how big other women 14 weeks pregnant look.
I think I have finally had enough dairy and it is no longer something I need to eat every day anymore. Phew. I started to wean myself off it slowly by having almond milk with my morning cereal and I am now slowly coming off the cereal too. I can finally and thankfully stomach nuts again which is great because I recently discovered that almonds are the most nutrient dense nut of them all.
Getting pregnant suddenly makes many women become self trained nutritional therapists. If it is possible I have now become even more obsessed with the food I consume. Not only am I a nearly qualified nutritional therapist and a long term raw foodist I am now an FOPW (food obsessed pregnant woman), however instead of counting calories and grams of fat like I did in my pre raw days, I am now obsessed with the nutrients each food contains. Did you guess? My newest obsession is almonds.
30g of almonds (about a handful) provides:
12% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein. 35% RDA of the valuable antioxidant vitamin E. (almonds are the best wholefood source of Vit E)
As much calcium as a 1/4 cup of milk.
And they are a great source of the folic acid, good news for the pregnant woman
On a lighter note I made another discovery this week. I found another pregnancy blog, but with a twist. It is called Sarcastic Journalist and is a funny view point of a pregnant woman. I haven’t had the chance to read through all the entries yet but so far the ones I have read have certainly gotten a laugh out loud. Check out the Sarcastic journalist here:
http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/sj/
In the meantime here are a few hilarious lines from her 14 week entry.
“That’s right: the tiny baby in your belly makes women around the world believe they can give you advice.
My personal favorites happen to be the old wives tales. It’ll happen at least once; you’ll be standing in line at the store and an older lady will approach you. She’ll tell you that since you’re packing on pounds in your rear that it is “a boy!
Wait. Did she just tell you that your butt is fat?”
I love this blog, the week 14 entry is especially funny to me because I happen to be going through similar experiences right now. Now that we are telling people I am pregnant everyone has something to say about it, some advice or their own story to tell. While most of it is interesting, other things are insanely unbelievable. My motherinlaw is especially cautious over me because she had about 3 miscarriages before having my husband. Every time I see her she tells me something else that I should or shouldn’t do. The other day at the beach she sarcastically asked me how I thought the baby might have felt when I was swimming in the Sea, in other words it can’t be good for it. Oh and when I got up to play bat and ball with my husband (our favorite pastime) she nearly had a fit telling me it was dangerous. We also went to a wedding the other day and she told me I wasn’t allowed to go into the church, I really don’t know where that one came from. Other women who have children make me laugh too, so far they have told me not go swimming in the Sea because I might get parasites, and they have told me I shouldn’t be going to the gym and even the lightest bag in my hand is frowned upon and seen as too heavy. Oh and almost everyone I tell tries to feed me something giving me the usual ‘you are pregnant it is ok’, or ‘you need to eat to keep your strength up’. A lot of people hardly believe I am pregnant because I don’t look any different yet. It makes me wonder how big they think I should be, or how big other women 14 weeks pregnant look.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
The Word is Out
I am sitting here with an almond pulp and honey face mask on and thought I would take this time to update my blog and finally set it live.
After a very busy week preparing for our second wedding reception and my parents arrival today has been the first day when everything has returned to normal.
As a result I have had a very productive day. I finally finished my Newsletter which has been looming over me half finished for months and am making headway for the raw food potluck I am organising in a couple of weeks in Athens. I also made my first batch of raw vegan ice-cream with my new ice-cream maker. The ice-cream is delicious, here is the recipe which I cleverly adapted from the manufacturers recipe book that came with the machine:
Raw Strawberry Ice-cream
225ml (1 glass) Almond milk
Recipe yields about a litre of almond milk
100g almonds soaked overnight
4 dates pitted
1 tbsp honey
After a very busy week preparing for our second wedding reception and my parents arrival today has been the first day when everything has returned to normal.
As a result I have had a very productive day. I finally finished my Newsletter which has been looming over me half finished for months and am making headway for the raw food potluck I am organising in a couple of weeks in Athens. I also made my first batch of raw vegan ice-cream with my new ice-cream maker. The ice-cream is delicious, here is the recipe which I cleverly adapted from the manufacturers recipe book that came with the machine:
Raw Strawberry Ice-cream
225ml (1 glass) Almond milk
Recipe yields about a litre of almond milk
100g almonds soaked overnight
4 dates pitted
1 tbsp honey
1 litre of water
Blend the ingredients until the almonds have been pulverised. And then strain using a nut milk bag.
Cashew cream
75g cashews soaked for 2 hours
Half a glass of almond milk
1 tbsp honey
Cashew cream
75g cashews soaked for 2 hours
Half a glass of almond milk
1 tbsp honey
Blend ingredients until you get a cream consistency
Other ingredients
1 tbsp lemon juice
200g fresh or frozen (slightly thawed) strawberries
2 tbsp honey
Wash and de-stalk the strawberries, puree them with the lemon juice, almond milk and honey. Once the strawberries have fully pureed add the cashew cream and briefly mix until well blended.
Switch on the ice-cream maker and pour the mixture into the cooling bowl.
Let freeze in the ice-cream maker for approximately 20-40 minutes depending on if you want it compact or soft (refer to the manufacturers user guide for your own machine for suitable timing).
This recipe made 1 litre of strawberry ice-cream which even though up till now I have only had a spoonful of is delicious.
I started the day making almond milk, I had it with my cereal instead of normal milk which I have sadly recently become accustomed to. Up until now I was suffering from terrible indigestion every time I ate nuts and have been craving things that I haven’t eaten for years, mainly dairy products. I figured today I would give nuts another chance. Mainly because I wanted to make ice-cream and would like to slowly reduce the amount of dairy I have recently been eating. So my cereal with chopped banana and almond milk went down very well. My next venture will be to make granola, and try to have a 100% raw breakfast. Although I have been eating tons of fruit and been sprouting alfalfa my raw food consumption has been minimal. However I am now starting to get less indigestion after eating and do not feel sickly if I don’t eat every couple of hours and at the moment I am really craving watermelon. Although not quite in season the first melons are now available in the shops.
My mood swings have also lessened but I am now getting dizzy spells whenever I stand up after sitting for some time. Part of that may be because the weather has been very hot lately, temperatures have been reaching 33oC. Yesterday I was extremely tired but I put that down to the heavy weekend we had. At our second wedding on Saturday night I wore my wedding dress again and this time it just about fit me, by the end of the night it was uncomfortably tight. I couldn’t wait to get it off. Again I am still not showing but I guess my body is expanding.
We finally told our parents the news on Friday night. I was a little anxious about telling my mum because I really wasn’t sure how she would take it. I thought she might be upset that we didn’t tell her sooner or that she wont be able to be here to see me grow. However she took the news very well and was really pleased. We had planned it really well. We all went out for a meal and as soon as we had ordered and we had drinks on our table we handed each set of parents an envelope telling them that we had one last gift for them. My motherinlaw told me we had already given them enough. I told her it was something very small and she will like it. Inside the envelope was a picture of the ultrasound scan and it read:
Dear Grandma and Grandad
SURPRISE!!!!
See you in December
Lot
s of love and kisses from Baby Dosis.
My mum was the first to open it, judge for yourself her happiness from the big grin on her face
My motherinlaw jumped out of her seat immediately to hug and kiss us both, only being able to have 1 child herself she has been waiting for this moment for a long time.
The rest of the evening went by with joyful chatter about what the baby will be, what it will look like, what Panos and I were like as babies etc.
Some time this week we have to visit the Clinic again for the tests mentioned before. I am coming around to the idea about giving birth at the clinic, I spoke to the Dr last week and expressed my worries about not fully understanding what the nurses and Dr tell me during the labour (due to a slight language barrier) or them giving me medication that I don’t want. The Dr was very nice about it, he told me that he will be there with me throughout the labour, no matter what time of day it is and my husband can also be by my side throughout. And anything they want to tell me they will explain 10 times if they have to until I fully understand and agree or disagree. He also remembered that I was a vegetarian and although at our first meeting I thought he had casually dismissed it when my husband told him I didn’t eat meat because he then said I should eat a little of everything, during this second visit he brought up the fact that I was a vegetarian and told me it was a good thing because it meant I probably do not eat too much animal fat or salt which is one of the causes for Down Syndrome in babies, whether that is true or not I don’t know. I am now a lot happier and more relaxed with the whole situation. And feel I will have a better birth if I accept certain facts about where I am and what I am able to do. If I nurture myself at home with good nutritious food and prepare myself mentally for birth, even though I will be in a clinic and will be supervised by a Dr and nurses I am more likely to remain relaxed throughout and have a calm natural birth which is the most important thing to me right now.
Over the weekend I expressed some of my worries to my mum about the tests, the labour and the pregnancy in general. I told her some of the things other mums had told me and what I had read, she told me that the more I listened to people and tried to take it all on board the worse it will be for me because I will have even more preconceptions about the birth then I did before. She said each woman is different and each labour is different and I should do what I feel is right at the time. These words have been echoing in my head for the last couple of days and after listening to everyone from the forum give me their advice about the tests and birthing I have decided that I will take everything with a pinch of salt. In other words I will listen and be grateful for the advice I have received but will not let it cloud my better judgement.
Other ingredients
1 tbsp lemon juice
200g fresh or frozen (slightly thawed) strawberries
2 tbsp honey
Wash and de-stalk the strawberries, puree them with the lemon juice, almond milk and honey. Once the strawberries have fully pureed add the cashew cream and briefly mix until well blended.
Switch on the ice-cream maker and pour the mixture into the cooling bowl.
Let freeze in the ice-cream maker for approximately 20-40 minutes depending on if you want it compact or soft (refer to the manufacturers user guide for your own machine for suitable timing).
This recipe made 1 litre of strawberry ice-cream which even though up till now I have only had a spoonful of is delicious.
I started the day making almond milk, I had it with my cereal instead of normal milk which I have sadly recently become accustomed to. Up until now I was suffering from terrible indigestion every time I ate nuts and have been craving things that I haven’t eaten for years, mainly dairy products. I figured today I would give nuts another chance. Mainly because I wanted to make ice-cream and would like to slowly reduce the amount of dairy I have recently been eating. So my cereal with chopped banana and almond milk went down very well. My next venture will be to make granola, and try to have a 100% raw breakfast. Although I have been eating tons of fruit and been sprouting alfalfa my raw food consumption has been minimal. However I am now starting to get less indigestion after eating and do not feel sickly if I don’t eat every couple of hours and at the moment I am really craving watermelon. Although not quite in season the first melons are now available in the shops.
My mood swings have also lessened but I am now getting dizzy spells whenever I stand up after sitting for some time. Part of that may be because the weather has been very hot lately, temperatures have been reaching 33oC. Yesterday I was extremely tired but I put that down to the heavy weekend we had. At our second wedding on Saturday night I wore my wedding dress again and this time it just about fit me, by the end of the night it was uncomfortably tight. I couldn’t wait to get it off. Again I am still not showing but I guess my body is expanding.
We finally told our parents the news on Friday night. I was a little anxious about telling my mum because I really wasn’t sure how she would take it. I thought she might be upset that we didn’t tell her sooner or that she wont be able to be here to see me grow. However she took the news very well and was really pleased. We had planned it really well. We all went out for a meal and as soon as we had ordered and we had drinks on our table we handed each set of parents an envelope telling them that we had one last gift for them. My motherinlaw told me we had already given them enough. I told her it was something very small and she will like it. Inside the envelope was a picture of the ultrasound scan and it read:
Dear Grandma and Grandad
SURPRISE!!!!
See you in December
Lot
s of love and kisses from Baby Dosis.My mum was the first to open it, judge for yourself her happiness from the big grin on her face
My motherinlaw jumped out of her seat immediately to hug and kiss us both, only being able to have 1 child herself she has been waiting for this moment for a long time.
The rest of the evening went by with joyful chatter about what the baby will be, what it will look like, what Panos and I were like as babies etc.
Some time this week we have to visit the Clinic again for the tests mentioned before. I am coming around to the idea about giving birth at the clinic, I spoke to the Dr last week and expressed my worries about not fully understanding what the nurses and Dr tell me during the labour (due to a slight language barrier) or them giving me medication that I don’t want. The Dr was very nice about it, he told me that he will be there with me throughout the labour, no matter what time of day it is and my husband can also be by my side throughout. And anything they want to tell me they will explain 10 times if they have to until I fully understand and agree or disagree. He also remembered that I was a vegetarian and although at our first meeting I thought he had casually dismissed it when my husband told him I didn’t eat meat because he then said I should eat a little of everything, during this second visit he brought up the fact that I was a vegetarian and told me it was a good thing because it meant I probably do not eat too much animal fat or salt which is one of the causes for Down Syndrome in babies, whether that is true or not I don’t know. I am now a lot happier and more relaxed with the whole situation. And feel I will have a better birth if I accept certain facts about where I am and what I am able to do. If I nurture myself at home with good nutritious food and prepare myself mentally for birth, even though I will be in a clinic and will be supervised by a Dr and nurses I am more likely to remain relaxed throughout and have a calm natural birth which is the most important thing to me right now.
Over the weekend I expressed some of my worries to my mum about the tests, the labour and the pregnancy in general. I told her some of the things other mums had told me and what I had read, she told me that the more I listened to people and tried to take it all on board the worse it will be for me because I will have even more preconceptions about the birth then I did before. She said each woman is different and each labour is different and I should do what I feel is right at the time. These words have been echoing in my head for the last couple of days and after listening to everyone from the forum give me their advice about the tests and birthing I have decided that I will take everything with a pinch of salt. In other words I will listen and be grateful for the advice I have received but will not let it cloud my better judgement.
Monday, 26 May 2008
Birthing from Within
My belly is starting to protrude a little, it still isn’t noticeable that I am pregnant I just look like I have been enjoying my food a little too much lately. I actually don’t mind having a little bump, in fact I welcome the moment when it is visible that I am indeed pregnant and other mums will look at me with joy and understanding because they know what is to come. And when my husband will come home from work and kiss both me and my bump hello.
We are now starting to think more seriously about the how, when and where of the birth. I know a home birth is not going to be easy. Friends of mine who are vegan and have the farm in Arta that first brought me here have a beautiful 7 month old blue eyed boy. She had a home birth, but her midwife came all the way from Thessaloniki which is about 4-5 hours drive away. The baby was born within 30 minutes of the midwife arriving, a very close call. And then they never saw here again, she was meant to come and see them again he baby was born but didn’t turn up. Anke (my friend) was very brave, but she also has her husband who is a Research Dr and a very intelligent man to support her. I am pretty sure he knows a lot more than my husband about the female body and birthing. Until we tell the parents and start asking around we can’t very well get a clear idea of what we are up against. So far everyone I have spoken to here about a home birth has told me to forget it. A birth without drugs yes, at home no! It is very disappointing, the clinic we initially went to for the scan has been said to be very good and the Dr very patient and very good during the birth in that he doesn’t pressure you or make you feel uncomfortable. Part of me doesn’t want to get my hopes up for a home birth and then be disappointed when it can’t happen. I have recently been reading a book called Birthing from Within – An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preperation by Pam England and Rob Harrowitz. The authors use a lot of art therapy to help women deal with their inner demons about birth. It is amazing what is revealed from womens drawings of birth. A lot of what is being translated from these drawing resonates deeply with me, for example showing a brave strong exterior but inside having many fears and anxieities. I have always been a strong, independent woman who likes to be in control of everything, I deal with pain well and try not to ask for help unless absolutely needed. But the thought of giving birth is freaking me out a little, not because I am afraid of the birth or the pain but more so because of the nature of where I live I feel I wont be able to control everything and it wont be as I imagined it to be in my head. For this reason I am trying very hard to be open minded to my limitations here. I feel that if I do have lots of ideals and preconceptions I will be so disappointed when it finally comes around that I may end up making it more difficult for myself and having to have a caesarean or something because of my inner consciousness. Here is a quote from the book that rings true for me:-
“If you envision giving birth in only one way and one place your chance of being thrown off balance by the unexpected increases dramatically. The more ways you can envision yourself giving birth, the more power you bring to your own birth.”
I have been asking for a lot of advice from the Raw Families forum, everyone has been great and being very supportive. My most recent question was whether I should have the tests the Dr told me to go back for this week. Everyone so far has told me not to bother. They test for iron levels, eclamspia Downs syndrome and more. While I completely understand why I have been told not to bother for Downs because whatever the outcome it wont make a difference to me and then there is the added worry of what if they do find something. On the other hand because my cat had kittens not long after a fell pregnant and I have been feeding her and the kittens as well as the dog and even though not stroking them and picking them up I have been in contact with them I would like the tests for eclampsia and then for iron to know that I am ok.
I guess it is peace of mind for me. Plus my husband is really keen to have them. We called a clinic in Athens the other day who specialise in Home births. Unfortunately they will not come to Arta (5 hours drive away) for the birth of our baby, but have said that we can go there to give birth which is a very relaxed environment and just like being at home. However we would need to stay in Athens for about 10 days before the due date to be sure that we make it to the clinic in time for the birth. The lady sounded very nice on the phone. I asked her several times if perhaps she knew anyone around this part of the country and each time she said no.
I am still hopeful.
We are now starting to think more seriously about the how, when and where of the birth. I know a home birth is not going to be easy. Friends of mine who are vegan and have the farm in Arta that first brought me here have a beautiful 7 month old blue eyed boy. She had a home birth, but her midwife came all the way from Thessaloniki which is about 4-5 hours drive away. The baby was born within 30 minutes of the midwife arriving, a very close call. And then they never saw here again, she was meant to come and see them again he baby was born but didn’t turn up. Anke (my friend) was very brave, but she also has her husband who is a Research Dr and a very intelligent man to support her. I am pretty sure he knows a lot more than my husband about the female body and birthing. Until we tell the parents and start asking around we can’t very well get a clear idea of what we are up against. So far everyone I have spoken to here about a home birth has told me to forget it. A birth without drugs yes, at home no! It is very disappointing, the clinic we initially went to for the scan has been said to be very good and the Dr very patient and very good during the birth in that he doesn’t pressure you or make you feel uncomfortable. Part of me doesn’t want to get my hopes up for a home birth and then be disappointed when it can’t happen. I have recently been reading a book called Birthing from Within – An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preperation by Pam England and Rob Harrowitz. The authors use a lot of art therapy to help women deal with their inner demons about birth. It is amazing what is revealed from womens drawings of birth. A lot of what is being translated from these drawing resonates deeply with me, for example showing a brave strong exterior but inside having many fears and anxieities. I have always been a strong, independent woman who likes to be in control of everything, I deal with pain well and try not to ask for help unless absolutely needed. But the thought of giving birth is freaking me out a little, not because I am afraid of the birth or the pain but more so because of the nature of where I live I feel I wont be able to control everything and it wont be as I imagined it to be in my head. For this reason I am trying very hard to be open minded to my limitations here. I feel that if I do have lots of ideals and preconceptions I will be so disappointed when it finally comes around that I may end up making it more difficult for myself and having to have a caesarean or something because of my inner consciousness. Here is a quote from the book that rings true for me:-
“If you envision giving birth in only one way and one place your chance of being thrown off balance by the unexpected increases dramatically. The more ways you can envision yourself giving birth, the more power you bring to your own birth.”
I have been asking for a lot of advice from the Raw Families forum, everyone has been great and being very supportive. My most recent question was whether I should have the tests the Dr told me to go back for this week. Everyone so far has told me not to bother. They test for iron levels, eclamspia Downs syndrome and more. While I completely understand why I have been told not to bother for Downs because whatever the outcome it wont make a difference to me and then there is the added worry of what if they do find something. On the other hand because my cat had kittens not long after a fell pregnant and I have been feeding her and the kittens as well as the dog and even though not stroking them and picking them up I have been in contact with them I would like the tests for eclampsia and then for iron to know that I am ok.
I guess it is peace of mind for me. Plus my husband is really keen to have them. We called a clinic in Athens the other day who specialise in Home births. Unfortunately they will not come to Arta (5 hours drive away) for the birth of our baby, but have said that we can go there to give birth which is a very relaxed environment and just like being at home. However we would need to stay in Athens for about 10 days before the due date to be sure that we make it to the clinic in time for the birth. The lady sounded very nice on the phone. I asked her several times if perhaps she knew anyone around this part of the country and each time she said no.
I am still hopeful.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Update and Our first visit to the Dr
Wow it has been almost a month since I last wrote and a lot has happened since then. So, I went to London and have now returned to Greece. During my 2 and a half weeks in London I hardly sat still, lots of running around for the wedding and catching up with friends. It felt like my feet didn’t touch the ground. My hen night on Saturday the 3rd May went great no one noticed that I kept losing my drink and didn’t drink anything, Nat helped by swapping glasses with me every time hers was empty. I managed to stay awake till 5.30am hard at the best of times, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought, there was so much going on I didn’t want to sleep. However it took the next day and the day after that to fully recover. On the (bank holiday) Monday I saw a little blood. It was brown and oldish looking blood. It did freak me out a little and led to a massive research mission on the internet to see if all was ok. The conclusion was in fact inconclusive so I booked an appointment with the Dr for the Tuesday. I was hoping to have a little check-up while I was there perhaps a check for the heart beat etc. But the Dr even though very understanding and much nicer than the other Dr’s I have seen in the past at the same surgery listened to my symptoms and asked if there was any more blood or if I have any pain to both the answer was no. He then went on to explain that there was nothing to worry about and should I have more blood which is heavier and feel pain then I should go directly to the hospital. He was also ready to book me in for an ultrasound and the usual check-ups until I explained that I actually now live in Greece. He was very good about it in that he said that I should be careful and should I want to give birth in the UK I mustn’t tell anyone I have been out of the country for over 3 months because then I will be made to pay because I lose my rights as a British citizen. Even though having this baby in the UK has crossed my mind several times for the simple fact that I think I will have more control over it and would love to be close to my mummy, I couldn’t bear taking that magical moment away from my wonderful new husband. There is no way he would be able to get so much time of work and it wouldn’t be fair to leave him behind when this baby is as much a part of him as it is me.
After this first little scare I started to take a little bit better care of myself. It is easy to forget that you are pregnant when you hardly experience any symptoms. I am now in my 11th week and haven’t been sick once. I have noticed that I get very bad indigestion when I eat nuts and so have stopped doing so, other than the odd bloatedness from eating too much and needing more sleep I don’t feel any different. My symptoms are so little that I even doubted I was pregnant at all and went and bought another pregnancy test. Now there is no doubt in my mind!
So back to London on the week of the 5th May. For the rest of the week I took it easy as much as possible, considering it was the week before the wedding. And by the end of the week I saw more blood. Panos arrived on the Thursday night (8th May) with his family and friends and we stayed up till pretty late catching up, and the next day I had more blood. This time it wasn’t old brown blood like before it was proper blood. I then started to relate it to tiredness as it only seemed to be happening when I lacked sleep the day before. I didn’t let this get me down even though I did worry that I might miscarry on my wedding day, nothing would have been worse. M
y auntie even told me that she actually miscarried her baby the day before her wedding day.
On the day of the wedding (11th May) even though the night before was a relatively late night and I got up early I was in very good spirits and there was no blood. The wedding itself was amazing, the sun was shining as were both the groom and I. I wasn’t nervous at all, just excited and even though there were a few minor hiccups it didn
’t affect our mood or day. Panos and I had a great time and everyone around us absorbed our good energy and vibe and also enjoyed themselves. The day went by so quickly I wish it had lasted a little while longer but all in all I couldn’t have wished for a better day. Everything was perfect.
We even made it to an after party so we could see our friends one last time before we flew back to Greece on Tuesday. We finally stumbled into our hotel suite at about 2am where immediately we ran a hot bath and relaxed while going over the events of our special day. Again I had a little blood but it must have been at the end of the day because it didn’t make it through to my dress and when I saw it late at night it was pretty fresh. I am now beginning to think that the blood is caused by a lot of jumping around. The day before the first bleed I was bouncing around on my friends rebounder and the night of the wedding I joined in on a very lively traditional Greek dance.
Since our wedding night there has thankfully been no more blood. We are now settled back into life in Arta, Greece and today we had our very first proper consultation with the Dr. He gave me an ultrasound and asked me the usual questions, date of last period etc. How I am feeling in general etc. The ultrasound revealed a very small wriggly baby with small arms and legs and of course a big head and pumping heart. A small piece of magic in the making.
The reaction from the Dr when my husband told him that I was a vegetarian was that I should eat a little of everything including meat and dairy etc. He said that I should avoid lots of sugar and fat. He more or less disregarded the fact that I don’t eat meat and told me I should eat it, to be honest I didn’t expect anything different and I suspect I will hearing a lot of that the more people find out that I am pregnant. Unless I have a huge urge to eat meat which I sincerely hope I don’t there is no way I would even consider eating it.
At the moment my symptoms are:-
- The need for extra sleep (in other words no more going to bed at 3am, by 1am at the latest I am asleep on the couch).
- The first sign of uncontrollable food cravings. I can’t stomach my usual huge salads and all I want to eat is cheese and crackers, dairy products seem to be calling out to me. No meat cravings thankfully.
- Extreme bloatedness and discomfort when I eat a big meal, sometimes I just can’t help it, I love food!
- Occasional dizziness when I get up too quickly.
- A little agitated a bit like PMS
- A very slight swelling around the belly, only I can notice it
- Tender nipples
- Mild constipation some days
After this first little scare I started to take a little bit better care of myself. It is easy to forget that you are pregnant when you hardly experience any symptoms. I am now in my 11th week and haven’t been sick once. I have noticed that I get very bad indigestion when I eat nuts and so have stopped doing so, other than the odd bloatedness from eating too much and needing more sleep I don’t feel any different. My symptoms are so little that I even doubted I was pregnant at all and went and bought another pregnancy test. Now there is no doubt in my mind!
So back to London on the week of the 5th May. For the rest of the week I took it easy as much as possible, considering it was the week before the wedding. And by the end of the week I saw more blood. Panos arrived on the Thursday night (8th May) with his family and friends and we stayed up till pretty late catching up, and the next day I had more blood. This time it wasn’t old brown blood like before it was proper blood. I then started to relate it to tiredness as it only seemed to be happening when I lacked sleep the day before. I didn’t let this get me down even though I did worry that I might miscarry on my wedding day, nothing would have been worse. M
y auntie even told me that she actually miscarried her baby the day before her wedding day.On the day of the wedding (11th May) even though the night before was a relatively late night and I got up early I was in very good spirits and there was no blood. The wedding itself was amazing, the sun was shining as were both the groom and I. I wasn’t nervous at all, just excited and even though there were a few minor hiccups it didn
’t affect our mood or day. Panos and I had a great time and everyone around us absorbed our good energy and vibe and also enjoyed themselves. The day went by so quickly I wish it had lasted a little while longer but all in all I couldn’t have wished for a better day. Everything was perfect.We even made it to an after party so we could see our friends one last time before we flew back to Greece on Tuesday. We finally stumbled into our hotel suite at about 2am where immediately we ran a hot bath and relaxed while going over the events of our special day. Again I had a little blood but it must have been at the end of the day because it didn’t make it through to my dress and when I saw it late at night it was pretty fresh. I am now beginning to think that the blood is caused by a lot of jumping around. The day before the first bleed I was bouncing around on my friends rebounder and the night of the wedding I joined in on a very lively traditional Greek dance.
Since our wedding night there has thankfully been no more blood. We are now settled back into life in Arta, Greece and today we had our very first proper consultation with the Dr. He gave me an ultrasound and asked me the usual questions, date of last period etc. How I am feeling in general etc. The ultrasound revealed a very small wriggly baby with small arms and legs and of course a big head and pumping heart. A small piece of magic in the making.
The reaction from the Dr when my husband told him that I was a vegetarian was that I should eat a little of everything including meat and dairy etc. He said that I should avoid lots of sugar and fat. He more or less disregarded the fact that I don’t eat meat and told me I should eat it, to be honest I didn’t expect anything different and I suspect I will hearing a lot of that the more people find out that I am pregnant. Unless I have a huge urge to eat meat which I sincerely hope I don’t there is no way I would even consider eating it.
At the moment my symptoms are:-
- The need for extra sleep (in other words no more going to bed at 3am, by 1am at the latest I am asleep on the couch).
- The first sign of uncontrollable food cravings. I can’t stomach my usual huge salads and all I want to eat is cheese and crackers, dairy products seem to be calling out to me. No meat cravings thankfully.
- Extreme bloatedness and discomfort when I eat a big meal, sometimes I just can’t help it, I love food!
- Occasional dizziness when I get up too quickly.
- A little agitated a bit like PMS
- A very slight swelling around the belly, only I can notice it
- Tender nipples
- Mild constipation some days
I have had no weight gain yet, but suspect that wont last long with the extra food I have been eating lately. It isn’t so much that I have been consuming more calories than the so called daily allowance, but I would say that I am probably eating more calories than I would have normally considering I wouldn’t say I ate that many calories before. Plus the type of food I am eating has changed. I am definitely eating more cooked food and foods I haven’t eaten for years, such as dairy. Since being in London where my mum was often cooking vegan food for the rest of the family every day the temptation was just too much.
However since being back in Greece I have been feasting on cherries, strawberries and apricots. And been making green juices where possible perhaps every other day, as well as eating dairy products which is something I haven’t done for years. However I recently discovered sunflower seed butter spread over apple slices and topped with slices of banana and this seems to be taking the place of the cheese and crackers.
Here are the useful facts I recently discovered about sunflower seeds, oh how pleased I was to discover that my new favourite meal is feeding me and my baby a ton of nutrients.
* Sunflower seeds are 22% protein, proteins are composed of amino acids, which are the building blocks of human cells and are extremely important for a developing foetus.
For every 100 grams of sunflower seeds there are 30g of unsaturated fats and 30mg of essential linoleic acid, which reduces cholesterol deposits in the arteries and veins. Essential fats are useful if you are trying to break an addiction to high-fat foods because they are a healthy alternative and satisfy fat cravings, hence why when I have sunflower seeds I do not crave cheese.
One hundred grams of these tiny treasures contain 7mg of iron compared to 2½ mg in the same serving of beef. The growing child requires iron for the development of its blood supply as does ones body for its own blood supply. Sunflower seeds are also filled with potassium which helps flush and reduce sodium in the body. These seeds are plentiful in magnesium and phosphorus which help the body absorb calcium. There are 174mg of calcium in a cup of sunflower seeds. The calcium to phosphorus ratio makes the calcium readily available for the building of strong bones. Calcium is required by the growing foetus for strong bones and teeth. Sunflower seeds are a strong source of B vitamins, which include the infamous pregnancy nutrient folic acid. They are particularly high in thiamin and niacin which protect the health of the brain, skin and digestive tract.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Is this where the food cravings begin?
I have now fully accepted what is happening to my body and what is soon to be happening in my life.
How am I feeling? My hormones seem a little bit better, I don't seem too stressed and low, then again accepting all of this and getting over the shock has probably helped massively.
I am not feeling as sickly as I was before but I do have my moments. However I am wanting all the foods I know I shouldn't eat. Yesterday I ate 2 apple danish type things. I was quite satisfied with the 1 but had an extra one and couldn't resist the second I then felt very guilty and very bloated.
I have come to realise that if I overeat I feel sickly and if I let myself get too hungry I also feel out of sorts. So I have to make sure I don't get hungry and I eat little and often. Not always easy to do when I have a lot of running around to do at the moment. And I don't particularly want to be eating too much right now because I have a very fitting wedding dress to get into in a couple of weeks time.
I haven't put any extra weight on, only the couple of pounds I initially lost the first few days I found out I was pregnant and couldn't eat a lot. I just hope I can sustain that weight. Technically I should be able to.
Back to the food, I am consoling myself by making fresh juices including OJ which contains Folate which has an important role to play in helping people achieve good folic acid status, I am also trying to incorporate some greens in there too. I am also soaking almonds every day and eating some of those or mixing them into smoothies along with raw tahini for calcium. I also couldn't resist a packet of Halva yesterday while I was in the supermarket even though it is cooked it is made with honey instead of sugar and is mostly sesame paste which is high in calcium even if cooked. I should just make my own, but it is hard enough making my own juices let alone everything else.
Right now my baby is the size of a 5 pence piece and is developing its organs.
Ideally I should be booking my first Dr's appointment but when I am supposed to fit that in I don't know. It will have to wait till after the wedding if I see a Dr at all, I haven’t decided. Panos of course wants to see our baby on an ultrasound screen and has all the ideas about pregnancy in his head that are shown on the TV; ultrasounds, clean, easy hospital deliveries etc.
I am off to London on Saturday I am not looking forward to the 5 hour bus ride to Athens too much, Even though I haven’t been sick at all I'll have to make sure I take some carrier bags with me just in case I do feel sick on the bus or plane. I’ve been thinking a lot about when we tell our parents. Now that I am used to the idea I think I can handle it. I still think it would only be fair to tell both sets of parents together I just hope I can contain myself by then. I know that once I tell my mum the whole world will know. So I’ll probably wait till after the wedding as planned and if we get the chance we'll tell them before we come back to Greece, it doesn't give us much time but it beats waiting till the end of May when my parents come to Greece. Plus I want to start telling people and getting my blog off the ground.
How am I feeling? My hormones seem a little bit better, I don't seem too stressed and low, then again accepting all of this and getting over the shock has probably helped massively.
I am not feeling as sickly as I was before but I do have my moments. However I am wanting all the foods I know I shouldn't eat. Yesterday I ate 2 apple danish type things. I was quite satisfied with the 1 but had an extra one and couldn't resist the second I then felt very guilty and very bloated.
I have come to realise that if I overeat I feel sickly and if I let myself get too hungry I also feel out of sorts. So I have to make sure I don't get hungry and I eat little and often. Not always easy to do when I have a lot of running around to do at the moment. And I don't particularly want to be eating too much right now because I have a very fitting wedding dress to get into in a couple of weeks time.
I haven't put any extra weight on, only the couple of pounds I initially lost the first few days I found out I was pregnant and couldn't eat a lot. I just hope I can sustain that weight. Technically I should be able to.
Back to the food, I am consoling myself by making fresh juices including OJ which contains Folate which has an important role to play in helping people achieve good folic acid status, I am also trying to incorporate some greens in there too. I am also soaking almonds every day and eating some of those or mixing them into smoothies along with raw tahini for calcium. I also couldn't resist a packet of Halva yesterday while I was in the supermarket even though it is cooked it is made with honey instead of sugar and is mostly sesame paste which is high in calcium even if cooked. I should just make my own, but it is hard enough making my own juices let alone everything else.
Right now my baby is the size of a 5 pence piece and is developing its organs.
Ideally I should be booking my first Dr's appointment but when I am supposed to fit that in I don't know. It will have to wait till after the wedding if I see a Dr at all, I haven’t decided. Panos of course wants to see our baby on an ultrasound screen and has all the ideas about pregnancy in his head that are shown on the TV; ultrasounds, clean, easy hospital deliveries etc.
I am off to London on Saturday I am not looking forward to the 5 hour bus ride to Athens too much, Even though I haven’t been sick at all I'll have to make sure I take some carrier bags with me just in case I do feel sick on the bus or plane. I’ve been thinking a lot about when we tell our parents. Now that I am used to the idea I think I can handle it. I still think it would only be fair to tell both sets of parents together I just hope I can contain myself by then. I know that once I tell my mum the whole world will know. So I’ll probably wait till after the wedding as planned and if we get the chance we'll tell them before we come back to Greece, it doesn't give us much time but it beats waiting till the end of May when my parents come to Greece. Plus I want to start telling people and getting my blog off the ground.
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Accepting, adjusting and bouncing ideas
I am slowly coming around to the idea of having a baby, it is becoming a reality and I think I have come a long way.
Panos is finally understanding that this is a big step and that changes are already becoming apparent in me, i.e. my hormones playing with my emotions and I think he is now accepting that I will and do feel sickly at times. He didn’t realise that sickness and hormone changes come about so soon, he expected me to go through these when it is actually visible that I am pregnant. I discovered a website: http://www.askbaby.com/ which allows you to track your babies development every week with an animation of how it looks and details about the kind of symptoms one can experience during this week and the week by week development of the foetus. Using the website I have been able to show Panos the huge changes taking place in my body and make him understand that my mood swings are not me being awkward.
I am trying my best to stay raw but it is very difficult because when I am hungry I have to eat there and then and the past few days I have been rushed out of the house without having eaten and had to eat while out. Hence grabbing rice cakes or a vegan spinach pie. One good thing is that it is fasting time here in Greece so vegan food is easy to come by, unfortunately raw food isn't. Unless I was to go to the green grocer and buy some apples or something which isn't appealing to me right now.
When I am at home I am ok, I have an idea in my head of what I should be eating and how I want to eat it, and because of the lack of temptation I am able to do it. There are days when I want to eat everything, and there are days when nothing is appealing to me and it is hard to get anything into me. Today was one of those days.
I woke up late and decided to do some yoga, I don't know if that was such a good idea. I did feel better afterwards and very hungry, but there were times during my practice that I got a little dizzy. I was careful and didn't do any upside down poses. After yoga I made a green juice with cucumber, celery and apple (whatever I had at home), after I drank my cup full (about 500ml) I felt a little sickly. I tried hard to ignore it, I find that if I keep myself busy it isn't so bad. So after sitting on the internet for a little bit I made some tahini because sesame seeds contain a lot of calcium and I read somewhere that even though the body at this time isn't able to absorb more calcium I still have to make sure I get an adequate amount in my diet. While making it I tried a little each time I stopped the food processor. At about 3ish Panos came home and started drinking beer so I talked him into letting me have his juice too.
We then decided to take a drive down to the Koronisia (the coast) where I sat in the sun and drank 2 glasses of orange juices, pasteurised of course, but there wasn't much option and I have to be careful not to get hungry because that is when I start to feel crappy. By the time we were on our way home I needed to pee and with Panos crazy driving I was feeling quite quesy by the time we pulled into the drive. Panos then proceeded to cook his fish on the BBQ while I got on and made an olive relish with the most amazing unsalted Kalamata olives it turned out quite nice but again by the time it came to sitting and eating I couldn't really face it. I ended up picking at it a little bit and just eating the cucumber slices and tomato quarters and I picked at some cooked sweet potato which was left from the day before. By the end of dinner I was feeling really tired and not too good at all, so we decided to have a little nap. I think we were asleep for about 10 minutes when Panos phone rang and woke me up. I then couldn't go back to sleep and read until about 9pm. I then decided to get up and make a raw shake with the tahini. I blended a banana, some soaked almonds, strawberries and tahini with water cinnamon carob nutmeg and ground clove. It wasn't too bad tasting but wasn't great. Panos drank his no problem. It took me over an hour to drink mine because I didn't really want it and started to feel quesy after the first few sips, but I kept trying and eventually drank the lot.
Today I think I am feeling the worst I have so far and literally every hour I need to pee without even drinking that much, I don't know where the fluid is coming from.
So far we have briefly spoken about a home birth, but I am not sure Panos is taking me seriously. We also briefly touched on the subject of what our kids will eat. From his point of view he ate everything as a kid and turned out ok, which included meat, dairy, sweets and all sorts of crap. My views are of course different, although I have visions of my motherinlaw feeding my kids all kinds of crap behind my back I will try to stand my ground, but I don't think I will be a crazy parent who wont let my kids go near anything cooked. I think I will be fighting a lost cause in Greece and I am not resigning myself to my kids eating a SUKD diet but the same way I do what I can when I am at home and relax to a certain extent when out or visiting others I will probably take the same stand point with my baby/babies.
Panos is finally understanding that this is a big step and that changes are already becoming apparent in me, i.e. my hormones playing with my emotions and I think he is now accepting that I will and do feel sickly at times. He didn’t realise that sickness and hormone changes come about so soon, he expected me to go through these when it is actually visible that I am pregnant. I discovered a website: http://www.askbaby.com/ which allows you to track your babies development every week with an animation of how it looks and details about the kind of symptoms one can experience during this week and the week by week development of the foetus. Using the website I have been able to show Panos the huge changes taking place in my body and make him understand that my mood swings are not me being awkward.
I am trying my best to stay raw but it is very difficult because when I am hungry I have to eat there and then and the past few days I have been rushed out of the house without having eaten and had to eat while out. Hence grabbing rice cakes or a vegan spinach pie. One good thing is that it is fasting time here in Greece so vegan food is easy to come by, unfortunately raw food isn't. Unless I was to go to the green grocer and buy some apples or something which isn't appealing to me right now.
When I am at home I am ok, I have an idea in my head of what I should be eating and how I want to eat it, and because of the lack of temptation I am able to do it. There are days when I want to eat everything, and there are days when nothing is appealing to me and it is hard to get anything into me. Today was one of those days.
I woke up late and decided to do some yoga, I don't know if that was such a good idea. I did feel better afterwards and very hungry, but there were times during my practice that I got a little dizzy. I was careful and didn't do any upside down poses. After yoga I made a green juice with cucumber, celery and apple (whatever I had at home), after I drank my cup full (about 500ml) I felt a little sickly. I tried hard to ignore it, I find that if I keep myself busy it isn't so bad. So after sitting on the internet for a little bit I made some tahini because sesame seeds contain a lot of calcium and I read somewhere that even though the body at this time isn't able to absorb more calcium I still have to make sure I get an adequate amount in my diet. While making it I tried a little each time I stopped the food processor. At about 3ish Panos came home and started drinking beer so I talked him into letting me have his juice too.
We then decided to take a drive down to the Koronisia (the coast) where I sat in the sun and drank 2 glasses of orange juices, pasteurised of course, but there wasn't much option and I have to be careful not to get hungry because that is when I start to feel crappy. By the time we were on our way home I needed to pee and with Panos crazy driving I was feeling quite quesy by the time we pulled into the drive. Panos then proceeded to cook his fish on the BBQ while I got on and made an olive relish with the most amazing unsalted Kalamata olives it turned out quite nice but again by the time it came to sitting and eating I couldn't really face it. I ended up picking at it a little bit and just eating the cucumber slices and tomato quarters and I picked at some cooked sweet potato which was left from the day before. By the end of dinner I was feeling really tired and not too good at all, so we decided to have a little nap. I think we were asleep for about 10 minutes when Panos phone rang and woke me up. I then couldn't go back to sleep and read until about 9pm. I then decided to get up and make a raw shake with the tahini. I blended a banana, some soaked almonds, strawberries and tahini with water cinnamon carob nutmeg and ground clove. It wasn't too bad tasting but wasn't great. Panos drank his no problem. It took me over an hour to drink mine because I didn't really want it and started to feel quesy after the first few sips, but I kept trying and eventually drank the lot.
Today I think I am feeling the worst I have so far and literally every hour I need to pee without even drinking that much, I don't know where the fluid is coming from.
So far we have briefly spoken about a home birth, but I am not sure Panos is taking me seriously. We also briefly touched on the subject of what our kids will eat. From his point of view he ate everything as a kid and turned out ok, which included meat, dairy, sweets and all sorts of crap. My views are of course different, although I have visions of my motherinlaw feeding my kids all kinds of crap behind my back I will try to stand my ground, but I don't think I will be a crazy parent who wont let my kids go near anything cooked. I think I will be fighting a lost cause in Greece and I am not resigning myself to my kids eating a SUKD diet but the same way I do what I can when I am at home and relax to a certain extent when out or visiting others I will probably take the same stand point with my baby/babies.
Thursday, 17 April 2008
OMG – I’m pregnant!
I am almost 2 weeks late for my period and although I have had sensitive nipples, mood swings and a few food cravings it still hasn't come. I have actually been feeling a bit weird kind of like I have butterflies in my stomach or I am always hungry. Anyway on Sunday I had had enough of wondering when my period will come and decided to buy a pregnancy test, I think Panos was also getting fed up of me being a miserable cow. Anyway we came home did it and it came out negative I was relieved because even though I do want kids one day and we are getting married in a couple of weeks I don't think we are ready for a baby just yet.
A few days later still no period and I was still feeling nauseous and more tired than usual, we had been for a drive into the mountains to Panos’ Mum’s village, windy roads and Panos driving often make me feel a little queasy but nothing quite like this. When we got back I decided to do the other pregnancy test. Guess what it came back positive. I am in shock and was for a few days afterwards it all feels unreal. Panos thinks it is great but he really has no idea of the work and changes that are about to take place in our lives. I have so many worries and anxieties, I am miles away from my family, mainly my mum, who I always imagined would be by my side during this time. I don't want to go through a pregnancy without my mum nearby. Even though I am sure she will be happy about becoming a grandmother, I also think she will be sad that she isn’t nearby to see first hand my progress, advise me and help me with anything.
I wanted to have been more stable in my diet and raw food eating. I had it all mapped out I planned to have read a stack of books and made both our lives as toxin free as possible before we even thought about conceiving, I am also a long way from home and friends and as much as I love my life here I do feel lonely. Life has a funny way of surprising us when we are least expecting it.
I have so many questions.... How will I feel? Will I be sick for the first 3 months? Will I fit into my wedding dress? Where will I give birth? Will we be ok economically if I can’t work next year? Will we still be renting a 1 bedroom flat when our baby comes along? And so many more.
Panos and I are on different plains right now, he is ecstatic about it all, being an only child and having come from a family that wanted more children but couldn’t have them his view is that there are millions of women who want kids but can’t have them. It is just a lot for me to take in right now and so soon without warning. I feel terrible because I know this should be a happy time for us, but the shock and unanswered questions are driving me crazy. I have decided not to tell anyone even though I called Nat yesterday and told her everything, she was really understanding but I think she was as shocked as I was. We think the same about a lot of things and she understands me. The reason for this decision is because I don’t think I can handle everyone fussing over me even more so during the wedding and of course they say the 1st 3 months are delicate and there is a risk of miscarriage.
Regardless of the shock there is a life inside me and I intend to do everything in my power to protect this life that I hold.
A few days later still no period and I was still feeling nauseous and more tired than usual, we had been for a drive into the mountains to Panos’ Mum’s village, windy roads and Panos driving often make me feel a little queasy but nothing quite like this. When we got back I decided to do the other pregnancy test. Guess what it came back positive. I am in shock and was for a few days afterwards it all feels unreal. Panos thinks it is great but he really has no idea of the work and changes that are about to take place in our lives. I have so many worries and anxieties, I am miles away from my family, mainly my mum, who I always imagined would be by my side during this time. I don't want to go through a pregnancy without my mum nearby. Even though I am sure she will be happy about becoming a grandmother, I also think she will be sad that she isn’t nearby to see first hand my progress, advise me and help me with anything.
I wanted to have been more stable in my diet and raw food eating. I had it all mapped out I planned to have read a stack of books and made both our lives as toxin free as possible before we even thought about conceiving, I am also a long way from home and friends and as much as I love my life here I do feel lonely. Life has a funny way of surprising us when we are least expecting it.
I have so many questions.... How will I feel? Will I be sick for the first 3 months? Will I fit into my wedding dress? Where will I give birth? Will we be ok economically if I can’t work next year? Will we still be renting a 1 bedroom flat when our baby comes along? And so many more.
Panos and I are on different plains right now, he is ecstatic about it all, being an only child and having come from a family that wanted more children but couldn’t have them his view is that there are millions of women who want kids but can’t have them. It is just a lot for me to take in right now and so soon without warning. I feel terrible because I know this should be a happy time for us, but the shock and unanswered questions are driving me crazy. I have decided not to tell anyone even though I called Nat yesterday and told her everything, she was really understanding but I think she was as shocked as I was. We think the same about a lot of things and she understands me. The reason for this decision is because I don’t think I can handle everyone fussing over me even more so during the wedding and of course they say the 1st 3 months are delicate and there is a risk of miscarriage.
Regardless of the shock there is a life inside me and I intend to do everything in my power to protect this life that I hold.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
