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.
