Sunday, October 5, 2008

belly photo



Me at 28 weeks!

Yeah yeah...

It's been awhile, I know. Life got in the way. Well, I'm currently 29 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good. I had been exercising in the beginning of the pregnancy, then sort of slacked off for about a month. Last month I joined a gym, because I decided that paying for a gym membership was the only way I was going to keep up with exercising. My mentality is, why pay for something you aren't going to use? It's my motivation, what can I say? I've been hitting the gym about 4 times a week, and the days I don't go, I try and go outside and take a long walk. If I plan on having this baby naturally, I sure want to be in the best shape possible. Speaking of the baby, we decided on Ethan as a first name, but we have yet to determine the middle name. Maybe we'll save that for after the birth. We have a few ideas, but nothing solid yet. Any thoughts?

My only complaint right now about my pregnancy is heartburn. I've been dealing with it for about a month now, but it's just recently started getting worse. I've figured out some of the triggers though and for the most part have tried to avoid them. Cooked tomatoes, most citrus, and greasy foods cause the worse heartburn, while dairy products and eating small frequent meals seem to help quite a bit. Oh, and the best remedy of all thus far is Tums. Hopefully they will continue to work effectively over the next 11 weeks.

I've begun to think about the birth more now that time is dwindling away. Surprisingly, time seems to be moving faster than I expected. I mean, I can't believe I'm already in my last trimester! I have been thinking about whether I want to have a water-birth, what kinds of foods I'll want to have with me while I'm laboring, what labor will feel like, how long I'll labor before going to the birthing center, whether I can handle the pain, etc. etc. Luckily, the child birthing class starts at the end of this month and lasts until less than two weeks before my due date. As much as I know that preparing for birth is not exactly the same as studying for a test, the preparation classes seem like they will be comforting to me and will help me feel more prepared.

Baby Ethan seems more real to me now that he is running low on room and I can feel him move around inside, switching positions, pressing on my ribs, kicking my bladder, and playing games with me. Occasionally, I will press on my belly and he will press back. Oh and let me tell you, when he gets hiccups, it's the most irritating feeling ever. The rhythmic patter of hiccups when I am trying to go to sleep is so obnoxious, but I am trying to enjoy this stage while it lasts, because before long, he won't be living inside of me, an experience that I've come to enjoy. I know that the last trimester may be a different story. I may be so sick of this that I can't wait for him to be in my arms and not in my belly anymore, but right now I'm savoring it. I also have been trying to fight the guilt of sleeping too much, not keeping the house in spic and span shape at all times, like I used to try and do, because I know in a few months, my life is going to completely change, and I'm no longer going to have the luxury of sleeping until I wake up or the time to keep my house looking Martha Stewart-worthy. So, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

As far as cooking goes. I'm so glad that the nausea went away at around 17 weeks. Food has made me happy again like it used to. For months nothing sounded good and I only ate because I knew I needed too, but now food, especially the tasty treats that I get from the farmer's market every week make me drool again. This last week, my sister brought me some persimmons, butternut squash, apples and sweet potatoes, as well as bacon and eggs..my weekly must. Let me tell you, it's hard to compare store-bought produce to locally grown, fresh produce. Bursting with flavor, it's difficult to go back to buying an organic apple imported from Chile from the grocery store, after savoring an apple grown less than 50 miles away. With the butternut squash and sweet potatoes, I made a soup:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 onion, chopped
6-8 cups chicken or vegetable stock (depending on how long you cook it and how thick you like it)
thyme, black pepper and nutmeg to taste
2 tbsp olive oil

sautee onions in olive oil until translucent

add squash, sweet potatoes, stock and seasoning and cook until vegetables are tender. scoop the veggies from the pot into a blender and blend until smooth, adding some of the liquid in if it's too thick, then transfer back to pot and continue to cook until hot. Do not add salt before tasting it. I did this and it became too salty, so I had to water it down. You can also garnish with a drizzle of fresh cream. yum!

Tonight I am preparing some chicken bone broth from the chicken I got at the farmer's market. After it's done cooking, I'll freeze it for later use in soups, stews and as a base for rice. I love homemade chicken stock! If you want instructions on how to make a bone broth, let me know.

Well, that's all I got for now. Hopefully I'll update in another week or so. I want to get back on track!