Week 27: Day 2

Wow, it's been two weeks since I posted last! I kept meaning to, but I've been super busy with my Halloween costume ebook (which has sold 41 copies so far - hurray!). My house, unfortunately, has suffered as a result so today is my day to get everything back in order. Here are my stats so far...I've gained a bit!

Weeks 1-10: 134 to 141
Weeks 11-20: 141 to 141
Weeks 21-25: 141 to 144
Week 26: 144
Week 27: 145
Future Week 28 (7 months) goal: weigh no more than 150

So I went to the doctor's and they heard a good strong heartbeat and the nurse commented that they rarely see urine samples as clear as mine! Which I was happy for - a little nervous they might find protein in the urine but they didn't - and the funny thing is, I hadn't drank that much water that morning. It must've been the watermelon which is really, really cleansing. I usually have half a smallish watermelon in the morning for breakfast. They also said I'd gained 4lbs! Which is weird...but they did weigh me with a very full bladder and all my clothes on. I always weigh myself first thing in the morning with no clothes on and an empty stomach. Oh well - I'm glad they were happy and didn't ask me any questions. =) But I suspect that possibly next time they're going to wonder because I'll probably be the same.

So I did something I've never done before. I officially refused the gestational diabetes test. The one where you have to drink an entire cup full of orange soda pop, wait for an hour, and then they draw your blood to see how your blood sugar level is. Every part of my being just said do NOT put that into my body - even though medical logic says it's always good just to "know". But since 1) I've never had it before and 2) out of everyone on the planet, I have the absolute least chance of getting it - I am not very worried. My doctor was so nice about it - just said as long as you know the risks if you do have it, and then went on her merry way. That was really nice not to have a confrontational sort of a thing.

I've continued to stay strong on 100% raw - it's been 43 days now. I remember now how it was when I went 2 1/2 months 100% - after a while it just becomes like second nature. My mind blocks out any thoughts of having cooked food to any degree, and I go happily on my way making my smoothies, chocolate shakes, etc.

The other day I made the onion bread and I could not stop eating it! I think it was the salt in the Braggs which is like "soy sauce" - I ate an entire batch in 48 hours. It consists of 2 large sweet onions, 1 cup of ground sunflower seeds, 1 cup of ground flax seeds which are full of the omegas that you get in fish, etc and are so important for pregnancy, 1/3 cup of olive oil, and about 1/4 cup of Braggs. Just mix all that together and dehydrate it for about 12 hours total and you've got the yummiest wrap/flat bread ever. I put my delicious fresh sweet heirloom tomatoes straight from the garden (my produce delivery) on them & just eat them that way. I need to make more today. =)

One thing though - the gas is sooooo awful with the onion bread!! Not gas like in my tummy, but when it comes out the other end, LOL! And a couple of mornings I woke up and had to RUN to the bathroom - and had a good while sitting there as I had a serious bowel movement. I think it must be the flax; that's kind of alot to have at once. I've been putting 1/4 cup of flax seeds (ground) in my green smoothies every day, as well as 1 heaping tsp. of Spirulina (it's almost gone now though) and 1 tsp. of Maca. I don't even taste the Maca anymore (it tastes like burnt peanuts, kind of gross) and I used to majorly taste it so that's good.

I am finding that I'm craving more fatty stuff - I've been eating alot of avocadoes. I've had my favorite avocado-strawberry-mango salad with mango macadamia nut dressing often in the past few days and also made a batch or two of guacamole last week. I'm not worried about my weight gain - if I don't gain anything, that means I'm actually losing but the baby is still growing - and that's all good, although I don't want to get too skinny. I'm feeling like my clothes are even more loose, if anything - the size Medium maternity tops I bought at Old Navy are all pretty loose. I could probably get away with size Small if I really wanted to.

Oh yes! I took some pictures for my blog at 6 1/2 months - I just took them in the mirror with a very messy bedroom in the background so I'm going to see if I can crop & fix some of that first before I post them. I've got a sideways & front shot. I'll probably take pictures again around 8 months, then at 9 months right before I'm due, then also several months after I have the baby.

Pictures tell EVERYTHING - and I'm excited to document this pregnancy by how I look. Especially comparing - OMG! I checked out pictures of my trip to Europe when I was pregnant with Marie & I had just 2 months to go. I was huge, like seriously! I looked like someone took a pump and just pumped me right on up into a blimp looking sort of person. It's crazy - I didn't realize how much weight I had gained, and how much I had NOT gained this pregnancy. So the side-by-side comparison is going to be THE awesome, tell-all testimony for this...because people can look at me now and think oh yeah, well, she's just one of "those" people who doesn't gain and looks great through pregnancy. Ha! On one hand I'm so happy to finally be one of "those" people but on the other hand, I'm having to work harder than heck for it, you know?

Oh yes, and sorry this is so long, I'm probably making up for the lack of no post last week. I've been feeling better as far as irritability goes. I've been trying to listen to my body and give it what it wants - like eating all that onion bread I started thinking maybe it was too much salt because I was really thirsty after eating it. But I'm just going to go with the flow - as long as it's raw, it doesn't matter...at least while pregnancy is going on. I don't want to restrict myself at all because I know the baby is growing too.

I've also been thinking about eating this way as a lifestyle change, and thinking that it isn't such a bad thing maybe, to eat a cooked vegetarian meal once in a while. I really love cheese and would have maybe sprinkled parmesan or something - I couldn't just say NO to cheese forever, you know? But talking to Tina, she was saying that you just have to be careful about what you eat cooked. Like bread really isn't a very good idea. But possibly going to a Mexican restaurant and getting a veggie fajita where they cook the veggies right in front of you AND the flour tortillas are cooked right there - with guacamole, salsa, lettuce, and a little sour cream maybe. That wouldn't be so bad because the tortillas don't have any preservatives since they're cooked & eaten immediately...unlike the ones in the store that sit on the shelf for months and look exactly the same.

That gives me a little bit more hope that I can have a "life" - especially when Bret & I go on a date or when we go away for a couple of nights. I think it'd probably be OK to eat all raw for the day and then eat a simple, yummy cooked vegan or vegetarian dinner that night. Staying away from pasta & bread - which would be hard - but doable, you know? And of course sweets and all that other stuff.

I told her about my experience with eating the Thai stir fry with white rice & chili jam - and how it completely made me drop like a ROCK - I had to lay on the couch for several hours before I could get up again. I also remembered that I ate three deep-fried spring rolls with sweet & sour sauce so that probably did it too. Funny - as I'm typing this - the thought of eating that stuff again makes me feel ill! And it's always been my favorite, too. But anyway - (and by the way, I ate this a long time ago after I'd been raw on one of my longer 10-day stints) she said it was probably the sugar in the chili jam and also white rice is awful for you - but brown is okay. I'll have to remember that.

I also remember when I had been raw for like 7 whole days, then went and had some salmon with brown rice & ceasar salad. I didn't feel very bad after eating that, and I remember thinking that maybe I CAN eat something like that every once in a while. She was saying you have to think about where it is on the food chain - like she ate sushi (she's been 100% raw for 46 days like me) about 2 weeks ago with her DH because he really really wanted to do that with her - and she felt totally fine afterwards. It's at the top of the food chain she said, and because it was raw. So it's all really interesting.

I went to the fair with my family last Thursday and that was also really cool. It's cool to see people that you think, "I am so inspired to look like THAT!!" and then to see other people who are overweight with faces that are saggy and lifeless hair and think......."I am so inspired not to look like THAT!!" The food was a teensy bit hard because of the smells that were so delicious and brought back memories. I mean you know, elephant ears just MEAN the fair - they ARE the fair; everyone knows that. Corndogs too. So those smells were nostalgic for me but I just drank my green smoothie and was OK with buying them for the kids & not having one bite.

Food is starting to taste really delicious. I ate some carrots yesterday and wow, they were so juicy and full of flavor and just really yummy!! I also had an apple last night that was crunchy, cool, and just about the best apple ever. The salad I had the other day was almost too sweet! With the sweetest strawberries & mangos, it was like someone had dumped a bunch of sugar on my salad. Mmmmm that is one of the best salads ever...I wonder if my mangos are done today? I buy them super hard and it takes like 4-5 days to get soft enough that they're juicy and ripe.