Is it an upset tummy or something more?

I have an upset tummy this afternoon. It bites. I don't want to eat, but I know that it means I should. I don't want to take my vitamins, but I know that I need to. Then I started wondering if some of the "weirdness" in my tummy is maybe Baby moving around? Hmmmm, it could be, maybe...I am only at 16 weeks and I am a little overweight so the drs and web sites all say that you likely won't feel baby this soon (unless you are skinny). So, instead of getting my hopes up that it *is* baby maybe I'll just eat something, close my office door and rest a few minutes...

...after I take my prenatal vitamins of course (all 8 of them).

I could not be more in love!

Three years ago today, Hubby and I got married in our back yard. We had a very small (33 guests) wedding and it was a surprise wedding! *We* knew we were getting married, and our friend Nick who performed the ceremony knew and so did 3 other friends who helped us out. But everyone else, parents, siblings, best friends...they were all in the dark! It was a wonderfully relaxed day, sunny, warm, slight breeze filled with love and absolutely ZERO stress! K and I wrote the entire wedding ceremony ourselves. It was really a labor of love and took some time and compromise...it was perfect! We wrote our own vows to each other and we kept them secret too! It was wonderful to see the faces on our loved ones when we came out of the house in different (dressier) clothes than we had just had on and watch as they started to get that there was more going on than a house and deck-warming party!

K is more than I could ever have dreamed of. He is my best friend, my partner, my world. I am so blessed to have a partner that respects me completely, cherishes me endlessly and is just everything I need and want. Everyday with him is a gift...I love you honey!

Another fun sewing project!

I came across directions the other day to make a youth t-shirt into a baby onsie! I think it might be fun to make a few. I am going to have to keep my eyes open for fun, sassy youth t-shirts to convert. Check out the complete directions here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Baby-Romper-from-a-T-Shirt

My clothes are shrinking!

I just realized that I still need to get a picture of the yard re-landscaping “AFTER” posted. I will try to take some pics tonight. I had been waiting for grass to grow back, and then I just got busy with other stuff.

I realized a couple of weeks ago that all my shirts are shrinking. They are all getting too short! I spent a few hours on Friday evening cleaning out my closet of all my favorite clothes that I know I won’t be wearing for the next year. I folded them nicely, said goodbye and put them in a tote. Of course, I followed my own closet cleaning rule too: if you haven’t worn it in a year, it gets tossed or donated. It really felt good to clean things out. Then, I got out the tote of Craigslist, garage sale and other maternity purchases. They all got washed and folded or hung in the closet too. Naturally, the tops are all hung by color, whites, tans, blues, pink, red, black.

I am wearing a real maternity shirt today. It’s weird. I guess I look in the mirror and see that my body is changing, but I am still down 11 pounds from where I was when I found out I was pregnant. And even though I weigh less, with the changing shape, my “skinny” jeans that I had been able to get back into don’t fit again. I am back to the “fat” jeans. They still have room in them for a little more belly growth. K was a sweetheart this morning too; he told me I looked wonderful! I told him that this was a maternity shirt and he was pretty surprised, he said it just looked like the current empire waist fashion. What a wonderful hubby! To the rest of the world I just look a little thick around the middle (typical American, right?) I am looking forward to looking pregnant!

an answered prayer

For my entire life I have been struggling with food choices and eating emotionally rather than eating for nutrition. In the months leading up to this pregnancy I was desperate to change, I prayed that God would help me be strong, help me make good choices, help me be healthy and respectful towards my body. It felt like a goal that I could never accomplish, I fought with myself, my head and my emotions. It was just disheartening.

Fast forward to today. I am eating healthier than I have even imagined possible. I am learning so much more about whole foods and balanced nutrition and proper eating habits. Most importantly, I am living it. It is *easy* to make the healthy choices and pick food that is the right kind of fuel for my body. I was thinking about this all last night while I was talking to a girlfriend about God's answered prayers and I just stopped in my tracks. I realized at that moment that God did answer my prayer for being healthful and strong enough to make the right kinds of food choices. He put me in a place where He knew I would pull on everything inside me to fight for our Baby, to prove western medicine wrong and to be as healthy as humanly possible. God answered my prayer about being healthy and being able to teach our child that food is not a source of comfort or love, it's nutrition and fuel for your body. I know that I can continue to live like this, live in a way I never thought I would be strong enough to do. I am praising the Lord for answering this prayer for me so strongly!

God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7

More details about great ultrasound yesterday.

Below are our child's feet! The arrow is pointing to them in the center of the image; you can actually count all ten perfect little toes! I cannot wait to hold them in my hands and play with them and kiss them!

I was just so excited about the ultrasound yesterday that I left some things out that were also great! And, I have the radiology report now too so I have the exact measurements of the fibroid. The fibroid the first time we saw it at 9 weeks was 2.5" x 3.5" x 3.0". Now, it is 2.25" x 1.53" x 1.8"! That is a dramatic change in 6 weeks! I cannot thank you all for your prayers! Indeed, they are working! And, I am even more motivated in keeping with this healthy living! I am not calling it a diet anymore, it's more than just a change for the pregnancy, a lot of the ways I am eating now will continue through nursing and then throughout life with me. I just feel better, my seasonal allergies are totally gone for the first time since I was 10 years old, and I know I am doing the right thing for my body and my baby. We both deserve to be healthy and I want to model this for my child growing up. It just feels good to treat my body right. More on that in tomorrow's post...

Another bit of great news is the location of the fibroid. It is on the outside of the uterus, at the top left. That is a great place for a fibroid (if you have to have one) because it will not impede any of Baby's growth, nor will it get in the way of the uterus contracting during or after labor. That is super huge, because some fibroids on the inside of the uterus can actually prevent the uterus from contracting after delivery and can contribute to lots of bad bleeding and the necessity of blood transfusions or emergency hysterectomy. Now, both of those are off the watch and risk list for us! Another WOOHOO!

We also found out that the placenta is high and on the back of the uterus, a perfect place for it to be! So much good news was crammed into 45 minutes yesterday that it was hard not to float as we walked around the State Fair! Hubby and I took a day off to play together and we really enjoyed the first day of the Great Minnesota Get Together. All the great news from the ultrasound also made it super easy to stick to the dietary restrictions out there. Ya, Sweet Martha's cookies smelled fabulous, but I enjoyed the smell and was not tempted to have one. I did eat all of this though: beef tips with horseradish sauce, turkey leg, buffalo steak kabob, organic nectarine, fresh squeezed lemonade without sugar, and one bad thing...a boysenberry malt from the dairy building. It's the only sugary food I have had in 6 weeks...I felt kinda bad about it.

The power of prayer, strict diet and supplements!

If this doesn't freak a new parent out, I don't know what will. At just 15 weeks our baby *looks* like a baby! It's staring right at us! Granted, it has that Close Encounters alien look, but it's our little alien!

We had our second ultrasound this morning. We invited my mom to come along, since she had asked weeks ago if she could come see. She already has 6 gorgeous grandkids, but this was the first one she got to see in an ultrasound! (At least this 7th grandchild is standing out from the crowd already!)

Again, we were blessed with an amazing technician! She looked at our first results and before she even started the ultrasound she told us that fibroids grow during pregnancy so ours was going to be bigger. The she got to work looking around inside me. The first glimpse of baby was fast since she zoomed right to the uterus. It looked wonderful and the placenta is in a "perfect position" high and to the back of the uterus! Yeah!!! Then she looked at the fibroid, she asked me, "it was 6cm before, right?" I answered yes and she said, quite surprised, "It's smaller!" Another cheer erupted from the crowd! I didn't get the exact measurements, but I will get that on the radiology report tomorrow. Then we got down to the fun stuff...Baby! We got to see lots of the little one. It was rolling around, kicking and moving arms. The spine shows up clear as day, as well as the head and the brain. She showed us the formation of the lens of the eye too! There was a great shot she got of the bottom of Baby's feet and then the cutest one of all...Baby was sucking it's thumb for a few seconds! Ok, all together, "awwwwwww!"

We got up to leave and she handed us 8 or 10 feet of pictures that she had taken and printed! She said that Gramma had to have some and that there should be one for my desk and K's desk too! She was a real sweetheart and was wonderful to talk to for the scan.

So, all the dietary changes and tough restrictions for the fibroid and the supplements multiple times a day and of course the prayers are working beautifully! I cannot thank you all enough. Our God is good!

The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. ~ Psalm 34:17

Below is a side profile shot of Baby, fasing the right side of the screen, sucking it's thumb!

Below is Baby actually looking like it was relaxing on it's back, legs in the air, see that cute little ear?!?!?!

Some gorgeous models!

I have soooo many edits to do...my head is swimming! I have two senior sessions to edit and cull and a family session. They were all a blast and all the kids were spectacular!

enough food already!

I’ve never been one to complain about eating! I love eating! I have battled with being overweight, chubby, “big boned” pretty much my whole life. I always told myself it was because I was too weak to make the right kinds of food choices or that I was just doomed to be a big girl.
The last 12 weeks have taught me a lot! I am strong enough to make superbly healthy choices! I have been eating super clean, whole, organic, unprocessed foods for the past 3 months and it’s not been too hard. Sure, there was the one time I *really* craved a DQ Girl Scout, Thin Mint Blizzard. I looked up the nutritional information online and the ingredients. That stopped me in my tracks! There is no way I would feed that to my baby! Suddenly, that “treat” looked like a poison to me and the craving was gone! In fact, just eating like this I have lost 11 pounds in my first trimester, I am 15 weeks pregnant now and have not gained any weight, I am still holding steady with the weight loss.

I have learned too that morning sickness or the queasies are easily cured by eating every 2-3 waking hours and being sure to get some quality protein in every time I eat. (That, and my midwife told me that I have to eat that often!) Last night I was tired, had a sinus headache, and I knew without looking at the clock that it had been just over 3 hours since I had eaten. I was starting to feel less than great (kinda’ crappy, in fact). I was in the kitchen staring in the fridge and I wanted to cry. I just growled and yelled to K that I was sick of eating! “I am sick of my entire day being about eating!” Then I felt like I had to explain myself…I am happy to be making healthy lifestyle changes for baby’s health and mine. I am happy to plan out everything I eat for the next 24 hours to be sure I get 70-100 grams of protein everyday and all the other pregnancy and fibroid dietary recommendations. I am happy to take the supplements. But I was just tired. I wanted it to be easy. It’s not. It’s not going to be. Motherhood is going to be hard. It’s going to throw me even more curve balls, it’s not going to be a perfect schedule and there are going to be times when I want to sit on the floor and cry and scream.

Don’t get me wrong, I am excited and happy to be pregnant and to be getting ready for the next stage in my life and in our marriage, but last night and today I am just tired of eating. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s been 2 hours since I’ve eaten and I need to munch on a peach and some almonds…(the almonds have 12 grams of protein in ¼ cup by the way!)

First Annual Oh Baby Triathlon!

K and I organized and held a family and friends social triathlon on Saturday. It was billed as a social event, not a competitive event. By all accounts it was a success! We had the swim at Schultz Lake Beach near our home, followed by a 9 mile bike ride back to our home and then a 2.5 mile walk/jog. Our friends, Jim, Rob, K and I did all 3 parts, while several other friends did the bike and walk/jog and still others did the walk. It really was a perfect day for the event too. Sunny, warm, very little wind...Everyone brought some yummy, healthy dishes to share so lunch was a great way to refuel our bodies with quality food. I wore my heart rate monitor for the whole thing so I could track my heart rate and be sure that I was not pushing myself too hard. When I looked at the end of the walk to see my heartrates (high low and average) I was floored to see that I had burned over 800 calories! Woohoo! It didn't feel like it was hard work, it really was fun and I didn't kill myself doing it. It feels wonderful to be living healthy and to be setting such a great example for the Baby even now.

We look forward to doing this again next year. I have already been told that Gramma will hold the baby while I participate.

the nursery & baby stuff

We did pick out a "theme" for Baby's room. It's going to be a cute little jungle safari off road thing. K was so sweet, he asked me some time ago what my thoughts were for the decor of the baby room. I just looked at him and said, "Whatever we decide to do we need to realize it's for us, not the kid. The kid won't care and won't remember." Is that just coldly too practical? Oh well, it's true! I figure when the ankle-biter is older then they can pick out colors and a theme they want and we can go all out. For now, a simple wall paper border, some hand painted trees and grass and some larger border-matching wall decals will have to do. We will be painting the room sometime in October with the VOC-free paint and getting it all set up. For now, the baby supplies are wonderfully piling up! We have a hand-me-down crib and changing table (THANKS G!), a dumpster dive find of a glider-rocker and ottoman. It's all coming together! I am 14 weeks along now, by the end of August it will be 16 weeks. I am still fitting in my "pre-baby" jeans and they are still buttoned, but I have a feeling I will have to go to my "fat" jeans soon. After my fat clothes don't fit anymore then I will go to maternity pants. Unfortunately, a lot of my shirts are just feeling too short already so I am wearing some maternity tops, but not the big tenty ones. I am wearing the fitted ones that don't look maternity and some other empire waist ones that are not maternity. Thank goodness the style that many people are wearing now is empire waist! I am finding lots of shirts that can be transitional pieces in my wardrobe! We've also spent some time talking about names. Our 5 weeks in New Zealand really influenced us! the Tasman Sea and the National Park is probably our favorite place in the world - literally! We also heard some gorgeous Kiwi names while we were there. Needless to say, the saints names are not high on our lists. We are trying to temper some of the more unique names with more "normal" middle names...oh the baby fun!

*crazy* week!

Wow, it has been an insane week in this household! The Olympics aren't helping me either! I have been staying up far far too late and have been doing things that can be done while watching tv so I can watch the games! Needless to say, you can get a LOT of laundry done on commercial breaks! hehehe! I also had a senior photo shoot this week and another one that got rained out. We are hosting a fun triathlon on Saturday so I am finalizing plans and details for the event. I am also working on some quilting that I am woefully behind on! I have a quilt block that needs to be done by Wednesday and also a baby quilt that is waiting for it's binding! It's a gift quilt so I need to get that taken care of before baby is too old for it. Yikes!

We have our next ultrasound appointment on Monday. I am so excited to see Baby again and to check the size of the fibroid. I am just confident that all will be well. I so appreciate your prayers!

I had this whole blog all planned out...

...and I forgot my camera!!! We had our wonderful friends from Iowa up to stay with us for the weekend! The girls (neighbor friend, Iowa friend and I) all went to the spa on Saturday afternoon. Oh it was bilssful! I had a prenatal massage and I learned so much from the massage therapist too! Then we spent a long time in the Oasis after our therapies. What is the Oasis, you ask? Oh the Oasis is a little room of heaven on earth! The spa has a waiting room where you are in your spa robe, with spa slippers, drinking yummy tea or water just relaxing. The lighting is dim, there is a bubbly-gurgly water feature and a crackling fake fireplace. The chairs are deep and cushy and there are soft chenille blankets to cuddle into if you are chilled. Really, it's a terribly relaxing, time-has-stopped room. The 3 of us LOVE it! After the spa, we met back up with the hubbies who had spent the day kayaking and we went out to dinner. Then it was back to our house to play games and laugh. Really, a perfect day!

What's your perfect day?

the wrong side of the camera

I was completely on the wrong side of the camera last nite! Check out Tina's blog for a sneak peek! I laughed so hard all evening, we did lots more things that "normal brides" would never allow for fear (and legitimate fear!) of wrecking their dress! There are two entries, "One Brave Girl" and "Here she is".

Food stuff part 2

Another night was spent trying to figure out the menu... It only took about 25 minutes this time! And this morning it only took me about 10 minutes to already wreck it! I *have* to figure out some way to make this oatmeal palatable. It’s pretty gross, so I ate 3 spoons and dumped it out. I did eat my hard boiled egg though. By 9 am I was feeling just icky though so I knew I didn’t have enough to eat and it was SO time for a snack.

My scrapper friend, Crystal asked me a question on my blog yesterday about groceries and cost and such. For a long time I have split my grocery shopping between Rainbow or Byerlys and my co-op, Valley Natural Foods. I am spending more of my grocery time at Valley Natural now, but still find myself running to the other two in a pinch or for things that K likes, (lunchmeats, Mt. Dew).

There are times that I am surprised at the stores. This week organic raspberries were 50 cents cheaper than non-organic at Byerlys. And cereals are so flippin expensive that the organic cereal is pretty much the same price as non-organic. Even if you don’t go organic, just buying fresh food and whole grain products are so great for your body! Yes, the “crap” food is cheaper, but that’s because it’s more chemical than real food. If you do want to get cheaper organic prices I recommend checking out a co-op. Since their whole store is dedicated to providing foods with out added chemicals, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colorings you get a more wholesome food, which is better for your body. And since all they purchase for the store is organic stuff, their prices tend to be a little less expensive and the selection can’t be beat! You don't have to be a co-op member to shop there! Definately go, just to check it out!

Another great place for inexpensive, local, fresh produce is your farmers market! I love going to the FM on the weekends! They are all over the metro area so check one out! Some things are organic, some are not, but they are all locally grown and fresh. I do recommend the eggs! Free-range chickens on organic feed make the yummiest eggs! You really can taste the difference. I have been buying 2 dozen almost every week this summer.

Menu planning insanity and baby update!

K and I were talking last night about how happy, blessed and lucky we are to have the midwife we have! We both feel like we are in the right place and we like and trust our midwife so much. She is also an ND, which is a Naturopath Doctor, an awesome additional resource to have! We got to see her last night for our regular pre-natal appointment. I love our appointments with her and I am already looking forward to our next appointment with her in September. Last night we got to hear the baby’s heartbeat for a long time! It was soooooo cool! I teared up (of course) and Kyle just looked amazed. It was strong and just perfect! For those of you who are using old wives’ tales to try to figure out if we are having a boy or a girl, the heart rate was 159-161 bpm. Baby is doing great and I am on the right track!

I also have a wonderful, comprehensive guideline from our midwife of foods to eat to minimize the effects and growth of the fibroid. Combine that with the list of things you are supposed to eat for a healthy baby and mom during pregnancy and it gets a little overwhelming! I sat at the dining room table last night with a notebook and tried to make a menu for today. It was pretty hard!

Here is what a well-balanced pregnancy diet consists of:
Daily- two eggs, two servings of seafood, chicken, beef, pork or beans, two good servings of fresh green leafy veggies, 4 or more slices of whole wheat bread or cornmeal, a piece of citrus fruit, 3 pats of butter, other fruits and veggies.
Then add in: a serving of whole grain cereal (oatmeal), a yellow or orange colored fruit or veggie 5x/week, whole baked potato 3x/week

Now for the fibroid minimizing I need to also add in this: Increase complex carbs such as veggies, sea veggies & fruits, consume 70-100 grams of protein every day, cruciferous veggies every day (cauliflower, broccoli, kale, watercress, radishes), legumes & rye every day, 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed every day.

Then I cannot eat any of this stuff: sugar, refined carbs, refined foods, saturated fats, hydrogenated anything, chocolate (I know, a death sentence!), black tea, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners.

See the dining room table dilemma late night? It took me close to 30 minutes and I am sure it still needs some work, but here is what today’s menu/diet consists of. All stuff is organic unless otherwise mentioned. Oh, as a side note, I also found out that I am not eating frequently enough or getting enough protein.

Breakfast: whole grain oatmeal with 2 T flaxseed meal
AM snack: kiwi fruit with protein shake
Lunch: Quinoa with broccoli & tomato, hard boiled egg, fruit
PM snack: cheese, broccoli with cabbage & carrots, almonds
Dinner: Turkey burger patty on slice of rye bread with ½ avocado & dark green mixed lettuce salad
Bedtime snack: citrus fruit with hard boiled egg
To drink all day: purified water and caffeine free herbal teas without sweeteners

So, I will be spending lots of time planning menus and learning how to cook and eat without any processed foods. Bye bye pizza! It is not a bad thing though. This whole food whole grain lifestyle is a better, healthier lifestyle. It just requires a little learning curve. I am excited to be healthier, to treat my body with respect and to teach my child from the beginning that food is a source of nutrition and fuel for our body.

Don't confuse a rock nap with a dirt nap!

This is how I spent one hour on the North Shore on Saturday. We hiked a section of the Superior Hiking Trail out of Beaver Bay and we came across this gorgeous section of river with waterfalls above us and below us. I ended up scooting down to the end of the rock and laid there with the sun on me and my legs in the river taking a one hour nap. It was wonderful! The sounds of the waterfalls just put me right out! Talk about relaxing!

I am soooo refreshed after a day at My Lake!

Although there are pictures of me at Lake Superior as young as 4 years old, the earliest memory I have of Lake Superior was when I was 12 years old. I sat on the beach of Park Point and filled my lined journal with profound, emotional poetry.

Lake Superior has been re-christened as My Lake to all who know me well. It has become one of my safe places, my sanctuary, my re-connecting place. I convinced K to spend the day with me along Minnesota's North Shore so I could be with My Lake. What a wonderful day it was! I brought K to the best rock beach in the world (Mn State Wayside, Flood Bay) just outside of Two Harbors and we watched kayakers and had a yummy picnic lunch. Then we cruised up to Beaver Bay and hiked part of the Superior Hiking Trail. We followed the trail down to some beautiful waterfalls. It felt so good to take off the hiking boots, slip the feet in the water and lay back...so good in fact, that I ended up taking a 1 hour nap just laying with my legs in the river on the rock in the sun! Mmmmmm, this is the stuff relaxing is made of! After that we headed to Park Point, another of my favorite places to sit with our toes in the sand and listen to the waves. It was a perfect road trip day!

a few changes start today

I had a great conversation with my chiropractor yesterday. After she talked to her Nutrition Guru about me they made a plan. First thing I need to do: eat only whole foods, nothing refined or processed (basically nothing out of a can, bag or box). When I found out I was pregnant I really reduced the processed food that I ate, but now I need to just stop completely. The only thing I am not sure how to do is get the whole grains that I need to get every day. Sure, there is some great brown-whole-grain rice, but what are my other options? Since I am not sure, I will be making an appointment with a nutritionist at Valley Natural Foods. I am excited to learn more about living on whole (REAL) foods! It's certainly a much healthier way to feed and fuel out bodies!

Another recommendation from the Guru is to add 1 gram of fish oil to my daily vitamin intake. I already have 1 gram in the pack of prenatal vitamins, but will be doubling that now. Fish oil is a major anti-inflammatory! It also helps with making good moods! I noticed when I started taking fish oils a year ago that I was just happier, of course, K noticed when I'd forget and *stop* taking them! (oops!) I am also adding a supplement called Dynamic Greens. It too is an anti-inflammatory and super great anti-oxidant that also has probiotics for a healthy gut. The plan is to remove all sources of inflammation and irritation to my body; to give Baby and me real, wholesome sources of nutrition. Fibroids thrive on estrogen (can't get rid of that while being pregnant!) and inflammation in the body. If we can control or eliminate one it may help keep the fibroid from getting any larger.

In addition to those supplement changes I also take a prenatal vitamin pack every day and a liquid iron and mineral supplement. I'll have to remember to take a picture this weekend of all the wonderful things I get to try to remember to take every day! It's kinda funny!

Again, thank you all for your prayers. I am confident that Baby will continue to grow healthy and strong and that we will have a wonderful pregnancy, labor and delivery! I am back to enjoying everyday of this journey with a deep sense of gratitude, peace and continued amazement at all the changes!