Sore hips and the best Christmas.

24 weeks today.

I am starting to need more sleep again. While my energy returned a bit after I began the second trimester, I now once again require a minimum of 9 hours sleep at night, sometimes more.  I’m not really able to take naps during the day; they don’t seem to fit in anywhere.  Perhaps the need for more sleep also comes from the fitfulness of the sleep I do get. My hips are extremely sore after a few hours of laying down, and I continually catch myself flipped onto my back. The placenta is at the back of my uterus, so it’s not the best thing for the baby’s weight (not that it’s much right now; just over a pound!) to be on top of it; that can slow the baby’s heartbeat.  Plus I feel the weight, and it makes me uncomfortable too! The body pillow that Patrick’s parents gave me helps a lot and makes sleep way more comfortable. Once my belly gets bigger, too, it will be much harder to accidentally roll onto my back. One other thing about bed: it’s gotten way harder to sit up and get out of the bed! I currently sleep on the inside (next to the wall…our room is pretty small) but we will soon have to reverse this so I can get out of bed to go to the bathroom more easily.

The holidays are coming up, and while I don’t really have much time off work, I am for once looking forward with much ease to simply spending time with Patrick and my/ his family. Besides all the generous help with maternity clothes, my family is giving me the most wonderful gift this year, and that is no Christmas gifts between Patrick and I with anyone else. We have wanted to try this for a long time, and this seems to be the ideal year to start. Patrick and I currently have very little time apart from work to do anything but either cook dinner, do laundry, or watch the occasional movie. Patrick more so than me, as my energy level makes me call it quits on cleaning up more quickly. He works more hours than me in the first place, and has been incredible about doing dishes every single day, as my back gets sore so quickly and I simply can’t seem to muster the energy to do more than a few sink-fulls a week.  So for the holidays, we are doing away with the stress of being out and about among the masses of consumers, and settling in, perhaps, to an actually clean and orderly home for some happy and quiet cooking, game playing, movie watching, reading and knitting time among our favourite people.  My cousin will be visiting after a year away in Alberta, which makes things even more exciting. A wonderful holiday indeed!

I am about 115 pounds. I admit that sometimes, especially at work, I don’t take the time to snack quite as often as I should. Though I am within the perimeters of a healthy weight gain, I am still near the bottom end, so have been trying to up my calorie intake. So far today I’ve had oatmeal with dried fruit, hot chocolate made with organic soymilk, and two pieces of toast with peanut butter on one and nutritional yeast on the other. For lunch I plan to have leftover parsnip and celeriac soup, crackers and hummus, and for snacks a Larabar and a smoothie with blueberries, banana, fruit/veg juice and flax oil. I’m not sure how easy it will be to gain weight in the third trimester, as I’ve heard accounts of women both being more hungry and less hungry. Guess I’ll eat up while I can! Geez, I sound weird listing everything I’m eating! Pregnancy makes you do strange things.

I arranged for us to begin taking prenatal classes in January with Public Health. We start either on the 12^th or the 31^st. I really can’t believe how fast everything is moving. Have I really been pregnant for almost 6 months? This little one just doesn’t stop growing, and before I know it he’s going to be here and continuing his next stage of growth.

Goodnight moon!

23.5 weeks

Almost as soon as I lay down to go to sleep at night, the baby starts kicking/poking in a weird way, near the surface, that tickles like crazy, to the point where I eventually burst out laughing, waking up Patrick, who drifts into sleep mode very quickly.  Oh, that little one.  Already showing signs of being funny.

He weighs about a pound now and should be getting close to a foot long… I can’t believe that! I remember when he was the size of a raspberry! That’s including his legs stretched out, though.

We had an appointment on Wednesday, the 7^th, and everything still measures normal. Belly measurement is 22 cm, heartbeat was 144. I can hear the heartbeat whenever I want now, and have shared it with some family members.

We are still inconclusive about the RhoGam/WinRho injection. I wish there was an easy answer.

I wake up every morning and remember you’re in there, baby, and moving around and growing, and it brings such a wave of reality and a flood of hope. In a way it’s like a drug; it’s the ultimate reason to keep plowing through work and everyday life. I can’t forget for one minute about the small new life that’s taken shape, separate and yet inseparable from my own body.

Brown Rice Pudding

Last night we had a veggie stir-fry with mock chicken and cashews over brown rice with a lovely orange/ginger sauce. So delicious! The recipe for the sauce was from The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book. I always eat a lot of stir-fry when I make it. Even though it's full of nutrition, it's so easily digested that I'm hungry again in a few hours. Oh well, I never mind having a snack. 

Anyway, despite my generous sized helping, we had some cooked brown rice leftover (actually this was because I forgot that Patrick had made brown rice on Sunday and refrigerated it for use this week, and so I unknowingly made another pot, hence the leftovers) so this morning I threw it in a pot with some soymilk and let it cook for awhile, and then added some maple syrup and a pat or two of Earth Balance. It brought back memories of the rice pudding my mom usually makes at Christmas. But you totally don't have to wait for a holiday to enjoy this creamy dish as breakfast any time of the year.It's a nice change from oatmeal.

Rice Pudding

Cooked brown rice, enough for however many servings you want

Soymilk

Cinnamon

Maple Syrup

Vegan butter

Throw the rice in a pot and add enough soymilk to cover the rice completely. Cook on medium low heat and stay close to the  stove, as you will need to stir it often to prevent a skin from forming on the top. Let cook for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how creamy you want it (or have time for). The rice will absorb all of the soymilk eventually, and you will want to keep adding more, a few tablespoons at a time, continuing to stir, till the milk is absorbed and the rice is as creamy as you desire. Serve it into bowls, add maple syrup, brown sugar if you like, cinnamon, and a dollop of vegan butter (I have to admit this is my favorite part!).

I forgot some weird symptoms in my last posts. Nothing terrible, but my hips hurt a lot, I wake up at night feeling very stiff and sore in my hip joints and often feel like they need to be stretched during the day. I suppose it's the weight of this kicking boy babe! Another odd one is nasal congestion. I have generally sneezed a lot more than usual throughout this pregnancy and often feel like I'm coming down with a cold, but never do. Once again, vegan power!

21 weeks!

 
I do miss writing! So many thoughts passing through my head but mostly I've been paying acute attention to the activity in my belly, and there is lots of it. A few weeks ago I realized that my normal clothes simply don't fit anymore. During the past two weeks or so, I've made a few trips to Frenchy's (second-hand store) and my mom has helpfully taken me to a number of stores to shop for real maternity clothes. With some amazing sales, birthday gifts from both Mom and Dad, and help shopping from my mom and sister I have gratefully stocked my wardrobe for the rest of the pregnancy. I actually never thought I would have to buy maternity clothes specifically. I guess I hadn't thought hard enough and needed to be pregnant to realize that I do, in fact, immensely appreciate that there are clothes out there made for this. I have to admit that trying clothes on to fit both me and baby felt just as special as wedding dress shopping! Not that I put a ton of effort into either. But thank goodness!

I've been feeling tired at work and am glad that my hours will come down a tiny bit in December.

No swelling to report yet!

Baby kicks a lot, everyday.

Patrick bought two storybooks, Goodnight Moon and The Giving Tree, and we've been reading Goodnight Moon to the baby every night. Perhaps he'll show signs of comfort and recognition when we read it to him after he's born! We love the book more every time we read it.

I've been eating healthy and have gained about 11-12 pounds so far. Last night we made spaghetti with lentils and portobellos in the sauce with sauteed kale on the side. So good! I'll share the kale recipe when I have time.