Doctor's Appointments & Pregnancy Weight Gain Frank Talk

I went to my "first pre-natal" appointment last week with my family doctor.  I really do like her a lot.  She's really down to earth and very relatable.  All the things I've read had prepared me for this long and thorough examination (you know, all the "unpleasant" stuff included) and I had my fingers crossed that she would have the "doppler" to be able to hear the baby's heart beat.  During my first ultrasound (at 11 weeks, 4 days), we could see the little peanut's heart beating very strongly, but we weren't able to hear it because it was an ultrasound ordered for "medical purposes" (in my case to date the pregnancy) and they don't let you have any pictures or anything fun during those ultrasounds because it's purely for "medical purposes."

Side Note: In Nova Scotia (and this could be the case for most of Canada, but I'm not sure), we have to go to a private ultrasound clinic and pay to have those kinds of pictures. However, the upside of that is that I also don't have to worry about any medical bills at all throughout my entire pregnancy and delivery regardless of what kind of medical interventions and/or tests that may be required for me or the baby and I can only imagine what kind of burden that would put on top of everything else

I was happy just to be able to see the little fluttering of  his/her little heart beating away, but every parent can't wait to "hear" it.  So I was secretly hoping we'd be putting the doppler to use at my first pre-natal.  However, not all GP's do deliveries and it turns out that because my doctor is Scottish and they have the midwifery system in Scotland, she is not a GP here in Canada that is trained specifically to carry patients through to delivery, so she has referred me to another GP who does and who she says "loves it" and will do a fantastic job with my pre-natal care.  She said that I am not "high risk" (yay!) and so there is no need to refer me to be followed by an OB at this point.  Okie dokie.  I have now heard from my pregnancy doctor and my first appointment with her is in 3 1/2 weeks where I will be exactly 19 weeks pregnant.  My next ultrasound will be when I'm at 20 weeks which is what they call the "anatomy" ultrasound and I can hardly wait!  I am still waiting for the exact appointment time on that.

Another Side Note:  They also will not tell you the sex of your baby during these ultrasounds either and if you want to know, you must go through the private clinics.  I'm a bit relieved about that actually because I would rather wait until s/he is born and it's REALLY tempting to find out!

So of all the things that I expected to be examined at my appointment (most of which are generally unpleasant), the thing I was MOST dreading was being weighed.  It is no secret that I hate stepping on the scale at any other time than first thing in the morning, so doing it at lunch time inevitably leaves behind a bruised ego!  My "pre-pregnancy" weight was around 185.  My first visit to the doctor when I found out I was pregnant, her scale weighed me in at 187.5 in the afternoon (I heart her scale) while mine had me in at about 191 in the morning.  When I had to step on the scale the hospital when I was having some bloodwork done (boots and all!) a few weeks ago and that mother lovin' scale put me at 198! (I wanted to die!).  Last week, my doctor's scale put me at an even 190 which is only up 2.5 from my last visit and around 5 lbs in total which I was VERY pleased about.  However, then I realized that my scale that morning put me at 195 which is technically about a TEN pound gain from pre-pregnancy. 

I have a few thoughts as to why I think my first trimester gain was more than it "should" be:

1. The constant state of nausea which I am still battling with, ironically can often times only partially alleviated by food;
   
   
2. I'm stressing about weight gain in all honesty and of course it causes me to eat more (we all know this song and dance and I'm not going to pretend to be perfect);
   
   
3. You all know that I have been a weight watcher and a calorie counter for what is now YEARS to lose a significant amount of weight.  This required me to aim for an average of 1500 calories per day (sometimes more, sometimes less) for a long, long time.  There's nothing wrong with that, but generally when you are ready to increase your calories, your body and your metabolism handles it more readily when you slowly re-introduce the increase of calories over time, and from what I've read is generally by about 100 calories a day for a week at a time, then increasing it again, etc.  When I asked my doctor where I should be aiming for in my calorie range, she said around 2000 - 2300 is reasonable, but not to go below 2000.  Of course she also went into the point what we all hear all the time nowadays in an attempt to combat the idea of "eating for two" of how "it's really not that much more food and is only equivalent to two mini yogurts and some nuts."  But in reality, for ME it IS a lot more calories!  That's a minimum of 500 MORE calories per day and not on a gradual introduction.  So I believe that in the beginning, I gained more than average because of this increase in calories may have been more than my body was used to handling.

I didn't stick to everything perfectly, because after about a week of trying to count it out just to get a better handle on what a 2000 - 2300 calories a day looks like, I stopped counting it because, well it makes me nuts, always has and I already have more than enough things to think about right now that are going to make me nuts!  Interestingly, when I stopped counting, was right when my weight held steady for a few weeks too.

So, I have been keeping an eye on the scale and I stayed steady for a few good weeks so that is promising.  I am hoping that the gains in the next few months will be more gradual and will keep me within the range that I am "supposed" to be in for pregnancy weight gain for a person of my size.

What I do know is that I know how to eat healthy and I need to trust myself and just listen to my body.  It's very easy for people to say, "Just enjoy your pregnancy and don't worry about that and let it happen,"  but with all do respect to those people, while I know that probably 99% of all women struggle with the fear of pregnancy weight gain, most of them have not been through the process of losing 130 lbs and the fear associated with seeing pounds come back.  That is an entirely different animal. And I am only making this point to illustrate why I feel the way I do.

I am a smart girl and I "know" better, but I'm just being honest with my feelings and it's scary!  And by "know better," I mean that I know that I should just "let it go" and roll with it and trust myself and just trust nature!  There is a lot of emotional stuff that goes along with pregnancy in itself, some hormone related and some not.  Day by day I am becoming more and more adjusted to this shift in mindset.  I am beginning to think that there are many more reasons other than baby development as to why it takes a baby nine months to join our lives, don't you? ;-)

Travel Insurance is for Chumps - Expedia Saves the Day

Warning: this is a long post in which I rant.  Read if you will at your own risk :-D

I can't remember if I shared with you all that before Christmas, the husband and I booked a trip to Jamaica to attend a wedding of some very good friends (yay another destination wedding!).  The trip is a little later than the expected "destination wedding" and is May 29 - June 5.

So then we find out we're expecting and it puts us in the position to decide if we're going to go.  It's not that we're opposed to traveling while pregnant, it's that it will be 10 weeks before my due date which is a little too close for my comfort.  Luckily, we purchased cancellation insurance right?!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Travel Insurance is for suckers

So we start reading our "insurance" documents and it says if you're canceling due to pregnancy, departure date has to be NINE weeks before or after your due date to qualify unless your doctor says that you are "high risk" or has another reason to say you shouldn't go.  During my doctor's visit on Tuesday, my doctor said she would write me a letter if I needed her to but she had hoped they would be "reasonable" about it since my return date put me over by about 2 days.  Common sense says that we DO have to fly home ya know, but apparently that's not important in the insurance policy.

I do, in fact, have another medical reason that could potentially interfere with my ability to travel during that time, but it isn't known at this early stage in the pregnancy.  That reason is that due to the injuries I sustained in my MVA nearly 4 years ago where I dislocated and fractured my hip, I now have bursitis which I am being treated for which has already included a steroid injection (obviously not while I'm pregnant) and any further treatment of that kind will have to wait until after the baby is born. 

It is impossible to know how this pregnancy is going to affect me in that regard until I start getting bigger and start to see if it does cause me added pain (I already had one excruciating day on New Year's day that can't really be explained, but I couldn't even walk up the stairs or lift my leg - it obviously wasn't due to added weight of the baby, but it was the worst I have ever felt in the last 4 years since I've recovered from the accident.  So that leads me to believe that I haven't seen the end of the hip pain issues during this pregnancy, but that remains to be seen.)  So for that reason, my doctor agreed that it is a condition that would support my cancellation request and she would write me a letter if I needed her to.  Great.

We booked our trip through Expedia and purchased our travel insurance through them which is a different insurance company for about $120 per person.  So I called up Expedia (per my "declaration letter" from the insurance company) and they directed me to the insurance company to call first. (I can already see what kind of gong show this is going to be having me call all over the place.)  So I call and tell "Julie" the situation and she starts counting weeks and says that I'll be 10 weeks and the policy only covers for 9.  Then I proceed to tell her that my return flight puts me over and she informs me that the policy only deals with "departure" dates.  Can you say crock?! 

So then she starts confusing me with all of the different people I now need to call and all of the hoops I now have to jump through.  Now I am a smart girl and I had to go through it with yer about 5 times in exasperation to see if I understood it correctly.  She tells me I have to call Expedia, give them my "Claim #" and then have to cancel my trip through them.  They then contact the airline and it's the AIRLINE who decides whether they will reimburse our airfare or just issue us a credit to be used within one year.  If they decide the latter and I don't want the "credit" because C'MON we're going to be new parents and the likelihood of using those tickets int he next year is SLIM, then we have to write to them and say that we do not accept the credit and then the insurance company must decide whether our request is reasonable to refund us for the tickets.  OH and we have to pay a non-refundable cancellation fee to cancel the trip on TOP of probably NOT getting back the money from the airline.

And THEN she tells me that I MUST have my doctor write my letter within 72 HOURS of this claim being started, but I can't send the letter to them until I receive their claim form which I won't receive for 7 - 10 business days.  So basically, they were forcing me to impose on MY doctor a timeline to write this letter (or have it "dated" within 72 hours of that moment) because she explained they were invoking the "emergency" clause of the policy which requires the physicians to respond in that time.  I was at a loss to understand this because OBVIOUSLY my situation is pregnancy and not a heart attack.  Apparently their little policy doesn't distinguish this in a reasonable way. 

So I am a pretty darn reasonable and level-headed person who does not normally overreact, but bloggies, I am pregnant and I have hormones and I'm not afraid to use them.  Poor "Julie" got an earful from me and while I know it is "just her job" to respond to these claims according to the "policy" but if you don't express your dissent about how ridiculous it is to their representative, then there's nothing communicated. I was not in the mood to start asking for her "manager" and spew it to them either.  I did express to her that I was apologetic for my tone to her, but that it couldn't be helped.  Most people wouldn't have even done that, but that's just me.

Okay done, now I must call my doctor and tell her to drop what she's doing and write ME a letter so that I don't lose my vacation money.....yeah....sounds like a priority over the people who need letters from their doctor to receive medical benefits and coverage for medical equipment and worker's compensation right? Pfffffffffffft.

So now I'm on to "Step 2" of what Julie tells me I have to do and that's to call Expedia and cancel my trip.  So I call and I get "Brittany" who tells me I can't cancel my trip until it's completely paid for.  At this point we were only in our deposit and I was already fired up from dealing with the ridiculous insurance company and I was like, "Oh no, no, no, no I'm NOT giving you $2,300 MORE of my money just so that it won't be refunded to me!"  And while I feel bad for Brittany for being on the receiving end of my exasperated hormonal self, she did nothing to explain the process to me at all other than to say, "Well it just comes off your credit card automatically."  So then I just about hit the roof and said I need to hang up because I had nothing to say at this moment!

So I'm red in the face, sick to my stomach (as if I wasn't enough already), stressed and teary-eyed because fact is that we (NO one) can afford to spend that kind of money, especially when you're not even getting to GO on the vacation to justify it in whatever way makes you feel better!

So then we start entertaining ideas about canceling our credit card.  Then I wondered what would be involved in "changing" the date to be earlier so if we did get a credit, maybe we could put it to use in maybe April instead of probably never. So then hubby calls up Expedia and talks to a different lady and they start chatting and hitting it off and she starts yelling through the phone in excitement about our great news that we're going to be parents and she tells us that "YES" of course there is something they could do for us!  She said there would be absolutely NO issue in getting our hotel accommodations refunded and that is a given.  The only issue "may" be with the flights because they were marked as "special fare" (read: good deal and not likely refundable), but worst case scenario would be paying a fee to have them changed.  But of course better than losing it all and we were going to have to pay a fee "anyway" for cancellation.  Okay so we hang up, discuss it and we decide to go ahead and bite the bullet and whip out the credit card and complete the payment for the trip.  This made me SO nervous.

I called back and got "Paul" so we could go ahead bite the bullet pay for the trip and then cancel it to get the process started so that we could potentially use our "credit" for an earlier trip in April.  So Paul ends up being a complete sweetheart and helpful all the way around.  He starts telling me that there would be absolutely no problem getting the hotel refunded (just like the other lady said) and that would be processed immediately and we would have it refunded on our credit card within 5 - 7 days.  This amount was already MORE than what we had to pay just then to pay off the trip, so already we're happy. 

So I say "GREAT!" and then he says, "we'll really it's not because it's YOUR MONEY!"  (reminding me of what's really going on) and I was like "YEAH! it IS my money!"  We start to forget and feel totally helpless after talking to people like travel insurance companies!  He was totally on our side and it was obvious from his statement.  Then he starts calling me "Angel" and being all cute and made me already feel like I was on my vacation the way the staff flatters you - you know what I'm talking about if you've ever traveled down south ;-). 

So then he proceeds to tell me that getting the refund for the airfare would take a little longer but would also not be a problem.  And I expressed my disbelief that this was possible because I had purchased INSURANCE and I just went through the whole gong show with them who was supposed to have my back on refunding my money and pretty much told me I had to jump through 394848 hoops was in the hands of the airline and was pretty much SOL and then PAUL from EXPEDIA doesn't even require that I HAVE insurance!!  He didn't even care that our fare was "special" and explained that there are "three parties involved" when we pay them for a trip:

1. Expedia
2. The airline
3. A Canadian 3rd party bank that holds and protects our money for the airfare in case something happens to the airline so we can still travel

and he said that because "we no longer wish to travel" our money would be refunded (minus the cancellation fee of $120 per person which isn't that much in the grand scheme and wish we hadn't wasted our money on the insurance).  He explained that because the money is held with the 3rd party, it will take 2 billing cycles to have it refunded but that he was creating the necessary ball in motion for that to happen but there shouldn't be any issues.

HUH??  WHAT????  REALLY???!?!  I had to get him to explain and verify this to me at least three times just so that I would know it was real!

So then he asks me what it was we were canceling for his own curiosity, so I explained and he started going on about how great it was and wanted me to congratulate my husband and that he had 3 kids of his own and told me their names etc.,

I then proceeded to tell him if our baby was a boy, his name would be Paul....:-D

He was like, "Really?!?!"

I was like, "Well, probably not, but I sincerely appreciate all of your help and you were so much helpful!"  He was genuinely concerned that I wasn't getting the service I need from someone else at Expedia.  Truth was, with the exception of "Brittany" when I first called them, they were all very helpful so I didn't complain about them to him, just the rip off insurance company.

I could not believe I would be able to sleep!

We will most definitely continue to use Expedia for travel in the future!

Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew!  Thank you Paul!!

(I am still holding my breathe for 2 billing cycles, but a happy girl at the moment!)

"On-The-Go" Snack Ideas

So now that my little peanut is in there, and I am getting more used to feeling better 80% of the time and my focus is on making sure I'm eating well and getting exercise (this second part is coming a little less quickly, but coming!).  I have really liked having a chewy and nutty granola bar for a morning snack around 10:30, but of course want to include as much healthy variety as possible.

I have always found that one of the key components to starting off the week on the right foot is having lots of fresh ideas in mind for healthy snacks and meal ideas.  Otherwise, I find myself feeling bored and unsatisfied and settling for something that is a "go to" staple that isn't always necessarily the best choice.  For me, I find that I am happiest when I am making good choices and when I'm armed with lots of new ideas.  It makes me feel excited to try them which perpetuates a positive push to the entire day.  The very fact that I felt compelled to post this up shows that I think I've kind of let these kinds of ideas fall by the wayside, so here's a little "refresher" for me to help stimulate some snacking creativity.

I came across an article from Pregnancy.org that gave some really excellent and healthy snack ideas regardless of whether you have a little peanut springing to life in there or not :-)  As you can see she has made quite a few substitutions and suggestions for vegetarian protein alternatives:

(from Pregnancy.org)
by Deborah A. Klein, MS, RD

1. Make your own trail-mix with roasted peanuts
   
   
   
   (check ingredients for peanuts, no oils added), and raw almonds/other nuts/seeds and raisins or dried blueberries/cranberries (check ingredients for no sugar or additives).
   
   
2. Make a shake with ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder, fruit of your choice, ¼ cup plain yogurt and 2 cups 1% milk or Silk soy milk.
   
   
3. Spread 2 Tablespoons of all-natural peanut butter or soy nut butter on half a sprouted grain bagel/whole-wheat pita/whole-wheat crackers.
   
   
4. Blend ½ cup of plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt with strawberry or vanilla soymilk with ½ frozen banana and a handful of frozen strawberries.
   
   
5. Spread pizza sauce/marinara sauce over an English muffin and place a sliced tomato and 1 ounce of Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese or French Yogurt Cheese on top, melt in a toaster oven.
   
   
6. Layer a whole-grain blueberry toaster waffle with ½ cup plain low-fat yogurt and ½ cup fresh berries/defrosted frozen berries.
   
   
7. Scoop ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese into a cantaloupe or honeydew melon half.
   
   
8. Top a half of a cinnamon-raisin sprouted grain bagel with low-fat ricotta cheese and cinnamon sprinkled on top.
   
   
9. Combine ¼ cup low-fat ricotta cheese or cottage cheese with ½ cup apple sauce and a dash of cinnamon. Sprinkle with Grape-Nuts or low-fat granola.
   
   
10. Roll a whole-wheat tortilla up with scrambled egg whites with 1 egg yolk and salsa.
    
    
11. Stuff half a whole-wheat pita with ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese and sliced canned (in its own juice or water) peaches, pears, or a fresh banana.
    
    
12. Stuff a pita pocket with sliced turkey breast or sliced part-skim milk cheese, tomato, and a squirt of mustard.
    
    
13. Use spreads such as chicken or tuna salad onto whole-wheat crackers.
    
    
14. Mix ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese with ¼ cup strawberry yogurt and sprinkle with Muesli cereal.
    
    
15. Add cereal (at least 5 grams dietary fiber) to plain low-fat yogurt.
    
    
16. Spread 1 Tablespoon of Soy butter (try "I'm Healthy Soy Nut Butter" from Whole Foods) on 2 apple halves.
    
    
17. Spread all-natural peanut butter and all-fruit jam on Ak-mak crackers or a mini-bagel.
    
    
18. Top a mini-bagel with turkey or chicken breast.
    
    
19. Put slivered almonds and roasted peanuts in 1 cup of vanilla yogurt.
    
    
20. Have a box of raisins with soy nuts (try Dr. Soy or Genisoy brand).
    
    
21. Have ½ cup of edamame (fresh soybeans) as a completely balanced snack.
    
    
22. Blend coffee flavored Soy-Um soymilk with ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder and ice for a high protein ice mocha.
    
    
23. Have an ounce of yogurt cheese on "Woven wheat" (available at Whole Foods/Wild Oats/Trader Joe's) crackers.
    
    
24. Have low-fat string cheese (choose Organic part-skim milk, e.g., Horizon) with an apple or pear.
    
    
25. Melt part-skim mozzarella on a whole-wheat tortilla or toasted wheat pita, put some veggies on top (e.g., tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli).
    
    
26. Spread all-natural peanut butter with sprinkled sunflower seeds in celery sticks and on apple slices.
    
    
27. Frozen banana: Peel bananas; dip into cocoa and a dash of honey or pure maple syrup; roll in ground nuts (ground peanuts and walnuts or soynuts), freeze individually in plastic wrap.
    
    
28. Have ½ cup fruit or 2-inch across piece of fruit with 20 soy crisps, flavor of choice.

That's quite a few suggestions!  I especially like the idea of rolling the banana in honey and nuts and then freezing them!


Do you have any favourite healthy snacks that you'd like to share?

*Ring Ring*

Me: "Hello"

Voice: "Hello, may I speak with Angela please."

Me: "Yes, this is she speaking." (Yes I do answer the phone this way when I have no idea who it is :-P)

Voice:  "Angela this is Terry your Weight Watcher leader calling and I just want to start off my saying that the purpose of this phone call isn't to make anyone feel bad at all, but I just want you to know that you are very missed at our Weight Watchers meeting and I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't anything I did to stop you from coming to our meeting.  I normally don't call our members when they stop coming to our meetings, but you and Lynn and Holly are really missed in our group and since I only knew your first name, me and the staff here went through our member cards trying to find your last name and phone number so I could call you personally and as you can imagine, we have hundreds of members, so it was tough, but I found it!"

Me: "Awwww Terry!  First of all, please know that I would go out of my way to attend one of your meetings.  Secondly, the reason I haven't been attending is really a good and happy reason and that is because we're expecting a baby!  In fact a friend of mine attends another one of your meetings on Tuesdays and she offered to tell you for me this coming week."

Terry: "Oh I am so happy to hear that because it matters to me how you are doing and I would just hate if there was anything that I did to stop you from coming."

Me: "Absolutely not and in fact, you can be sure you'll be seeing me again after the baby comes!"

(....back and forth chit chat ensues...)

Terry: "I am so happy to hear it!  Please pass the same along to Lynn and Holly"

I can't tell you how much it touched me that she went through so much trouble to contact me!  This was not a routine phone call and I could tell that she genuinely meant it.  Clearly she doesn't read the blog! lol The funny thing is that I did want to contact her to tell her that I would no longer be attending, but at the time I could only find a 1-800 number for WW and I was feeling supreme 1st trimester misery and I just didn't have it in me to pursue it further at the time.

She definitely made my day!!  Thank you Terry! ;-)

BabyMama Blogroll

This list of blogs of Moms and Moms-to-be will be accessible through the tab at the top of the site.  If you would like to be added to the blogroll, please email me: angiealltheway@gmail.com and I would be happy to add you :-)

• Alicia Parr
• Babyciabattoni
• Becoming Sarah
• Crazy Mom to Four
• I Know You're In There 
• Kristen's Raw
• Mom-Wife-Triathlet
• Mommy Lace  
• Mommy's Tired
• Nannersbread
• No Girls Allowed (except for Mom)
• Pantene Girl
• ParentsToBe
• Team Hansen
• That Wife
• The Hayne Family
• The Meanest Mom
• The Mommy Chronicles
• This Place is Now a Home
• Twenty One Day Habit 
• Two Pounds a Week
• Randi - Next
• Simmons Family Grows
• Simply Fabulous
• Workout Mommy

Hot Date

Hubby and I have a hot date tonight and I'm soooo looking forward to it.  I am looking forward to going out and enjoying a dinner with my husband and feeling "normal"!  I have been feeling much better the last few weeks, but this week threw me for a few unexpected "relapses" with a few bad stomach days and a bad migrane.  In fact, I was too sick to go to yoga last night and it didn't start to hit me until around 3:00 in the afternoon.  I was looking forward to it all week and it's one of those special classes that you pay for the 8 classes up front too :-( 

*fingers crossed that all goes well today ALL day!* 

We're going to one of my favourite restaurants, The Keg :-)  I'm sooo looking forward to it because I don't get there often and the last time I was there was on my birthday last year that ended up being a huge gong show because I thought that I lost my engagement ring in the bathroom and caused a HUGE scene (totally uncharacteristic of me trust me) and all the while it ended up being that it was the one and ONLY time I had only put on my wedding ring without my engagement ring and have no idea why!  The Keg Manager even had someone remove the drain from the bathroom sink to see if it had fallen down the drain!  Gah! So embarrassing!  The happy ending was that I still had my ring, but it certainly ruined everyone's dinner and my birthday! :-(

So we thought it was time to go back to actually enjoy our meal and celebrate what our new family has in store for us this year.  We both love The Keg and we have never had a bad experience with the food, it's always excellent.  I am a huge fan of their escargot, my love for which is owed to Tasha who introduced me to it years ago while we were in University.  It has been one of my favourite things ever since!  I have no idea what else I'm going to have, but I always know I'm getting the escargot!

One of the reasons we are happy to celebrate is that I am now into the second trimester (although I've read that there's difference's of opinions as to when the second trimester starts, but we're going with it because we have passed the period where miscarriage is most prevalent).  We are happy just to celebrate that in itself.

Today two of our good friends are coming over for the afternoon and they are bringing their little 6 month old over for a visit.  Coincidentally, she and I have the same due date only one year apart.  Their little girl ended up being born 4 days early on my husband's birthday, so it's possible that he could also share his birthday with our little one too :-)


Office topic: I had attempted to post earlier in the week, but for some reason my Windows Live Writer isn't a huge fan of my new template and it crashed on me a few times and I gave up!  To be safe, this one's being written in good ol' blogger!

Off topic: Chandler (my cat) is being a huge pain in the arse lately.  He's always bugging me when I'm trying to sleep and will knock things off my nightstand just to get my attention and it's NOT COOL because I'm already up 5 times a night to use the bathroom and I'm still waking up at 4:00 a.m. unable to get back to sleep until 5:30.  He better bugger off because mama needs her sleep!

Yoga Mamas

Friday night was my first prenatal yoga class and it was a great experience and I know I’m going to love it.  There’s about 7 of us in the class ranging from first trimester to far second (I think).  The first thing I thought when I entered the room was that even though this was my first time laying eyes on these women, most likely I will know them for years to come in one form or another because our babies are going to likely go to school together!  I am assuming this because this is a new class that opened up in my community and would be out of the way for someone to come unless they lived in the area, although it is possible too.  It was kind of neat to think of it that way!

Some of the ladies were already chatting away as if they knew one another, so I kept quiet and didn’t really talk to anyone since it was nearing the beginning of class and just wanted to listen to the other ladies and get a sense of who they are and what I may or may not have in common with them.  A few of them were talking about their “Doulas” and asking each other if they “have theirs” and while I do know what a Doula is (although haven’t really researched it thoroughly), I noticed right away that I wasn’t the only one getting anxious by their conversation because one of the other girls (I think she’s a week behind me) looked confused and asked them what a Doula was.  The reason why this snippet of conversation stressed me out in the first few minutes of class is because while it was comforting to be in a room with real women who were all going through the same things I was, it made me feel like I was “falling behind” in getting prepared! I know that I’m only into my 12th week and that’s why I am still enjoying the “honeymoon” stage of sharing the news with everyone, but it made me feel like soon enough that stage will be over and it will be time to prepare, prepare and prepare some more!

Our instructor was fantastic and I like her a lot!  She’s new to the yoga studio and is from Japan.  In the first class I have already learned so much about prenatal yoga.  Like how many exercise classes are there where she’s recommending and encouraging you to bring snacks! :-D  She explained that in “regular yoga” the object is to “create heat” within the body, while in prenatal yoga, the object is to “cool your body down.”  I found that very interesting!  Lord knows I’m usually feeling warm all the time these days and it’s the dead of Winter (can hardly wait until a hot summer third trimester!)  I’m not exactly sure how the “cooling down” part is achieved at this stage, because many of the poses that we did were much the same as I am used to (sun salutations, runners stretch, legs up the wall, tree pose, table, cat/dog stretch (Love those now.  Apparently these poses can turn your baby around if s/he is breach!), Warrior I, Warrior II, twist (modified and she noted how “not” to do this while pregnant if you’re in a regular class), squats (how not to do this past 36 weeks because it can induce labour) and a few others.  For Shavasana she asked us to lay down on our left side (from legs up the wall), right knee bent and to place the bolster under the bent leg. 

Apparently lying on your left side is best for you and your baby (especially for sleeping), but the only thing about this for me is that I have bursitis in my left hip, so laying on my left side is quite uncomfortable most of the time.  At night, I’m constantly switching left to right.   As if it’s not tough enough to sleep as it is, here I am worrying about my positions and if I’m doing something to harm the baby!  I can already tell these kinds of worries are not going any where soon!  Speaking of tough sleep, for some reason I keep waking up at 4:00 a.m. unable to fall back asleep until around 5:45 and when the alarm goes off at 6:30, I feel completely zonked.  What’s up with that?

I’m already looking forward to starting my Friday evenings with this class for the next two months.  There were many moments when I felt that it already was a wonderful bonding experience with the little one in there :-)

Step Outta Your Google Readers!!

Welcome to the new Angie "with one on the way" :-)

I have much to do to tinker with my widgets, improve and fine tune the links, and this baby mama needs to get to bed, but I couldn't wait to get things started and show ya'll the new general layout and overall re-vamp!!!

I have Lynn to thank for her creative blog brilliance and the husband getting it up and running.  I love yas both!!!  I've only been wanting a new blog layout for like YEARS and here we are!!

It feels so great!  Like getting a new house! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

Baby Mama Blogroll Call!

WOW you guys, I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how completely touched and floored I was at your response and well wishes for my big news!  WOW!!!

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF “OUR” HEARTS ;-)
That made me feel like a huge “welcome back” too!  I was sharing your comments with the husband because they are all so special to me and they were for him as well. :-)
To update you a little bit on how the pregnancy has been going, I must admit I am extremely happy to be entering the second trimester because the first one was a rough one for me.  I was miserable the entire time!  Here’s some of what I’ve been experiencing:

• nausea
• indigestion
• acid reflux/heart burn
• headaches
• mood swings
  
• gas
• did I mention nausea?
• food aversions
• food cravings
• thirst
• frequent urination primarily when I’m supposed to be sleeping!

I’m even sporting a “bloaty bump” which is my term for what is happening to my belly at this early stage.  It’s definitely protruding, but it’s not really the baby!  In fact it just looks like a big unflattering muffin top that does not make me feel great I’ll tell ya that!  I’ve already gained about 6 lbs.
Exercise up to this point has been non-existent other than little walks with the pup.  Sooooo I’m all excited that tomorrow is the first night of an 8 week pre-natal yoga class that I signed up for!  It’s starting at the perfect time just as I’m starting to feel better.



Has anyone tried pre-natal yoga before?  If so, what level were you before starting it?  I love yoga, but haven’t practiced in months, so I’m rusty!

Calling Baby Mama Bloggers!

I chuckled at Jaime’s reference to me on her earlier blog today! lol  My new blog should be up and ready hopefully really soon (I’M SOO EXCITED ABOUT IT) and I want to include a new page for a blogroll of baby mama bloggers too!  A few of you mentioned in the comments on my last post that you are also expecting too!  Congratulations to you!  If you have a pregnancy blog or a baby blog and would like to be added to my Baby Mama Blogroll, please leave me a comment with your blog and I’d love to add it!  And I would welcome any suggestions of other blogs that you would recommend also be added too the blog roll.

What are your favourite websites?

Bring on the Baby Mama Bloggies! :-)

Spilling the Beans!

Okay bloggies, ya’ll know that something has been up because you’re all amazing and adorable blog readers and friends.  Your emails have warmed my heart each and every day I have received them when you show me how much support you give and how far the support has reached on this blog.

Thank you!

Now for each and every one of you who has emailed me or commented to show your concern for my very uncharacteristic MIA behaviour, I have responded by telling you that I was doing great and you needn’t worry.  But I couldn’t tell you why just yet.

Now I can :-)

You may remember that I recently found out from my doctor that I do in fact have PCOS.  I found out the results of an ultrasound I had last summer when I went to my doctor just before Christmas because you also may remember that I was feeling miserable (physically and emotionally) and was sure I had an ulcer or some variation of Celiac disease that I termed “Christmasiac disease.”

My doctor told me that while they don’t know definitively what causes PCOS exactly, they do know that there is a link with obesity and insulin resistance.  While I am still “overweight,” I have challenged myself and changed my life and transformed my body to a healthier weight starting from at least 298 lbs.  At the time of my highest weight, I did not know that I had PCOS and that it could play a role in making it difficult in becoming a Mom.

The best advice that my doctor could give was to “eat well and exercise” (among other options that also included some medications that have been successful for some women as well).  All I could think about is “well I’m already doing that” and felt a little defeated.  It didn’t occur to me at the time that she said that, that I had already done my body and my (future) family a tremendous service by doing just that losing over 100 lbs.

The doctor sent me for some tests checking for gastritis, an ulcer, and even hepatitis to explain my miserable state that I was convinced had been brought on by holiday overindulgences or some sort of virus.

In the meantime, there were other things that were important to “rule out” just for the sake of finding out what was wrong with me.  Turns out, it wasn’t just a “possibility” to rule out after all:


Oh yes, bloggies,

I’M GOING TO BE A MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why didn't I "know" sooner? As a consequence of PCOS, I have irregular periods and I had no idea I was pregnant, I also didn’t know how far along I was, so we waited to tell anyone until we were able to confirm the details by ultrasound and to get over the first trimester.  Well now I can officially tell you all because I am now 12 weeks pregnant!

I don’t think you all have ANY idea how badly I’ve wanted to share this with you because:

1. I’m a blogger and that’s my instinct!
2. This means that I am no longer attending Weight Watchers and I know that there are some of you wondering about how I am doing in that area (including some of my lovely meetings members)
3. I’m no longer running the Bluenose Half Marathon in May, and consequently…
4. no longer running with the RR Half Clinic
5. I am not participating in the X-Weighted challenge

and I was DYING to explain all of this to you because I hated the thought that you all would think that I fell off the wagon and abandoned you!

Not.possible.  That’s not me!

Plus I SUCK at lying so my plan of action has been to AVOID! lol

So what does this mean for “Angie All The Way?”

Well, like I said before, I am a blogger!  This blog (and YOU) have become SUCH and huge and important part of my life and I could never imagine it missing from my life.

So I’ve decided that while my focus at this point in time will not be on weight loss, it will still most certainly be on maintaining a healthy pregnancy and keeping weight gain where it should be (and for me is only 15-25 lbs).



So I hope that you are all still interested in my new focus over the next few months.  Our baby is due on August 5th :-)

I hope over the next little while I’ll have a new template and new look to the blog too (yes I’ve been saying that for like years, I know).

Thank you all for your amazing support that has helped me achieve what is now so abundantly clear to me as being the ultimate “goal” all along, even if I wasn’t quite aware of it until I was blessed with it.

~Angie (aka Mommy to be)
xoxo

Indian Food At Home (Cheater Style)

I have never cooked Indian food before.  I love it, but have never really tried making it myself.  Well now, that’s not exactly true because one of my favourite recipes out of the Eat, Shrink & Be Merry cookbook is the “Better Butter Chicken” so I guess that counts!

This little genius package caught my eye a little while ago and it’s been in my cupboard waiting for me to give it a try:

That’s right bloggies, that’s all the spices you need to make the Tangy Chickpea Curry!  The downfall of many Indian dishes is that there are so many wonderful flavours and spices, but it can cost an arm and a leg to build your pantry enough to have them on hand and if you don’t cook with them often, they end up not getting used, so this is the perfect solution by Kitchen Guru!

On the back of the package, it tells you what else you need to make the dish (so you can shop while you’re still at the grocery store) and the directions are also on the inside:

AND since I was feeling all “international,” I picked up this package of paste to make Butter Chicken which could NOT have been more simple!

I forgot to take a photo of the instruction and the ingredients, but it was so simple I think all you needed was onions, butter, tomato puree, water, sour cream (I used plain non-fat yogurt and it worked beautifully) and cubed cooked chicken.

The result of both dishes was nothing short of PHENOMENAL! (Served with steaming hot brown basmati rice):

   Nom nom nom!!!

I Love Me Them Vitatops

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on the ginormous box of Vitalicious products that I received.  To be honest, I had them in our deep freezer and kept forgetting that they were there!

I decided to give this “golden corn” Vitatop a try the other night and I gotta say, I am a MAJOR fan of these products.  They store very well in the freezer and are warm and fluffy when you heat them in the microwave before eating them.

 I love that most of the ingredients I have seen so far in these products are organic and preservative free :-)  A fabulous and healthy 100 calorie treat !

In fact, I think I hear some variety of chocolate calling my name right now :-)

Book Reviews To Come

I was lucky enough to be approached by The Penguin Group and was asked to gave a look at a couple of books and talk about them on the blog.  I had big plans on getting to work and getting through them over the Christmas holidays.  I’m a little late on that plan!

In fact, I’ve been majorly behind on the blog for a while now!  You are all so sweet for checking in on me with your emails and your comments.  Please know that I am doing very well and there’s no need to worry about me at all.  Your concern and genuine support touches me to the very core and I thank you so much!

I have a few preliminary thoughts about The Body Fat Solution that I was going to post right now, but on second thought, I’ve decided to wait until I’ve had the opportunity to read a bit more of the book first.  I am excited about having these books to review and I thank you Penguin Group for the opportunity!

Fighting Against "FAIL"

So lately, I've noticed the use of the word, "FAIL" (usually in CAPS) becoming a regular word in our blogging and twittering vocabulary.  Maybe it originated in an effort to sum up how you felt you performed in less than 140 characters on twitter, but I have to say that every time I see it, it brings about a negative tone so I'm fighting against it!  If you agree with me, I think you should fight too :-)

If you didn't make it to the gym, or didn't follow your plan the way you had hoped, why not try to see it from a more positive perspective that will help you do better next time, perhaps?

Or, maybe you are the type of person who is motivated by seeing those kinds of words, and if so, then to each their own, but for me, you won't see me dropping those F bombs :-D

Clarification: what I am specifically referring to is when people use the word to describe themselves in a negative way.  Lex pointed out to be the Fail Blog which I think is actually pretty funny!

MIA, Alive & Well

Hey there bloggies :-) I just wanted to pipe up to say hello and tell you all that all is well on my end. I haven't been posting over the holidays in an effort to "unplug" and just spend time with the fam (even if most of it was doing nothing at all and just "being" together) which was really nice.

I may be in an out for the next little while, but don't worry, all is well and I've got plenty to say don't worry ;-)

In The Media

If you're interested in checking out some interviews, here's some links :-)

CTV News Live @5 Interview

ECFM 94.1 Radio Interview