Vegalicious

Today marks the beginning of week #6 of our pregnancy.  Our baby is now the size of a small pea:

His facial features–eyes and ears–are becoming more developed, and I know he is going to be a looker. 🙂 His little arms and legs are beginning to grow too, and his tiny heart is beating about 160 beats per minute. Ah, what a miracle of life!

Meanwhile, my body is changing too. Last week, on the last day of week #4, I no longer had any doubt that I was pregnant — food aversion set in, followed by some feelings of nausea, and my energy level took a dive. Half of the week I was happily miserable. I kept reminding myself that what I am going through is totally worth it, and dealt with it the best way I knew how to.

The first few days of last week, the kiddo wanted nothing but watermelon — three days straight. So, you can imagine that I spent most of the time, especially at night, getting up and down, since watermelons are nothing but pure liquid and are diuretic. I tried making myself eat other foods, since I know that I must, but it still a work in progress.

My body now likes very simple foods: apples, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes with hummus, watermelon; it tolerates mushrooms, while rejecting anything complex. I made one of my favorites — split pea soup, but for some odd reason it just does not taste the same now.

This week I decided to try various home remedies to alleviate feeling nauseous, and made a tea with 6-7 different herbs, at the suggestion of another preggo lady. So far, today is a better day, although I am still feeling tired, but I have to wait for a couple of days, before sharing the recipe, to make  sure it is not a placebo effect.

I finally was able to eat more real food:

I sauteed portabella mushrooms in an herbal dressing with some chickpeas, and then ate it topped with tomatoes on a brown rice puff:

I am trying to avoid all wheat/gluten possible, so finding these puffs at a local Whole Foods store was great–although they do contain wheat, there is so little of it in each serving that I am not worried, but it gives me a sense of actually eating something I like. I also had them with artichokes and tomato slices — DELICIOUS! Well… under the circumstances.

Salads are also a hit with the kiddo.

Cucumber Tomato Salad

• 2 sliced tomatoes
• 1 large cucumber, sliced
• 1 ripe avocado, cut into small pieces
• tossed with dill and Himalayan salt

It is safe to save, that I have a truly vegan, whole food kid growing in me — he is craving all the right things. 🙂 And yesterday, after not being able to even look a green smoothie for an entire week, I was finally awarded the pleasure of having one in the morning. I had to keep it very simple and restart on green slowly [for my sake] 😉

Dandelion Green Smoothie

• 2-3 cups water
• 1-2 cups frozen of fresh raspberries
• 1 ripe banana
• 5 pitted dates
• 2 tbsp dulse flakes
• 1/2 bunch-1 full bunch of dandelion greens

Blend until smooth and enjoy!

It was a GREAT smoothie and my little peanut had no objections.

Deal With It!

I always dreamed of going through pregnancies like my Mom — she reported having no major issues or feeling sick. I am not sure how much she remembers of her feeling well or otherwise, since her last pregnancy was over 30 years back, but I am guessing she either just dealt with it, having a handful of kids to take care of, or I did not inherit her genes. I am dealing with what I have been dealt with and I pray that it gets better with my remedies, since I am not ready to spend anymore time glued to the couch. My hubby has been nothing but a delight, pampering me, but I am ready to reclaim how I feel… although I know that I have a little say-so in it. 🙂  So, I am just dealing with it! I am making myself eat when I don’t feel like it — I know he needs nutrients; I am working out when my energy levels are down, and in the end I feel better; and I sleep A LOT! I never thought I would be the one, but I no longer get up with Hubby to get his breakfast/lunch ready — I am staying in bed and milk every minute of sleep I can.

Remedies?

Do you have any tips or trick of how you dealt with your preggo “feelings” in the first trimester? I am all ears. And, if my tea mixture works out for me this week, I will be sharing the recipe with all of you, since it tastes and smells fabulous!