Weighing in at 140 now... I guess that means I can stop worrying about gaining weight! Only 3 weeks left of my second trimester. I was doing really well drinking my pregnancy tea but I stopped the last couple days... I have paid for it with severe stabbing pains after eating, especially in the evenings corresponding with stabbing middle back pain. OH THE AGONY when you're driving home all alone and your spine feels like it is snapping and you just want to pull over and lay on the grass for an hour.
In our Hypnobabies class we are learning about nutrition and it has made me pay attention a lot more. Even someone like me, who spends a great deal of time thinking about food and eating well, STILL has a lot of improvements to make during a pregnancy. For example, I am no longer having a "just this once" attitude about junk food, now that I know what it does to baby (I can count the indulgences on one hand but that is still too much). I am concentrating on protein intake a lot more (I only had 45 grams the day before yesterday, got it up to 90 grams yesterday). Turns out you can't take iron and calcium together because they block the absorption of each other (I KNEW multivitamins were stupid), and you can't get calcium from Tums because you need stomach acid to absorb it properly. I was happy to learn that the exercising I have been doing is good (pelvic tilts, inner thigh stretching, squats, and kegels). I have been drinking more water ever since I learned that my body cycles through all of the amnionic fluid every 3 hours!!!
The bigger he gets and the more he kicks, the more excited I am that he is eventually coming out of there!! Those sweet, baby kicks are worth all the back pain (though I have to say, pregnancy is overall annoying and a lot of hard work and I am glad I am doing it now while my body is super young and I can handle it better).
I tried to make cheese but I didn't think it was very tasty. I think that's because my favorite cheeses are all EXTREMELY salty, hard, sharp, and smokey while this cheese was more mild. My family loved it and inhaled the whole bowl, and it was fun to make (I can imagine kids getting a kick out of watching milk turn into cheese).
You take two quarts of whole milk and heat it in a double boiler until it gets frothy but NOT boiling:
You stir in half a cup of lemon juice:
You strain out the whey for an hour:
Then you add salt and herbs to taste and let it sit for a few hours before eating:
THE PIZZA STONE CRACKED!!!
I think I am storing my bread dough incorrectly, because whenever I bake the bread from the leftover dough, it is always tiny, dense, and not as tasty. I am just storing it in the fridge in a plastic bowl, with a cloth tied over the top. Maybe I should try wrapping the dough ball in plastic wrap? Or in a plastic container with a plastic lid (not wanting to go the disposable route).
A lot has been going on with the homestead this week, I will be writing a blog post over on my other blog soon. MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN WORKING SO HARD!!!
If you let the cheese ripen for a day or two, it has a much sharper flavor.
ReplyDeleteAbout the bread - "dough ball" is the key there! Your dough should NOT be a ball with the artisan bread recipe. It should be spongy and wet, filling up your bowl instead of holding together in any sort of shape. The extra moistness in the dough is what helps it a) have a nice "crumb" and b) store well.
Oh I should clarify... I mix the ingredients together in the bowl, throw a towel over it and stick it in the fridge. I don't shape it or touch it. When I take it out the next day, the top of the dough (the part exposed to air) is hard and tough and darkened.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the multivitamin is concerned, iron and calcium taken together DON'T completely block each other from absorption. Your body doesn't absorb them as much or as well as if they're taken separately, but you do still absorb some. Plus, the benefits of taking a multivitamin for pregnancy outweigh some of the other stuff! Multivitamins are good! Make sure you're getting enough Zinc and Folate!
ReplyDeleteYeah but it's so annoying that this whole time, I thought I was getting my iron and calcium and I am getting maybe half of what I thought I was. I still take the prenatal vitamin every day, I just don't rely on it 100% like I used to.
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