Last week I was sitting in the waiting room at my OB's office for what seems like the 10th time in one month surrounded by pregnant women, two of them were making small talk and I was listening to a lot of their complaints. I understand that at the end you are tired, sick of being "fat," etc. but this has been something that I have wished I could say more publicly to them... You are incredibly lucky. You might want to use the term "blessed," but I hate that word. I think it is incredibly overused and cliche... and does that mean that those of us who are struggling or who have lost a child are not blessed? Pet peeve. Anyway...
...as they continued all I could think about was not yelling, "for the love of whatever you believe in please stop complaining." I would take any symptom or side effect to make it to 24 weeks... not even full term... 24 weeks is my goal at this point because my baby can possibly be saved if the worst happens then, we would have the fighting chance my last one didn't have. I can not tell you enough how fortunate you are if you have not been in my position. Sitting at this appointment, 8+ weeks along, the normal excited feeling most people have is clouded by the thought that I could walk into that ultrasound room and something is wrong. That a doctor will be called in for a second opinion and my tiny black and white photo of my gummy bear will be the last image I get of my child. I still have the ultrasound photo of Baby Boy from that awful last appointment and remember when I held him how, albeit bright red and unmoving, his profile looked exactly like that profile picture taken in that room. It's hard to shake at image as I sat there in the waiting room hoping this time goes better. I don't know if I will feel like this the whole time, but I am full of anxiety. People are asking me how I feel and it honestly doesn't matter... am I sick? Yes. Do things ache and are stretching? Yes. But as long as there is a healthy baby forming I'll take whatever symptom I get. So far so good, there's a heartbeat. :)
Fitness
Fitness-wise I am participating in the Open this year. I really went back and forth, but I thought maybe if I had one good workout that could help the team it would be worth it. Plus I have done it four previous years, can't break my streak! Workout 17.1 went terribly for me... pretty much embarrassing....but I finished and got to judge and cheer on my friends and family. I can't wait to see their hard work play out in their success- it really is a different feeling this year and I am so excited watching them.My home workouts are still posted and I will update them weekly so keep up!
Food!!!
Bagels, Scones and BBQ Beef Sandwiches...for food prep we are keeping it simple through the open- grilled chicken with rice and veggies for lunch every day.Homemade bagels- anyone who knows me knows I look forward to my Friday bagel. I usually get a salt bagel, but sometimes I do blueberry and rub it on a salt bagel because I enjoy the "essence" of salt. hehehe. So today since I was making my own I put salt on my blueberry bagel and the stars aligned and heaven opened up. Turns out that bagels are not hard to make, they are just time consuming because you have to let the dough rise twice basically.
Blueberry Bagels
- 2 tsp Rapid Rise Dry Yeast- 4 Tbsp Honey, divided
- 1 1/4 Cups Warm Water, divided
- 3.5 Cups All-Purpose Flour (or bread flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Cup Fresh Blueberries
1. Dissolve the yeast and 2 Tbsp honey in 1/2 cup warm water. Let sit 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, or using your stand mixer with a bread hook, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center and add the yeast, the rest of the water- 3/4 cup, and the blueberries.
3. Knead until you have a soft, elastic dough. Add more flour if it is too sticky. Your dough might be very purple and that's okay. Cover and let it sit 1 to 1.5 hours to rise.
4. Punch the dough down and break it into 8 balls, if it is still too sticky to work with add a bit more flour. Make a whole in the middle of each and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet to rest 30 minutes.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings 8.0 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| calories 219 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 1 g | 1 % |
| Saturated Fat 0 g | 0 % |
| Monounsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 0 mg | 0 % |
| Sodium 427 mg | 18 % |
| Potassium 17 mg | 0 % |
| Total Carbohydrate 45 g | 15 % |
| Dietary Fiber 2 g | 9 % |
| Sugars 6 g | |
| Protein 5 g | 11 % |
| Vitamin A | 0 % |
| Vitamin C | 7 % |
| Calcium | 0 % |
| Iron | 0 % |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Lemon Blueberry Scones
Recipe adapted from "Creations by Kara." Where are my pictures?!?! I had a bunch and they are lost :( I will make more and take some!- 2 Cups Flour
- 1/4 Cup Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 6 Tbsp Very Cold Butter
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1 Lemon, Juiced, (~1/4+ cup)
- 1 Lemon zested
- 1 Cup Fresh Blueberries
Glaze
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
1. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until its in crumbly pieces.
2. Add the milk, juice, zest and blueberries. Mix until a dough is formed. It should be dry enough you can shape it into a circle, and wet enough that it stays together.
3. On a floured surface, mold the dough into a circle about 1" thick. Cut into 8 slices like a pie. Place the pieces 1" apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 17-20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and then drizzle with glaze.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings 8.0 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| calories 224 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 8 g | 13 % |
| Saturated Fat 5 g | 26 % |
| Monounsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 23 mg | 8 % |
| Sodium 171 mg | 7 % |
| Potassium 17 mg | 0 % |
| Total Carbohydrate 32 g | 11 % |
| Dietary Fiber 1 g | 4 % |
| Sugars 8 g | |
| Protein 3 g | 6 % |
| Vitamin A | 8 % |
| Vitamin C | 5 % |
| Calcium | 1 % |
| Iron | 8 % |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
Crockpot BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Adapted from Cooking Light- 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Tomato Paste
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce, or coconut aminos
- 1 Tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 1/4 tsp Black
- 1.5-2 lbs Boneless Chuck roast, fat trimmed
- 1/2 Red Onion, thinly sliced
BBQ Sauce
Cheese
Buns
1. Combine the sugar through spices. Rub generously over the roast.
2. Place the onion slices in the bottom of a slow cooker (sprayed with cooking spray). Place the Roast on top and cook on low 8-10 hours. Shred the beef and mix it back with the onions.
3. Top the buns with beef, cheese and BBQ sauce. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 10-ish minutes at 425 degrees.
