My learnings

Have I mentioned that I thoroughly enjoy meeting with my doula monthly? I feel as if I have learned so much through our meetings, my own research, and the books she lets me borrow. 

I am currently reading The Doula Guide to Birth by Ananda Lowe and Rachel Zimmerman. After reading the introductions alone, I wonder why we don't have births like the women did a hundred years ago, with other women by our side to support us. Why have we gotten into the mindset that we don't need help, and can manage this (birth and post partum) on our own? 

I remember times of sadness and feeling alone after my first delivery only have my mother say "You are fine, you need to learn how to deal." Because that is what she was told I guess. 

We need someone supportively saying "You will loose sleep, romance, freedom. It is perfectly ok not to soothe every cry. You don't have to do everything yourself." Just as we need someone to say before we get married "It's ok not to always agree. Don't be afraid to rock the boat. The first few years are HARD, but you will get through them." Especially since most girls grow up with this fantasy idea of the perfect marriage and being a mother. 

I continue to look forward to this delivery after what I have learned and continue to learn. I am so happy that I found a doula who will help me try to obtain the experience I want so that my husband and I can enjoy the birth of our second child. And I looked forward to my daughter to be a big sister. 

Ants and dirt...

So for whatever reason, my child is scared of ants and dirt all of a sudden. She loves to play outside, and will play in the dirt, and asks to hold worms. But if she sees an ant in her bathtub, she freaks out! (On a side note, I'm trying to figure out where the little things are sneaking in at.)

It's the same with dirt. Since my husband has broken his ankle (which is getting better), he takes a bath in her bathtub, since we only have a shower in our room. The next day when he bathes her, if there is dirt in the tub that sneaks around her, she screams and claws her way out of the tub. It is very stressful. I've told him to rinse the tub after he finishes and agin before her bath. It helps. But kids have dirt on them... If she bathes with me, it's not as bad. So we will try that for a while.

On a side note, here are some recipes I've tried lately:


For breakfast today, we had these breakfast ham cups. Talk about good!! I served them with cheese grits. Yes the instant kind. It's what we have. I really enjoyed them and the recipe is so simple. I didn't put onions in ours because I'm not big on onions in my breakfast. Also served with a cup of Community Coffee, because there is nothing better! ;)







For lunch, I made these Southwestern Chicken Crispy Rolls. I had done chicken tacos the other night, and used a cup of this with the recipe.




For dinner, we had shrimp and steal kabobs. I made this spicy and sweet maranade for the shrimp. We also had roasted asparagus and baked sweet potatoes.






For dessert, since it was Shawn's birthday, I made this cheesecake. It stayed in the fridge overnight. Soo good!

Chicken tacos

So I made chicken tacos tonight and they are so good!!! I am sure there are recipes somewhere online. I know I pinned one that is similar, and only calls for chicken and salsa. I didn't have salsa, so I used what was in my pantry:

3 chicken breast fillets
1/2 packet taco seasoning
3/4 jar taco sauce
1/4 cup pureed tomatoes in sauce
tortillas

Add all ingredients to crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Shred chicken once done and serve. Top with your toppings. I like cheese on mine. Sorry I don't have a picture. This went so quickly! Plus I ate mine like a burrito, so you wouldn't really have seen the chicken anyway.

I am using the leftovers to make southwestern chicken rolls tomorrow. I'll post that recipe then!

Preparing

So, I have been feeling better the last few days. Thank goodness! The nausea has subsided and I have more energy. I got my husband to watch "The Business of Being Born" this past weekend. Now I want to watch "Pregnant in America." They both show women who choose home births and natural births. Although my husband is not for us having a home birth, after watching the movie, I feel he has more understanding of why I want to do a natural birth with no meds this time, and have a doula. Not that there is anything wrong with medical interventions when necessary. I just want a different delivery this time.

Speaking of doulas, here is mine's website. She also works with Birth Works in Little Rock as well as being a midwife in her own business. I have met with her once and am already so pleased! I am currently reading The Birth Partner, which is really good information about the doula and the woman's birth partner (husband, lover, friend, etc) role in the delivery.

I know that even with all the planning, something can change that day do to unforeseen issues. I pray not.

Second trimester

So I am now in my second trimester! I'm still dealing with "morning" sickness. Last week, I ran out of my medicine on Thursday and my insurance wouldn't refill it till the 1st. So I had to deal with a terrible weekend of nausea and throwing up every day. My in-laws were up and I did my best to entertain.





Let's see about some things I've cooked lately. I cooked skillet buttermilk biscuits for breakfast last weekend. They were good. I didn't take the time to roll out the dough and cut biscuits, and I think next time I will. May help to assure the flavor is even.









On Easter, we also celebrated Jeanne's birthday early. I didn't want to have a cake because I didn't want to have the leftovers. So I made the jello parfaits, which was a great treat for Easter! Everyone loved them.

The other night, Jeanne helped me make goldfish pizza. It was so fun having her help me. The pizzas went fast! So next time I will make more.

Last night , we had lemon chicken. I made Knorr chicken rice side and steamed broccoli to go with it. I only did three chicken breasts and there were no leftovers!






Lastly, I made spasgana. It's a combination of spaghetti and lasagna. I made it tonight because I already had homemade spaghetti sauce in the freezer. I didn't have to make some tonight, otherwise we would have just had spaghetti. I'm not a fan of cooking two separate things and then putting them together to bake. Took many dishes and waste of time in my opinion.

This week

So this week has gone by fast. I have done some cooking recently, but this past weekend we went to Bossier City to visit friends and eat boiled crawfish. It was really good!








Last night, I fried some chicken tenders. They came out good, but were not as spicy as I wanted. Probably because I only had 1/2c hot sauce in my fridge. So I put more Tony Chachere's on the chicken as it fried. As a side dish, I made a box of Zatatarain's Red Beans and Rice. I added some smoked sausage to that. We all enjoyed it. The fried food (oil) made me a but queasy as the night rolled on, but it was good!




Last week, we had this "Drunkin Pork chops" with mashed potatoes. They were excellent. And yes all of the alcohol cooked out before I ate it. I cooked it a bit longer just to make sure.

We also had this Chicken Tikka Masala. I've made this before, but it is easy and a favorite. This time, I cooked plain white rice and then added 1/2 tsp Tumeric to the rice to give it the yellow color. It added the perfect flavor to the masala. I cooked some peas as a side dish, and mixed it all together. So good!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Being tired in the evening and still chasing around my almost 3 year old. Then Shawn broke bones in his foot this weekend, do now I am truly exhausted. He still does his fair share, but I don't have someone waiting on me when I'm nauseated. But I'm sure millions of other women manage just fine, so will I.

My secret...

Is that I am pregnant :-) I am currently 10 weeks along. It was so hard to keep a secret, especially since I found out when I was 8 dpo. But because of the miscarriage last time, I just wanted to hold on to my secret until I got an ultrasound. But, there he/she is!! I am elated!

This is a reason that I haven't posted lately about food, because I have had severe food aversions. I have been really nauseated since week 4, and then last week, I began throwing up every day. It was terrible. I didn't have that trouble with Jeanne, so I didn't know how to handle it. I could cook some days, but couldn't eat it. And whatever was in the fridge looked terrible when I packed my lunch the next day. So for a while, I mostly ate Ramen noodles and Chef Boyardee! This past week was better, then today was not a good day. I could tell as soon as I woke up if it would be good or bad.

I can't stop looking at the ultrasound. It is so amazing!! It makes it even harder to understand how someone could choose to end the life of a baby. So the fact that the government here in Arkansas has passed a law banning abortions after 12 weeks is definitely a step in the right direction (see report here).

I have tried to explain it to Jeanne, but I think it's too early too expect her to understand. Just the other day, she told a complete stranger, "I have a baby in my butt!" I was mortified!!!! I had to explain that Jeanne calls her belly button her butt, and no there is not a baby there... Ugh! Anyway, as I have been told, things happen a lot faster the second go round. At 10 weeks now, I measure the same as I did at 17 weeks with Jeanne. I was not ready to pull out maternity pants this fast! And bigger bras... Ouch!
Yes this picture is from the bathroom at work. Classy, I know.