A Day at the Beach

Here's me at Long Beach yesterday. I will be 7 months this coming Wednesday. As you can see, I am still rocking my bikini with pride! It was fun yesterday getting out of the city. It definitely made me think about how much I really don't want to raise my son in the city. I want to have a lawn and backyard for him to play in. I want him to be able to ride his bike in the street. I want him to be able to roll around on grass. I really like city life for just me but for me and my little family, I want a house. I would love to live somewhere kind of country, with fruit bearing trees and a garden. Or it would be nice to live on a somewhat cosmopolitan island, the best of nature mixed with access to arts and cultures. I hear St. Martin is pretty diverse and has a lot of stuff going on. Hopefully in the next few years B and I will have an idea of where we may want to go from here.
Anyway, the beach was fun! We got the one day getaway package to Long Island which included a round trip ticket on the Long Island Railroad and beach admission all for 18 dollars each. We ate junk food on the boardwalk and then hung out on the sand. We only went into the water like twice because it was REALLY cold. Refreshing, yes, but you wouldn't want to just hang out in water at that temperature for long periods of time. After we left the beach, we found this cute little diner across the street from the train station. B had a grilled chicken caesar salad and I had a veggie burger and salad. We both got dessert to go since we didn't want to miss our train. Overall it was a lovely day. I was so pooped when we got home, I went to bed around 10pm. Woke up this morning and went to the gym. I was feeling so good on the elliptical machine, I ended up doing 65 minutes of cardio on it! This week I went to the gym 4 times so I am feeling cool about that. Five times would have been better but oh well. I find myself getting concerned about my every changing figure but I am like "Hey I am pregnant, I can't wear the same things I used to." But I definitely want to keep up the exercise until the day I go into labor and start up my postpartum fitness game plan shortly after delivery. Gradually of course. I will start with walking on the treadmill and eventually build up to running. Weights will be added probably a month or so after the delivery. Anyway, the little boo in my belly wants to eat breakfast so I need to honor his wishes! Later y'all! Oh and by the way, I passed my glucose challenge test with flying colors! Yay! I don't have gestational diabetes!

Glucose Tolerance Test and Snoogle Salvation

I haven't updated in about a week, because I guess I really had nothing to talk about. Today I had to go in to do the glucose tolerance test, GTT, to see if I have gestational diabetes. I REALLY don't think I have it, considering how little weight I have gained(at the 8 pound mark at 6 and a half months) and my exercise habits. But we will soon know definitively next Thursday at my appointment. So many women dread this test but to me it's more annoying than dreadful. I just hated having to sit there for an hour. Basically you drink this orange liquid glucose which basically tastes like flat orange soda, not bad at all. And then after an hour they draw your blood to see how much your glucose level has gone up based on the drink. I have done this test a few different times, actually I believe I did a 5 hour glucose tolerance test when I was 10 that involved hourly blood AND urine samples so this was a piece of cake. I just sat in the waiting room and read "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" by the country's leading midwife, Ina May Gaskin. I am really looking forward to using the birthing center at St. Luke's Roosevelt so hopefully my blood sugar is all good. What also sucked about the test was that I couldn't have any juice or fruit before it. So now I am totally getting down with some organic grapes as I type.

I am totally feeling good these days. A couple of weeks ago I was having trouble sleeping because I am a stomach sleeper for real and for obvious reasons I have to temporarily abandon that practice. So I was in insomnia hell, unable to find a comfortable position on either of my sides. And then came...the Snoogle! Ladies and Gentlemen, the Snoogle has saved my life. Well not really but it is really comfy and allows me to have a good night's sleep! Before, the side sleeping made my back hurt and I was just an insomniac by night and a zombie by day. Now with the Snoogle, not only do I feel comfortable but I fall asleep easily. Last night I was looking forward to watching the Family Guy at 7:30 and the Hell's Kitchen finale at 9 but I didn't even make it to 7:15! I was out like a light and didn't really get up until 4 am. I felt fresh to go the gym and get to work. Thanks Snoogle! I even made a theme song about the Snoogle to the tune of the Flipper television theme song: "They call you Snoogle, Snoogle...." Okay so I have to work on the lyrics but suffice to say that the Snoogle is a knocked up girl's best friend!

Hospitals, Test Results and Providers, Oh my!

Here we are on Saturday, my official rest day. I woke up at around 6:30 and then went back to bed at 8:30 for about 2 hours. Now I am up again, not exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed but coherent. Yesterday I finally succeeded in finding a provider at St. Luke's Roosevelt who is in-network AND supports natural childbirth and the birthing center. And I was able to get an appointment for this Wednesday. My doula told me to make sure that I let them know that I JUST found out that I was pregnant and I am not just switching providers because I don't like my doctor or something. Trying to avoid the "PITA" rep early, Pain In The Ass! LOL! The nurses and the doc at the women's health center at Beth Israel kind of were giving me the side-eye like I was crazy for not knowing I was pregnant. Yeah, I think I was the last to know.
I had blood tests done and I guess the results are in. I came home yesterday and I had a message from Beth Israel on my answering machine. It was a nurse telling me that my iron is low and I am anemic. Well quelle surprise! Not a big shocker considering I don't really eat any of the main sources of iron, beef, chicken, liver(blech!) and eggs. Luckily for me dried fruit is a very good source so I plan on getting some dates and figs on my little adventure outside of the house later today. Apparently watermelon has as much iron as spinach! So in addition to the nutrition side of things she told me to get ferrous sulfate iron pills. At first I was like "okay". Then after doing a little of my own research, I was like "Um hell to the nah!" I found a better product and yes it's more holistic I guess you could say.

Salus® Floradix® Formula

Natural solutions for your daily iron needs. Embraced by women for over 60 years.

It's a liquid and is easier for the body to absorb apparently. I have 4 months to build my iron back up so that I can have a safe, low risk labor and delivery. I don't even want to go into all the problems that are associated with anemia in pregnancy. My level is 10.4, I need to bring it up to at least 12. Between the low protein and the low iron NOW I understand why I get so tired in the beginning in the afternoon. I plan on picking up either Floravit or Floradix when I go to the health food store later. Oh and I have more ultrasound pics, I'll upload them sometime next week. I can see Baby Bojangles little nose! I am going to try to finish watching "The Business of Being Born" now, really good so far. Kudos to Ricki Lake. Go Ricki! Go Ricki! Go Ricki!