Vancouver Placenta Encapsulation

During my last pregnancy, I decided to encapsulate my baby's placenta, read about it HERE. A few years back, I met a woman who was a Placenta Encapsulation Specialist, something I have never heard of before -was quite shocked to be honest, yet I kept her business card! I'm glad I did.

Why did I decide to have my placenta encapsulated?

After plenty of research and browsing through testimonies, I have learned that 

• after mothers give birth, their hormones and blood supply (iron among much more) take a dip. The placenta, used with traditional Chinese medicine, replenish this storage's and stabilizes the hormones.
• it helps with lactation.
• known for being an anti-baby blues capsule, a.k.a "Happy Pill!"
• it's made by us, perfect for us. -Custom made!
• it helps the uterus to return to it's normal size faster.
• etc

How does it work?

I contacted Eva Li, VancouverPlacenta and gave her my due date, to which she was able to decide whether she was able to sell her services to me. Thankfully she was!

After giving birth, the midwives took the placenta and placed it in a cooler (provided by us) on ice, and kept it in the placenta fridge for either pick up, or you drop it off to Eva Li. Prices vary depending on what "service package" you purchase. In about 1-2 days you pick it up or she drops it off, depending on what you choose to do.

My husband dropped and picked up my placenta from Eva Li, and what did I see and experience from this all?

I saw.. a beautiful packaging, indeed. It had my capsules in jars with the dosage instructions. I had a keepsake token, which was a pleasant surprise- a heart made from my baby's umbilical cord. I really felt the love put to into the presentation and I had no doubt about the quality of the product. 

I must admit I was at first hesitant about taking the capsules, but after I gobbled them down and experiencing almost an instant relief and milk supply, I never looked back! I can only compare my experience to my previous postpartum experiences, and thankfully I have 3 prior experiences.

I just had a baby, and three other kids under 8 to look after and, I felt great! I was healing from my birth, which was a good one, and looking forward to the future instead of lulling around, moody and exhausted. My milk came in gushing. This too is odd for me, since usually it takes a week or two to get started. 

I am a very happy customer.

(Placenta Art)

Thinking about encapsulating your placenta? Contact Eva Li , click HERE

Weight Loss #4 Week 3

Unfortunately, I have to put my weight loss on a break. I have been "swimming upstream" for the past week and I NOW know why.

I am on Domperidone. One of its side effects is WEIGHT GAIN. Yup.

During Christmas my family and I suffered a horrific cold. My milk took a dip and I tried everything to get it going again. I fortunately have a wonderful support group on FB called the 'Crunchy Families' and got several tips on how to increase my milk supply. 

I did as much as skin to skin as possible with baby, including drinking dark ale, mother's milk teas, eating oatmeal after oatmeal, drinking enough fluids, pumping... you name it and without success. I met up with a La Leche League trainer and fb friend who pointed out some "anatomy issues" regarding my struggle to feed baby well.

Now wiser and smarter I went to see my Dr. and she prescribed Domperidone 2 pills 4 x a day. Within like 4 days I filled out! I was carrying stones.... ouch! I went down to 2 pills 2-3 x a day and I feel better. Yesterday, I upped my placenta capsules too, to 2 capsules 2x a day. I'm hoping for a good balance.

So, because of the silly vanity I still seem to have within me I "Dr.Googled" weight loss with Domperidone, thinking that since it was producing milk on "overdrive", I must be losing weight faster, I hoped... BUT to my disappointment, it is the exact OPPOSITE!! 

Apparently hundreds of women suffer weight gain while nursing on Domperidone. Bummer.

Well, so until I stop taking Domperidone, I will stop weighing myself, I will accept that I probably won't lose any and might even pile some pounds on and will just focus on loving me the way I am right now. I will eat healthy, I will keep hydrated, I will do Pilates and Yoga... I will enjoy every day that's been given to me. 

I will keep posting recipes and my thoughts. Stay tuned!

As I type I have a 

Greek Yoghurt & Honey Mask on...

Ingredients

1T Greek Yoghurt

1t honey

Mix well, and spread avoiding your eyes, let it soothe for 15minutes + and wash.

Have you been on Domperidone? What was your experience like?

He Died so I can Live

The moment we take out first breath, is the beginning of our slow death, is the moment we are dying. 

We live like we are to live forever. We workout and eat like we're growing stronger and invincible. The truth is, we're only going to end up dying healthier that way, if that was the final case. We don't know.

The libraries and book stores has endless amounts of books on "how to be here and now", "live in the present", "enjoy today". We have ancient scripture on "living today, tomorrow has it's own worries", "love each other, focus on the now, don't let the world take you astray".

The moment you put your kids to sleep is the moment your heart and mind is connecting overdrive. You reflect on your mistakes of the day, the words you shouldn't have said, the frown and mean look you gave and caused, the yelling, the bickering, the pointless arguing that, then, seemed to be so important. Your heart is heavy now, everything around you is so precious, is a blessing, you see your inadequacy, your brokenness... you regret. You feel guilty. You think of tomorrow as a blank canvas, a new chance, you're wiser now, you will make a change. 

"I will enjoy and answer their questions, I will take my time and be present. I won't rush or rush them, tomorrow we live enjoy each other. I'm so excited, I cannot wait to get to know them, talk to them, see and hear them, instead of herding them from A to B to C,.. Tomorrow!"

Tomorrow's here and before you even know it, you're awake herding your family from A to B and to C... and finally rushing them off to bed, because it's "past" their bed time. "Finally, they are a sleep!" And you reflect on your shortcomings and you've made the "yesterday's" mistakes again...

When I lie down to sleep, I cannot but pray for a friend of mine who is battling cancer. I do not know if she is overcoming the beast or if she just has it cornered for now. I wonder how she sees her life at this very moment. How does she see her husband, he child.. her sweet child? What are her hopes for her child, what is her fiercest prayer upon her loved one? How does she see what the world has to offer now? Are there people in her life that she wants to be with each and every day, is she growing stronger spiritually, is she looking forward to meeting her Creator or is she asking for more time? 

I often wonder why we seem to be shocked and surprised with news like so? We are dying too... We may not battle cancer at this very moment, or been hit by a car either, but we are making our way out of this world as I type and as you read this. Everyone is going... dying. Our ticket out of here just varies.

Why do we let the world spin us around until we are dizzy with, I wouldn't even call it business, but, thinking we are invincible,- immortal? What would happen, if you would accept the fact that you don't know whether you have days or weeks or even just years until you are to pass, would that change the rest of your life? 

Our days are numbered, if only we could grasp that fact and live like this what we so preciously have, is all that matters. 

I'm only truly alive in Him, and this is not the end.

Weight Loss #4 Week 2

Was 221

Now 221

Weight loss =

0 lbs

Christmas Holiday week = Chocolate = No willpower...

Enough said!

Weight Loss #4 Week 1

was 225

now 221

-4lbs

So, I've had a pretty good week until now. Hubby JUST brought some Christmas chocolates home from work, and my self discipline is 0. Yup zero. Anyway, moving on....

I've meal prepped and eaten 5 x day. I've been satisfied, not left hungry at all. You can look at what I've been planning to eat HERE

 

 ((Freezer meals))

To the right, I have several freezer bags filled with taco mince (lean meat) ready to go. However even though the package read 'lean beef', I still strained the fried meat and this is how much fat dripped out. It's a LOT! The bowl was nearly half full...

I should maybe come up with some other foods, but I do love yams with taco mince! I can't get past it. Yeah, looks boring, and maybe unappetizing... but the taco spice makes the food go down, he he!!!

Darn those chocolates! Eating popcorn as I type,-ha ha!-  ready for a movie with hubby.

Grace and Peace

You should Quit Your Job!

Have you ever happened to have a rough day at work? Or even a whole week or even a whole season of hard times at work?? If your answer is 'YES'... then,

YOU SHOULD TOTALLY QUIT YOUR JOB! Seriously. Just quit!

Yeah well, if I told you that I get that advice at times, would you believe me? No really, I do.

I am a mother of 4. I homeschool 2 of them, grades K and 3. That means that I have a toddler and baby to take care of too. I also need to cook, clean and take care of my mental and physical health on top of the other million things that need doing. To top it off, my pregnancies can be quite testing to say the least, and I have been in situations at times where I've had to rely on other people's help. Yes, I've humbly asked or accepted a hand, to tackle my busy life.

I get a lot of advice and I hear a lot of opinions on how people think I should do things i.e. live life. When I've had a testing time in my life, as short as a hour or as long as a month (pregnancies for example), people tell me to give it up. They tell me we'd be better off putting our kids into school, stop having kids and to go get my life back (whatever that means???) To that I feel like saying,

-When the next tough time at work or in whatever you love to do happens, just give it up and quit! Life is supposed to be easy peasy all of the time, don't you know?? There are no trials, no testing, no growth, no negativity, no mistakes, and everything should be just great! If you don't have it good all of the time, you're obviously doing something wrong or don't know what you are doing, putting yourself into these situations... hello!

and that is what I feel like saying... but since I think before I speak type...

Okay, what I mean to say is that, life will always be hard at times in someway or another. We all have our trials, our bad days and we grow from them, we mature and we become more wise. We know the good days outnumber the bad by a zillion and we all make different choices in life, even though they may happen to have a hard journey to the destination and we may even have to ask and/or accept help to get there. Sometimes the journeys feel like they last forever! Hard work pays off. In my case, my pregnancies are hard, but they pay off, oh so well...

Children are a blessing, NOT a burden. My body might ache, my mind might be tired at times, well a lot perhaps, but my soul and heart leap for joy! Our children do not hinder our marriage but bring us closer together as a team, as husband and wife. 

This is my job. I am a mom. I homeschool them. I'm beat at the end of the day and cannot wait to put my feet up. There are days when I don't want to go to work, but I have to. There are days, I'm so tired, I moan about it and have a sour attitude about it, but it passes. There are times, I am so overwhelmed that I need to plug into the Word and prayer so that I can survive another hour... and I'd do anything for someone to just give me a hand. There are times I just want to scream... And it passes.

But guess what, I love my job. I love my calling. It's a holy calling. I love my family. Everyday I am taken aback by how blessed I am with all I have. I love teaching and spending time with my kids. I love watching them discover and grow. I love to menu plan and cook for them. I love taking them to activities and field trips. 

I love my job.

With or without kids, life can be testing.

"What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise" -Oscar Wilde

Weight Loss #4 Day 1

I know, I know, baby is only a month old and I've already embarked on weight loss #4. To some of you who do not know my history, I gain a lot of weight during each pregnancy and I have quite a challenge to lose my pregnancy weight afterwards, yet somehow I manage to do it,  even if it's a slow process. More on my previous weight losses, HERE.

So here I am once again. Over weight with a newborn. 

I am nursing, so I have to be extremely careful that I don't hinder milk production or stop it. My baby is my priority. I won't let myself go hungry. I won't limit my vegetable intake either. I'll make sure my calorie intake is sufficient.

During my final weeks of pregnancy, I refused to be weighed at my check ups so I don't actually know exactly how much I weighed before birth, but I'm guessing 250lb ,or even more. Currently I weigh 225lb and that is 2lb less than two days ago. So here I am at 225. What is my goal? Well it's of course my pre pregnancy weight, which is 145lb. Some say I am too hard on myself and should aim for a smaller goal..  Buuut I don't want to.  Call me stubborn. 

My weight day 1 = 225lb

My plan is to prep and precook my lunch and dinners for the next two weeks. If I have the $, I will consider doing it for the next four weeks. This will save me time and protect me from temptations.  

My menu for the next 4 weeks is

2 WEEKS FREEZER MEALS

100-150G MEAT, 100G CARBS, 200G++ VEGG MEAL PLAN

3L WATER, OMEGAS, VITAMINS, OILS

7.30 BREAKFAST OMELET, WW TORTILLA, SPINACH, CHEESE AND SALSA Or oats with cottage cheese and berries

11.00 LUNCH PREPARED MEAL

1.30/2  SNACK GREEK YOGHURT AND BERRIES

4/5 DINNER PREPARED MEAL

*post workout shake

8 ILTAPALA (evening snack) APPLE AND PEANUT BUTTER

4 X CHICKEN, BROCCOLI, QUINOA
4 X MINCE, BEANS, SWEET POTATO
4 X CHICKEN, ASPARAGUS, BROWN RICE
2 X MINCE, QUINOA, BEANS

SHOPPING LIST

·         8 CHICKEN BREASTS

·         1KG MINCE AND TACO SPICE

·         1KG BROCCOLI CROWNS/FROZEN

·         QUINOA (600G COOKED QUINOA)

·         4 SMALL SWEET POTATOES

·         1,2KG GREEN BEANS

·         1KG ASPARAGUS

·         BROWN RICE (400G COOKED BROWN RICE)

·         7 X 0%GREEK YOGHURT

·         PRECUT FROZEN BERRIES

·         2X TRAY EGGS

·         WW TORTILLAS

COTTAGE CHEESE 0% AND 14 X ZIPLOCK BAGS MEDIUM / CONTAINERS WITH LIDS, MICRO AND FREEZER SAFE

  

I will weigh myself weekly on Fridays starting December 19th. I will also post photos of  start and present. I won't be working out until I go to my 6 week check up,  and I will begin with only cardio, kegels and Stott pilates to strengthen my body before I hit the weights. 

So, any suggestions or advice you want to give me?

Until my next weigh in,  

Grace and Peace

Slowing Down

One of my biggest sought after desires in life is to slow down. As a human being, in this time and age, never mind being a homeschooling mother of four, I find it very very very hard to do. All I want is to live "here and now" with my family, to truly see and to truly hear my children. To be child mind like again, to learn how to make a day last forever. Time flies, my mind keeps on racing like a speed train and my desire to slow down is like me lassoing this speeding train, trying to stop it with mere human strength. Impossible.

My heart aches. I think about it, I dream about it while life happens around me, while I homeschool, while I cook, clean and try to keep on top of things, while I read about the topic on other blogs and articles, while I drive to and from, from appointments. And then, the day ends and I'm rushing my kids off to bed, because I've had a long long day (which flew by so quick) and I'm running on empty. I end my day with massive guilt. I yelled at my kids today. I wasn't fully giving my children undivided attention -I didn't have the patience to listen to their story, because they or I weren't done with a chore that needed checking off our daily cleaning list. I didn't hear my daughters imaginative dream, because it wasn't good timing, as I herd my kids into the car. I pretend to listen, and I even smile at them saying "how cool!"... But truly, I'm stuck in this speeding train and I can't exit.

I know I need to reprogram my brain, but I don't even know where to begin. I know I can begin now, I just don't know how to. I know what I need to do, but I just don't. I'm desperate. 

I don't know what I am doing, but I'm going to start with these 5.

1. start my day reading the Word and pray
2. check my email and facebook after the kids go to sleep
3. use the crock pot and make sandwiches for dinner often
4. purposefully read more books out loud to my kids
5. say "no" more to other things, so I can say "yes" to spending more time with the kids

Let's see where these take me.

The Birth Story

Read Faye Elisabeth Ruth's birth story HERE

I Am Back!

Hello! Long time no see, glad to be back!

Baby #4 is a week and a half old, and I'm feeling good. The last weeks of my pregnancy are posted in RawFoodsPregnancy BLOG , have a read and enjoy! The Birth Story will be posted very soon, once I get the final details from my hubby! I am posting pictures too, thanks to my friend who took great photos that night!

A week before baby arrived, I felt so "done". SIGH

36 Weeks Pregnant

Hence the silence. I am blogging at www.rawfoodspregnancy.blogspot.com at this moment since there isn't much else going on. Right now I am nesting.

I mean, I am pretty much homeschooling, organizing, stocking up, planning and praying. Please visit my pregnancy blog and you'll hear all about where my mind and heart are at the moment...

Love,

Cathy

Cutting Corners

I'm going to cut corners this pregnancy and beyond. A few days ago, I "discovered" home delivery from a grocery shop we shop at. This is new to this shop chain, and maybe to this part of the country. However, my husband and I've used grocery home delivery service in the UK quite a bit. This is exciting!

During the final weeks of each pregnancy, I stress about prepping enough meals into the freezer for when the baby arrives. I don't usually get many made, and we end up cooking like we normally would be. This time around, I'm not interested in standing on my swollen feet and piling meals into the freezer. My feet swell in the heat and I find the idea overwhelming at the moment.  Maybe when the weather cools down a bit, I'll have more of a desire to do so.

What can we do to make the last few weeks of the pregnancy and the first few weeks with the baby, easier?

This is what we're going to do,

•  find affordable and healthy take out options

•  use home delivery

I asked my husband, what he thought about budgeting our food in a way that would allow us to eat take out more, and instead of doing major food shops (with the kids!) on paydays, we would use the home delivery service? He said, YES!

Home delivery has a cost to it, of course. But I think not only will it save us time, stress, and gas... it will save me from putting stuff into our trolley that we didn't menu plan for.  So to me, the delivery cost is so worth it! I mean someone goes around and shops for you and brings it to you!!!

What do you think of getting your shopping delivered to you?

Colour Collage - Homeschool Crafts Idea

 Teach your kids the primary colours and the different mixes of primary colours.

 Doesn't have to be anything fancy, you know... :)

Get different colours of paint samplers from your local paint shop,

and before cutting and gluing, go through the different hues/shades/tones of 6 colours; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

 This takes a while... so do your own studies/crafts while they cut and glue...

 Let them add stickers, glitter or sequence to it... they can choose where they belong according to colour.

K and J's work.

I love them!

There's Always a Reason to Eat

There's always a reason to celebrate eat. You're thinking at 8-10 p.m, as you're biting into the chocolate bar "ah, I/we shouldn't be eating at this time"... and you or your spouse lists one of these reasons below,

• It's Friday night, end of a long week!
• It's our anniversary
• Diet starts tomorrow
• It's Saturday, start of the weekend
• It's our cat's christening.... or another make up celebration
• It's Sunday, back to work tomorrow
• Ah, one bar won't kill us
• It's been a rough day, I/we totally deserve this

I wonder why we're always making up excuses to glutton? And you know, I am not just talking about a chocolate bar. I'm talking about that Starbucks run, left overs, late night munchies, popcorn, etc. It can be healthy stuff too, like nuts and seeds /butter on home made crackers, fruit, and cheese, etc. 

This week we spent 3 days away from home. We ate out everyday. It's quite hard to eat out healthily, unless you have access to a fridge. I tried choosing better restaurants but it dawned on me, even the best and healthiest restaurants, basically serve things like, -sugar, salt, fat and wheat, and all in the bad form. It wasn't til our last day that we found a Mexican fast food joint, which served clean food. Gluten free, freshly milled wheat, organic meats/fish, and produce. Yummy! Next time, we'll know. Those "pearls" are so few and far between, but they're becoming more popular and with a little extra investigation, they're available! Forget, ABC's, IHOP's, Denny's, WhiteSpot and any other common restaurant with "home cooking" -it's all frozen!

So during our trip, while feeling mentally and physically totally robbed nutrition wise, I started menu planning, again. I decided that we would be eating more fish from now on. I love the 'meatless Monday' idea, and I'm still keen on not spending too much time cooking, so instead just throw stuff together, and voila! Dinner is serrrrrved. Also, the only thing that I thought worked out with my crockpot, is Chilli, so I won't be using that too much either. My oven is pretty high tech, so will be utilizing the options on it more. Baked fish, here we come!

Here is what I've been brainstorming to do:

• Monday- vegetarian
• Tuesday-Beef
• Wednesday- Seafood
• Thursday- Vegetarian
• Friday-  Salmon
• Saturday- Chicken
• Sunday- Seafood 

I'm pretty excited about Chinese and Mexican influenced recipes, I like it how everything is fast and simple, and the greens are usually added at the very end of the recipes. 

I went to Costco today and bought, salmon and quinoa. I love quinoa! My kids are getting there, I'm not taking no for an answer. The salmon I get will be enough for two family servings. Some of you already know that we don't eat a lot of meat/fish when we do have them, meaning, we don't have a chicken breast each. I chop up 1-2 chicken breasts into a curry sauce/stir fry/meal and that feed us, a family of 5. That is enough protein for now. Here is a trick, if you thaw a chicken breast just a little before cutting it, it's easier to slice up a lot of thin slices.

What do our kids normally have for breakfast?

• cereal
• omelets
• oats, hemp hearts and yoghurt
• porridge
• toast with cheese and cold cuts
• breakfast burritos
• Chinese pancakes (spring onion) 

+ a smoothie

 Baked Salmon. The kids devoured it, didn't manage to take an after oven pic :)

 Fried Tofu Sticks

(junk food)

 Marinade: 

• shaoshang wine
• dark soy
• light soy
• garlic
• ginger
• chili flakes (optional)

 Gone in seconds, glad I managed to take a picture.

When we lived in Finland, we never had bread or butter in our home. These days, we have both. Even to this day, I feel uncomfortable about it, but I've just let it go. I am not a big fan of yeast, I don't think eating "yeasty" foods daily is a good thing to the body. It's like up keeping an inflammation in the body, to me. However, I make my kids sandwiches for dinner 1-2 a week. I would like to cut back, but we are not allergic to gluten, or sensitive to gluten. The only thing I would like to cut back on is the yeast, therefor the bread, and swap it to whole wheat, stone milled, rich grain and seed tortillas. I don't want to take away the bread, because bread is yummy and nothing beats a fresh baked bread with butter on top, -and my kids know it!

Moving on...

There you have it, a little sneak peak to some of our family foods and also an honest, not so direct, confession on being a snacker and finding excuses for it. I'm still motivated and moving towards healthy eating while at the same time dodging all the food and diet trends... a.k.a paleo etc. Nothing lasts, nothing. Like I've said before, and I will say it again -the Bible has a lot of answers to what we should be eating and how. Really! Start from Genesis 1:29 and 2:9 and go from there... 

(These verses, totally prove that seedless cucumber from Walmart is from the devil! he he!)

Please share with me, what you feed your kids! Leave a comment!