Yes I’m still alive and pregnant

I got onto EatingRichly.com the other day to look up the recipe for my Sausage Leek and Potato Soup Recipe. The good news is, that’s because I’m finally feeling good enough to start cooking again.

The bad news is, I discovered that it had been three LOOOOOOOOOONG months since I’d posted. Horror of horrors!

Well, honestly, I’ve been sick. Losing weight, throwing up 20 times a day, getting hospitalized with IVs sick. I thought it was tough the first time around, but this baby was really kicking my butt! I had a combination of frozen lemonade, ginger, baby safe nausea meds, and anti-nausea wristbands (see them in the black and white photos?) to help ease the nausea, but I basically couldn’t stand thinking about food for three months.

Thankfully, I’m now in the oh so blissful second trimester, and have actually cooked several times in the past couple of weeks.

I will have some new recipes and videos coming shortly, but first I wanted to give you a quick update of the past few months.

First of all, I’m so excited about my midwife for this baby! Her name is Terah Lara of Foothills Midwifery, and she is AMAZING. First of all, she’s also a photographer, which means cute photos at every appointment.

While the photos are great, there are obviously far more important details in choosing a midwife. We are hoping to do a home birth this time, especially since Corban arrived in under 5 hours. (Note to self, finish the final installment of Corban’s birth story!).

Terah has a lovely little birth center right across from the hospital where we do our appointments. But she also does home births, water births, and even does home visits after the baby is born. Oh how I look forward to not going through transition in the car!

In July, we had quite a scare when Corban was exposed to the chickenpox, potentially deadly to the fetus if contracted by mom in the first trimester. I had my antibodies tested and discovered that even though I had chickenpox as a kid, I no longer had the antibodies to protect me from getting it again.

Just to be safe, our midwife had me not have any physical contact with Corban unless I was completely covered up in mask, gloves, long sleeves, and long pants. So Corban spent a week with his grandmothers, while my midwife furiously researched and contacted specialists to try and figure out if I really had to be separated from Corban for the entire 3 week incubation period. After speaking with several specialists at the CDC, they determined that Corban’s risk of contracting the chickenpox was so low (because they person he was exposed to had been given both sets of vaccinations), that it was not a risk to the baby.

We were SO thrilled to have Corban back home with us. He’s been to every midwife appointment, and listens to the baby’s heartbeat with us. Sometimes he now points to his stomach and says “Heart!” so not sure he understands that it’s the baby we’re listening to. Ah well, we can save that anatomy lesson for when he’s a little older.

We also enjoyed lots of firsts with Corban in the past few months.

In August, we took Corban on his first trip to the zoo. We got a membership to the Woodland Park Zoo, because Corban is so interested in animals right now. He loved identifying the different animals and making the sounds they make. His favorite definitely seemed to be the jaguar, which kept pacing back and forth right on the other side of the glass.

The zoo has a wonderful play area for kids. Corban at 1 1/2 years old enjoyed navigated all the kid sized animal homes as much as the bigger kids. It’s really well designed and we plan to have several playdates there.

Notice Corban’s sandals in the photo? They had little squeakers inside of them, perfect for keeping track of a toddler who loves to run off. As we walked to the cheetah enclosure, a group of preschoolers was complaining that the cheetahs were sleeping in the back  of the field, out of sight. But as Corban approached, in his squeaking shoes, the cheetahs popped their heads up to investigate!

We love his squeaker shoes so much, we will be getting some in bigger sizes as well. I’m thinking about these, as they have great reviews on Amazon. Anyone have any other recommendations?

Corban also went to the Puyallup Fair for the first time, and got to eat his very own turkey leg!

Well, I have one more big piece of good news, but we’ll save that for another post. Right now, I’m anxious to start posting recipes again, so heading to the kitchen to cook! Thanks for sticking with me and I look forward to sharing some of my favorite freezer friendly meals with you soon as I start stocking up for baby time.