Hope from the Daily Mail. Again!

Yesterday's cashew and herb pesto on toast

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Normally I avoid the Daily Mail with its fixation on scandal, celebrity "baby bumps" (Is she?/Isnt she?) and doom and gloom for 40+ fertility.  

It just bums me out.  

I'm sure there didn't used to be such a focus on pregnancies and babies in the media when I was growing up.  

Or maybe in the absence of the internet, I just didn't have access to such stories in the media that made it into my home.

In any case, only a couple of weeks after its last story of hope, this one hit my attention with a classic Daily Mail headline: 'Is everything we thought we knew about older women and fertility WRONG?'.  

It tells the stories of a number of women who had children naturally later in life and highlights a not-so-new book by researcher Jean Twenge, 'The Impatient Woman’s Guide To Getting Pregnant'. It cites the fact that Twenge discovered the oft quoted research regarding the decline of women's fertility as they age, was based on church birth records in rural France in the 18th century.  

I'm sure my lifestyle is very different from that of the women studied.

I certainly did not get pregnant within 6 months of trying in my late 30's, but I did get pregnant twice in my early 40s and hope that I can do again.

It kind of makes me want to buy the book... which is probably the whole point of the article in the first place.

I'll post a review if I do.

L.
x

Courgette 'noodles' with cashew and herb pesto

Oodles of noodles

Along with the courgettes in the veg box this week came a recipe for Courgette Tagliatelle with Almond Pesto and Rocket.

Obviously I didn't have the ingredients to follow the recipe.  So I made this instead.

SUPER-tasty!  Mr Duncan loved it.

If you've never made pesto before it is really easy to learn.  At its most simple it is just equal volume of nuts and herbs ground together with a bit of olive oil.  But you can make any number of tasty variations.

I like to soak my nuts not only because it offers health benefits - but also because it makes them moist and therefore easier to mash up and requiring less oil in the pesto.

You don't need a food processor.  I don't actually own one as I enjoy the effort involved in chopping and slicing and mixing.  If I'm only making a small amount of pesto, I just use my mortar and pestle, but my hand blender works for a larger amount after I have bashed about the nuts with a knife or rolling pin first.

Ingredients

For the pesto

• Cashew nuts (I used about half a cup)
• Fresh herbs (I used about half a cup of basil and parsley mixed together)
• Clove garlic
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil 

For the salad

• Brown rice noodles (I thought they were soba noodles until I read the packet after I'd cooked them)
• Large straight courgette
• Lemon zest
• Lettuce
• Sun-dried tomatoes

Method

1.  Cover the cashew nuts with water and allow to soak.

2.  Boil the noodles according to packet instructions.  

3.  Rinse with cold water and drain.  You can toss in a bit of olive oil to stop them from sticking together.

4.  Slice the courgette thinly down its length, then cut each slice into thin ribbons, to approximate the shape of your noodles.  

5.  Toss the courgette and noodles together and set aside.

6.  Rinse and drain the cashew nuts

7.  Blend together all the pesto ingredients to a creamy consistency.  Taste and add more lemon/olive oil/water until you reach the desired taste and consistency.

8.  Toss the noodles and courgette in a few generous sized spoon-fulls of pesto until well covered.  

9.  Sprinkle with lemon zest.

I served this on a bed of torn lettuce and garnished with chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

I also had about a quarter of a cup of pesto left over, so I mixed some finely grated parmesan cheese and black pepper into it and plan to eat it on crusty bread with fresh tomatoes for brunch on Saturday.

Poppy angel

Woohoo!

When we found out we were pregnant, I was working from home, which minimised stress and enabled me to take catnaps at lunchtime (I was mega tired).

The trade-off was a two night trip to attend meetings in Paris every few weeks.  

Having never been pregnant before I was a bit nervous about it all.

My nausea was mild which worried me, but trawls of the message boards showed huge variation in morning sickness among women.  

I read somewhere that you don't get much in the way of cravings or nausea if your body is getting the right balance of nutrition, so I just hoped I was having an easy time due to good nutrition.

I was aware I had a higher chance of complications due to my age.  So when I went to the doctor for my first appointment, I told the doctor about my working arrangement.  I asked what did I need to know in case something happened while I was in Paris.  She just said to see a doctor if I started bleeding red blood, and to make sure I carried my notes with me when I was away.

The week before I lost Poppy I was asked to attend a last-minute, all day meeting in Paris in the week between my usual scheduled trips.  No.  It couldnt wait.  No, there wasn't budget to stay the night.

It was a long day with a 5am start, two 45 minutes long tube trips, two 30 minute long metro trips and two 2.30 hour eurostar trips.  

I got home after midnight exhausted and fell into bed.

The following week I went to Paris as usual, but was feeling off.  I put that down to the pregnancy.  At lunchtime on the second day I noticed a small bit of brown blood when I wiped.  I was concerned, but not too worried.  Apparently spotting is common in pregnancy and a little bit of brown blood is nothing to worry about.

During my Eurostar trip home, I felt damp between my legs so went to the train toilet to investigate.  Ugh.  Disgusting.  The blood was still brown, but there was more of it.  I cleaned myself up the best I could with the non-absorbent tissue.  I wanted to phone the doctor for advice, but we were just entering the chunnel.

By the time we got through the tunnel to the UK, the bleeding had increased in volume, but it was still brown.  I called my doctors surgery only to be put through to the after hours service which rang and rang and rang.  Sometimes I got cut off due to gaps in the mobile service along the rail track.

I finally got to speak to the after hours doctor as we pulled into St Pancras.  

By this time I was panicking and crying hysterically crouched on the platform as the other passengers disembarked.  The doctor said brown blood is not a problem but I should take myself to my maternity hospital for a checkup.  

Tube? No, cab.  

I found my way to the exit, but couldn't find the cab rank due to the construction at Kings Cross.  Cue more tears and confusion.

Some blessed American tourist asked if I was alright (which I so wasn't) and I sobbed that I needed a cab to the hospital but couldn't find the rank.  

He stepped right into the road and stopped a black cab for me to get into.  

I told the cab driver that I needed to go to the hospital but I only had 20 pounds and some euros.  He got me to the hospital emergency room in less than 25 minutes during rush hour traffic on a Friday, told me not to worry about the money and that he would pray for me and my baby.

I waited in the emergency room for about an hour.  Mr Duncan came and joined me as soon as he could.  

The emergency room doctor examined me, said my cervix was closed and that given it was brown blood we probably didn't need to worry.  The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit had closed for the day, and he didn't want to get an ultrasound operator in if it wasnt necessary, so could I come back at 9am tomorrow for the scan, just to check everything was okay?  

He assured me it would be.  

He told me not to worry, I would hold my baby in my arms next January when it was due.

We went home to bed and I started bleeding red blood in the night and experiencing painful cramps.  

Somehow Mr Duncan managed to sleep beside me despite my constant squirming/getting up to change pads.  

We arrived back at the hospital in time for our appointment at 9am, and waited until 10.45 to be seen.  The ultrasound operator asked I change in the toilet and gave me a robe to wrap around me.  

As I started to lower my underwear I felt a strange rush and looked down to find something the size of my fist balanced on the top of my underwear.

I screamed for Mr Duncan and explained I was losing the baby.  The ultrasound operator came in with a recycled cardboard kidney bowl to collect it.  She then went ahead with the ultrasound, but my womb was completely empty.

Or as the ultrasound operator put it, there were "no products of conception retained".

My first BFP!

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We'd been working on getting pregnant for about 18 months... the first year mostly casually, the final six months with increasing concern.  

The usual run of tests showed no issues with either myself or Mr Duncan and it was implied it must be a problem due to my age.

I was 40 by the time we went to see the doctor and had genuinely expected I'd be circumstantially infertile until getting together with Mr Duncan at the age of 38. 

My sister had both her children in her early 40s so I hoped I would take after her and that we still had some time. I put the hard word on him about children after only 6 months of dating, but we'd known each other for several years before that and while his attitude was that we had loads of time, mine was that time was running out and he agreed to give up the birth control. 

In the months before my 41st birthday I redoubled my efforts to determine if pregnancy was a possibility for me or if we should just give up trying.  I started taking my bbt to ensure I was ovulating and purchased an AMH test from Zita West to see if I even had an ovarian reserve.

I phoned the doctors surgery to make an appointment to have a nurse take a blood sample explaining what it was for.  When I got to the doctors surgery however, the Nurse wouldn't take blood as it was for a private test, not an NHS one.  

I didn't understand.  

I had explained what it was I needed and was told that I'd have to pay when I made the appointment on the phone.  So I was pretty frustrated that after the wait, the Nurse was refusing to take the blood sample.

She didn't think that my doctors surgery offered that service but the person in charge wasn't there to check with until the next day.  So she sent me on my way.  

I was in floods of tears and had an irrational emotional meltdown when I got home. 

I figured the emotions were due to PMS - if somewhat worse than usual, the timing was about right.  In my irrational upset I decided to take a pregnancy test.

BFP!

Duck and lentils - a match made in heaven

Lentil and Kale Salad with Pan Fried Duck Breast

As a new convert to eating meat, I recently discovered duck breast and have stocked up on a few breasts in the freezer for while our butcher is away on summer holidays.  

If you cook it right it is low fat, tasty and SO easy to make. In my recipes, one duck breast is always enough to feed two people.

I was thinking of making the duck with a lentil/bean/kale cassoulet-type thing, but Mr Duncan had eaten a big lunch and requested a salad.

Fertility Focus

Kale is full of antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin K and is a good plant source of calcium.

Lentils are a good source of folic acid, full of iron and provide a non-meat form of protein.

Ingredients

• Brown lentils
• Kale
• Parsley
• Onion
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Duck breast

Method

1.  Take the duck out of the fridge to come to room temperature.

2.  Rinse the lentils and simmer for about 20 minutes until soft.  

3.  Rinse with cold water and drain.  Set aside to cool.

4.  While the lentils are cooking, turn the oven on to 200 degrees C.  

5.  Dry the duck breast and score the skin.  

6.  Dust the skin side with a little bit of salt.  

7.  Place the breast skin-side down in a cold oven proof pan and cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until the skin-side is brown and crispy. 

8.  Turn over the duck breast and cook on the non-skin side for 30 seconds.

9.  Remove from heat, drain the fat and place in the oven for about another 5-8 minutes depending on how you like it.  

10.  Remove from the oven and rest the meat while you prepare the veg for the salad.

11.  Cut the 'spines' out of the kale leaves, and chop and scrunch the chopped kale with your hands to soften it. 

12.  Finely chop the parsley and some onion.  

13.  Chop the cucumber and tomato into small cubes. 

14.  Toss the lentils with the vegetables in a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

15.  Slice the duck and serve on top of the salad.

Enjoy!