Sweet Potato and Cumin Lentil Soup

I woke up with an upset belly this morning.  I thought I might have been pregnant picked up a bug when my digestive system was acting a bit strange a week or so ago, but then my period started so I blamed it on the prostaglandins... until this morning when the pain and discomfort came back with a vengeance.

I couldn't eat breakfast or lunch, but by dinner I was pretty hungry.   What to make for dinner with only two tomatoes, and a lime left in the fridge before we go away tomorrow...?  Oh and half a sweet potato hiding in the back.

This soup tastes completely different to the last lentil soup recipe I posted.

And I know that they say you can simply use split red lentils without soaking and cooking them first, and sometimes I do, but I was in no mood to make my symptoms any worse so prepared the lentils the way I would any other dried pulse. 

I don't know if its the brand or if its just that they were old (oops, best before last February) but I'm really glad I did.  

LOADs of foul smelling scum came off the top of the pot when I cooked them. Better not to give that to my poor digestive system to deal with.

Fertility Focus

Sweet Potato is full of antioxidants, vitamin C and Vitamin A as well as being a source of potassium, calcium and iron.
Tomatoes are full of the antioxidant lycopene which boosts sperm health and also contain folate, B6, vitamin A and vitamin E.
Lentils are a good source of folic acid, full of iron and provide a non-meat form of protein.

Ingredients

• Cumin seeds
• Onion
• Sweet Potato
• Tomato
• Chicken stock
• Pre-cooked split red lentils
• Lime
• Fresh basil to garnish

Method

1.  Boil some water and plunge the tomatoes into the boiling water.  

2.  Skin (peel?) and roughly chop tomatoes.
3.  Heat soup pot over a medium flame and toast the cumin seeds.  

4.  Add finely chopped onion, sweet potato and tomatoes.  

5.  Allow to sweat for a few minutes.
6.  Add chicken stock and red lentils and simmer until sweet potato is soft.  

7.  Blend with a stick blender.  

8.  Ladle into bowls.  

9.  Squeeze over lime juice and sprinkle with basil.

Enjoy!

Prawn Stir Fry and Family History

In a couple of days we're going to the island of Jersey, in the English Channel for a bit of a holiday.

Ever since we started working on having a family, I've also been working on my family tree.  I think the connection is fairly obvious.

My Grandmother's grandmother emigrated to New Zealand from Jersey in 1874 as part of the government assisted immigration scheme.  She was 22 and as far as I've been able to tell from the passenger list, travelling alone.

Within three years she was married to another Jersey immigrant and had borne her first child.

Taking it day by day...

After I lost Poppy, I think I also lost my self a little bit.  

I took only two days off work, during which I mainly slept, then threw myself back into activity.  

I said I was worried about getting bored, but maybe I was just doing anything I could to avoid acknowledging the enormity of what had happened and the feelings which threatened to overwhelm me.  I drank too much red wine which helped me avoid my feelings but made me hate myself because I wanted to be healthy for a future pregnancy.

When I wasn't working, I did a lot of reading, to distract myself and to try to understand.  

I read many amazing blogs about infertility and loss and those gave me some perspective.  

I didn't know why I lost my baby, or if there was anything I could have done to prevent it, or if I did something to actually cause it.  I had lots of questions.  

What is the meaning of life anyway?

This questioning led me to some interesting books among the self-help shelves of my local library that have opened up the way I think about it all.  I'll write about some of those sometime.

I'm definitely doing it differently this time.

Ethiopian Fasting Food Feast for Fertility

It tastes so much better than it looks

I had a sweet potato and thought a red-lentil curry was in order for dinner, but I make variations on that dish all the time and kind of wanted something different. 

As I was surfing around Mr Google, looking for a twist, I came across a blog post for an Ethiopian sweet potato and red lentil curry which reminded me how much I loved Ethiopian food.

I first tried Ethiopian food when I was still new to San Francisco.  I don't remember what we ordered, but it didn't make any impression on me.  

The second time I tried Ethiopian food was about eight years later.  When my good friend from New York wanted me to meet his new girlfriend in London, she selected an Ethiopian restaurant around the corner from where I was living in South London. Given she'd been to Ethiopia, and we hadn't, Oliver and I let her order for all of us.  She ordered a vegetarian platter served on injera and it was DELICIOUS.

Several years later when Mr Duncan and I were in Ethiopia with the Landy and I was still vegetarian, all ate, that I didn't cook myself, was the fasting food.  

In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, there are two days of the week where it is forbidden to consume animal products, so for those two days and certain religious holidays (eg Lent), everyone eats the vegan fasting food.  

Fortunately for me most places served the fasting food dishes every day of the week.  

I certainly wasn't going to eat kitfo, although Mr Duncan seemed to like it.

Post miscarriage acupuncture and the kindness of strangers

My scan after I lost Pipkin showed that there was retained tissue.  The doctor advised I give it a few days to see if it would pass by itself and scheduled a scan for the following week.  She said if there was still tissue then I'd need to have surgery to remove it.

I've only had a general anaesthetic once in my life, when my wisdom teeth were removed (they were growing the wrong way up into my cheekbones) and have no desire to experience that again.  I was also aware that a D&C can sometimes result in scarring which can affect the lining of the womb and implantation.

I was desperate to 'complete' the miscarriage on my own so emailed my acupuncturist with the news that I'd lost my baby and a request for advice.  I made an appointment to try to stimulate my body to expel the retained tissue naturally.

By the time of my first appointment, five days after my loss, the bleeding had subsided and I was just spotting.  The bleeding restarted quite vigorously within an hour of my first acupuncture session but after two days no clots had passed so I made a second appointment.

It was a nice day so I decided to walk the 25 minutes distance to my appointment.  The treatment went without any problems and I did notice on my way down the stairs that my legs were a bit trembly, but didn't think much of it as I set out to walk home.  

Within about 200 metres, my legs started feeling weird and I felt nauseous and faint.  I clung on to a garden wall as I felt my legs fold underneath me.  I felt a strong cramp and a gush of sudden bleeding.   

I was frightened and started crying.  

I had no idea what was going on with my body and felt alone and vulnerable in the middle of a main road in west London.  I made my way to the bus stop a few more metres up the road and took a seat, lowering my head between my legs to help with the fainting.  

I couldn't think straight. 

I didn't know what was happening and didn't know what to do.  Was this the haemorrhaging they warned me about at the hospital?  How was my blood pressure? Should I go back to the hospital?  I phoned Mr Duncan to tell me what to do.  He made me check my pulse.  A bit fast, but strong.  He offered to come and get me, but that would have taken over an hour by the time he took public transport home to get the car so we agreed I'd take a cab.

I know I was crying like a crazy person, but it surprised me how many people looked at me as if I was dangerous while giving me a wide berth.  Only the dope-scented old Rasta man at the bus stop asked if I was okay and listened to my incoherent response.  He sat with me and offered me his bus fare, bless him, but the buses weren't going in my direction.  He voluntarily missed bus after bus as he helped me hail a cab and saw me safely into it.  I feel a lot of gratitude to that kindly old man.

After about an hour of severe cramping, I passed a large clot and was given the all clear at my scan the next day.