All-purpose DIY pregnancy pillow

While I consider this pregnancy to have been fairly 'easy' on me so far (not that I have anything to compare it to), I have been experiencing hip pain and heartburn at night.

Looking at the long and intimidating list of items to purchase in preparation for your new arrival I noted one said 'nursing pillow' and wondered what that was.

It turns out it is a horseshoe-shaped pillow that you can rest the baby on to nurse, thus bringing the baby up to a more comfortable height and saving your arms.  I also read on a message board somewhere that I could use a nursing pillow during pregnancy, to help with my discomforts at night.

The Boppy Pillow seemed to be the go-to product, but I also read complaints in the forums that it wasn't firm/high/wide enough for various peoples tastes.  

I found a great, easy to follow tutorial for a similar nursing pillow that would be firmer and higher and decided I would alter it a little to make it wider so it would fit around Mr Duncan's waist too.

I went down to the local charity shop in search of fabric and came across a bonanza.  

They were having a half price sale.  

Not only did I find a tablecloth made out of a sturdy cotton fabric to use but I came across a pillow stuffed with hypoallergenic filling I could use and another bag of craft filling - all for the princely sum of $3.00.

Textile filling

(And a black leather ottoman for $2.50 that matches our black leather couches from Mr Duncan's bachelor days.)

I could use a good footrest

After I got the tablecloth home I was a bit reluctant to cut it up - it really is quite pretty, with blue and white checks.  

When I measured up the fabric needed for the pillow it left me with half of the tablecloth - which happens to be just big enough to fit our table.  

So I'm going with the best of both worlds and saving half to use as a tablecloth.  

For now.

When I placed the pattern on the folded fabric, I added a half an inch up to the fold to make it that little bit larger to accommodate Mr Duncan's girth.

I need to find some fabric to make slip covers (I'm thinking one side soft and fuzzy and the other side cotton or flannel).  I also think I'll make a couple of slipcovers in the original 'Boppy' shape to bring the two ends closer together in the middle, like a ring, so it could be used for propping up baby or tummy time when the time comes.

In the meantime I've squeezed it into a normal pillow case to keep it clean and in the past two days have used it

• to sleep on - with my hip in the hollow and my belly resting on the back to take the pressure off 
• to sleep against - with my back propped up against it and another pillow on top for my head to stop the heartburn rising up
• to rest my laptop on my legs
• to support my lumbar back while sitting on the couch
• as an armrest to lean against

I'm sure it will come in useful when the baby comes, but I can't believe I haven't been using one of these for years!

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Glucose Challenge - sweet things and hospitals

I've never had a very sweet tooth.  

While I like the odd chunk of dark chocolate or creamy desert (mmm custard), you won't find me salivating over rich cakes or sugary treats.  

I had a milkshake the other day that was too sweet for me to drink.  

Even a handful of dried fruit or more than one Christmas mince pie at a time sees me break out in a hot flush.  I start sweating under my eyes and craving water.  Not long afterwards my brain goes all fuzzy and I start feeling nauseous and faint.  I prefer to keep my blood sugar levels stable.  

This might be because my Mother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in her early thirties so I was raised on a diabetes appropriate diet with balanced amounts of carbs, proteins and fresh veg for every meal.

It was for this reason, (not because I thought I might actually have Gestational Diabetes), that I was dreading the Glucose Challenge Test at the hospital this week.

It went better than I expected.  

The drink itself didn't taste that bad - just like super-sweet 7 Up. But it was a challenge forcing the whole 300 mls down in only five minutes.

I did get all hot and sweaty and then felt headachy and sick, but I was allowed to drink water, so I drank about two litres and that helped.  

I also elected to just sit in the waiting room for the entire hour until the blood test was due, to avoid any risk of passing out.  

My doctor had suggested I bring a protein snack with me to eat immediately after the test was complete, to help stabilise my blood sugar levels.  So I had a cheese sandwich before attempting to leave the hospital and brave road-crossing and public transport.

My test results were 5.8, which is well under the threshold of 7.9 for Gestational Diabetes.  

I also had a checkup with my obstetrician.  

• My belly is measuring as expected for dates, 
• Pickle's heartbeat was good, 
• My blood pressure is low.

By good fortune, rather than design, the temporary apartment when we first arrived in Melbourne was in the catchment area for the Royal Women's Hospital (which is Australia's leading maternity hospital).  So this is where I was referred for maternity care.  

Since we moved, we are in the catchment area for a smaller, local hospital, whose maternity services happen to be run by Royal Women's. 

Being closer and more community-oriented I thought it would be better to transfer to the local hospital.  However they take low risk pregnancies only, and although I am low risk by most of their criteria, I do not meet the age criterion.

I mentioned this to my obstetrician at my checkup and she agreed it would be better for me to transfer and said that my pregnancy was much lower risk than many of her younger patients (!). 

So she emailed the head of department to ask them to make an exception.  

To my surprise they agreed to accept me.  

On one hand this is great - the hospital is two train stops away rather than an hour-long train and tram schlep across to the other side of town.  

On the other hand, it will all be new.  

Again.  

My next appointment is due in another four weeks - so I guess I'll meet my new team then.

Home is the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen

 Cashew Chicken stir fry

Our furniture finally arrived two weeks ago.  

I heard the truck backing up the driveway and was surprised to see they had an enormous truck carting a entire container on the back!  

In London, they had just loaded our stuff into a medium-sized lorry.  

We didn't even have half a container's worth, it was a bit tricky figuring out somewhere for it to park while they unloaded it, but we managed to squeeze it between the tree and the letterbox.

The delivery team were great and worked really well together.  One guy unloaded the truck, calling out each box number and description for me to check off the inventory.  

Another guy took each box to the room I specified, and the third team member unpacked the contents of the boxes in the rooms (somewhat haphazardly) and returned the empty boxes to the container.

By the end of the weekend our furniture had been assembled and arranged and most of our things had found a home.  

But it has taken until today to get really settled - what with TVs not working and needing to change power plugs and clean everything.  

I still have a drawer of plastic storage containers in the kitchen that needs washing and organising but that can wait until a rainy day.

********

I'm really enjoying having a properly equipped kitchen again and have been cooking up a storm, though haven't really tried cooking anything particularly new or adventurous.  I'm sticking to my healthy food for pregnancy principles and doubling up on recipes to stash food in the freezer for when I am too tired to cook. 

Unpacking our books, I came across Nourishing Traditions which I bought just before we left the UK.   I plan to start making some fermented foods and using my own pastry from the recipes in the book.

I keep forgetting to take pictures...  here are a few I remembered to take before we ate.

Spanakopita

In honour of having baking dishes again, I bought some phyllo pastry and made double lots of spanakopita which I served with homemade falafel and humous and beet/carrot salad.

The recipe is basic - sweat onion and spinach over a low heat until well wilted. Squeeze out moisture, mix in feta and spread over pastry layer.  Pour over a couple of beaten eggs.  Top with more pastry.  Bake at a medium heat.

Meze plate with spanakopita, humous and falafel

Bacon and Egg Pie

With the leftover phyllo pastry I made this Kiwi classic. 

Use middle or back bacon, rather than the rashers you get in North America.

Evenly spread finely chopped onion over the base pastry layer and sprinkle with chopped bacon.  I put mine under the grill for a few minutes before chopping as it was quite fatty, but raw bacon or even some ham works just as well.  

Crack five or six eggs on top.  Some people like to ensure the yolks remain whole but I use a fork to prick mine so they run a bit.  

Top with pastry.  Bake for about 35 mins in medium oven.

Its just as delicious served cold and can be eaten with the hands, so is an easy dish to take to a picnic.

Bacon and Egg pies, fresh from the oven

served with spinach and orange salad

I made a batch of granola but used blackstrap molasses as the sweetener, in place of honey, which made it a lovely rich brown colour.  

We eat this for breakfast several times a week with fresh fruit and plain yoghurt.

Home made granola

My friend gave me a couple of kaffir lime leaves from her tree, so I was excited to use them somehow.  

I've never made my own yellow curry paste before but this Thai Yellow Curry recipe was much easier than I expected and turned out to be so tasty.  

I added chickpeas and cashews but went easy on the chilli.  Cold leftover curry piled onto rice crackers made a great lunch the next day.

Yellow pumpkin and sweet potato curry

I'm loving the fresh produce available in Melbourne.  

The other day I found a bag of ripe tomatoes and a bag of ripe avocados for only $3.00.  They needed using immediately, but that was okay, I had just soaked some mixed beans - so a Mexican evening it was!

Veggie beans, guacamole and salsa

Bok Choy Coconut Noodle Soup

A bowl of yellow creamy comfort

For three weeks running we received bok choy in the veggie box. 

This in itself is not a problem.  

We like bok choy, it is tasty and good for you.

The problem was my limited kitchen apparatus.  I usually stir fry bok choy or at least use a fry pan to wilt it when using it in Gado Gado salad or something. But until our stuff arrived from the UK I had no idea what to do with it all, but I had to do something as we were out of everything else until the delivery the next day.

Google is my friend.

The recipe I used came from Hooked On Heat - a blog on "Indian inspired flavours".  I intend to return to it once Pickle is here, and I can resume eating spicy food without incurring painful heartburn.  

I made this very mild using only a small teaspoon of curry paste in place of the Sambal Oelek in the original recipe.  The paste was an Indian variety - with tomato and cumin instead of the ginger/galangal and citrus flavours of South East Asia - so I added a bit of fresh ginger - it turned out great.  It was also really quick to make.  

I think I spent more time googling what to do with my bok choy than putting the meal together.

Fertility Focus:

Bok Choy (also known as Pak Choy and Chinese Cabbage) is nutrient dense and a full of vitamins A, C, K and folate.  It is also a good source of calcium as its oxalic acid is low and the body is able to absorb the calcium more easily
Coconut milk is a source of healthy saturated fat which aids in vitamin absorption and balancing hormones
Ginger promotes blood circulation and proper digestion in which the body absorbs the nutrients in foods

Ingredients

• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• 1 teaspoon red curry paste
• Tin coconut milk
• Water
• Bok Choy
• Egg noodles (I use one nest for two servings)

Method

1.  Soak egg noodle nest in a covered bowl of boiling water until soft.
2.  Meanwhile slice the onion thinly and finely chop the garlic and ginger.  

3.  Heat curry paste and a splash of water over a medium heat and stir in onion, garlic and ginger until coated.  

4.  Add coconut milk and enough water to make up to approx 2 cups. 

5.  Wash and roughly chop the Bok Choy.  

6.  Add stems to coconut milk (reserving leaves) and bring to boil.  

7.  Allow to simmer for a few minutes to infuse the coconut milk with all the flavours.  

8.  Turn off the heat, add the roughly chopped bok choy and cover.
9.  Drain the egg noodles and place in the bottom of soup bowls.  

10.  Use a spoon to fish out the veggies and divide evenly between the bowls.  

11.  Top with the coconut soup liquid.

Enjoy!

Crying over novelty socks - a new perspective on grief

Holey Socks Batman.

Yesterday morning Mr Duncan was wittering on to me about a pair of his socks.

Freshly laundered, he went to put them on and found them full of holes.  

This was no big surprise to me.  I don't know how he goes through socks as fast as he does, but he is regularly throwing out socks with holes in the toes and heels so I wasn't paying close attention to his complaint, especially once he started going on about moths and mothballs.  

We have not developed a moth infestation in the three days since he last wore those socks.  

I'm not saying that something didn't try to eat them while they were drying on the washing line though... we are not yet closely acquainted with all of Australia's creepy crawlies.

When I was first pregnant with Poppy I noticed a pair of Homer Simpson novelty socks at the pound shop in the days coming up to Fathers Day.  Mr Duncan is a massive Simpsons fan and we enjoy a couple of in-jokes based on Homer Simpson statements.  So I purchased the socks and gave them to Mr Duncan with a Homer Simpson Fathers Day card, from me and Poppy, assuring him what a great Dad he'd be.  

We lost Poppy less than two weeks later.

Time has passed and old wounds, if not exactly healed, are less immediately painful.  

Poppy's due date and first birthday have come and gone and in that time we conceived and lost Pipkin and now are hoping for Pickle to arrive safely in June.

While I frequently think of both Poppy and Pipkin, what they might have been like if they had been born, how our lives would be different...  its like a nostalgic feeling for what might have been and it doesn't trigger tears in the way it did in the past.

Later in the day I noticed Mr Duncan's Homer Simpson socks in the wastepaper basket by his desk and burst into a fit of hysterical ugly crying - complete with red face, heaving chest and breathless gasping.

Grief is a funny thing.  

Just when you think it is subsiding it rushes in unexpectedly and sweeps you off your feet.