37 weeks + 3 days and 2 days off elimination

I AM SO HEAVY!!!!!

Well not heavy as in scales heavy - I'm still 10 stone and 2lbs. My pre-pregnancy weight was 8 stone 4 lbs so I've done really well and hit the target range of weight gain right at the bottom end. If you start your pregnancy at a "normal" or ideal weight for your frame then you should aim to put on between 25-35lbs. I'm slighlty under that at 22lbs but then I still have just under 3 weeks to go so I should be dead on.

Anyway, I digress. What I mean is, I FEEL so heavy. This little one is no longer little and has taken over my entire body...I can't breathe 'cos his feet are in my diaphragm, I can't lie on my side because I find myself resting on his back, I can't sit properly to eat my dinner 'cos his head is way down in my pelvis and I have to spread my legs so wide I can't sit comfortably and I ALWAYS get food down my front 'cos I can't lean forward over the table and I can't sleep 'cos it's bl*ody uncomfortable - AGGGGHHHH!

I've heard it so many times from relatives, friends and clients and not really understood quite how much of a drag it is. I always knew it was uncomfortable towards the end but I never realised just how much of your body is taken over!

So I thought with just a few weeks to go I'd relax and take a week off Elimination, go out for a last dinner with my friends and then get back on it for the last two weeks of pregnancy.

In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman,


"Big Mistake, BIG, HUGE"

I had two days of eating non-elimination food -

Sunday: 1 chocolate truffle, 1 foam banana candy, 1 mocha
Monday: 1 decaf caramel latte, 1 magnum ice-cream

And I felt like dog poo! I was really nauseous, had terrible heartburn, really tired and lethargic and on top of that I felt quite down emotionally.

So that was enough, I am back on it with a vengeance and not coming off until the baby is born!

Please take my advice and don't do what I did and quit your elimination before the time is up! It's just not worth it - you don't want to spend your last weeks feeling rotten because you've let up on your nutrition!

Elimination Day 15 - Baby has turned! Yipee!

Day 15 cravings

Elimination has been really easy this time around until it got to the weekend. Friday night was a full moon and as those of you that know me will know, I'm like a werewolf..(no I don't grow fur and start chasing rabbits!), I am regular as clockwork with the lunar cycle and bang, there it was, PMT, a craving for chocolate, coffee and all the stuff I shouldn't be eating. I did well though. Just ignored it, but I was quite surpised that I am still craving coffee today. I mean, I haven't even had caffeine since I found out I was pregnant, so what's that all about?

Maybe it's the comfort association of a hot milky drink. I'd also love a hot chocolate but that's not going to happen for another couple of weeks so I guess I should just get over it!

The great thing is, the tops of my thighs look a lot slimmer, the water I was holding there has disappeared - they look like they did before I fell pregnant and my hip bones which were always quite prominent anyway, are now very clearly defined - there's no fat left there!

The Obstetrician

I went to see my obstetrician this morning and she scanned me to see where the baby is lying and thankfully he's turned! I thought he had a couple of days ago as I felt a sharp pain in my side, that I put down to a Braxton Hicks contraction, but later when I looked in the mirror, my bump looked like it had dropped.

So I am really chuffed! I wasn't keen on having him palpated and now he can rest easy until the big day arrives.

Don't forget if you are on Elimination, make it easy on yourself with quick recipes that are 100% compatible with your diet and ready in less than 15 minutes. The Elimination Cookbook has been my saviour during my pregnancy and I'm sure you'll find the same!

Elimination Day 7 and baby is still breech!

Well today is day 7 of elimination and it's going really well! It's not been difficult at all - oh apart from my mum buying me a gluten free cherry and sultana loaf cake yesterday. Luckily, being gluten free it will keep for about 3 months in it's packaging so it's in the cupboard for the end of elimination, when the baby is born!

My gorgeous man made me some gluten free bread at the weekend so this time round I'm not desperate for carbs in the morning. I found it quite tough last time around as I can't have oats and porridge made with millet and rice is disgusting without milk. It literally looks and tastes like cardboard, or gruel (and I'm no Oliver Twist!).

Generally for lunch I have fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, or an omlette, or leftovers from the night before. Dinner has been the same as usual as we always cook from scratch, so last night was lamb chops, mashed potato, broccoli, mushrooms peas and parsnips. Tonight is roast chicken with loads of veggies and mashed potato leftover from last night (we cooked way too much!).

I've been piling up on berries and live greek yoghurt for my snacks and I love it!

Went to the gym this morning and started to add in lots of hip rotator exercises to encourage my boy to turn round. I did lots of downdogs, figure 8's on the swiss ball and pelvic tilts, but he still refuses to budge!!

I'll keep you posted!

5 1/2 weeks to go and I'm back on Elimination!

Well first I have to apologise for not blogging for the past couple of weeks. Things have been a stressful to say the least. Carl was made redundant a couple of weeks ago and the job market is obviously not very healthy in the midst of this huge recession. In fact every time I turn on the TV it seems to get worse. Yesterday was the collapse of Iceland's national bank. Anyway I try not to dwell on it too much. What will be, will be.

I am very nearly there now and feeling very heavy! All of a sudden in the last two weeks I seem to be waddling more and my bump is getting huge! When I sit down on the toilet, I have to pull my trousers all the way down to my ankles instead of just my knees, to allow my knees to open and let my bump sit in between them!!


The midwife

This morning, I got a new midwife, (thank God!). My previous midwife was lovely, but she never gave me any information on anything I needed to know! She would check my urine, blood and the baby's heartbeat and that was it! No advice ever!

Anyway my new midwife is fantastic. I saw her this morning and I have to say, thank goodness I moved house and had to get a new midwife. I have an ongoing condition which means that I should have been under the care of a consultant obstetrician since the beginning of my pregnancy. Unfortunately, although my previous midwife was fully aware of this condition, she never even mentioned any other care I would need for it! Ridiculous huh? Well thankfully all is sorted and I'm seeing my obstetrician next week. I think I'll also get a scan at the same time as my boy is still in breech and the midwife said they may need to palpate him to turn him round if he doesn't turn by himself in the next few days.


Dax Moy's Elimination diet

Elimination Day 3

No caffeine
No alcohol
No processed foods (i.e. anything on a label that you can't pronounce or has a number in it and is not recognised as a natural food)
No wheat
No processed dairy (pasteurised and homogenised milk, cheese, cream etc)
No sugar

So the big day is looming and I'm back on elimination to detox my body, get rid of any excess water that I may be holding and get my body into peak performance ready for the big day. I want all my pelvic tissues to be totally toxin free so that they are working at optimal levels and also to make sure that I don't have any signs of pelvic odema, (fluid in the tissues which causing swelling), which can play a major role in slowing down the birth and causing complications.

I must say it's been surprisingly easy this time around. Granted today is only day three, but as I haven't really had caffeine since I learnt I was pregnant, (maybe 3 cups the whole time), I've not been drinking much alcohol, I can't have wheat as I'm celiac and we always cook from scratch, the only thing that I'm missing is dairy. I would love to have cheese if I could but for the sake of having an easy labour and getting by body back quickly, it's really not worth it!

I don't think I'm going to have any detox symptoms at all this time but I'll let you know tommorow!

For easy Elimination recipes that are ready in minutes take a look at the elimination cookbook

Emotional highs and lows

These last few weeks have been great. Being at home, free from housing issues, landladies and awkward housemates is a whole other world! On top of that I can structure my day as I see fit, meaning that I get to train every single day. I did take Monday off as I realised I'd trained 6 days last week and probably could do with giving my body a rest.

All in all, life was good but every now and then, I'd see an advert on TV for baby products and I'd be struck by an overwhelming urge to sob. In fact a couple of times I did have a little cry and then wondered where on earth it had come from?

Then I realised. I hadn't really seen Carl for a couple of weeks and wouldn't see him for another week on top of that! It was a particularly long spell away for him, working for 15 days in a row and then he was off to Glastonbury Festival for a week. I managed to grab a few hours with him last night before he left at 7am this morning to meet his mates and go off to be a hippy for a week. It dawned on me that although I had friends and family around me, it was, (subconciously), getting me down that he wasn't around to watch my belly grow, or feel our baby's first kicks.

The second trimester is always a heightened time for emotions and dependency on your partner or loved ones is increased at this time, so at least I knew I wasn't being a wimp, or neurotic.

Once I'd realised what the problem was, I started to think that I'd actually had quite an easy time of it, emotionally, if this was the only thing that brought on my tearfulness. Thinking back on what I'd been doing for the past few weeks, since returning home at the beggining of June, I understood that all the good nutrition and daily exercise had really kept my mood buoyant and had it not been for that, then I probably would have been feelin a lot more lonely and a bit sad that Carl and I were seperated by unfortunate circumstances.

I loved the daily buzz I'd get from spending 20 mins on my body and it was definitely showing. My friend, also a trainer, commented on the fact that you could see definition and tone in my arms and legs and that I wasn't holding any water. My Auntie mentioned what a nice neat bump I had, especially for 5 months. And, to top it all off, when I was out with my single girlfriends at the weekend, the guys they were chatting to all commented on how trim I looked!

So, my point is, not to blow my own trumpet, but to tell you firsthand that following an all natural, clean, whole foods diet, plus regular short exercise sessions works. I'm looking well, feeling better and more motivated to keep it up!

Thai Beef Salad Recipe

I love thai food. I find the flavours and ingredients so fragrant and healthy. I recently went out for dinner with my family to my favourite thai restaurant in Bristol and had Yam Nua, a spicy salad with wonderfully hot, fresh and sour flavours. I'd forgotten about this dish but it's something I lived on when I was in Thailand travelling a few years back and it inspired me to make my own version.

Now traditionally you are supposed to use sugar in it to balance the hot and sour flavours but I wanted to keep mine as healthy as possible.

Salad:

Sirloin / Rib Eye Steak (400g )
2 medium tomatoes diced/ 12 cherry tomatoes quatered
1/2 a large cucumber peeled and diced
4 shallots diced / 4 spring onion
Handful of chopped mint (fresh)
Handful of chopped coriander (fresh)

Dressing:

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 1/2tbspn lime juice
2 bird's eye chillies
1 red chilli
2 cloves garlic
1tsp lemongrass paste (optional)
1tspn agave syrup

To Serve:

Salad leaves

Grill or griddle the steak and remove from pan. Leave to rest for 5 mins then slice thinly.

Pound the garlic with the chillies and mix with the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Mix the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss well with the dressing. Spoon onto plate lined with a bed of salad leaves and serve.