The Future Is Here!

So, in the beginning of this baby begetting journey I felt daunted by the fact that it would be an uphill battle. However, I think all the over-thinking, over-analyzing, and over-preparation may have been in my favor. We were able to conceive our Little Bun roughly after 6 months of trying. That's like pretty normal actually... Yay!!!

The successful cycle happened immediately after I finished 3 rounds of Clomid, reduced Metformin dosage, and had been sticking to The No Fun Food Life for about 70% of my diet. I also had greatly increased my physical activity - pickleball, badminton, hiking, scale the strat, etc. - the month before it happened. All that cardio! So... yes, even women with PCOS can have babies with a good diet, moderate exercise, and dedicated doctors who are proactive. I still have to watch myself and try to keep up with the diet & exercise to prevent gestational diabetes... more work ahead!

I also had a little help from ALL of my preggo friends. I literally and very shamelessly asked to rub all their bellies for lucky baby vibes. These two lovely ladies even gave me a double belly-bump for good luck! Everyone kept telling me it will happen... and in the meantime I freaked out anyway. So, thanks for putting up with me! :)

I'm coming up to the end of my 1st trimester and so far the ride has been pretty smooth. I'm extremely tired, moody, have acid reflux, sore boobs, and randomly find myself starving throughout the day... but nothing that's been debilitating or excruciating. I took a 3-week leave of absence from work because of the recent company restructuring and mass exit by 14% of the company. It was stressful, frustrating, and depressing to go to work every day. My blood pressure had sky-rocketed at a checkup and during the first crucial weeks of the baby's life all the vital organs and essential foundation are under construction... so I decided to detach myself for a bit from the craziness of work. This week I went in for another check-up and blood pressure is 120/80... yeah!!

The one food that I extremely miss are deli sandwiches. I don't know if anyone knows this about me but I eat the Subway Club sandwich almost once a week! LOL - the one really nice morning guy that works at the Subway in my neighborhood knows my order! Apparently, deli meat has a pretty low probability of being contaminated with Listeria - a bacteria that can thrive even with refrigeration and is killed by cooking and pasteurization - but pregnant women have increased susceptibility. To come up with a remedy to this hankering... I made myself this 1 pound (yes, I weighed it!) open-faced sandwich. Sprouted grain bread, hummus, avocado, mozzarella, and tomato. It hit the spot! :)

Steak & Greens

My friend, Audrey, sent me some collard greens clippings from her garden to see if I could use them to grow in my new veggie garden. I'm still trying to see if I can nurse them to life... in the meantime I got some from the grocery store.

Collard Greens are one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. Here are some impressive daily numbers from just 1 cup of cooked Collard Greens: Vitamin K 858%, Vitamin A 80%, Manganese 49%, Vitamin C 46%, Fiber 30%, Calcium 27%, Choline 17%, Vitamin B2 15%, Vitamin B6 14%, Iron 12%. And that's just the Top 10... there are 11 more goodies your body needs in that list!

I didn't want to just eat greens... so the hubby stopped by the grocery store on his way home from work and fulfilled my urgent request for ribeye steak. Yum! He fired up the grill and made some corn as well. SO GOOD!!!

Collard Greens (super easy)
Steam or blanch the Collard Green leaves about 5-7 minutes, about 1.5 inch pieces without the super tough stalks. Saute slices of Garlic, however much you prefer, in 1 tbsp Butter + 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil for a couple minutes. Add the Collard Greens, stir and saute for another 5 minutes. Serve!

I couldn't quite finish my entire steak... guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach... so I had leftovers to get creative with. I chopped up the steak, added some tomatoes and avocado, and wrapped everything in a corn tortilla. I made about 3 of these little beauties for dinner. So simple but so amazing!