Pregnancy update 38 weeks: short and sweet

Okay, it's not sweet, in the sense that I won't be eating any sweets this week.  My weight is up a kilo (2.2 lbs and baby's is up a bit, to 3.4 kg from 3.2 kg.)  Dr. Irene is not concerned about my weight, and happy that baby is growing....she just doesn't want him to grow too much.  She said "tighten up" a bit on my diet.  Big sigh.

So, in other baby news, he's slowly coming down but not "engaged" and she thinks he will still be "a while" in coming and my "biggest baby."

As of today, Saturday, I am officially more pregnant than I have ever been!  

Pregnancy update: 37 weeks and honest diabetes rant

It's nice to be under a doctor's care now.  I've been seeing Dr. Irene Chua at Gleneagles Hospital once a week since we arrived.  She's a young glamorous obstetrician but quite sharp and so far we like her well enough.  She's done a quick ultrasound every week, to check on baby brother's growth.  Looks like he'll probably be bigger than his brother and sister were.

(SPOILER ALERT:  some complaining ahead)

Last week the baby gained a whole pound, but I did not gain anything! 

The week previous to that, baby's weight was stable, but I had lost a couple of pounds from the last weighing in Java -- granted it was on a different scale.

Dr Irene has not even mentioned my weight, but is quite pleased with baby's progress.

I just don't think that's fair. I've only gained a whopping 15 pounds so far this pregnancy.   I'm so hungry all the time but all I can eat are small low carb meals that don't satisfy.  We're eating very simply here -- lots of PB&J, scrambled eggs, french toast, milk.  It's a simple kitchen so I haven't been cooking a lot of meat.  There are TONS of eating establishments across the street, but mostly exotic to us and very high carb.  The other day we did get some take out -- the famous Hiannese chicken and rice.  I thought maybe with my Metformin on board, perhaps I could handle it, and ate about 60% of the rice portion.  It was delicious, but my blood sugar shot up to 158 -- almost 40 points above my limit.   Anyhow, after the doctor's appointment this week, we went to the more expensive grocery store and I was happy to find some low sugar jam, genuine Adams peanut butter, and a few other expensive but diabetic friendly snacks.  There is also a nice multi-grain bread here with a low glycemic index, so I've been taking advantage of that -- one slice at a time.   I also am thankful for the good supply of Splenda and Stevia that the grandmas sent in October, so I can have sweetness in my tea and my decaf coffee.  

My doctor would probably put me on insulin if I told her how I really am always hungry ....but I guess I'd rather stick it out on just the pills.  At most it can only be another 3 weeks, right?  Wouldn't it be a shocker if I went overdue!  Then I'd be begging for insulin!

(OKAY, COMPLAINING NOW OFFICIALLY OVER.  Sorry about that.)  

I need to keep reminding myself that it's a wonderful thing this condition can be controlled by diet and still result in a very healthy baby!   And to be thankful how God is shaping my character through this temporary trial.

Other news about the baby:  He's doing well!  At this time in my last 2 pregnancies, I was already effaced and partially dilated.  Here in Singapore they don't do internal checks in the late trimester, so I don't know what's going on down there.  The last ultrasound showed the head is low, but not quite engaged.  I am
having some Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing to get excited about.

Nonetheless, our hospital bags are packed and we are praying that baby will arrive according to God's perfect timing!  Last night Dave and I had a long talk about baby's name ...I think we are closer, but Dave is prayerfully checking into a few other options. 

Oh yes, Happy New Year!  It's not really on our radar this year, except I wonder how noisy it will be here later tonight?  I think Chinese New Year (in late January) is the bigger holiday for the people here, so maybe we have nothing to worry about. 

Learning to be happy and hungry at the same time! 37+ weeks

Last family photos before leaving town

Yep, it's been a whole month since I've blogged anything! 

We've mostly been slowly preparing for our transition to Singapore ....I have a history of not "leaving well" and wanted to try SO hard to do it right this time.  I had a lot of little projects to complete at home ....it will be TWO MONTHS before we arrive home with baby, but I need his nursery (translate: corner of the master bedroom) etc to be ready now!  I finished quite a few low priority but important-to-me projects that I knew would NEVER get done if I waited until after the baby.  Then there were all of the arrangements for the house, the house-sitter (required by our employer), packing things away safely.  Lastly, but most importantly, all the arrangements for Singapore:  housing pre-planning, communicating with medical people, and packing!  It's a challenge for me to manage all this!

For Dave, this "preparation" time has been preparing 2 months of lesson plans for his substitute teachers.  Thank you Greg, Scott and Sue!  They will be filling in for his classes on top of their regular full-time jobs at Mountainview. 

It's been a real challenge to manage the gestational diabetes (GDM) the last month or so, and it has been time consuming to get it back under control.   My blood sugar was out of control for a few weeks, unbeknownst to me, because of defective testing equipment.   After talking with a few knowledgeable friends (Thank you Calista and Maria!) , we finally decided I should start taking medication (Metformin) to help in the last few weeks of pregnancy and take the pressure off during the transition to Singapore.  I finally have a loaner blood sugar machine from my Singapore doctor, accurate strips and so far the test results haven't been too bad.  With my past pregnancies, I would have firmly resisted the medication but this time I am relieved to use it because there are so many variables out of my control. 

The night before Jonathan and I left for Singapore, I had a sudden pre-separation anxiety ....what if this is the last time our family is together?  I insisted that, in the rush, we try to get some family photos.

This first one -- the propping-the-camara-on-the-fence-with-timer-test-shot -- makes me laugh!

This next one is probably the best of the bunch and I will use it in our next newsletter.

And of course an updated 34+ week pregnant tummy shot:

Just for fun, here is a picture of 34+ week pregnant tummy with Jonathan in Oct 2009:

Yes, I am definitely a slightly different shape this time.  I think it's because two year old boys still need their pregnant mommies to carry them around, and indeed their pregnant mommies need that too.  So, Jonathan has been sitting on his baby brother quite a lot, and something (my insides) got moved somewhere to make room!  I remember once seeing a similarly-shaped pregnant mom in Walla Walla and thinking she looked a bit strange.  Now I know why....she obviously still had a toddler or two at home. 

Blessings to all who are reading!  We are so thankful to God's goodness to us in all of this!

Focus on Food! Cauliflower crust pizza Success!

Over the past 6 weeks or so, since going on the diabetic diet again, a large amount of my time has gone into researching food options, studying recipes, and just cooking from scratch to try things out.  Let me tell you ....it's not for the faint hearted.  Most of the diabetic recipes I've tried have been a flop the first time through.  Our local ingredients are different, my equipment is different, my oven is different ....so things just turn out....different.  One banana bread recipe I tried turned out looking (and tasting) like a Christmas Yule log and I wished I had a fire to throw it on.  Kudos to my husband, who hates to waste food, and did end up eating most of it.  Another chocolate zucchini cake I tried turned out about 1 cm thick, with the texture of a rubber tire, but indeed having some chocolate flavor -- it's only redeeming quality.  I have limped out of the kitchen many times, discouraged, hungry, and wondering if I would ever have a second installment for my Focus on Food series.   

Finally, after FOUR almost disastrous attempts, I finally have a success to to tell you about .....

CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA!!!

I will refer you to the original blog post from Your Lighter Side, for the full recipe.   Please note from the photo above how the pizza is crisp enough to hold on the tip of the fingers.  It looks like real pizza!  I was immediately drawn to this recipe because, well, I love pizza.  It is so sad to give it up, because Pizza Crust can be so very high carb, even the whole wheat variety.  Yet this pizza crust has practically NO CARBS at all!

FIRST ATTEMPT

On a Saturday morning, we rushed to the nearby street market to find us some cauliflower.  As you can see, this was a few days after the horrible mosquito attack on Jonathan's face, which tells you how long I have been working on this project.  The lady who created the recipe simply uses frozen cauliflower from a bag.  We had a few extra steps:  washing, cutting, steaming.  Finally we could start the first step of the recipe!

We grated our cauliflower -- or tried to.  It was too mushy and kept falling apart. 

Then we mixed 1 cup of grated ("riced") cauliflower with 1 cup of cheese (we had to use cheddar although the recipe calls for mozz) and 1 egg.  Here's what it looked like.

The first attempt was baked in a pie pan, as it seemed like the best option at the time.  Well, I have no after pictures because discouragement set in as soon as it came out of the oven.  The first attempt was WAY too soggy.  I needed to drain the cauliflower, or even squeeze out the moisture before baking it.  So the result turned out being more like a casserole.  But the amazing thing is....although it was a casserole, it tasted fantastic! 

Jonathan ate his up.  We all ate it up, in no time flat.  So, not exactly pizza but the flavor was good enough to make me keep trying.

SECOND ATTEMPT

Here it is, all flattened out and ready to go in the oven.  I found an old pizza pan -- perfect!  Uhm, no.

Here is SECOND ATTEMPT finished product -- quite STUCK to the pan.  We had to hack it off, bit by bit.  The food that ended up on the plate still looked like ....a messed up casserole.  Again, amazingly, it tasted fantastic and nothing went to waste!  As for the pan, it took THREE DAYS of soaking and scrubbing to get all of the stuck-i-ness OFF!

THIRD ATTEMPT

This time I tried putting greased foil over the old pizza pan.  It looked so great coming out of the oven.  I almost cried when I tried to serve the first piece.  Hopelessly stuck.  Again.  Here is what we had to do, turn the whole thing over and detach the top of the pizza from the bottom of the pizza -- you can see how much was stuck on the foil.   So....casserole again, but still tasted good.

FOURTH ATTEMPT

Why couldn't I just be happy with a delicious cauliflower pizza casserole?  I really wanted to be able to PICK UP the pizza slice in one piece and bite into it, for heaven's sake!  I'm realizing more and more how much of food enjoyment has to do with texture and the tactile experience.  Casserole is not pizza.  So after the third attempt, a LONG, LONG while went by before I wanted to try again.

The fourth attempt was inspired by the acquisition of  a new pizza pan.  There is a long and dear story attached to this pizza pan -- about God's love, and His provision, and me not listening to His voice or looking for His hand in my life.  I will have to share it soon in another post on another day.

The fourth attempt came out of the oven looking just lovely.  This is before the toppings, of course. 

Best of all, check this out!  It is somewhat crisp on the bottom and IS NOT STUCK TO THE PAN!!!  Hope is alive!

You can actually pick it up and eat it!  And as with the previous three "casserole" attempts, Jonathan thought it was just fine!

I see relief in my face on this picture.  It was a long hard journey, but we finally actually ended up with pizza we could pick up and eat, that was made on a crust made of cauliflower.  My only complaint now is that it disappears far too quickly!

So folks, I really do recommend this recipe, in spite of all my troubles with it.  It won't be as hard for you -- I had a lot of challenges to adapt to.  It's not too terrible time consuming if you use frozen veggies from the store, and it's a great way to get those veggies into your family's tummies!  My number one tip:  Use a good pizza pan! 

Focus on Food! Sugar's tragic history

Today I'm starting a new series inspired by my gestational diabetes.  I've been trying loads of new recipes and different foods in compliance with my healthy diet, and it motivates me to able to share some of it here.  It might help me from becoming too much of a whiner.  Please join me with some thoughts about SUGAR...

A History Book about Sugar?

As I was browsing the school library for something to read, I ran across this book.  I thought, “Hey, well, I can’t EAT sugar right now, I might as well READ about it.”

The book really became a page turner for me.  Sugar had a huge effect on world history – and I don’t even remember ever learning about it!  Much of it is very distasteful.  This did help tame my sugar cravings….for about 2 days. 

So just for fun, here are a few of the notable things I learned about sugar:

1. Sugar as medicine. When sugar was first refined from cane in the 600s in small amounts, it was used as a MEDICATION for illness!  Now this absolutely makes sense to me!  I can totally see how sugar could be a remedy for depression, sadness, weakness and even pain!  Too bad it’s effect is so temporary and the side effects so damaging! 

2. The bearers of sugar to the world were MUSLIMS!   As they conquered the Eastern worlds where sugar was first refined, they brought small amounts to other places they traveled, and understandably the demand quickly grew.  Before too long, they had designed and reproduced sugar plantations for rapid production of massive amounts of sugar.

3. I always wondered “What is molasses made of?”  When I look at the ingredient list it just says “molasses.”  So what is it?  Turns out, the process of refining sugar from cane into the white crystals we love so much is a long, many stepped, energy intensive one.   Molasses is merely one of the first products of the sugar refining process.  To quote from page 17 of the book, “What we call molasses is just a natural part of the first grinding of sugar cane into syrup.  Sugar refiners drain out the dark molasses to use by itself and are left with relatively white sugar."

4. White granulated sugar is a highly processed food.  It may be “natural”, but after reading the book, I’m not sure it has much of a benefit over corn syrup or other sweeteners.  Whether it be from cane or beets, the process involves multiple heatings and boilings and pourings before the white crystals are left.  I do think that brown sugar, raw sugar, and the Javanese sugar we use here are less processed options.

5. Slavery and sugar.   My understanding of slavery has previously been limited to America’s involvement with it in the South.  I watched Amazing Grace, the movie, about how William Wilberforce helped to abolish slavery in Britain.  I didn’t think any further.  Where were the slaves in England?  Britain had no plantations needing huge amounts of workers.  The slaves were overseas, in the tropics, stolen from Africa and sold and cruelly worked to death on sugar plantations, owned by wealthy aristocracy and gentlefolk back in England. 

6. Something about American slavery I never considered.   Although slavery in America was a horrible thing, it turns out that Americans treated their slaves better than other places in the world.  Of all of the people ever taken from Africa, 96% were sold as slaves in the Caribbean, Brazil, and South America, most to sugar plantations.  Only 4% were sold in America.  The reason for the disparity is that those other places literally worked their slaves to death in a very short amount of time, so they continually needed to resupply the manpower.  Whereas, Americans, although still cruel, fed and medicated and rested their slaves enough that they survived and married and reproduced, eliminating the need to import new slaves from overseas.  According to the book, only 500,000 slaves were ever brought to America, but there were 4 million slaves freed at the time of emancipation.  In contrast, over 2 million Africans were taken as slaves to the “sugar” islands, and only 670,000 were alive to be freed at emancipation.

7. How did so many Japanese and other Asians come to be in Hawaii?  Again, the answer is sugar.  As slavery was abolished, the sugar business moved to new places, including Hawaii.  Japanese, Philippino, Indians, and others went to Hawaii as (poorly) paid workers on sugar plantations.  Many never returned to their homelands.

8. Most sugar comes from beets now.  Sugar beets provide the same final product as sugar cane, and you don’t need plantations and slaves to produce it. 

”C & H, pure cane sugar … from Hawaii, sweetened by the sun….”  Do any of you remember this commercial ditty from the 80’s?  I’ve been humming it off and on my entire life!  But I will never think of those words in the same way again.  Thanks for letting me share with you about my enjoyable and lightening read!

Update on baby 4: 19 weeks and counting!

17 weeks!

      We are so thankful that we have been able to carry this new little one to 19 weeks already!  The first trimester was crazy!  We did so many crazy things like travel around the world with a toddler and move houses!  Finally, I am now feeling more energetic and the yuckies are gone and baby is kicking every day, and night!   We now have the blessing of a fetal doppler, so we can listen to baby's heartbeat at home whenever we want to!  I haven't been to any official doctors yet, but I am in contact with a midwife, a doctor, a dietician, whenever I need expert advice. 

        Jonathan does have some inkling that something is going on.  My lap is already starting to run out of room, and he will sometimes pat my tummy and say "baby."  We are still nursing, but have been cutting down.  Next week we are planning the big event:  the final weaning from mommy milk.  Pray for us!

       Sadly, but not surprisingly, my gestational diabetes is back.   I know I should be grateful that this condition, if controlled, will still result in a healthy baby.  Also I should be grateful because it can usually be well controlled with only adjustments to diet and regular exercise.  Actually, I am grateful.  But I am also sad .....I love sugar and I love treats and I love simple carbohydrates.    It is a hardship to give them up, even for just a few months!  About 5 weeks ago, when a urinalysis revealed the return of GD, I went through a grumpy and confused couple of weeks.  Grumpy because of sugar withdrawal  (mostly an emotional problem).  Confused because this is a rice country and a sugar loving one.  It's been more challenging to figure out what I can safely and enjoyably eat.    I lost a few pounds those first few weeks.  It's also been more challenging to find the energy and opportunity to exercise with my toddler and the safety restrictions we now observe.  Thankfully, I am now getting into a better eating routine, am gaining weight, and am slowly starting to get a little bit back in shape.  Good thing, because my blood sugar monitor is telling me that my pregnancy induced insulin resistance is becoming more severe week by week! 

      Another subject on our minds is where to have the baby.  I had originally planned on having the baby in the big city about an hour from here.   However, based on my age, my history and my list of mild risk factors, at least one highly qualified doctor has recommended I deliver in Singapore or the USA.  This would require about a 3-4 month absence from here, what with having to fly prior to 34 weeks gestation and having to wait for all of baby's paperwork to be complete before we come back.   I'm in denial about this at the moment.  The thought of having to go through that major transition again with Jonathan, and the expense.... it's overwhelming.   We are considering options and seeing how the Lord will provide for us.... and probably won't make a final decision until October, when we go to Singapore for advanced testing on the baby and consult with the doctors there.  We'd really appreciate your prayers for our peace of mind until God shows us the way, as we know He will!