spiritedmama

My *best* days that are mostly raw (baby is due any day and, as with last time, I am back to a 80%+ raw diet!), look something like this:

Morning: green smoothie

raw cereal or raw breakfast cookie (at our house, that means a cookie without carob or cacao in it...LOL!)

Food until dinner: I make a big veggie tray with raw dip, a fruit tray with nut butter dip, and a nut tray. I snack on

these all day long to my hearts content! I make sure I have lots of avocado in one of the trays to

get as much fats as possible.

Dinner: A HUGE salad with some raw onion bread, or pate in nori rolls, or raw tacos....simple to prepare meals

basically.

Dessert: Something with carob, or cacao usually....my guilty pleasures!

When I eat this way, I never seem to be hungry and I feel like I have energy to keep up with my other 3 kids with no problems...not easy to say with a VERY demanding 18 month old!

Congrats on the new preganancy!

CDM831-

Don't be discouraged, the first trimester is generally the hardest. Really tune into your body, and if it wants something cooked, make it a healthy, conscious choice. As far as the supplements, I know it's weird to hear this from a midwife assistant, but....if that is what is blocking you from achieving the level of raw that you are looking for, you might want to back off on them for the time being. You can always re-visit them when you are feeling a little better and your hormones have stabalized a little more, towards the second trimester. Drinking 2-3 green smoothies (make sure your stagger your types of greens for maximum nutrition) a day can get you through in lew of the supplements.

As far as the weight gain, every woman's body chooses when to gain weight during pregnancy at different times. Some women gain the majority of their weight first off in the trimester, while others wait until the second or third. I am now pregnant with my 3rd (due in about 4 weeks!) and each pregnancy has been different. The first pregnancy, I gained most of my weight the 1st tri., 2nd pregnancy it was in the 3rd tri., this pregnancy I gained most of my weight in the 2nd. Also, on the topic of weight, I wouldn't worry about the amount of weight you gain, within limits of course. Using myself as an example, with my first pregnancy, I wasn't raw or even vegetarian and I started the pregnancy at 157 pounds and ended it at 180. With my second pregnancy, I was mostly raw and started my pregnancy at 125. I ended it at....180! This pregnancy I haven't checked my weight since getting pregnant at 130 pounds. I plan on checking it the day I go into labor. But, I would guess that I once again about teh 180 range. No matter how you eat, if it is healthy and nutritious (meaning no obvious junk food, bad oils, artificials, corn syrup, etc.), I think our bodies know intuitively how much weight they need to gain to maintain a healthy pregnancy. I have seen this time and time again with the women I work with. And, don't worry about "loosing the baby weight", if you go back to a mostly raw diet, your body will have no problems going back to its pre-baby weight. It took me about 6 months before I was back to my pre-baby weight plus/minus 5 pounds.

Hope this helps!

I have 3 kids and one on the way... my oldest is 15 and fully vaccinated. For some vaccines he has even had double and triple because we moved and lost records, and in general just didn't know any better! My second is 5 1/2 and has had partial vaccinations. I delayed them, and chose not to have her get some. I kept others due to the fact that I had intended on going back to work with "at risk" populations that could possibly carry some diseases. Again, for my knowledge at the time, I believe I couldn't have done any better. My third is almost a year old, and never even been to the doctor, so no vaccinations. I feel very confident in this decision, and we won't be getting vaccinations for our baby due in February either.

As far as schools and exemptions go, there is a great website: www.vaclib.org that will give you all the requirements for each state (they are all different), and also the best way to waive vaccinations for each state. I have waived any further vaccines for my two older ones without problem. We live in AZ.