Peanut butter, midnight cravings, migraines.

It's 2:30am. My migraine is throbbing gently at my left hemisphere. And my current craving is celery with peanut butter. People naturally would associate it with my being pregnant - but in all honesty it's just the opposite.
When I used to work extremely late shifts, my entire day's layout would shift - breakfast would be served around 5pm and dinner around 3am.

It's fatigue. Of course there's a school of thought that when you crave something very much - it's most likely that your body needs it.

So what's in peanut butter? Looks like for two teaspoons of peanut butter you get massive calories, 10g of protein and 10% of your daily iron intake. Yet according to WebMD "Peanut Butter Packs a Healthy Punch"

And on the other hand what's in celery? Has only 10 calories per medium sized stalk, with 1g of protein and virtually no other nutritional value. And of course Happy Juicer is happy to tell us otherwise. Just check out how good celery is for you. You'll never skimp on it again!

Pregnant migraine ladies - pick your snacks carefully. Our sensitive noses, taste buds and other things, rely on our healthy diet. So I say hey, to the 3 o'clock in the morning and retire without my peanut butter. Such is life.

I switched to new vitamins and supplements today. My level of energy lifted dramatically. Although, when moving our junk to the new house - I felt fatigue in my limbs. Could be because my muscles have slowly dissolved into goo.

Right now fatigue is spreading to my brain, so on the very side note - I got my twitter all set up. So now you can catch my unfunny rants on that too. :)

Doctors, magnesium and migraines.

It's quite amusing really. My appointment with my doc was pretty uneventful. As usual my doctor is sweet as a button and seems to genuinely care for her patients. All three of us. Daddy, baby and myself.

Baby's heart rate is at wooping 160 which is prime good thing for him or her apparently, and it moved around quite a bit. In three weeks we get to take a blood test that will tell us if the child falls under more risk for crazy health problems that could spell disaster for any little happy family. And in five weeks I have yet another appointment and then we get to find out whether it's a boy or a girl! Plus the test results.
Which is absolutely awesome. Not sure how it makes any difference really, whether the little tyke is a girl or a boy - but it will be exciting nonetheless. We'll really get to concentrate on the whole "name" thing. And depending on the next house we're moving to - we can figure out the theme for the bedroom. Contemporary Japanese, Steam Punk or perhaps plain ol' industrial. Possibilities are endless, and quite far from our minds at the moment.

My honey and I are just happy that the baby is seemingly healthy. Our doctor asked if I take anything besides vitamins and supplements that I mentioned previously. Of course magnesium had to be added to the list - since I wasn't taking as much of it in the first two months.
To my surprise she asked why I took magnesium. My choice of explanation was that it helps migraines. She wholeheartedly approved the vitamin / mineral route of handling my pains.

Speaking of pains - I wonder if I mentioned having a head splitting one today. Me thinks once I get some more rest - it'll go away or the likes.
So i'll be off and taking care of it.

Good night :)

Post migraine stress.

To be quite accurate, migraines and stress are a never ending circle of events that constantly chase each other's tail like the ying and yang.

When a person is afflicted by stress, seemingly overcomes stress, the migraine kicks in as an after effect. But when migraine kicks in the stress levels elevate, for we know this is painful and quite disturbing part of our lives that we have little to no control over at times. In other words = a never ending circle.

So how do we control stress?

I personally opted for murdering every fly in my vicinity by using a makeshift fly swatter.

Some people opt for drinking, others take sleeping pills and anything to relax them. Some people just sleep. Just like I do when I'm stressed out to the max. Often it seems to be too daunting of a task to be awake nad having to deal with this issue or next, so i like to close my eyes and slowly meditate myself to sleep.

What are your ways of dealing with stress?

Food during pregnancy and migraines.

There's been an understanding for a long time that while a woman is pregnant she by all means should attempt to diet in most healthiest ways.
Don't let word diet disturb you my sweet readers - it's merely a choice adjective to help describe a lifestyle. One that could affect a person long term and if used properly even be beneficial.

Pregnant women not only are faced with having to fend for themselves in most healthiest ways (freshly killed rabbits and homegrown green salads and what not) but they should consider the fact that everything they eat, during pregnancy and breastfeeding - if they eat a lot of it and if they eat it consistently - will imprint onto baby's taste buds so to speak.

Natural news yet once again comes through with an interesting column about this very subject.
Food Choice During Pregnancy Shapes Lifelong Taste Preferences of Baby

Children develop a taste for the foods that their mothers eat during pregnancy and breastfeeding, highlighting the importance of pregnant and nursing women's dietary choices, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
"It's a beautiful system," lead researcher Julie Mennella said. "Flavors from the mother's diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother's milk. So, a baby learns to like a food's taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis."

There's also the flip side to this coin - since pregnant ladies need all sorts of minerals and vitamins - according to certain studies - it's actually difficult to assimilate by just 'eating right'.

(NC)—The amount of nutrients in our food is steadily declining, according to recent research. A recent survey found some fruits and vegetables we buy today contain far fewer nutrients than they did 50 years ago. This is especially noticeable in foods such as potatoes, tomatoes, bananas and apples. Specifically, the potato has lost 100 per cent of its vitamin A, 57 per cent of its vitamin C and iron, and 28 per cent of its calcium.

So perhaps ladies while we're chewing on lean chickens, or choice garbanzo beans with side of freshly killed salad - don't forget to take some extra vitamin supplements on the side. Those things sure do come in handy. And perhaps start the little tyke on some very choice Flinstones when the time is right.

Couple of jokes, including a migraine one :)

Just a few to break the whole routine of me posting some stuff about my migraines (heavy auras today) and vitamins (took them all like a good little girl).

A man speaks frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!"

"Is this her first child?" the doctor queries.

"No, you idiot!" the man shouts. "This is her husband!"

I'm two months pregnant now. When will my baby move?

With any luck, right after it finishes college.

This guy gets these chronic migraine headaches. One day he sees a doctor about his problem.
The doctor gives him a thorough examination and says, "I can cure your headaches, but I`ll have to cut your balls off to do it."
At first the man is horrified at this idea, but the headaches keep getting worse and worse. He can`t work or sleep, his sex life is nonexistent, and he`s generally miserable. Finally, he goes back to the doctor and says, "I don`t care anymore, cut them off. Just get rid of these damned headaches!
The doctor performs the operation, and immediately the headaches go away.
The guy is relatively happy, now. He may not have a sex life, but he figures this is price he has to pay for a life without pain. One day, he decides to get himself a new wardrobe. He goes to this nice new men`s shop downtown.
As soon as he walks in the door, the clerk looks carefully at him and says, "You wear a 44 long jacket, don`t you?" The guy says, "Yeah, how did you know?"
"It`s in the eye," says the clerk. "Your neck is seventeen and one quarter inches, but given your build, medium shirt sleeves should work."
"That is incredible!" the guy says. "Hmm... and you wear a 36 large jockstrap."
"Ah hah! You`re wrong," the guy says gleefully. "I wear a 32 small jockstrap."
"No, you have to wear a 36 large," says the clerk.
"Look, I`m sorry, but you`re wrong. I wear a 32 small."
That`s impossible," says the confused clerk. "A 32 small jockstrap would pinch your balls and give you migraine headaches."

Magnesium, migraines and pregnancy.

Here's a break down of the vitamins and supplements that I'm taking as of this moment.

Upon waking up:

Prenatal supplements
A 4000 IU (100% as beta carotene)
C 120 mg
D 400 IU
E 30 IU
Thiamin 1.8 mg
Riboflavin 1.7 mg
Niacin 20 mg
B6 2.6 mg
Folic Acid 800 mcg
B 12 8 mcg
Calcium 200 mg
Iron 28 mg
Zinc 25 mg

+ Expecta Lipil DHA supplement(docosahexaenoic acid from Schizochytrium sp. oil) 200 mg
+ Natural's Magnesium oxide 400 mg with Chelated Zinc 15 mg
+ Calcium 600 mg supplement

I take Magnesium chelate 300mg approximately 3 more times during the day, only supplementing it with one more Calcium pill along the day.

Magnesium oxide on an empty stomach tends to give me an annoying stomach ache, therefore causing me either to puke my guts out or eat something. Naturally ladies - food can be compromised, but those nasty stomach cramps from dry heaves cant. So of course I eat something.

Chelate is much easier on my body - but i have to keep taking it on constant basis. Nearly 2 every couple of hours. Of course I'd rather do that - if that gives me proper amount of minerals and leaves my stomach alone.

My migraine is back tonight, since all day today was empty of any kind of substantial nutrition and my vitamins were left at home. I was able to take my magnesiums but only those.

I'm still trying to work out a good post to write in regards to doctors and pregnancy and the sheer fact that they just dont know how a pregnant woman should supplement her diet. Tonight my diet involved ton of vitamins, a well cooked steak, plenty of steamed veggies and my favorite egg and celery salad with side of yummy rice and glass of cold milk.

If you wonder how I fit it all in my stomach - it was a quick process and portions were tiny :)

Puppies, husbands and migraines.

Puppy picture coming tomorrow :) Puppy is doing much better. He's trying to poop only in the closet and tries to piss on pads.

Husband is not doing so much better. He's exhausted with pain constantly. I'm trying to give him proper vitamin supplements - and it's not working just yet. But maybe soon.
I've increased his vitamin B complex, his magnesium and calcium intake, alongside his normal daily vitamins.

Checked out that book Raingem lent me that focuses mainly on Magnesium and it's properties. Pretty fantastic book actually. I've been doubling up on the supplements for both Gary and myself.

Migraines are pretty bad as usual. Happy to report however that since i've been pretty thorough on taking my Magnesium, my pregnancy style cramping has been easing up.
Hoping it's going to do the same for my husband.

Actually want to get some of that Magnesium oil for him and see if that helps absorption as well.
Just started him on major extra supplements day before yesterday - so we'll see.

I'll keep y'all posted ;)

We're on a hiatus!

We're moving so the access to the internet is limited to the times when we visit my siblings.

Sorry about that ladies and gentlemen, but we promise to come back full force with kitten and puppy pictures and good articles.

Just to let you know tho, my migraines were absolutely horrid for a couple of days. Ice packs and green tea helped a lot. That and staying out of the hot weather.

Anyways,
we'll be back!

^ . ^

Vitamins and minerals deficiencies during pregnancy and every day life.

The passion in this article is obvious. And why shouldn't it be. People for hundreds of years trying to figure out what makes us healthy, mentally wealthy and strong - and yet there are still peeps out there, that are considered

...illiterates who, after hundreds of years of claiming medical superiority, still have not admitted that a single nutrient can treat a single disease.

One must look at everything objectively. According to some research Americans' nutrition today is probably why we only have successful 50-60 years before our bodies break down into something very painful, uncomfortable and depressing.
On the flip side - I'm not really sure if any doctors ever done an in-depth study of our nutrition along side with supplemental foods, vitamins and minerals that would fight deceases. Maybe to be more accurate proper nutrition can eliminate the fear of "acquiring" certain sicknesses and deceases on the way to that faithful 50-60 age bracket.

To quote Mr. Adams:

Yet modern (arrogant) medicine remains nutritionally illiterate, refusing to teach expectant mothers much at all about prenatal nutrition (beyond folic acid, anyway).

Which actually lights the fire under my tail too. Recalling my first official Doc appointment, I was told nothing substantial. Pregnant women are pretty much just poked and prodded until they pop the kid, and then it's out of the doc's hands, unless some terrible thing happened to the young one.
Certainly private research will open anyone's eyes to the simple facts, but women are unaware. And in my humble opinion it's the doc's job to enlighten us about the facts.

So Mr. Adams, kudos to you, keep writing.

link to the article: http://www.naturalnews.com/023580.html

Migraines, stress and overeating.

While I have the cute husband, puppy and the camera on hand - pictures will only come tomorrow. C'est la vie.

Update on cute husband:

Still suffering, but in progress of finding good insurance company to call his own. I've tried to get in contact with several over email, but apparently internet is not their strongest path of communication. So I'll have to get in contact with them directly over the phone.
He's currently listening to things on you-tube, and laughing over some vids.

Update on cute puppy:

Still cute and unable to go outside quite yet. The vets put the fear of death into us when they started talking about different things that non-vaccinated animals can get. So we crossed our heart and swore to die if Duke gets out any time before he's 8 weeks and dares to touch the ground.
This still puts a dumper or ten on our floor and carpets. (Dumper, get it? heheheh...)
Other than that - some books are coming in on how to train our furry friend and keep him happy.
He's being cute and sitting by my feet as I type this post out.

Update on me:

Got an interesting book on Magnesium and it's effects on the body today. I'll be more than happy to start reading it tonight. It's going to take a few takes I'm sure since I am just getting out of that crazy pregnancy scared phase where nothing made sense.
Taking my magnesium, calcium and DHE supplements like a good little girl however. So besides my baby making me cringe in pain when I'm worried (something along the lines: "mom, stop worrying or I'll punch you in the gut from the inside, you're taking my vitamins and making me jittery darn it!) everything is going alright.

I'm going to attempt some techniques of meditation and perhaps some basic self hypnosis. The fact that I worry should be good, since I should worry if I drive my car into someone else's and cause a horrible crash or not. But my obsessive worry about other things may possibly be driving my loved ones insane. And it leads to over eating. Which isn't good. As we all know - as long as I get all our necessary vitamins and minerals, plus my regular intake of calories - baby's growth will be supported with as much as 300 calories. Over eating is very unhealthy.

Stress and pain management.

Looking through available links that talk about managing stress and pain. "Gather" just like most of information out there suggests massage.

Although in case of my husband with his chronic pain and me with my migraines - massage provides only very temporary relief. It helps my honey only during the massage, relieves some pain and tension. With me - it helps only in terms of stress and possibly tension headaches.

Gary and I are considering trying acupuncture. I'm going to try and get some literature on it tomorrow and perhaps look up some more on the internet.
We're all for DIY approach :) And anything that helps with pain and stress is a plus.

We'll see how it goes and update when possible.

Picture of puppy is on the way.

Just have to borrow a camera from my siblings and then voila.

Duke is still on his pooping everywhere spree, my migraines are forgotten for the moment, and the kid seems to be pretty mellow and happy at this time.

Well besides the fact that both my honey and me are exhausted.

picture of cute kittens to make up for lack of post.. of any real sort.

-.-

Migraine triggers: allergies and puppies.

While allergies themselves are a number one trigger for my migraines (get into dusty room, breath in, die with excruciating pain within an hour). Puppies on the other hand have a totally different approach to giving one a headache.

For instance last night after being put back into the kitchen, where my honey and I decided to keep him and housebreak him, Duke the pup decided to cry. For about thirty minutes. Little did I realize that the only reason he stopped was because he managed to push away a 30lbs wood panel and went on pooping and peeing spree in both living room and the game room.

Fantastic! This morning instead of good morning honey type kisses we got to clean the poop.

This sort of like previews of coming attractions. At least baby is going to have a diaper, but essentially the order of business is the same. Cry, poop, pee, drink, poop, pee, wake up, poop, pee.... you get the basic idea.

And the lack of sleep, compounded with new smells, and slightly elevated stress levels migraines keep coming back.

That and the energy level for both of us is near non-existent.

New dog!

We got a dog!

It's awesome!

It's a boy!

and it's smelly.

His name is Duke, and he's a full blown pit bull.

pics are coming

Next up is training him to poop on proper place.

Missing posts due to migraines

Apologies,

but migraines suck, on general principal. They definitely leave me immobilized for a little while and later as if nothing at all happened they wipe my memory clean with a sponge, so I can't recall being in major pain.

I would have gladly made a post yesterday - but my head felt like it was going to explode from inside, outside, and possibly third dimension.

It still feels like it, so I'm going back to my ice pack, and to sleep. Perhaps it won't be so bad in the morning.

Good night my peoples, tomorrow is get a puppy and look at a house day, migraines or not :D