Braxton Hicks Contractions.

So yesterday was meditation at Jennifer's and it was great as usual. I feel so happy to be able to meditate, chant and talk about spiritual stuff with other women. Yesterday we meditated on solar plexus chakra and when we went to lay down for guided meditation I put a beautiful citrine crystal on my navel. It felt soooo good and I think the baby liked it because she was kicking a lot and making the crystal vibrate.

Citrine crystal's metaphysical qualities: It is one of the only stones that dissipates negative energy, and never requires cleansing or clearing. It's warm energy promotes optimism. Attracts abundance. Activates third (solar plexus) chakra. Enhances body's healing energies. Good for mental focus, endurance and self esteem.

The meditation session is a delicious 2 hour pampering that I offer to myself and my daughter. Ohhhh so good to again freely talk about chakras, health, energy, vibes, etc. It is good to offer
each other support and share experiences. This was our third session and we are going through all the chakras one each week.

I did go to Chapters later and read a book called "Trust your Vibes" by Sonia Choquette and it was nice. She talks about how we can open up to our intuition and follow it all the time to enhance our lives and growth. It talked a bit about encouraging intuition and sixth perception in children and how children are influenced by a parent or both parents who are open to trusting their intuition. This made me think how glad I am to offer my daughter a lot of knowledge that I acquired through the years through trial and error about sixth perception. The fact that she will be able to ask me or share with me her experiences and I won't dismiss them nor judge them just makes me happy. There is nothing like validating your child's feelings and intuition.

I also had lunch at Thai place (vegetarian soup and papaya salad) and then I was reading a book in Chapters when my entire belly started to tense up. It felt quite uncomfortable like there was a lot of gas trapped in my belly and it had nowhere to escape...sort of like when I didn't know I had allergy to gluten and would eat it and then get this gassy,bloated and tensed feeling. I thought maybe the thai soup had gluten in it but it was very unlikely as it was a clear vegetable broth with no spices and just pure veggies. I focused on the sensation and relaxed my back into the chair. The tension then spread to my lower belly and my lower back and it was gone soon after. It was very freaky as I haven't sensed that type of "moving" sensation ever where it would just spread all over my belly and back. Later on I read up about it and learned that I had my first braxton hicks contraction. Cool. It means that my uterus is practicing to push the baby out. This is how it will expel the baby but the contractions are not strong enough at this point to do this. It made me think about labour and gave me an idea how it would feel. It was pretty intense but maybe because I am so tuned into my body. I can only imagine how much more intense the real deal will be!!!!Holy crap but even having said that I can't wait as its going to be an amazing experience - something you will only go in life once or at the most a few times.

I ate high raw all day yesterday. My breakfast is always a smoothie. Lunch I had an egg with toast (not raw but close enough). I snacked on dried fruit. For dinner I had vegetable soup and papaya salad. For supper I had a green smoothie. It was good. I used green tea ice tea for the base and added strawberries and mango for fruit and then added a handful of spinach. It was so yummy and it made me feel great. Today is my 3rd day high raw. I had a slip up with cooked food few days ago where I ate a lot of rice with veggies, tofu, and cooked vegetables. I am motivated more than ever to stay raw as I am getting into my 3rd trimester and this is where the most weight comes in. I already weight 130 and can tell how much impact extra weight has on the body and the mind. So the better I eat and the more I focus on raw the better I will feel. I won't gain too much weight just enough to still feel good and be healthy. There is a huge difference eating raw while you are pregnant. You feel so much more vibrant, lighter, happier,
in tune with your body and your baby. Cooked food dulls all the sensations and makes you feel
so sluggish and unmotivated. At least in my experience. When I do eat cooked food I do it to
ground myself. I noticed I tend to eat it when I feel tired and ungrounded. Yes it does ground me but then I need at least one full day to recover from feeling sluggish. I love eating raw and love how it makes me feel.

Here goes my weight in:

Week 1-8: 124 pounds
Week 8-12: 124 pounds
Week 12-16: 125 pounds
Week 16-20: 127 pounds
Week 21: 127 pounds
Week 22: 127 pounds
Week 23: 130 pounds