Spinach Salad

Health benefits of spinach: loaded with calcium, folic acid, iron and vitamin C, A, K and fiber. Also spinach is loaded with flavonoid that functions as antioxidant and anti-cancer agent. Spinach contains carotenoid that help fights cancer. It is anti-aging food.

I really like raw organic baby spinach and eat it quite a lot. My favourite spinach salad includes granny smith apples, red onions, red peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. I also love spinach in my green smoothies.

Prenatal Massage

I swear I have no idea what I would do without a good prenatal massage. Massage is a big part of my health care and its especially valuable now. With all of the organs shifting in the body and my back supporting more weight in the belly I definitely feel it more than ever. My mid back and lower back just feels sore and like its really doing so much work, which it is providing all the support for my baby. Pregnancy is such a curious state-you feel every little thing changing in your body on daily basis. Yes it is quite remarkable but at the same time quite intense. So far I had three major physical sensations in this order: first I felt ligaments in the abdomen stretch making the sides of my belly sore, then I had sharp pain in the pubic bone due to pubic bone separation and finally right now I have sore back from my belly growing larger. Other than that I can't complain. I enjoy feeling my baby kick and going through all of the changes knowing that it won't last forever. I am enjoying being able to rest, eat well and exercise and I enjoy all of the wonderful support I get from my family and my husband. Bless them all :) It must be hard to put up with a pregnant woman.

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

Thai Papaya Salad

If you haven't had one try it. It's so fresh, crispy, flavourful and deliscious. I have been obsessed with papaya salad ever since I got pregnant. This is one food I crave all the time and could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love that its sweet, sour and hot. I love how great and happy it makes me feel. I love all the enzymes and vitamins in it..you can practically feel them as you eat it. It is quite easy to prepare although I get mine from my fav Thai place. If you want to make it at home here is the recipe:

1 1/2 tablespoons palm sugar

3/4 lime

2 cups green papaya, shredded

6 green beans

1 clove garlic

1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 chili peppers

5 cherry tomatos

2 tablespoons peanuts, chopped

*Makes 2 servings*

IT'S A GIRL!

I had my second ultrasound on Wednesday and we found out that we are having a little girl. I was so happy I could hardly talk and so was my husband. We were both secretly hoping for a girl and only admitted to it after we found out. I would be happy either way but this is just amazing. The ultrasound went well even though I got a technician that wasn't very friendly or talkative. It didn't change how happy we both felt. The baby looked so much bigger this time and finally it had more space to move around. I enjoyed this ultrasound so much more. I could see more of her body like the arms (we haven't seen them clearly before) and her profile. She just looked so peaceful and happy in there! It was wonderful. I loved finding out the sex of the baby. It made it so much more real. It made us both bond to the baby in a deeper way. Now we can buy girly stuff and call her "she" and we can focus on picking out baby girl names. Makes it totally so much easier. I know it was the perfect choice for us. There is no way I would be able to wait for another 4months and what would be challenging is thinking I am having a girl only to find out that its a boy or vice versa. I like it better knowing.

I got to sort through 4 boxes of baby boy clothes that we have from Armando's sister. I wanted to pick out what I could use and what I wanted to give her back. There was a lot of stuff that was unisex but also stuff that was typical for a baby boy. I also went and bought 4 girl outfits all in pink. I was getting tired of blue, green, yellow and white. We still have to set up the entire baby's room but that's in May. Right now the baby's room is a guest room and we have Armando's dad visiting from the Philippines for a week. So we'll have to wait. I can't wait though. I have a lot of ideas for her room.

Diet wise I have been staying very high raw for past two weeks. I may have had a soup or baked potatoe on two or three occasions but other than that it is all raw. What interesting happened is getting an extreme aversion to fish. When my husband and I became vegetarians 5 years ago we have kept fish in our diet. We would have it maybe 1 or 2 times a month. We ended up going to this Fish and Seafood restaurant with a friend and I ate a small portion of salmon. I felt so sick afterwards. Not physically but mentally and emotionally. I felt exactly the same as I felt when I knew I had to let go of meat. I felt incredible sadness for the lost life of this animal and eating its dead flesh was too much. I wanted to cry and felt so dirty and kept feeling the energy of the dead fish in my body. Luckily next morning I went to two yoga classes. One with my friend Jennifer and the other with my best friend Shanine. They both helped me to work through my emotions and reactions to the fish. I decided I am ready to let it go and made that fish my last fish ever. Ever since I made that decision something shifted in me and I started to feel right and happy again. I will keep my diet exclusively vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. I understand that fish was the hardest for me to let go. I associated fish with nourishment (Omega 3 essential oils, vitamins, etc.) and it didn't help that it was a huge part of my childhood. We didn't eat a lot of meat when I was growing up but we ate a lot of fish. Fish was considered a healthier and more nutritious choice and something my mom and my relatives used to show us how much they cared. I realize that for different families it is different foods that symbolize love and care. It may be cakes or cookies, a hearty soup or meat and potatoes. It's important to really look at the food for what it is and to strip away the emotional aspect of it.

I have went through so many shifts and changes in this pregnancy. I became so much more intuitive and sensitive to energies and I know its partly because my baby's energy is quite high. It's vibrating very high and makes me think that we are having a Crystal Child (or simply a sensitive child). A few of my most intuitive healer friends have also felt that. Oh it will be so lovely to see what other major changes and shifts this little one will give us :)

Other health related matters are: I feel great for the most part. My only complaint for the past week is that I feel tightness and pulling in my abdomen from my ligaments stretching. At 18 weeks the uterus is at the belly button as the baby is moving higher up. I can definitely feel it. It's not too uncomfortable but a new sensation I haven't felt before. I also have days that I feel totally exhausted but when I do I rest. My skin is clearer than it was up to this point. I think with the raw food diet most major negative side effects just don't happen. I hear girls in my prenatal yoga class tell me all the time that they have hip pain, back pain, heart burn, swollen ankles and feet, nausea, etc. I know that a healthy diet filled with fresh raw vegetables and fruits gives optimum health to the mother and the baby. I think its the best gift you can give to yourself and the baby along with proper amount of exercise.

My weight in:

Week 1-8: 124 pounds
Week 8-12: 124 pounds
Week 12-16: 125 pounds
Week 16-20: 127 pounds

Good bye hot yoga, Hello prenatal.

Yes the time has come to let go of teaching hot yoga. I gave myself till the end of March but had to end two weeks earlier. My baby defintiely started to complain and so did my body. While teaching the baby just kept moving and kicking more than any other time. Afterwards, I didn't feel my usual sense of lightness and increased energy but instead I felt drained. I didn't have to think about this long and hard. It was a natural shift. My body and my baby are not liking the heat anymore it is very clear so its time to let go. I got Shanine to sub my favourite Saturday morning hot class and I know that she will do a great job. I left my students in very good hands. I let go of two more hot classes and I am sure other subs will do great too. So what does this mean? Teaching more prenatal classes. I already have one regular and I am starting two more in April. They will serve my baby much more than any other classes at this point. You get very humbled with your yoga practice when you are pregnant. You have to listen to the body and have to adjust your practice so that it can serve you and the baby in the best possible way. Yet I am loving yoga and feel so great after taking a class. In addition to teaching I am now taking Shannon's prental class once a week. It gives me a chance to be a student and enjoy the practice fully. Shannon is also pregnant so its great to be in a presence of another pregnant prenatal teacher.

So my baby is growing, my tummy is growing and I am changing in some new ways. Like for instance my center of gravity is totally shifted into my belly. I walk differently. I usually have a quick, brisk walk but now I walk more slowly, really being connected to the Earth energy. My baby is higher up now and I feel more pressure or heaviness in the lower abdomen. I can feel it kick and every time I do I smile and send loving energy to the baby.

I feel hungry more often. When I have a smoothie in the morning a bit later I want another one. It's good that I am use to eating more frequently and smaller portions because its easier to adjust to wanting to eat even more often. It's also great that I am a celiac because I have to always stop and think what I can have before I grab something unconsciously. So I am snacking on Lara Bars (raw and organic energy bars), nuts, fruits, veggies and have an occasional bowl of soup and some toasted corn bread. I have no desire for junk food (except occasional popcorn) and no desire for anything cooked. For my entire pregnancy I have been craving papaya and now I am craving fresh fruit from the farmer's market. That I will have to wait for.

I have re-decorated my yoga room and it feels amazing. I just added a beautiful window covering in shimmering purple, glass shelf, meditation pillows, candles, etc. I feel very creative these days and have plans to re-decorate the living room as well. I already know how the baby's room will look. I find it easy as I just feel and listen to what the baby wants. I have been to Ikea twice in one week. In the kid's section I looked at things and then tuned into the baby to see if he or she is guiding me towards something. Well, it doesn't seem to like Ikea. I do, not everything but most stuff I like but the baby doesn't. Sometimes when I am in a random store the baby just guides me to something and I know it resonates with whatever it may be there. This is how I picked up framed art work of Peter Rabbit and one art work of Anne Geddens. I have had these intense attraction to Peter Rabbit and I never even known of it before I got pregnant. I grew up in Europe so as a child I never knew the story. It will be interesting to see if my baby shows a lot of interest in Peter Rabbit.

Day 3 of 100% raw

I had a week of eating 85% raw meaning I ate all raw for the entire day except for one meal. This one meal would be something like rice pasta with tomato sauce, baked potato, baked veggies, beans, and on one occasion I ordered rice with tofu and vegetables. Let me tell you, even though I somewhat enjoyed eating these I didn't feel as great as I wanted to or hoped to. My stomach felt 3 times heavier than how it feels on raw foods, it looked bloated and my energy was way down. I had a feeling of being numb to some of the feelings that I am used to feeling while eating raw. I had a sense of my intuition not being as sharp and my perception not being as clear. So why did I decide to throw in all these cooked meals? Well, I was going through a major cleanse. Some raw foodists call it a detox, others a healing crises. Its when your body releases deeply stored emotions, thoughts and other stuff and this is usually accompanied with physical symptoms. In my case severe headaches and migraines. In others it may be flu like symptoms. The nice thing is when its over you feel so cleansed and almost uplifted to a whole new level of being. You have a clearer understanding on some important issues and you end up making pretty significant life changes. What gets me through a healing crises is writing in my private journal, lots of meditation, contemplation, crying, talking to my best friend, talking to my husband, talking to my dog, and of course getting either a massage, acupuncture or in my case massage combined with Reiki. Why? Because I need to understand things on a spiritual level. Stuff like what's going on with my energy body, chakras, meridians, etc. Only then my cleanse is complete. It is my hope that in the future I can go through it and stay completely raw. Maybe even do a healing fast. I always wanted to do a fast.
Anyway, my cleanse is done and I am back to eating 100% raw. In fact this is my third day and my energy is soaring. I am very connected to every thought and emotion that comes up, I see and think with so much clarity and I have a great sense of confidence in life and in what I do. I connect with my students, with my baby and with my yoga practice on a deeper level. Sometimes I think its good to eat cooked stuff so that you can be reminded of what it is that you are missing. In my case I keep it very vegan and very simple but it still works the same. So happy I am back to 100% raw. Here is my weight in:

Week 1-8: 124 pounds
Week 8-12: 124 pounds
Week 12-16: 125 pounds

My baby at 16 weeks

This is my baby at 16 weeks. Yes its only one. No twins but I am further along than we thought I was. Good news. Means baby will be here sooner than later. I thought I was 3 and 1/2 months but I am 4 months. My new due date is August 23rd. I keep on having a feeling the baby will come before that. My guess is August 20th or 21st.
The ultrasound was a lot of fun. Just seeing the baby move around was cool. It looks so squished in there but so cute and perfect. It was another special moment for me and my husband. We were both smiling and feeling so proud. Its amazing to be pregnant with this little soul. I absolutely love being pregnant. My second trimester is great. I have so much more energy and feel happy all the time. I am on cloud 9 just feeling very feminine and sexy. This is what feminine really feels like. I could do this another two or three times but I haven't been thorough it all yet so perhaps I should wait another year to say that! My husband and I both agreed that hearing the baby's heart beat was more real, special and moving to us. Seeing the baby on the monitor is weird because you are looking outside of you on the screen. When you hear the heart beat you look at the belly and you know that the baby is right there inside.

Prenatal Yoga

Started to teach one prenatal class per week. I have 20 beautiful pregnant ladies in my class. It is my favourite class by far right now. It is so much fun to connect with other mothers and share the love of yoga with them and their babies. Its time totally devoted to feeling your body, emotions, breath, any inner sensations and of course the baby. I place a lot of emphasis on feeling the baby and using visualization to send it love, healing light, peace, and any special messages. I always feel uplifted and connected to my baby. I really feel my baby being happy after prenatal yoga.