Twenty-seven weeks! We've got about three months left until the baby is due, which seems like a long time to wait, but I guess it takes a while to grow a human being from scratch. It's a good thing I'm enjoying being pregnant!

• I've noticed recently that it's harder for me to get comfortable and stay comfortable when I'm sitting down. My back tends to start hurting. It doesn't help that our couch pillows are old and have lost their oomph. I guess it just gives me extra incentive to get up and walk around, rather than sitting on the couch so much. Luckily, I'm still sleeping just fine--yay, Snoogle!

• Feeling the baby kick still entertains us. Every so often, he flails hard enough that we can see and feel a tiny appendage (foot? elbow? Who knows...) protruding a little from my belly. He seems to like having his head nestled on my right side--sometimes I can feel it pushing against my belly. It's nice being reminded that there really is a little person in there.

• I still haven't had any food cravings, as far as I can tell. I have been eating a lot of citrus though--grapefruit and oranges are so tasty! I guess I do have cravings for junk food, since it's not allowed right now, but I think that's a pretty standard response; I don't think it's pregnancy-related.

• We spent most of our hypnobirthing class this week discussing birth preferences and talking about what to expect when we go to the hospital. It's helpful that the teacher is a nurse at the hospital we'll be delivering at, so she has the inside scoop. I had been a little nervous about what the hospital would be like, so this helped demystify it a little.

  This class was also focused on releasing our fears (so that we can be more relaxed during birth). In advance of the class, Patrick and I listed out our baby/birth-related fears and then talked about them with each other. We had a decent amount of overlap. I think it's pretty standard stuff--financial concerns, preserving our relationship with each other after the baby comes, making sure that we have the kind of birth experience that we want. It was good to talk about it. And then in class, we did a fear-release session, where we pictured unpleasant memories from our past and then replaced them with a mental picture of the two of us, smiling and confident and eager to meet our baby. It made me kind of emotional, but in a good way. Even though we do have some fears, they don't occupy my mind most of the time. We are, more often than not, happy and confident and excited about having a baby. Life is good :) It doesn't hurt that the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming outside right now. It's easier to be joyful and eager in the springtime, I think.

In kitty news, I'm happy to report that Patches recovered really quickly from her hospital visit last weekend. Less than a day after returning home, she was back to her normal, hungry self. It's such a relief to have her back. We still don't know what caused her to get so sick, but hopefully it was a one-time occurrence. Poor kitty does have some fur to grow back though; they shaved her belly and front leg at the hospital. I think she's a little embarrassed about the missing fur.

So in addition to the healthy baked goods I just posted about, we've done pretty well eating healthily this week. We've definitely added more meat back into our diet, just because it makes me worry less about whether I'm getting enough protein. I'd like to cut back again once the baby is born though.

1. Kamut, broccoli, and sausage medley (from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way). I cooked the kamut ahead of time, so it didn't take Patrick too long to put this meal together at dinner time. Not a bad meal, though it might benefit from a little more sauciness to pull everything together--maybe mix in some pesto next time?

2. Popcorn-crusted catfish and cornmeal spoonbread (both from Whole Grains) and pickled coleslaw. A very beige meal. The catfish was fine, and the spoonbread tasted good (mmm, butter), but the texture was a little too light and insubstantial for me. I prefer a nice creamy polenta instead. The coleslaw was too vinegary for my tastes, but we learned in class that eating acidic foods might help prevent group B strep, so at least I felt good about eating it.

3. Cannellini bean and sausage gratin. This tasted good but reinforced my ambivalence about Italian sausage (I'm just not wild about the flavor). If I make it again, I'd probably try using a different type of sausage. Or no sausage at all!

4. Our hypnobirthing class this week included a potluck dinner, so we brought Tracy's favorite lentil salad (with a few slivered sun-dried tomatoes and about 10 oz of steamed spinach added for good measure). Always a good choice.

And Patrick baked two loaves of Otis Cafe brown bread, using our newly cultivated sourdough starter. It smelled so good when it was baking, and it tastes good too! Patrick had some problems with his first attempt at starter (it got taken over by leuconostoc bacteria), but his second attempt (using pineapple juice and more frequent stirring, as suggested on the linked page) behaved like it was supposed to. Go little starter!

5. For my lunch this week, I made a batch of chunky lentil soup from Super Natural Cooking, but I added some chicken sausage and sliced mushrooms, and I used cubed sweet potato instead of butternut squash. I was worried that with all my changes, it might turn out badly, but I was pretty happy with the results. It was thick, so I served it over brown rice. I topped it with a little ricotta salata that we had on hand. Not bad!

Okay, that's enough computer time. I'm going to go take a walk and enjoy the beautiful spring weather while it lasts!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to cut out white sugar and white flour as much as possible while I'm pregnant, which has led me to look for recipes for healthy baked goods that taste reasonably good. Here are two recipes that I've been happy with so far.

Healthy Banana-Date Muffins

This is based very heavily on this recipe, but I made enough tweaks that I thought it would be easier to rewrite the recipe here than to list out my changes. These muffins are nice and moist. I like having one with a glass of milk for a morning snack.

1 1/2 cups (240g) whole wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (60g) wheat bran
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup (75g) chopped dates
1/2 cup (70g) coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 cup (60ml) whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup (75g) mild molasses
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line two muffin tins with paper liners (recipe makes 16 muffins total; you can do this in two batches if you only have one muffin tin).

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, wheat bran, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in dates and walnuts to coat with flour mixture. Make a well in the middle of the mixture.

3. Microwave the milk and butter on medium power until the butter is melted. Whisk in the buttermilk, molasses, and vanilla extract.

4. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then slowly pour in the milk mixture, whisking as you do. Whisk in the mashed bananas. Pour this mixture into the well in the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (mine took 18 minutes). Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

Makes 16 muffins

Chewy Apricot-Almond Granola Bars

This recipe is based closely on a recipe from Jane Kinderlehrer's Smart Cookies, which has a whole chapter devoted to cookie recipes for pregnant ladies. I've tried a few other recipes from this chapter, but they turned out kind of weirdly textured. But I like these granola bars. They're very hearty, but they taste good (I mean, a brownie would taste better, but I'll take what I can get right now!). I like them crumbled over cottage cheese or milk, to add a little more protein.

1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp + 1 tsp mild molasses
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tbsp dry milk powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup dried apricots, slivered
2 tbsp raisins

1. Toast the oats, sunflower seeds, and almonds on a cookie sheet in a 350F oven for 7-10 minutes, until dry and crisp.

2. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the egg, molasses, and peanut butter, and heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. [The original recipe has you heat just until combined, but I cooked the mixture a little longer because I was nervous about the raw egg]

3. Stir together the peanut butter mixture, oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and remaining ingredients.

4. Lightly oil an 8-inch square pan (or line with foil), and press the mixture into the pan. Chill for a couple hours until firm, and then cut into squares/bars. [I stored my bars in the fridge after cutting, but I'm not sure if that's strictly necessary.]

Thanks for your kind words about yesterday's post! Patches is back home, and she seems to be feeling like her normal self again. They still don't know what caused her problems yesterday, but she ate some food this morning and has kept it down, so they let her come home around 2pm. Her tummy is all shaved, so she looks a little scraggly, but she seems fine otherwise and is back to meowing for food and asking to go outside (sorry, kitty, not quite yet!). I'm hoping she just ate something bad yesterday, and now it's out of her system.

We're happy to have her back with us :) Also, pet insurance doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore. We'll have to look into that...

Our poor kitty is staying overnight at the pet hospital tonight. When we got home from running errands this afternoon, she had thrown up outside, and then she came in and proceeded to throw up four more times in the span of two hours, which is not normal. So we took her to DoveLewis, since her normal vet was closed for the day.

They took x-rays to see if she had anything unusual in her intestines (string, etc.), but those came out inconclusive. So then they did an ultrasound, which showed no blockages. So at least she doesn't need surgery. But we still don't know what's wrong with her. They're keeping her overnight to try to control the vomiting and keep her from becoming dehydrated. They're also going to run some blood tests to try to figure out what's going on.

Poor kitty :( When we said goodnight, she was all doped up and wrapped in a towel. I cried in front of the vet's assistant, which made me feel kind of silly, since she's just going to spend the night there; not have surgery or anything. I just want her to be back to normal.

(Incidentally, I was really happy with the efficiency and friendliness of everybody at DoveLewis. I think Patches is in good hands)

Twenty-six weeks! Assuming all is going according to plan in there, the baby weighs about 2 pounds, and he can open his eyes. Good job, baby!

Hypnobirthing classes continue to go well. We've been practicing every day. I think it is getting easier for me to go into a relaxed state, though I tend to get a little too relaxed and drift off into sleep if I practice right after lunch. It's easier for me to stay awake when Patrick's reading to me, versus when I'm listening to the relaxation CD. We spent most of our class last night learning about comfort measures (like massage and relaxation cues) that Patrick can use to make labor and birth more comfortable for me. I'm all for that! Patrick liked it because there were very specific examples of small things he can do to keep me relaxed (as opposed to reading me the whole relaxation script). I'm so grateful that he has been open to trying hypnobirthing. I think it will make a big difference to have his full support when I'm in labor (and afterwards, of course!).

We also had our monthly checkup yesterday. Everything looked fine (yay!), though I have an ultrasound scheduled for 32 weeks to see if my placenta is still low. I'm trying not to worry about that, since there's nothing I can do about it. I've got some routine blood tests coming up in two weeks, including the glucose tolerance test. I was hoping I'd have the option of eating jelly beans for it, but it looks like we're going with Glucola. When I mentioned to my doctor how sugar has affected me recently, she said it sounds more like hypoglycemia than gestational diabetes. It'll be interesting to see what the test shows. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to avoid white sugar.

In crafty baby news, I've been putting off doing the more practical craft projects on my list (like sewing blinds for the nursery). Instead, I made baby legwarmers out of my much-loved Sock It To Me knee socks! They all developed holes in the toe area around the same time last month (after a year and a half of wear; not too bad!), and I was glad to be able to turn them into something useful.

I made the first pair (in pink) by following the linked tutorial exactly, and the cuffs seemed a little big for baby ankles. So I turned that pair into mitts for me using the information in Lee's tutorial about cutting a thumb slit and zig-zagging around it. Easy! I was kind of tempted to make the rest of the socks into mitts for me too, but I stuck with the original plan...

For the subsequent pairs of baby legwarmers, I made the cuff circumference a little bit smaller (by half an inch to an inch). For the argyle pair, I went even further and tapered part of the sock body and the cuff, like in this tutorial. So we have a range of legwarmer styles and sizes to choose from. Now we wait until we have a baby who's big enough to wear them! If they don't fit, it's no big loss, since I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of the socks already.

While doing meal planning this week, I tried to incorporate lots of whole grains and protein. First up, we had oven-roasted salmon with tangerine and ginger relish, brown rice, and peas. It was a fine meal, not super exciting.

Next up, we had breakfast for dinner: Swiss chard and ricotta salata egg bake (using overwintered chard from our garden and buttermilk instead of cream) and whole wheat yogurt waffles with blueberries (from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way). The egg dish was tasty, but the ricotta salata made it a bit too salty and rich for me. I had trouble eating a whole serving (so much protein!). The waffles were nice, especially considering that they were made with whole wheat flour and minimal sweeteners.

For my lunches this week, I made a batch of barley, beef, and mushroom soup (also from Whole Grains) and ate it with grilled cheese and salad. I'm not really a fan of beef and barley soup, but this seemed like a good way to make sure I was getting enough protein and iron. Not bad, and the grilled cheese sandwiches made me happy :)