This is What a Pregnant Farmer Looks Like!

What! What! Shout out to G and everything, Glenside or my hubby, depending on how you want to read it.

The Pregnant Waitress

My friend sent me the link to this blog, "The Pregnant Waitress." The blogger is cool, her logo is really awesome. If anyone wants to make me a similar progressively pregnant farmer logo, I would love it! Her labor story is funny too, or at least how her water broke. =)

And she isn't a stranger to farming either. Here's a link to one of her farming posts www.thepregnantwaitress.com/?p=416. She has another post called "The Pregnant Farmer," when she goes to volunteer at her old farm when she's 7(?) months pregnant. A girl after my own heart.

I can't believe the due date countdown is already less than 100 days. Crazyness. By the way, according to our online sources, the babe is 14.5 inches and just over 2 lbs, and it can now open and close it's eyes. The lids were fused shut up till now.

Butterflies!

The week keeps getting better. My mood is much improved. The humidity today was still hard to handle, but it's fun when we can all commiserate together and laugh about how much Adam and I sweat.

I've been realizing how alive the farm is lately! There have been so many gold finches, and I think literally hundreds of swallowtails, as well as other butterflies, moths, and bumblebees, honeybees, etc. If you sit still and just listen, you can hear their vibrating buzzing all around you. And the flowers that they're perched on are looking so gorgeous! We took it all in today, taking photos and just wandering the garden. Hopefully I'll pick some nice bouquets tomorrow too.

These are the things that sometimes we're too busy to pay attention to, but they're so significant. Diversity on the farm is so important to us. We try to have a bunch of flowering plants at all times, in order to attract all these different types of pollinators. A diversity of species matters so much ecologically, not to mention how much we appreciate their service pollinating our vegetable plants. I was definintely diggin' the farm today, no pun intended.

I came home with a lovely looking eggplant and made delicious eggplant parm with homegrown sauce and tomatoes. That sandwich just hit the spot. And now, for dessert. Impulse buy at the store: double chocolate chip cream cake. Served with a nice tall glass of milk. Oh no! At least I'm getting some calcium in!

Tykio

Better day today than yesterday. Still funkified though, and still working on cultivating joy (in addition to all the veggies). And trying to see this pregnancy as the honor it is. It's hard to keep that in perspective sometimes, when there are so many ailments tied to it as well.

I was reading about how negativity and stress/anxiety can affect the baby's brain development and have repercussions down the line. The brain starts getting signals (via negative emotions) like "It's a dangerous world out there," and then evolves accordingly. A brain wired for stress is supposedly reactive, impulsive, and short on attention. Dunno, perhaps it's all hogwash. But I think the best thing for the baby is to stay as calm, and content as possible. The Japanese have the phrase "Tykio," meaning "think pleasant thoughts."

I'm making my nice home-cooked meal tonight since it didn't pan out last night. Roasted shoulder of lamb from a local farmer that raises the lamb on pasture, and humanely. And balsalmic honey-glazed carrots from the farm, with some couscous on the side. Dessert? Either ice cream, or more local fruit with yogurt and honey. Hoping to enjoy dinner and some baby kickin' time with G when he gets home. Now, when the baby kicks, not only can we both feel it, we can see my stomach pulse out too! Pretty wild.

Mondays... blegh!

The weekend in NY was great, really nice to see old friends. It was ridiculously hot though... we just went from one air conditioned place to another: restaurant to movie theatre to bookstore to beer garden to restaurant, etc.

Then it was back to the grind. Mondays have always been hard for me... the start of the work week. I'm still tired, feel like I haven't rested enough over the weekend, thinking about all the work that lies ahead. It's getting especially more challenging as my pregnancy woes reach a fever-pitch. Fatigue, back/sciatic pain, shortness of breath, heartburn, what-have-you. I don't always want to be moaning about being a pregnant farmer, b/c it's also amazing and I'm really proud. But it's tough. Especially on Mondays. =)

We did get a lot done today, even though I felt like I was moving slow. And we had much nicer weather than we've had in a while. Gotta be grateful for that. But I was still in a funk. And by the end of the day, I was trying to just enjoy the U-Pick garden and get some things for a nice home-cooked dinner, when I got sandwiched between some sunflowers and some cherry tomatoes and I got stung by a bumblebee!

As if that wasn't enough, I got ready to go, and realized my purse and keys had been accidentally locked in the office. I had no way to get in the office and no way to start my car to head home. I just wanted to go home! I had to wait for Gerard to come with a key, and dinner plans were subsquently foiled as I lost too much time and did not have the energy to start dinner after all that. Gerard's plans for Dragon Boat practice were also foiled. We are eating pizza and fries (sorry baby) as I write and going to watch TV. Sorry Ger, and thanks!

I can't believe how much worse the day got as it went on! But the thing with these funks is, the negativity breeds more negativity. I know this; but sometimes it's hard for me to get out of it. I feel like on some level, I willed the bee sting and the car lockout with my bad attitude. C'est la vie. I'm hoping to fall asleep tonight, sleep well and wake up with a new attitude. Wish me luck.

Bright Lights Big City

Lil' pregnant farmer's going to the Big Apple! Gerard and I are going to NY for weekend to see some friends of mine from college and high school. Should be fun, nice to get away, but it's gonna be another hot one! Yikes! Lots of cool drinks and air conditioning I hope.

The week ended with a bang: planting broccoli, huge harvest, tractor work, lots and lots of heat and humidity. The whole crew's pretty dead. Hoping for a cooler week next week. Until then, sionara suckers!

Physical and Mental Health Day

I couldn't sleep more than a few hours last night so when my alarm went off at 5:30 and I felt like hell I decided to call and let everyone know I'd be coming in late. This is not my style; I feel bad, it feels wierd. But this is what pregnant farmers have to do! (Or even just ordinary people who want to take care of themselves).

Anywho, I went in later, had a pretty low impact day, though I was able to get completely drenched in sweat as we had another 90+, humid day. And apparently they're calling for more heavy rain (which probably won't cool anything down b/c that's the new norm). This isn't what Aby and I need or want at the farm. Ah well.

Then I left a little early becuase I had scheduled an urgent chiropractic appointment to try to deal with my sciatica. The doc specializes in perinatal chiropractic work. I haven't had chiropracty in a while, but it went really well. We talked a lot about posture changes I might try to make, as well as just simply slowing down and being mindful of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. Basically he just reiterated that my body is kind of falling apart a little due to the increase in relaxin in my body. Certain muscles can't do what they used to and other muscles/ligaments are trying to compensate, resulting in tension and overstretching. I feel a lot better than before I went in, and will set up more appointments as needed/the budget will allow.

After that I quickly stopped by the grocery store to pick up some odds and ends. Impulse buys while there: baked organic cheese puffs, natural grapefruit soda, and Armenian string cheese (the most delicious stuff on earth!). YUM!

Home for a quick shower and then back out for a hair appointment. My hair feels liberated and smells like the salon's delicious Moroccon musky shampoo... what an amazing turn-around in my day.

I feel grounded and at peace. Wishing the same for all of you. Be well.