Stretch Mark Massage Oils
Look, look! A twin egg again!!
I’ve been using a massage oil for the last month (4 months of pregnancy) to avoid stretch marks on my tummy.
And now I feel itchy on my tummy. Is it because the oils might be not so suitable for my skin? No, that’s not it. Now the skin seems to be really starting to stretch. That’s why. I had a big tummy before due to too much eating occasionally, but not this big. So I have to ask my tummy skin to do its best.
At first I referred to this page (Japanese page). “Use a good oil everyday and don’t skip, even for one day. If you forget, a stretch mark might appear.” Oh, that’s scary… Well, not so much, but I don’t want a lot of them to appear if it’s avoidable. So I got the recommended one in the page (on the right). It was sold in Canada, too. It’s a German product. I noticed Germany has good aroma-related products. This is Stretch Mark Massage Oil from WELEDA. It smells like real aroma essential oil, which I used to smell at really nice aroma therapy salons I visited in Hong Kong. Very comfortable smell.
The one on the left was a gift from our HK friend, S. Thank you very much. It’s miracle oil from a British brand, Boo Boo. The nice refreshing citrus smell makes me feel good too.
If I go and join aroma classes, I could make these nice oils in a way I like, but I don’t know how, so I’ll buy them for now.
To avoid stretch marks, taking a lot of liquid and exercise are as important as the massage oil. To stretch the skin nicely, it needs new cells. To create new cells, we need good nutrition, water, and blood circulation.
My doctor says massage oil is a waste of money, but I don’t think so.
Happy Eggs!
I had eggs yesterday morning and this morning.
Yesterday, I got a twin egg, aka “double yolk”! I think I’ve never cracked a twin egg before. Probably the first time! It means good luck, doesn’t it?
And then this morning, again! It’s rare that I cook eggs 2 days in a row, so it has never happened that I got twins in a row!!!
Super Lucky!?
What kind of lucky things will happen to me!?
And then this morning, my late-rising hubby also made eggs for his breakfast, and it was also a twin! This time I took a picture.
I read young mama hens can lay twin eggs more easily. So these could be from the same mama. But still it’s only 1 or 2 % chance to lay twins.
3 twin eggs in one dozen already. Could be still counting…
Anxiety about how to treat “economic animals” is never ending, and human selfishness makes them suffer so much and they become our food. We still have some choices to treat them better.
One of them is to make hens roam free a bit more out of their cages. If we choose to buy “Free Range” or “Free Run”, demand for that will increase, and encourage farmers to shift to these better conditions.
In fact, in more health conscious countries, people are buying more “Free Range” or “Free Run” eggs. These are a bit more expensive, but when you think of a pregnant woman being caged in her room, compared to a pregnant woman being freely active by going out of the house/getting exercise/getting more sunshine, of course, the latter can produce a much healthier baby. It’s easy to imagine. (I always put myself in the animal’s shoes, and I get a headache very easily.)
In Hong Kong, we saw “Free Run” eggs at the supermarkets, but they are double or triple the cost of cheaper eggs. So we couldn’t buy them all the time. Very expensive.
But in Canada, they are less than double the price. I wonder how it is in Japan.
By the way, I didn’t know the difference between “Free Range” and “Free Run”.
Free-run eggs:
“Free-run” means chickens can move around in open barns, but they don’t necessarily have access to the great outdoors and overcrowding may still be an issue.
Certification: none
Free-range eggs:
“Free-range” means hens see the light of day (depending on the weather) and their feet actually come in contact with the earth.
Certification: none
So, these ones aren’t independently verified!?
When I read the David Suzuki Foundation‘s page, an even better one is “Organic”. To print that on the product, they have to be certified by passing the highest welfare standards. So it’s the best!
Organic:
Hens that produce certified organic eggs benefit from the highest welfare standards. For example, the BC SPCA Certified label assures eggs come from farms that have passed their animal welfare standards. Certified organic labels often require the use of organic feed without growth hormones or antibiotics, too.
Reference: David Suzuki Foundation
Organic eggs… I’ve never seen them at Super Store, I think. Low standard…
To eat healthy food, it costs money… it can’t be helped.
The Creperie
Jan 16
3 of my Japanese girlfriends and I went to The Creperie for lunch.
It was under ground, so it feels dark, but it’s a big restaurant and has a wine-cellar-like nice atmosphere. There were some negative comments on Urbanspoon such as “dusty” or “dwindled”, but I didn’t feel so too much. It was not crowded at all though.
A 3-course (salad, main course, dessert) sounded a good deal. All of us had that.
Nice big selections for salad and main, so it took some time to decide! I decided California Salad, which had nice fruity raspberry vinaigrette dressing on it. There were as much as 3 selections of crepes for vegetarians! Nice! I had a Crepe Ratatouille, which is zucchini,tomato, eggplant,red and green peppers, onion, garlic and herbs, topped with our cheese mix and wrapped with our herb crepe and topped with cheese!
Dessert was also crepe.
We had a really great time eating and chatting.
One week later, I went back there with my hubby.
This time, I had Crepe Florentine, which is creamed spinach with mushrooms sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. He had a seafood crepe.
It would be nice to come for dinner too.
The Creperie (780) 420-6656 Downtown 10220 103 St, Edmonton
Ice on Whyte 2013
Feb 1
First, fill your belly. We had omelette and blueberry pancakes. Yummy!
We went to see “Ice on Whyte”. This competition started in 2003, because some individual artists wanted to exhibit.
We visited this exhibition last year as well.
I forgot how much the entrance fee was last year, but this time it was $5. This year the volume of sculptures seemed less than last year. I wonder if it depends on the year as the artists are busy traveling from one festival to another and the schedules don’t match or something…
For a few days before this day, it was around -25 c. No worry about melting, but it’s too cold to go out. This day the temperature went up and it was around -2 c. The next day’s forecast was around zero, so it must melt quite a lot. Even this day, we saw some sculptures melting or even falling!
This one is called “Chase”, but the deer had fallen and was broken… :
This was the original:
Very beautiful. (I borrowed the image from this official site.)
This day, it was “Dutch Day” at the event, and Dutch artists were carving a famous Dutch person (?). We think it’s the future king??
Second Trimester Pregnancy
Jan 17
My first appointment with an obstetrician. We heard the baby’s heartbeat. Mine was 77, and the baby’s (BB) was 152! So fast!! Some people say if it’s more than 150, it’s a girl.
Tea also contains caffeine, so don’t drink too much. But green tea is OK, the doctor said. Are you sure? I thought green tea also has caffeine. I still drink it sometimes though.
And I was told not to eat sashimi too much as it sometimes contains radiation. He speaks so fast that we didn’t have a chance to ask why. We will ask next time.
Jan 21
First time to join a prenatal yoga
Jan 28
2nd class and it continues…
Jan 28 – 30
The temperature dropped to -25 c. The humidity at home was only 35% and I got a sore throat. My small attempts to make the air wet cannot defeat the dryness.
Even though I have to continue eating when I feel nauseous, I shouldn’t stuff myself at each meal time, I just noticed now (too late). I get full, but then I get nauseous. Not to vomit, I have to keep eating. That’s very hard.
On top of it, coughing, burping and tooth brushing make me feel like gagging as well.
Even a very small burp makes me gag after drinking some liquid. Normally, I don’t even notice small burps even when I’m healthy! But now each time I feel nauseous and realize how many times I’m burping a day. Am I burping a lot because I’m pregnant?
Tooth brushing time is a hell time of the day. When I wrote about it on FB, kind friends gave me some advice. Very nice!
“For a time being, take a rest from brushing, and use an interdental brush, dental floss and mouthwash for anti-bacteria.”
Another friend sent me a link of a doctor saying “brush before the meal”.
Thank you very much.
Feb 1
Blood and urine test, 3rd time
Feb 4
3nd class of prenatal yoga
Feb 10
I’m still gagging but haven’t vomited for the last 2 weeks.
Feb 11
4nd class of prenatal yoga
At the end of Jan, I got a sore throat from the dryness. I try to be super cautious. I remembered about the medical masks that my parents sent me last year and started using them at night to moisten my throat while sleeping.
18th week
On average, it is said the peak of morning sickness is behind me. But it depends on the person and I’m not that average person. Damn!
Feb 12
I got a cold finally. I started coughing hard. We were planning a short trip from the 15th!! Damn!
Feb 14
Seeing my obstetrician for the 2nd time.
I had an appointment, but waiting time today was 3 hours! What do you think?
I know it can’t be helped. The doctor can be very busy with emergency cases. I was told in advance that we patients sometimes have to wait for a long time for that reason. But…. we are pregnant ladies… And in my case, I’m coughing so hard. I should be sipping some rooibos tea at home comfortably… And it’s a Valentines Day… I can only kill time by reading a book or snooze with a strange posture and get a possible neck pain. It’s a bit sad…
The appointment was for 13:15. I was going to have lunch after this, so I went to see the doctor without eating lunch. My hubby came to me at the waiting room saying Happy Valentines Day! and gave me the half of the 12 inch Subway sandwich. Thank you! I was going to eat the last stuff in the fridge as we were leaving for a trip from the next day, but as he bought me that, I ate it. Phew! That was good, as I wasn’t expecting I would see the doc after 4 o’clock. When I got home, it was 5!
My hubby had classes and meetings, so he couldn’t wait around with me because it’s so difficult to know the exact time at this clinic. It can’t be helped.
But the doctor apologized, and after hearing the BB’s heartbeat, my negative emotions disappeared.
Doctor was in a hurry, as I thought. His talking is so fast. As expected.
I asked a question that we couldn’t ask the last time. He told me not to eat much sashimi. And why? That was the question. We had never heard that sashimi contains radiation before. The answer was to kill the bacteria/parasitic insect. I thought they get killed by freezing at some certain temperature, but I guess it depends on the fish or the preserving conditions or the regulations of that country, some radiation would be used… But it’s very difficult to find out which fish, which restaurants, and so on, he says, just don’t eat it too often or too much. By the way, he likes to go to Mikado Japanese restaurant, which we haven’t tried! We gotta try it! ^^
I search on that subject and I found that it’s been reported quite widely in North America that pregnant women shouldn’t eat much sashimi. I didn’t know that! Not only the radiation is worrisome but also pregnant women are more vulnerable to some bacteria called Listeria, which is in sashimi sometimes.
And one more question. I have a good chance that my coughing will become very bad. If I want to have cough syrup, is any bland OK to take? And the answer was NO. Oh, good I asked. “Robitussin” is OK to take, he said.
My weight was now 2 kg more compared to 1 month ago. Because I have to continue eating when I feel nauseous, I thought I gained too much too fast. But 2 kg was normal, he said. Oh, really? Good! Wow, I’ve been eating so much, but it was OK? I guess I really am able to eat for 2, eh?
Feb 15 – 21
Taking a short trip to Calgary and Lake Louise
The day time in Calgary was 12 c degree! So warm!! But at night it was cold with some wind. I forgot and left my medical masks (to moisten my throat while sleeping), and I lacked the ability to prevent dryness to my throat. Then I got a cold. I couldn’t sleep because of my frequent coughing and neither could my hubby. In Lake Louise, my nose started to get runny. Luckily I didn’t get any fever, we still enjoyed activities like snow mountain hiking and cross-country skiing. Somehow during these activities, my cough stopped. Mysterious… It was a great feeling and nice to get some sore muscles from good exercise.
The day before we left Lake Louise, we went to a Japanese restaurant in Banff and I ate a lot of Gari (Japanese sweet ginger pickles). I don’t know if it was why, but from that time, my sickness got dramatically better. I was able to sleep without much coughing. Wow! Ginger power!
The next day, I felt much better and then noticed my morning sickness was also almost gone! Excellent!! Still, coughing makes me gag, but the after-meal sickness got much lighter.
Feb 22
2nd time for the ultra sound. No abnormality. Looks like it’s a girl!?
The BB flipped 180 degree when I went to the washroom and came back! Amazing!
The BB’s weight is 270g right now.
And it’s 20 weeks.
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