Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day: Remembering Havoc

On August 10, 2016, I found out that the baby I was carrying no longer had a heart beat. Havoc, the name I gave it for the time being, had barely grown since the first ultrasound. My heart sank.

Havoc at 7 week ultrasound.

Hubs and I had been talking this year that we should start trying for a family. In June, we decided that we would start trying after he returned from his two month business trip. About week after he flew out, I found out that I was pregnant. We were excited (more him), and we were anxious (more me), but we knew that we would be ready when the little one arrived.

I had my first ultrasound in the middle of July. Seeing the little bean on the monitor and hearing its heart beat made me melt. I was beginning to be less anxious and more excited about being pregnant. 

However, the doctor was cautious. She had noted the baby was a little small and some blood that was pooling outside of the placenta and noted that sometimes it was an indicator of a possible miscarriage. To be sure she wanted me to go back in two weeks to follow up. 

A few weeks after the miscarriage, I found out that I had a partial molar pregnancy. This kind of pregnancy happens in roughly 1 of 1500 women and results from fertilization of an egg with two sperm. (Basically, Havoc had an extra set of chromosomes) Since this kind of pregnancy has the (very very low) potential to lead to another disease, Hubs and I will have to wait for about six months before we can try again for a baby. 

I admit that it still hurts. It hurts because we were excited to be Havoc's parents and excited for the life we would have had.

Goals, goals, ....

I have survived September, which was full of multi-day panels that I had to set up and run.

Now that things are less chaotic, I'm going to start working towards my get healthier goals.

• Goal #1: Work out 3-4 times per week. 
• Goal #2: Eat cleaner and track my food and water consumption. 

These two things work for me when it comes to losing weight, but my one problem is consistency and accountability. To help with that on the exercise side, I've signed up to work with a personal trainer at my gym. I'll meet up with him twice a week, and will do "homework" - some other exercise - twice a week.

On the food side, I've signed up to work with a nutrition coach who also works with my sister. She's had good results with her, so why not. I have to do weekly check-ins where I get measurements taken and she tracks my progress. The meal plan she has me on has bigger meals than I've had on previous plans (where I felt like I was so restricted I would get cranky just from thinking about it). The other thing she wants me to do is drink more water... like a gallon a day (128 fluid ounces!). I'm working up to that. 

So what else....

Oh... starting numbers:

• Weight: 148 lbs
• % Body Fat: 24.70
• Which means I have 37 lbs of fat
• 11lbs is essential 
• 21 lbs is reserve 
• 5 lbs is excess <-- the stuff I need to lose!

It's been a while....

In the past few months year or so, I have ...

• been diagnosed with Type II diabetes,
• changed jobs,
• celebrated 5-years of marriage with my husband,
• found out that I was pregnant,
• had a miscarriage, and
• gone on a vacation to Thailand. 

In all reality, that is a lot! The second, third, and last bullet are awesome, but the rest... not so much.

After being considered pre-diabetic for years, I was formally diagnosed with Type II diabetes in December 2015. After realizing that my exercise routine really wasn't one (aspiration not actualization), I decided that I would go to a personal trainer to hold me accountable. So, I signed up at the gym in the same building as my new job... and in the same night I found out that I was pregnant. Well, that put the weight loss and get healthy goals on hold, at least I thought. 

The shortened version of my pregnancy story is that a few weeks later is that I miscarried due to the fact that I had a partial molar pregnancy. While the hubs and I want really want to take the next steps with the family side of our life, that has been put on hold until next spring. 

Now, I can re-start my weight loss and get healthy goal. To put it more tangibly, I want to lose enough weight and body fat to reduce the amount of medication I'm taking to combat the Type II diabetes. 

What can be done about plant diseases?

Infected leaves and fruit (looks burnt!)

After my post up-dating the fact that I actually started the garden and its progress, a friend ask if I was having problems with diseases on my cucumbers and what I was doing to treat it.

Infected squash leaves

While my garden looks nice and lush in the post from two weeks ago, there were a bunch of leaves that had powdery mildew on them. And since that post, there still is a bunch of powdery mildew on my squash and cucumber plants. I really hate the idea of just getting rid of the entire plant all together, so I do my best to treat the disease as best as I can. When I searched and asked about eliminating the fungus, there did not seem to be any fail safe method other than getting disease resistant plants. Powdery mildew is one disease that is a common problem and persists as long as there are hot days and relatively cool nights (humidity doesn't seem to be an issue).

Last year, when I had a problem with blight on my tomatoes, I used a copper based fungicide that is approved for organic gardening (which I try to use whenever possible). However, the copper fungicide is not something that you're really supposed to use when the plants are fruiting (oh and it's not really effective against the powdery mildew I have this year). 

Blight on last years tomatoes (above)

Removed infected leaves and fruit

Neem oil (below)

The local garden center (Merrifield Garden Center) recommended neem oil. It doesn't eradicate the fungus but it seems to kill of some of it and at least slow it down.  You have to make sure your plants are really well watered before you apply it. I was warned several times when buying the bottle that it could burn the plants if they were not well hydrated. And it can only be applied every 5-7 days, so diligent treatment is a must.

Other things that I have done, removed yellowed/dying leaves and fruits. This seems to help, especially since gray/brown leaves will probably be covered in spores, which only spreads the fungus. A bunch of the websites sites that I read suggested that the more air movement there is among the plants is also helpful in preventing fungal spread. After removing the leaves, they should go directly in the trash and not be composted.

There are a few methods that I haven't tried yet. One is sulfur dust or spray, the biggest earning is (again) burning the plants. I didn't seem to be able to locate any at the Home Deport or the garden centers, so I might have to order it on Amazon. The other method that Growing a Greener World and Growing Real Food have mentioned is spraying the plants with diluted milk. It sounds very interesting and would be a bit more economical than ordering sulfur dust, so I will probably try that method next.

Regardless of the diseases the plants have, I've been able to harvest cucumbers and squash.

The long over-due garden post

I'll admit that I have been terrible about blogging this year. And since this had mostly been a garden blog I feel that I have dropped the ball on up-dates especially since my garden looks like this...

June 29

Compared to last year, I would say that the garden looks a lot neater with the raised beds and mulching around them. The mounds worked great and produced a lot of veggies. But, I lost some soil (erosion) and the mounds lost shape by fall.

May 18th

I started with three beds, one from last fall that I added after clearing the corn and green bean plants and two that I purchased this year. The beds are Greenes Fence 4'x8' cedar beds that I got from Home Depot. They were super easy to put build and install. I definitely recommend them for anyone who wants raised beds but doesn't want to put in too much though into how to build them.

June 16

This year, I planted tomatoes (Roma, yellow slicing, red cherry and yellow cherry tomatoes), basil, Thai hot peppers, spaghetti squash,  zucchini, cucumber, green beans, peas, butternut squash, radish, parsley, green onion, spinach, lettuce, and cilantro. It's a lot. No lie. But, I'm excited about the possibilities.

My garden, the best analogy to my life at the moment

Ok, it's been about two months since my last post. Life has been all sorts of crazy for me (which from some points of view is my normal speed). Mid-August I started another semester of graduate school, this time taking two classes instead of one, and I also started to teach another class at my school. Unlike the curriculum for the freshman, this one I or seniors and is a bit underdeveloped. My job is definitely harder this year than last year. In addition, I started volunteering for a political campaign. Technically, I am supposed to be an intern; however, I'm more like a canvassing pro. And on top of all that, I was also training (or trying to train) for Ragnar DC. So if being a teacher and student at the same time was not hard enough, I am also a long distance runner and volunteer. With so much  going on, I am surprised sometimes at the fact I can get some (but nowhere near all) things done.

One thing that has fallen to the way side was my vegetable garden. And though it looked quite haggard, it was productive! My messy little garden was very productive. Especially those tomato plants.

I hope that I am at least as productive as my garden, but my productivity and my garden's productivity are not really all that comparable. All i know is I've been crazy busy with life. And my garden has been going crazy producing tomatoes (I'm thinking some time to make a marinara sauce is in order).

P.S. Since I just finished running Ragnar this past weekend, that is one thing off the list. (I will post more about my post-Ragnar running plans later this week)

Being "skinny-fat"

I’m sure that we have all heard the statistics that morethan a third of adults in the US are obese, and this has caused a rise in obesity related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. In April, I weighed around 142 lbs. and had a BMI of 24.7, which classified me as “Normal Weight”. I knew that I wasn’t at an ideal weight for my height but I wasn’t overweight. However, a check of my blood cholesterol and sugar numbers had a different story. They revealed that I was “skinny-fat”. My numbers for cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, and HbA1C (a protein that is associated with insulin production) were high enough to classify me as pre-diabetic. The scariest number was the HbA1C number, which was 6.4%. Another tenth of a percent and I would be classified as Type 2 diabetic. Oh the joys of being “skinny-fat”.

The first time I heard about “skinny-fat” was in a 2011article in Women’s Health. The medical expert interviewed for the article, Dr. Jimmy Bell, also called this condition TOFI – Thin Outside Fat Inside. People who are “skinny-fat” or TOFI are not overweight but still have Type 2 diabetes. I recently re-read the article and saw some warning signs that contributed to my “skinny-fat” condition.  

1.    Stress – This is a big one for me. Six plus years of graduate school where I spent 10+ hours/day doing experiments, working on grants/presentation/papers, and teaching kept me busy; but I also know that I was plenty stressed from it all.

2.    Not regularly exercising – during grad school and even for a few years after, this was one of my problems. When I did make it to the gym, I would be consistent for a couple of months and then not go for a couple of months. I’ve improved on that some. I just need to make sure that when school does start up again and I’m back at work that I keep it up.

3.    Genetic pre-disposition – I’m not 100% sure who in my family had Type 2 diabetes, but I do remember that a couple great aunties or great grandparents had it. Plus, it turns out that certain ethnicities are pre-disposed to diabetes – Asians being one of them.

One factor that I have avoided was yo-yo dieting. Getting to the low 140s in the past 10+ years since high school was a slow process up. I know that getting back down to a more manageable weight needs to be done in a way that would end up being sustainable.

…

While I can end on the note of the previous paragraph, I do have some positive up-dates. My most recent blood work did reveal some improvements. My aim at loosing weight has been not as big as I had hoped, about 4-5 lbs since April. However, I am working out more than before and have gone back on Weight Watchers. The numbers are getting better too! Previously, my blood sugar levels were at 123 mg/dL. If they were 2+ mg/dL higher, that would have been one indicator for diabetes. The most recent number is 100 mg/dL! Ideally, I would have it below 100 mg/dL. But, I’m making positive progress J. Also, my HbA1C value that was 6.4 before is now down to 5.8. Diet changes and medication have helped here. I gotta keep it up! I’m making great strides, but more can be done.