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.

Success from the garden :-)

Tomato and Pepper Plants

Squash, beans, and corn plants

My first try at gardening has been going pretty well. The plants are full and lush and going pretty strong, in spite of the small battles with early blight, slugs, and other pests. I've been getting a decent little harvest - especially from my tomato plants.

Tomatoes, beens, and zucchini squash

Some of the tomatoes are half the size of my niece's head! And there's more to come.

While I haven't seen too many ears of corn on my plants, there are a couple almost ready to pick. Also, I have a bunch of plum tomatoes and heirlooms that just need to ripen. I'm going to have to get a bit creative with tomatoes. I've already used a few in a grilled chicken bruschetta and will be using some in a tomato tart. A fresh tomato salsa might have to be on the list too. I'll try to have the camera out to snap a few photos of my tomato creations.

Plum tomato plants surrounded by wild flowers.

The experimental garden in front of my sidewalk, where the azaleas used to be, has been successful for the plum tomatoes. There are a few green bean plants that have produced a handful of green beans. However, the squash has not done very well. I think it's because they are shaded and squash plants are fiends for sunlight.  Oh well. 

With the success of the garden, I'm already thinking of what I can do for a fall garden. Looking around the web, I think I'll soon start some beds with more green beans, carrots, lettuce, and maybe some kale.

Green beans

The other day, Aaron commented on my garden and we both noticed that some of the green beans were ready to be picked. I got a nice harvest, a few ounces away from a pound! Now the question is what to do with them. I'm thinking of using some for an herbed goat cheese and beets salad that I saw on Food Network the other day. Should be yummy! I'm thinking of bringing it over to my friend Becca, who just had surgery on her foot. 

In other garden news, I figured out what was the cause of the zucchini fruit to go bad - blossom end rot. A few gardening websites suggest using a diluted Epsom salt solution. I hope it works. 

Also, the tomatoes are looking better after I sprayed them with a copper based fungicide. There isn't as much yellowing and they're looking green again. However, there seems to be something that is eating one of the plants and the not-yet-ripe fruits. Puck identified deer the other night, and I think they might be the culprit. I'm going to see if I can find an organic repellant spray to put on the tomatoes and the rest of the plants. It could also be slugs, and one of the better traps for those is a beer trap. I have to get some cheap beer to set out. Then it will be only a matter of time before the slugs go to the "free beer"

Progress and set backs

Tomatoes and peppers, early last week. 

 

Early last week, I was able to get out to the garden and take a couple photos on its progress. This was after I had realized that I had neglected my garden for a couple of weeks and had let weeds grow all over the walk ways and sides of the beds. I had also found a few slugs (possible suspects for the near death of one of my bean plants and numerous squash flowers) that were also removed from the garden. But after all the unwanted vegetation was removed I was able to see that there had been some progress in veggie production

Here are a few specimens from the garden.

Beans coming soon!

Romas - starting to come in. 

First successful bell pepper

First tomato!

Zucchini... no looking so good

But, not all has been a success. I've already had to prematurely remove two peppers and a couple of zucchinis because they were infected with something. There were soft spots on them and I removed them in hopes that the infection would not spread. 

Erly blight on tomato plant *sad face*

Tomatoes as of this morning

It has also been raining here plenty, which is both a blessing and a curse. I haven't had to spend time in the morning making sure that my plants have had a healthy dose of agua before the heat of the day; however, high humidity and heat make for ideal conditions for fungal growth. And lo and behold... the blight has already beseiged my indeterminate tomato plants! I've gone through and picked off infected leaves and sprayed with a copper based fungicide. Only time will tell if I get more than one tomato from all four plants. I've seen some signs of it on my Romas, but I'm hoping that early enough treatment will help stem the spread. Since this is my first time growing tomatoes, I'll admit that I had not thoroughly read into growing tomatoes beyond planing them pretty deep into the ground to provide a strong root system for the plants. Had I continued to do more reading on how to tend to them as they grew, I might have done a different staking system and monitored them more carefully. (This video has some great suggestions http://youtu.be/pZWRfLGqH1M, which I will try to implement next year). 

Squash, benas, and corn

Butternut squash!

In regards to the rest of the plants, they seem to be doing alright. But, I think I burned a few beans with too much fertilizer. I was using a fertilizer that was supposed to be added with water but ran out of that when got to the beans and used a different one. I don't think I applied it correctly because some of the leaves have yellowed. However, where the little white buds first appeared last week have small beans on them. I'm hoping that they'll be ready to pick in a few days. 

The male flowers on the corn are up, and earlier I saw set of female flowers on my corn. So, there will be at least one ear of corn (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more) 

Also, I have noticed that I have winter squash already growing nicely! 

On another note, the hubs found a little snake in our yard. The little thing was about eight-inches in length and hiding in the mulch near the mail box. He moved it on to the side walk so I could get a better shot of it. We let it go afterwards because we didn't think it would be a threat to Puck. 

S-s-seee you later!!

Babies and children everywhere, but I still don't want one (yet)

No lie, it's hard not to think of babies in my family right now. My sister just had her first little nugget a couple of weeks ago and my sister-in-law had her second little nugget two weeks prior. In the past month, two good friends announced they're pregnant. Also, given that the hubs and I spent time with family this weekend to welcome my nephew, the questions related to when I'm going to have my own little ones have come up. These also prompt me to remember past comments like "you would want to have kids soon, while you will have energy to enjoy them" and "you know, you said that about a year after you were married you would start trying to agave kids." This latter comment, I don't remember saying. 

Some times the "pressure" to start trying to have children gets annoying. I realize my parents and in-laws really want to have little grand babies around that they could spoil (since a grand puppy doesn't seem to fit the bill). My mom used to remind me that by the time she was my age she already had my siblings and me. Sometimes the "pressure" is internal; I am in my early 30's, and I don't want to be too old when I have my own. However, I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm still in flux. Between the current job and trying to prepare myself for a career transition, I doubt trying to bring a child into the craziness that is my life now would be a wise choice. But there have been plenty of people who have also been apted to remind me that as you get older it would harder to have the children. 

With all of this in mind, I could not have been any happier to have just finished Jean Twenge's article "How long can you wait to have a baby." (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-long-can-you-wait-to-have-a-baby/309374/?single_page=true) The things I got out of her article were 1) the information behind the "it gets harder to have a baby as you get older" is based on pre-20th century data and while it is true, it's not as severe as society would have you believe, and 2) when it comes to actually trying to conceive, the traditional family planning method will be the way to go since statistically there is no difference between women in their 20's and women in their 30's. Her biggest piece of advice is to "plan to have your last child by the time you turn 40". That is advice I would have no trouble listening to. 

There is no doubt that I want children, probably 2-3, but I know I'm not ready for them. I may be in my (early) 30's, but I'm still selfish. Perhaps I'll be ready in a couple of years, when my life is not in as much flux as it is now. Until then, my furry baby is all the child I need. 

     Puck, my furry baby, patiently waiting for a ball

Macro view of the garden

Tomato flower

Late in 2012, Aaron wanted to up-grade our camera equipment to the fancier  professional versions of the entry level DSLRs that we had. With the camera change, a change in the lenses also was in order. One lens that I have been eying for a while was a macro lens - which if you are a Nikon shooter, it's brand of macro lenes are labelled "micro." My wonderful husband spoiled me with getting one of these lenes. However, due to teaching, taking graduate school-level classes, races, and gardening, I haven't really had a chance to play with the new toy camera, much less with the fun our new lenses. That is until last night. With no grading or any other pressing paper work hanging over my head, I thought it was just as good as any to take a few shots. Since I've been blogging about the garden, I figured the plants would be the perfect test subjects. 

Young tomato

The tomato plants were among the first subjects. Not only did I get some shots of the flowers, it allowed me to be able to carefully inspect the plants for signs of fruits. The past few days weeks had me annoyed with the lack of tomato fruits. There had been plenty of flowers but not fruits. I thought that there could be a lack of pollinators, though I'm not outside very much to verify. I thought this was equally annoying since I had assumed that tomatoes were not picky when it comes to fruiting (I think I need to do more research about this). While shooting a flower on one of my store bought plants, I noticed a tiny little fruit!! I'm hoping that there will be a few more fruits that will begin to show up, and that I do not have to "replace" the pollinators in my yard.

Zucchini bud

This past weekend, I saw bright yellow flowers from my squash plants. I hope that I'll see it a bit more opened up to take some cool shots of it as well.

The corn, which were started from seed, have been growing nicely. One fun thing about the corn plants is the swirl pattern in the middle of their stocks where the new corn growth emerges. It looks like a green vortex.

Looking into the corn stalk

The couple of pictures below are from one of the hostas across the drive way from the vegetable garden. I thought it would be fun to play with Lightroom and see what effects I can apply to the photo, although I had not installed the program on to my computer until last night. Quick note, most of the pictures in this post were cropped and had the exposure adjusted on them to make sure they were not too dark. After playing with the tone, saturation, and vibrance of the photo (and cropping too) the shot on the right is what came out. Not too shabby (imho).

With school out and my main objectives being working on the garden, finishing my course work towards my teaching license, and working out a lot, I'm hoping that I'll have more time to pay around with the camera.  

Mission Creep... Garden Style

Garden at the beginning of May

Garden with all three beds as of last week

My goal for 2013 was to have a few garden beds in the part my yard between the driveway and my neighbor's property. The plan for the garden this year was to have three beds with corn, green beans, squash, and herbs. By the beginning of May, I had one bed with a handful of plants - mostly tomatos and pepper plants. I thought I was making good progress, but  another two weeks passed by before I was able to complete the latter two beds. Unlike the first bed that contains store bought plants, the second and third beds contain plants that were started from seed. The second bed contains squash plants that were started a few weeks earlier and some green beans from seed. The third bed contains corn and green beans. My parents have already threatened to steal corn and green beans from my garden. (Grrr...) In the first bed, I added some more tomato plants and a couple of basil plants. So the initial garden plan has been completed and I just have to tend the garden as the plants grow.

Starting seeds, part 2

I will not lie that the size of my garden has expanded beyond my initial plan. Part of this was due to the sad fact that the first set of seeds I started in late March/early April were no good to plant out because they had received too much light. The epicotyls of each of the seedlings were much too long and did not look healthy. This is part of the reason why I had bought plants for the first bed. That and I was impatient in having a fuller plant in the garden/  A few weeks before building the two latter beds, I had started some plants to plant in those beds. The result of the second try were a good number of seedlings; more seedlings that I had space to plant out, which left me with the problem of what to do with the extra seedlings.


The other reason why my garden plan expanded was the unplanned removal of the azalea bushes (wall) in front of our house. When we moved into the house I thought that they looked pretty, but after the blooms finished I didn't really like the way they looked. Also, the bushes were overgrown and I didn't want to work that much on them to trim them back and train them. So after talking with a coworker who offered to take them off my hands, the azaleas were gone. That left all of the bare spots in our yard to figure out what we were going to do.

Front walk way before and after

Beets, radishes, lettuce, and herb

Since I had extra seedlings, I figured, why not plant them in the front of the house. As Aaron would remind me, this decision was a classic case of mission creep. And the mission creep did not end there as I had also started a bunch of container gardens full of veggies and herbs too.

I'm really hoping to get some tasty produce out of my suburban experiment.