15 November 2017 was a very special day. We finally got to meet our little man. Yes, we had a boy. His name is Matthias...Little Matthias JvR. He is absolutely perfect in every way. So here is some basic information about him.

Matthias was born just after 5pm. He weighed a whole 3.9Kg and was 51cm long. His head circumference was at 36cm and he opened his eyes almost immediately after he was born. I have absolutely no problem breastfeeding him. I will be posting my labour and delivery story in the next couple of weeks (depending on when I have some time).

For now I will leave you with some pictures of the little man.

 Hydration during labor is apparently key. After reading many articles covering the subject and it's importance, I decided not to be caught off guard concerning my hydration levels. They say that labor is pretty much like running a marathon in many ways. First you have to be physically prepared, you have to train your mind and also make sure you have sufficient energy and hydration.Because of this I thought of getting a few electrolyte drinks ready. Electrolytes are great because you don't have to drink as much as you would normally for the same amount of hydration. Most blog posts I found on women keeping hydrated during labor was all about powerade and energade.

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of high corn syrup and artificial flavor and colors in my drinks so I try to avoid those type of drinks in general. That is why I opted for a more natural approach. I decided to get natures very best source of electrolytes; Coconut water.

So far during the end of my pregnancy I struggled a bit with juices and coconut water as it gave me slight heartburn but I finally found a solution to this tiny problem. Just freeze it!

So I set about making my very own electrolyte cubes for labor and delivery with my favorite brand of coconut water at the moment and some cut up berries. The berries just give a tiny bit of flavor and a slight energy punch ( which I'm guessing would be helpful during the birthing process).  In some of them I also added a drop of lemon juice, but that, as well as the fruit, is totally optional.

What are your go-to hydration drinks and methods? Have you tried coconut water during labor? I will let you know how it went after the labor. Although, I can officially say that the cubes taste great, especially since it's summer and the weather has been a bit warm for my liking.

I'm in the final stretch! Actually wonder if I might not be in early labor as I'm sitting here writing this post (probably only wishful thinking but who knows?!) with some looming mid back pain that isn't exactly that bad but it's there, and it's messing with my concentration. I've been experiencing some Braxton Hicks the last few weeks already so any contraction could also only just be one of those. Agghh first time pregnancies are so confusing! I mean, I've done my research and know every possible sign of labor( you might say I'm obsessed) but still find myself wondering about every little thing. Earlier I had a light cramp and for sure went into a total new mom craze just to realize that I was only a bit gassy and the position I was in was not really, how would you say, gas friendly?

Enough about the weird TMI things. I decided to write this post about things I'm doing to prepare myself for labor so that after the birth I can come back to this post and give my honest opinions about it all.

Mental Preparation

There's a lot of fear around the unknown of what happens to our bodies during pregnancy and labor. The more fear that we have, the more we become anxious and the more stress hormones are released, thus making labor, in itself, more painful.For this reason I decided to educate myself as much as I can. I've been watching home birth videos, hospital birth videos and basically anything I could handle. I've done way more antenatal classes than I think is normal and the suggested videos on my YouTube has now become x rated. I'm now expecting a three day labor and the most intense pain ever. I feel that when expecting the worst and accepting it ( aka no fear) you can only be pleasantly surprised if labor is different than expected.

Physical preparation

 

Nutritional Preparation

 I've been drinking one cup of Raspberry Leaf tea every day since week 32 and ever since week 37 I've been drinking it at least 3 times per day. I buy the loose leaves and prefer to let it cool down before I drink it. Ive also added Motherwort herb to my raspberry leaf tea since week 38, but can I just give out a warning that motherwort is probably the most bitter tasting thing I've ever tasted.

Studies have also shown that dates makes your body produce the same hormones you produce when in labor or breastfeeding. It is apparently really good at preparing you for labor. So I've been eating about 6 dates per day since I read the study, which was at about 36 weeks. This is either with my soaked oats in the morning for breakfast, a date-o-raid snack or just munching on them during the day.

 

Spiritual Preparation

Our mind is a very powerful tool in pain management. Through specific mantras and sayings, we can decrease our pain. Here is my favorite 3 labor mantras.


I would love to know what you have done or are doing to prepare for labor.

xx

So I'm finally getting around to posting this recipe, sorry to everyone that was waiting. My excuse is that I'm pregnant and believe that is reason enough. HAHA

A while ago, the hubs and myself decided to start eating more healthy. Please note that we are already considered "extreme health freaks" by most who know us, but with baby on the way there is no such thing as too healthy. We decided to just cut out the majority of our wheat consumption, you know the processed and refined stuff. After quite a few tantrums and some really harsh language coming from our kitchen I realized that gluten free baking is hard, even harder when you are  plant based eaters like we are. Gluten free AP flour sucks, and I did try just about every brand on the market except the Orgran Brand ( I'm still testing out this sucker as soon as I get the chance). My Pancakes, which are a breakfast staple in our house, was just not as light and fluffy as it should be. Instead I was left with dense pancakes that made me wonder if they were under baked. In short, I was about to give up.


Then it happened. We were in the local Dischem picking up some of our kitchen staples when I saw it. There was an enormous bag of rice flour on special. I decided to chuck it into the basket without even thinking twice, because hey, Why not? I got home and put it in the cupboard and that is to moment I completely forgot about it. Now my hubs has the idea this was due to me being a bit afraid of trying rice flour for the first time and although that could very likely have been the reason, I'm sticking to "pregnancy brain" as my excuse.

I finally got around to making us pancakes using my go to recipe, with the normal flour replaced with rice flour and I also needed to add some extra water because rice flour sucks up liquid like a sucker (see what I did there?).  They turned out perfect! If you are trying these out make sure to follow the method

Ingredients:
Dry
1 cup Rice Flour
1 tbsp Sweetener of choice ( I used some fructose)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon ( this is completely optional, I add it because Jacques absolutely LOVES cinnamon.)
1 tsp Ground Flax seed Powder
Wet
1 cup Milk Alternative ( I find soy works best.  You can also use normal dairy milk if you want to. )
1 tbsp White Vinegar
2 tbsp oil of choice ( if using coconut oil, like me, make sure to melt it first)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (also completely optional)

Method:

1. Combine the milk and vinegar in a mug and set aside for at least 5 min.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl, making sure everything is mixed well.
3. Pour your milk and vinegar mixture into your bowl with the dry ingredient, add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until everything is mixed well.
4. Add a tbsp of water at a time and mix well until you get the desired consistency. AKA you can pour it easy enough but not so runny that you have crepe batter.  Depending on the brand of rice flour this can be between 2 and 4 tbsp.
5. Cook about 1/4 cup of batter at a time over medium high heat.  Flip when the bubbles start popping or until the batter has slightly set up a bit.  Cook on the other side until brown and voila! You have a pancake.


I really hope that you enjoy these as much as we do. Please let me know if you have any other cool recipes with rice flour that I can try out.

xx