Tag Archives: midwife

Dukan Recipe – Citrus Pork & Onions

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Well, I find myself with another 1/2 day of work… this is because I worked all day yesterday because of a birth and they owe me 😀

Anyhoo, found myself at home deciding lunch should be more fun than 2 tea eggs and some ham slices, so this is what I whipped together. I’m eating it while I type and it is yummy!!

Citrus Pork & Onions

4 oz. of lean pork, cubed
1/2 large red onion, cut in big chunks
1 TBS olive oil
1 lime
1 tsp garlic powder (I have a grinder… see pic)
1 tsp Trader Joes Lemon Pepper seasoning
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard

Prep: Put garlic powder and lemon pepper seasoning in a small dish, by doing this you don’t get too much moisture on your grinders and end up with grinders that don’t work… a lot less frustrating! Also, roll your lime before you cut it between your palm and the counter top… you will get more juice!

Put olive oil in pan or wok and heat to medium/high. Place pork cubes in and place lid on for 2 minutes. Sprinkle half of the seasonings on the meat and replace lid for 1 minute.
Place your onion chunks in with the meat and add the rest of the seasonings.
Squeeze the juice of the lime onto the meat and onions and give it a stir.
Throw on the mustard, give it a stir, replace lid for 2 minutes.
Plate up!
Oh my is it good… the sauce at the bottom of the bowl is yummy!
Enjoy!

My Ingredients:

Yum!

Nutrition Facts… I put this recipe in at FatSecret.com and this it what it came up with:
Calories – 321 Protein – 27.05g Fat – 16.37g Carbs – 16.68g (3.2 dietary fiber)

Enjoy!

Dukan – Days 211 & 212 – Whooshing

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Well, I had a blog break yesterday due to a momma calling in labor while I was typing out the morning blog 😀

Saturday was a PP day on purpose
Sunday was a PP day because I was at the hospital until 9 p.m.

Two whooshes have me elated, yet worried… LOLl
Saturday:
Daily weight loss: 1.3 lbs/0.60 kg
Total weight loss: 78.1 lb/35.51 kg
then Sunday:
Daily weight loss: 1.3 lb/0.60 kg
Total weight loss: 79.4 lb/36.11 kg

Saturday food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee
Only worked 1/2 a day so had a yummy lunch: I stir fried 2 tea eggs, 1/4 onion, 5 garlic cloves and 3 slices of bacon with some Italian seasoning… life doesn’t get better than that (I trimmed most of the fat from the bacon, and only allow myself bacon 2x a month… it’s my favorite food GROUP).
Dinner: Chicken breast stir fried with onions and garlic stems
Snack: 2 egg omelet with 2 TBS bran and diced onions

Water: 3 liters
Exercise:
Walk to work 1 mile/1.5 kms
Walk home from work 1 mile/1.5 kms
Walk to 35mm for 2 cafe latte’s with skim milk: 1.61 miles/2.6 km
Walk home from cafe the scenic route along canal: 2.6 miles/4.18 km
C25K run: 2.14 miles/3.44 km
**I think I got my exercise in on Saturday 😀

Sunday food:
Breakfast: 3 oz of steak and 2 eggs (I ate instead of blogging, once the patient called!)
Lunch: 2 tea eggs
Very late dinner: Chicken leg and 2 tea eggs (patient’s hubby got for me)… Spicy!
Snack at 11 p.m.: 2% Greek yogurt… My food order came from Shanghai and they didn’t have fat free in stock, so sent 2%… in all actuality, the 2% has less carbs than the fat free… I’ll sacrifice!

Water: 1.5 liters
Exercise:
Walk to work: 1 mile/1.5 kms
Supporting a woman in labor for 10 hours (walking her, massaging her, supporting her… it’s work!)
Ran with 2 year old in arms about 50 yards to hail taxi at 9 p.m., with my backpack and his overnight bag on my back!!! I’d say this was more exercise than running a 5K … lol

Lovely baby girl born at 535 p.m., all happy and well and then Soren’s mommy came in with some tummy trouble and I took him home with me for a few hours so she could be treated and I could have fun! We played games on the iPad and read… as stated before, he’s a pretty cool 2 year old to hang with!
Here he is playing Animal Safari, you can see Bert and Barbie the bunny snuggling behind him…

So… that was my 2 days… going in an hour late this morning since I worked all day and then some on my day off and I have a bit of a headache 😦 The weather is getting better, for the most part… it is raining out there this morning, but in the last 7 days we’ve had 4 sunshiny days, and that makes me a wee bit happier!

Ciao!

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
~ Maria Robinson

Dukan – Day 195 – Cruisin’ Along

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Today was a PV day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 73.3 lbs/33.31 kgs

Just cruising along here. Little tiny bits at a time. When I’m out running I imagine it all flying off of me and getting fitter and healthier.

It’s been a rough week, but I’ve hung in there. Usually when I hit a rough patch I eat things that aren’t good for me. That was the old Sandi… the pre-August 20th Sandi… I am so proud that I haven’t back slid into the bottomless pit of feeding my rough patches. To be honest, it feels good not to do it!

Overheard, by me, while running last night… “You’ve got this girl”… “Woo Hoo, that’s 5 minutes!”… “You WILL be fit and healthy”… “Yes, Yes, Yes… I think this is the last patch of run for the night”… “oh wait, nope… this one is… ugh”… “Put on your big girl panties and get on with it”… and finally, “Yes… I DID IT!” When the C25K lady tells me “1 minute to go” I rejoice and last night shed a few tears, during the cool down… last night I was pounding it out in the pouring rain in my waterproof jacket and a crocheted hat that Sandy O’Connor Huntley made me and loved that I was soaking wet. Running in the rain is cathartic… as I passed the gym in my complex for the 3rd time and the people were in the heated room on treadmills I thought, “girl, they ain’t got nothin’ on you”… LOL A bit cheeky I am these days.
So awesome workout… I preceded my run last night with a 20 minute yoga routine on the wii and 20 minutes of balance exercise, then a kick ass game of wii bowling… I scored a 172 🙂

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs (what else would I have??)
Lunch: 3 ham slices and a tea egg
Dinner: Pollo Saltado… damn was THAT good… I’ll do a recipe blog while on the train tomorrow night… don’t ask… part of my rough week b.s.
Snack: Didn’t get my yogurt in… it was too late when I realized it and I wasn’t hungry
Water: 2.6 liters… woot!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Put on your big girl panties” ~ First heard by me years ago by my midwife friend Deb Wage of Nashville.

You May Be the World

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We often forget this in our lives. As a midwife in the States, I was on call 24/7/365, as you are when you are an independent midwife. One of the benefits to moving to Abu Dhabi was shift work. I worked 14 12-hour days a month. Bliss.

I am now in an administrative position at a hospital in China. However, I have a handful of patients and this quote popped out at me today because of a sticky situation I’m in. Two of my amazing women are due March 8 & March 12th and I HAVE TO DO A BORDER RUN… no later than March 10th! And you might say, “well priority says you do your border run”… but this isn’t what is best for my two ladies that are depending on me being at their birth, protecting them from an 80% c/section rate, and providing them with the compassion they’ve come to appreciate. And I, of course, want to be there for them.

Needless to say, we’re going to see if I can get an extension on my visa tomorrow, that will give me a month more to have to worry about it, which would be IDEAL… putting that out to the universe 😀

So, this is a reminder that we may just think we’re “someone” in this world, but we may mean the world to someone else!

Dukan – Day 121

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Monday was a PP day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.0 lb & kg
Total Weight Loss: 53.7 lb/24.41 kg

So no change on the scale which is fine by me… staying the same is better than gain! Back to work today and don’t feel like I had a weekend off. Because of a schedule change I  had 1/2 day Friday, worked Saturday and off on Sunday… but I had running around to do, so after the massage I was off to the mall and didn’t get back until nearly 6 p.m…. then my next day off is Friday!!! Anywho… it was a nice day at work. Got 3 policies written and edited and sent off to Kitty for translation, so I feel accomplished 😀

Breakfast: You got it… 2 tea eggs
Lunch: Beef slices with cilantro and garlic stems and a bowl of CHICKEN SOUP… oh my gosh was it yummy and oily… LOL I left the carrots and ate the rest. The broth was so good!

Chicken Soup from the halal restaurant

Dinner: Stir fried sirloin with onions and garlic stems and I threw in 1/8 cup of low-fat mozzarella… it was kind of like having a philly cheese steak w/o the bread!
Snack: FF Greek Yogurt with Splenda and bran

All in all a good day. A couple things in there that may have influenced my lack of scale movement, but I’m not worried. I drank 1.5 liters of water and walked to and from work (a mile each way). The best part of the day was getting a picture from Danee Daniels with her and my niece Charity in it… I have no idea where they were or what they were doing, but they were together (with Dana, as well) and those have to be 3 of my favorite midwives in the world 😀 Thanks for posting, Danee!

Danee and Charity... hanging with Dana 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “If you wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” ~ Toni Morrison

Traveling Girl

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So, off I go again on another adventure. This one proves to be challenging and fun… How my week went:

10 days ago Barbara Harper (www.waterbirth.org) asked me if I’d like to do a waterbirth training in Shanghai, China. Um, duh… of COURSE I WOULD! I love Barbara, I have loved her from the first time I read her book, Gentle Birth Choices. I used to show the video to every single childbirth class I taught. Then I met her and she’s even better in person (LOL). Her energy, her vision, her everything is amazing.

So, next step was to get the time off from work… which I managed to do without a hitch! We made plans and the plane tickets were purchased and off I would go on Saturday, April 30th to Shanghai.

Then, off to get a visa to visit China… ROADBLOCK AHEAD! Because my current employer hasn’t managed to obtain a Residency Visa for the UAE yet, the Chinese Embassy could not issue me a visa to travel to Shanghai… PANIC MODE. What to do? Will I have to fly to the States to get a visa? Call off the trip? As I’m hyperventilating, trying not to cry and basically yelling on the phone at the PRO from my job, the Chinese embassy man is tapping on the glass to get my attention.

I walk back to him, people part ways because the crazy lady is coming through, and he proceeds to tell me he has a solution for me… you do??? You can give me the visa? Um, no, but you can FLY TO HONG KONG to get it. LOL… my laugh cracks me up. Living in Abu Dhabi is like livin’ la vida loco… seriously. Now this is Sunday, I’m suppose to go to Shanghai on Saturday… SIX DAYS AWAY! and now this guy is telling me that to get into Shanghai, I’ll have to go to Hong Kong…. how to do.

Next stop… Emirates Airlines. I drive over to their office which is on the Corniche:

Abu Dhabi Corniche

Instead of going into the office, I walk over to the water and sit for a few minutes, collect myself, have a little chat with the BIG GUY upstairs and beg him for just one little thing to go right… just one, let’s not make this day too difficult for me, ya hear? I’m fragile… LOL

I then proceed to go over to the office and find the nicest Iranian girl in the world, who helped me, got me a GREAT seat and didn’t charge me a change fee for my flight. She booked me to Hong Kong, then HK to Shanghai and left my return flight the same. The good news… I get to fly on the A380… biggest plane in the sky… two stories of luxury at it’s finest. Even the cheap seats recline!

So, then back to work the next day to tell the boss that now I need 3 more days off from work! But, simple as pie, maafi mushkala! Now I have less than 24 hours to pack for a 2 week trip… I can DO this!

Packing itself was a challenge, but I am so happy that I did all that laundry on Saturday! Why was packing a challenge, because I think the cats KNOW when I’m leaving… this is the kind of games that they play:

Marina trying to sneak her way in to the suitcase!

And this is what her brother Oyster did when I told him I was leaving for 2 1/2 weeks:

Oh no, Mom, not again!

But quick packing I did! Arranged for a ride to the airport with my friend, Laura, which meant GETTING UP AT 355 a.m. to go! But, ride beggars can’t be choosy! So we got up very early and headed out to Dubai.

I got to the airport with more than 4 hours to spare, which was nice, because those of you that know me well, know what travel anxiety I have. Nope… it’s not about flying… I have NO fear of flying because I have NO fear of dying. I just have general anxiety of making sure that I’ve got everything packed (I didn’t… I forgot the HK hotel vouchers on my desk at work and it was the FIRST thing they asked for!!!) and about getting to the airport on time. So, no problem there, given that I was there so early. I had a lovely breakfast and then sat and read for a few hours. Nice and relaxed. And then the plane pulled in… WOW! I hadn’t seen the A380 in person… just pictures and she is impressive… take a look:

My Ride!

After much anticipation, we were ready to board. I lucked out and had a flight attendant sitting two seats over, no one between us. She was on holiday and flying to meet her boyfriend in China. Awesome chick, very helpful and we have something in common… we both love playing…

ZUMA!!!!

OMG… I was so happy to see that they had something fun to do while flying! Jenni… I know you are just jealous as all get out now! 🙂 We had a great time playing and chatting.

Barbara made my reservation and requested vegetarian… which was fine, but I’M A MEAT EATER BARBARA! LOL! The meal was actually quite awesome:

Lunch on the Emirates A380

It was a pasta filled to the gills with yummy veggies (one I have no idea what it was, but it was yummy!) and a large, fresh roll, real butter and an interesting pudding like dessert. I watched Social Network while eating and it was a pretty decent movie, even though they portray Sean Parker as one of the founders of Napster…. which he was not.

I read my James Patterson novel, Fang, and then settled in for a very comfortable nap. The cheap seats on the A380 RECLINE! Yup, they do. And I didn’t have a seat in front of me, so I had tons of leg room (I tried a regular seat and it was more roomy than British Airways and Etihad). I slept without awaking for the 1 hour I had set my alarm to. I awoke to this charming young lady doing stretches in front of me:

Charming Young Lady

Later, she left her sunglasses and something odd (not sure what it was, honestly!) in the bathroom, after what I (and many others) suspect was attaining another notch in her mile high club belt… and I found it. She just about squeezed me to death for giving them back to her… too funny. I did, however, feel like I needed to be decontaminated!

All in all, a great flight. The service on the Emirates A380 was excellent! The food was pretty good and the flight was smooth, with only a couple of bouts of turbulence.

On the hotel transfer bus I sat in the front row to avoid motion sickness. They had 80’s/90’s music on the radio. The third song was “We Are the World” and by the end, I think everyone on the bus was singing it… even though the seats were high and none of us could see each other… on 2nd thought, maybe that’s why we were all singing… we were anonymous! The 2nd song we all sang together was Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”… Fun ride, I love singing… even if it is off-key!

So… just a couple of more pics to wrap things up… this is what the line looked like at the Visa office this morning:

Visa Line at the Chinese Consulate

I thought I would be there all day, but alas, I was there less than 2 hours! When I finally made it inside, through security and up to the 7th floor, I was #214… the number on the board was 145! Ack 69 people ahead of me, but it went very quickly. Now I just have to wait to pick it up tomorrow morning.

I decided to walk back to the hotel and stopped at a little specialty store to pick up some lunch… I got a Coca-Cola Light with lemon (something I can’t get in Abu Dhabi… the lemon part that is) and some sushi and my favorite chips in the whole wide world that I can’t find anywhere but HK.. Curry Chips. Next to the curry chips were these chips:

Kyushu Seaweed Flavored Lay's Potato Chips... who knew!

I was tempted, but I so wanted the Curry Chips more… shucks! So, now I’ve been hanging at the hotel all day. Started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. Catching up on some stuff on the computer, doing some competencies for my real job, reviewing work sent to me by my girls back at the hospital and playing Mahjongg Dimensions, which is, for some crazy reason, blocked by Etisalat, my sucky internet provider!

I hope ya’ll have enjoyed my update… more later in the week, after I’m in Shanghai, unless something earth shattering happens here in HK in the meantime… Ciao!

Interesting placenta and update

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This morning, just before the end of my shift I had a lady come up from urgent care, really cracking on. Regular contractions started at 6 a.m.,  SROM at 630 a.m., arrived on delivery unit at 700 a.m., delivery at 720 a.m. Things generally happen that fast for a reason, and this is why I think this one did:

A velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord into the membranes, instead of the placenta. Sent chills up my spine. I asked and got permission from the mom to take these pictures and explained the significance. I love how birth always keeps me on my toes!

Update on the diet and exercise plan… I am down 21 pounds. I am still either bike riding 13 km or walking 6.5 km 3x a week and loving it. Walking and biking on the Corniche (the waterfront) is wonderful right now, the weather is decent and not so hot and the view is beautiful. Here’s a pic of my friend Karen and I biking a couple of weeks ago:

On hot days or days when the sand is a blowin’ I walk the mall. Gets a little boring after a while though. I also started a new diet program. Although Atkins was working for me, I was getting bored to tears with it. There are a few companies here that prepare and deliver food to order daily. I chose one that not only is providing me with a low calorie, low fat option, but is also providing me gluten free food AND it’s organic! They deliver all 3 meals and 2 snacks each evening… that’s the food for the next day.. There is LOTS of food and the variety is excellent. I had Lebanese for breakfast and Indian for lunch today, for example. Dinner is a chicken Cesar salad with gluten free croutons… yum!

Well, off I go… need to walk the dog, feed the cats and get over to the mall for a nice long walk. I hope everyone is having an amazing February!

Hello friends and family!

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Me, Jenni & Tiffany

Me & the new baby

Well… where do I begin? I’ve started this blog to share with family and friends my journey of living overseas, dieting and travel.

I started the Atkins Diet 2 days ago. My plan is to upload recent pics and to upload pics monthly, on the 22nd of each month, to show my progress.

As many of you know, I lost 45 pounds last year, with the help of James and Kim in Miami. I cut out bread, pasta, potatoes and rice and started seeing James 2x per week for personal training.

I moved to Abu Dhabi in Nov of 2008 and kept it off until this past summer, when I started adding that bad food back into my diet and wasn’t exercising as much, because it was hot here…. like 122 degrees Fahrenheit hot! So in 5 short months, I gained 18 of those pounds back… now they are coming off and MORE!

I have bought myself a wii and have committed to working out at least 3 times a week on it. My friend Lucy and I have used it for bowling and tennis and boxing (recommend one be in better shape than me to do the boxing… LOL).

Lucy and I will be walking the Camino di Santiago from April 23 to May 27 (or so). This is a 750+ km walk crossing the Pyrenees mountains from France into Spain and then the entire… yes, that’s ENTIRE length of the upper part of Spain. I must, MUST be in better shape by the time we leave in order to be successful. You can see where I am going to walk by going to this site: http://www.caminodesantiago.me/board/el-camino-frances/

And to finish off this, my first blog, I’ll tell you that after 13 months of interesting work on a ward at this busy hospital I work at, I moved to the delivery unit this week and had my first delivery yesterday afternoon. A little girl, weighing 3365 grams, who came out not only in the caul (the bag of waters), but with a nuchal hand up by her left cheek, held there by her nuchal cord (for those not in the know, that means her hand was against her face and held there by her umbilical cord, this is unusual, to say the least). She was also in a bag of meconium (baby poop) and had a true knot in her cord… oh for the love of midwifery. She did great, mom did great, midwife is happy 😀 Life in Abu Dhabi!

So off I go… need to make a grocery store run… Happy Holidays everyone!

xxxx

Sandi