Healthy Pregnancy

Tal that is just wonderful news on the ms front :leap: you've had such an unfair run! so WOOOOOHOOOOOO to you!

yay Dr Tal!!! That's great news!!!

Sorry guys, I've been a bit MIA, my grandad died on Wednesday and we had the funeral yesterday, it was very sad to lose him, but he was in quite a bit of pain at the end :( Such a wonderful happy man.

Sorry to hear about your granddad, kirsten. It's always a sad time, no matter how ready they are to go. :hug:

My calves are ACHING! Friday I walked up to my hairdresser, which is a 45 minute walk, ending in a HUGE hill then back down to the train station, picked up my pram (yay! :dance:) then walked it home, then back out to the bus stop to the city, legged it round town getting medicare munny and new drivers licence, back to the bus, hopped off at a deli near-ish to home, then lugged a few kilos of South American delights back to our house. Then at night walked down to the supermarket, So probably racked up 7 or 8km on foot all up.
Then spent all of yesterday making goodies for our party, standing up for a lot of the day, but the food was fabulous! I did yuca dumplings, barley cakes, spiced maize, roasted mellocos (andean tubers) pumpernickel with beetroot pickle, honey rum cake with sundried figs and butterscotch fruit cake. The last one was my fave :D Tossing up whether or not I should have a bit now.

Recipe:
2 1/2 cups dried fruit (I used 1 cup mixd dried fruit, 1 cup dates, 1/2 cup sultanas)
1 cup All-Bran
1 cup butterscotch schnapps
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup sugar

Leave all that together for an hour, then stir in 1 1/2 cups SR flour. Bake for 1 hour at 180.
You can change this recipe around quite a lot - any dried fruit is good. And any liquid will work - have used coffee, orange juice, milk, whatever. SO easy! But the butterscotch just made it smell amaaaaaaaaazing. I boiled it off first to cut down the actual alcohol, but you wouldn't have to if it were for someone else.

SO...the sinus infection is finally gone :leap: WOOHOOOOO

UNFORTUNATELY I knew I shouldn't say anything about the morning sickness...even though it had been gone for over 2 weeks. I just knew I was going to jinx myself.
:dance: The vomiting came back...the very next day :sick: the vomiting came back....I thought it was a goner :dance: :rofl:
I have to laugh or I'll cry.
I had my first snot free day yesterday, and sure enough...today vomit city :o it's lke one replaced the other :wall:

Oh well....guess there's really no use complaining about it {sigh}

So…
Had a fairly healthy weekend. I worked all day on Saturday and Sunday, but it was at an eco fiesta and sustainable lifestyle expo and the Hare Krishna's were there…..which mean LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF SUPER YUMMY Hare Krishna food that we can only get up here once a year.
So I had Yummy veggie balls and rice with curry vegetables and halava for lunch and dinner on both days. YUM!!
Then DH and I took the dogs for a walk (for the first time in WEEKS) yesterday. They were VERY excited about it…well they were until they realised I move about as fast as a geriatric grandmother with a walker. Then my boy was very happy (he's not as energetic as he use to be) but the two girls were less then impressed. Anyway, we walked for about an hour, which probably equated to one block (haha…no wans't that bad, was probably about 3 km) then I went to bed early.

Kirst - So sorry to hear about your granddad. :hug: It's always hard to loose a loved one, even when you know it is coming.

Audax - That cake recipe sounds really yummy….I'll have to try to get around to baking one on the weekend!

Hello healthy mummastobe, i hope you are all well.
Well i havent exactly been the healthiest i could have been the last few weeks but im really going to try and make an effort from now on.
Im cooking a roast pork tonight with lots of yummy vegies so i guess thats a start. Today i made a really yummy date & nut loaf, mmm yummo heated up with some butter.
So anyway i thought id share the recipe if anyone else would like to try it.
1 cup dates - diced
1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 tblsp butter
1tsp bicarb soda
Heat all that in a saucepan until the butter melts
Cool slightly and stir in
1 beaten egg
2 cups SR flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
Cook in a moderate oven for about 30 mins
As im such a sweet tooth i actually added a little golden syrup too and its super yummy.

Anyway better get going and get this roast in the oven, Take care ladies

Audax speaking of sore calves mine are sore too but from cramping in the night! been happening for a few months now but been worse lately and 2 nights ago I woke up with a big one and couldn't reach my toes to pull my foot back to stop the cramp (like you usually do) all this cause my belly was in the way!!! lol, well it wasn't funny at the time and I woke dh up going "ouch ouch ouch, GET IT!!!!" and he didn't know what I was talking about cause I didn't actually say cramp and it took him a good while to figure out to pull my foot back.. Anyway it's still really sore today even after dh gave it a good massage yesterday....

Speaking of massages this calve massage was during a full body one which dh gave me last night before bed and it was heaven! Far out I knew I was sore (all over) but when he got to my lower back I swear I could have O'd :rofl: it felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!! Teheheheheheh

Kristen sorry to hear about your granddad, it sounds like he was a beautiful man who showed you lots of love and taught you a thing or two about life, take that with you hon xo :hug: congratulations on being over 12 weeks! :leap: when is your next scan? How are you feeling is the ms getting better? Have you been able to eat well or keep it down. Thankfully food made me stop feeling sick in the 1st tri so I ate heaps but the down side was gaining weight (hence why I started this thread to keep healthy). I think I'm eating much less now though, just regular amounts of food, I'm not even getting up in the middle of the night eating like much of the 2nd tri.

"Dr. Taaaaaaal HEY, Dr. Tal, Dr. Taaaaaal" HEY (to be sang in the tune to Dr, Who) LOL I am in a funny mood today hehehe and I hope I cheered you up especially if that nasty ms is still hanging around! It was nice to leave you alone during that nasty sinus infection though! How did you enjoy the Hare Krishna food? I LOVE it! both dh and I being vego find it a real treat. There are a few places we can go to regularly if we choose, one being the famous Eumundi markets (only 6 mins away from us) and the other is about a 30 mins drive, both are just so YUM. I have a little cook book of theres, you'd think I would make something from it wouldn't you! But it's so cheap to buy it from them that I wait till we are going to the cafe to have it.

eliselouise Love your avy! and thanks for the date & nut loaf I looove nut loaf, gee I'm so full of love this morning! heheheh

Well I think I've posted most of my health updates above so not much to say except that I'm so happy to be in the 3rd tri and if my sore body is anything to go by I'm glad I will have everything organised in the next 2 weeks and then I can sit back and do nothing for July & August till bubs comes. Oh when I say nothing I will still be working 3 days a week in July but the rest of the time will be just looking after my body, practicing my hypnobirthing breathing and that's about it.

Hope you are all well xoxo

Kirst - Just wanted to add a big WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :leap: :leap: :leap: to Cherished congrats about making it past 12 weeks. Did you have a scan? Hope all was good. SO EXCITED for you!!

Cherished - LOVE hare krishna food. I'm hoping to be able to make it to the markets the first friday of next month (depends on when bubs comes really) as they will be there and it will be the last time I'll be able to get their food until next year.

My M/S is still hanging around, but thankfully it's nowhere near as bad as it was before my sinus infection. Still enough to be really annoying though. Had an Ob appointment yesterday and all is still going well. Blood pressure is still low (but up a bit from what it has been at my previous appointments...that having been said it's the first time it's gone up at all, so it actually is still REALLY low). Bubs is engaged and moving down my pelvis apparently, which makes sitting and driving VERY uncomfortable, and I've been told I can expect bubs from any time now (but that The Worm still might not make an appearance till after my EDD)

Elise - Your date and nut loaf sounds really yummy. Have written down the recipe and will have to try it.

AFM - got HEAPS done over the weekend. Pretty sure I'm nesting. Mowed the lawn, SUPER cleaned my fishtanks, they've not been that clean in AGES...scrubbed all the aglae off all the sides, not just three, changed HEAPS of the water, over half in all the tanks, I even cleaned the lights on all of them :lol: Then I hooked into under the house (it's a mess, DH is a bit of a hoarder) and I threw out heaps, and tidied a whole lot. Only made it through about 1/3 but it looks heaps tidier and neater down there. Swept the whole thing and even mopped :o Then I started cleaning all the cupboards. Made it through the bottom ones, pulled everything out (washed most of it too...even though it was clean :doh: ) wiped down all the shelves, then reorganised everything in them. Basically just went house cleaning crazy!

THEN I baked an apple strawberry crumble....yum....probably not the healthiest thing I could have baked, but definitely not the unhealthiest.
(I'll pretend that I didn't make white chocolate macadamia cookies the next day and eat them all by yesterday :hide: )

Dr Tal: Hmmmmm really sounds like nesting to me! I cannot believe you have 19 days to go, HOW EXCITING!!!!!!!!! Nesting is awesome, the only time you ever clean crazy things and get into cupboards :) I fell down the stairs in a nesting frenzy when pg with DS, I was frantically mopping the stairs for a dinner party after making a 3 course meal. Craziness, I also did a lot of hands and knees scrubbing of floors :rofl:

Thanks Dr Tal and Cherished for the congrats, I had my scan yesterday and all going really well, NT test came back at 1:6870 which is awesome because my age risk is 1:160. HB is 167BPM. I was so relieved there was only one in there, I've been paranoid there were 2 because my belly is ridiculously big already!

Cherished, Dr Tal and Audax: Thank for your kind words about my grandad - I have learnt a lot from him and just hope that I am as happy and loved as he was.

MS is easing up for me, still have occasional bouts of queasiness, but nothing very serious. (and thanks for putting that Dr Tal song in my head, Cherished, I spent half the day singing it the other day....HEY! Dr Taaaaa-aaaal Dr Tal....

I've been pretty healthy still, DP is re-reading "Changing Habits Changing Lives" to keep us on track - it is the best book on nutrition I have ever read, we pretty much live by it. He is up to the nut chapter and keeps asking about the best place to buy nuts :rofl:

Am starting a prenatal yoga class on 5 July and hopefully some sort of water aerobic type thing soon too...now that I'm not feeling like a giant slug I should be able to do some more exercise.

Hope everyone is well

kirsten YAY for a fantastic scan :hooray: you're little buba is on the way! :baby: lord I do hope I am not on the floor scrubbing it in a nesting frenzy, I cna't imagine my back holding up too well! Having said that I wish the nesting had kicked in already, I feel sore now that I regret not doing things when I was feeling good. Sounds like you are on the right path to a super healhty pregnancy with eating habits and exercise so well done to you! OH before I forget I have been mis spelling your name HEAPS since we were ttc together, they are all typos I promise! I have a bad habit of not spell checking and some words are often wrong, in the case of your name my left hand must be quicker than my right and get to the r 1st :redface:

Dr. Tal that crumble sound YUM and i think you deserve it after all the cleaning you've done!!!! totally nesting and I'm with Kirsten on the excitment front! not long to go now!!!! :leap:

Kirst - :rofl: that so funny that you should happen to mention scrubbing he floors on your hands and knees...I was doing that on Monday. I was frantically scrubbing away at the floors under my two bird cages and DH came in and asks me "why are you down there? You know we have a mop right? It's just leaning here against the couch" My answer?? "I can't use the mop, I'm too far away from the floor and I won't be able to see if I miss a spot" He just left shaking his head and muttering something about pregnancy and hormones!

That's fantastic that everything was good at your scan and that your risk is so low! and Congrats on there only being one!

Cherished - I would have thought being down on the ground scrubbing the floors would have been hard on my back, but it wasn't....hard on the knees yes, and it would have been rather amusing for anyone watching me try to get back up OFF the floor, but it was actually less hard on my back then using the mop would have been.....go figure :o

And no...not too long to go now at all. When I saw the 19 days up there I instantly thought I'm not that close, but then I had another think about it and I am....I actually think I amat 18 days becasue my ticker is a day slow (haven't been able to fix that....can't say I've tried that hard though) I think becasue it's from an American website....oh well

Ha ha ha ha haha, when I was nesting I washed and ironed (YES IRONED) the cot sheets, even though I had a basinette but I was having issues because the sheets weren't flat enough, so I ironed them again and was on the verge of having them professionally pressed!!!! My friend had a manhole obsession - the manhole in the ceiling HAD to be cleaned. I also go into a throwing away frenzy - everything in my way ends up in the bin!! Too messy! DS will want to hold on to his toys or out they go! I completely understand the too far away from the dirt spots :rofl:

Cherished: don't worry about the name typos, I have people actually calling me Kristen even when I tell them it's Kirsten. I had a bus driver call me Kirsty for 6 years :)

:leap: :leap: :leap:

raaarrrrrghh!! *makes everyone jump*
I've been lurking and keep meaning to post, then I realised it's been yonks since I ACTUALLY posted in here. But I've been reading!

Kirsten - congrats on 12 weeks that's awesome! As for ironing cot sheets omg :rofl: that's too funny! Have to say I never got to that stage. I was so sorry to read about your grandad :hug: sounds like he was very special.

Dr. Tal - oooh look at your ticker! Can I be you and be that close already? (impatient much? ;)). Btw I told my DH what your DH said and he was cracking up and totally agreed with your DH. Men huh! I think what you did makes perfect sense.

Cherished - sending you non-ouchy back vibes (and admiring your ticker too - ok so they're all just gorgeous alright?). As for wishing the nesting had kicked in earlier... I went through the same thing with both my PGs... atm I'm sitting here with NOTHING done and I swore I'd do it all in 2nd tri while I felt good. Oh yeah now I remember the problem, I haven't felt good yet! But honestly, you'll do it when you can, and even if you don't - it doesn't matter, all bubby needs is you, milk and nappies really! Oh and I loved the Dr Tal song... tehehe made me giggle.

AFM hmm i'll do the quick one. have been trying to eat better... bit variable. I made Audax's soup and Cherished's cookies - thanks ladies! I also had a cold for 5 weeks ended up on AB's, then I got better, so DS got croup, then as soon as he started getting better, I got sick again! Plus discovered my ferritin is super low and probably not helping me feel ok either. It's insane. Soooooo... I'm starting mat leave next TUESDAY! (I only work 2 days/week). But I'm still really excited. Have worked out that apart from teh first few weeks, I've only had 2 weeks in this PG where I've felt ok and haven't had m/s, gastro or a bug of some sort. Hopefully not working will help me to slow down, feel better and get some things done at home that I really, really need to (like DH's bookkeeping :rolleyes:). Anyway, I've topped off my great run with nearly fainting on the train & train platform today :redface: and getting wheelchaired off the frickin' platform, verrrrrrry embarrassing. Work have been totally lovely though, I think they figured if they saw me it was a bonus! Plus I'd planned to go at 29-30 weeks anyway, so they were quite happy to move it up. Plus i've got a dodgy hip/sacroiliac joint which is limiting what I'm doing (online shopping here I go) AND I've got my GD test in the next week or so, and i'm soooooo nervous (was GD + injecting insulin last time) so pls pls pls send me the lucky good not-getting-GD vibes.

Hope everyone else is doing well! Am off to watch masterchef and try not to eat too much chocolate!

Hello ladies - mind if I join you? (of course you won't, you all seem very friendly!) I'm almost 9 weeks into my first pregnancy and goodness, my eating habits have gone down the toilet. I've had a lot of nausea so have found myself eating all sorts of crap that usually wouldn't go past my lips, and I feel awful for it. I'm so looking forward to getting some great ideas and recipes from you all, and hopefully being able to share some of my own! (once I remember how to eat well and exercise, of course).

I think the biggest thing is that I was attending Weight Watchers for six months before falling pregnant, so I know how to eat for weight loss, and previous to WW I was very good at eating for weight gain, but I am still trying to work out how to eat to maintain a reasonable weight. Once the nausea settles down I hope it will be a bit easier, it seems to be grease or sugar that I am going for right now. I'm also trying to not worry too much about the numbers of the scale either, but to use my overall energy and happiness levels as an indicator of whether my diet is doing me favours.

Looking forward to sharing a healthy pregnancy with you all!

allejane :welcome: and congrats on your pregnancy! I also lost weight before getting pregnant, 6.5kg's in 12 weeks so I was pretty happy for myself. I've actually been reminiscing about it over the last week and am really looking forward to taking off some on this weight after bubs is born. I think the 1st tri is the hardest, for me eating stopped me dry reaching and feeling sick so I ate heaps, and together with not being bothered to cook it's kinda a recipe for weight gain let alone being pregnant. So try not to worry about the weight gain and be proud of yourself for loosing weight before hand. I know I often think I'd be 6.5kg heavier now if I hadn't lost it before so I still feel like I'm in front rather than gone backwards if that makes sense? As far as the gaining goes I had put on 6.5 kg's at the 20 week mark and stopped weighing myself then. I'm sure I've put on way more in the last 9 weeks but am not game to get on the scales, maybe at the 30 week mark I will ;) I feel like I ate heaps in the 1st tri, slowed down in the 2nd but was getting up during the night for a snack for about 3 weeks there at one stage and now I am just eating a normal amount of food like I was prior to pregnancy or 'loosing weight' so I guess that is what you might call maintenance. That might be hard to recognise if your normal eating was putting on weight but for me it's eating regular sized meals, not going back for seconds, good food with only one treat per day (usually 2 biscuits or something similar with a cuppa at afternoon tea) lots of salad and veg and fruit etc. I kinda feel relieved a bit that my eating has slowed down and is under control cause if I'd kept going the way I was I think I would be 40kg heavier by now :o OK so that kinda turned into an 'all about me' post rather than about you, I think I was trying to reassure you that you're doing great and the bad habits you may have started in the 1st tri probably wont last throughout the whole pregnancy. Hope you have a great weekend

Dr.Tal not long to go for you!!!!! can't wait to see you BA :D

belfie my friend hope you're doing well and liked those cookies, I think I've figured out banana is giving me heartburn so haven't been eating them. It does sound like you have been in the wars so pretty please take it easy! we don't want to rad about you fainting or anything else serious :hug: Hope your GD test goes well, I can't remember if I posted about my results? All is well anyway, iron is a bit low but absorption is great so nothing to worry about, my BP is a little low but again nothing to worry about

Kirsten you're nesting sounds like me whenever I start going through thinkgs and cleaning, I am a huge throw away person, completely opposite to my mother who is the biggest hoarder EVER example, she knows I am going to use cloth and I told her I'm looking at what wool covers to buy and she said "you can have the ones I used on you" :wtf: she still had the woolen covers after nearly 33 years!!!!! I said wouldn't they like smell like moth balls or something by now :o anyway she gave them to me and the funny thing is that they look like great covers lol they are MCN covers but from 33 years ago! I thought they'd be like the old hand knitted soakers but they look like the BBH wool covers in the neutral colour. I don't know much about fabrics or wool etc but apparently wool like that should last forever. Me on the other hand I throw away so much stuff then regret it when I want to use it again :doh:

On the cleaning front: YAY I finally cleaned the car out and the inside and outside windows of the house so now I feel like I've actually achieved something this weekend and I don't go back to work till Tuesday so will get even more done woohoo. Last night I was regretting it though as my lower back and neck were pretty sore but luckily my lovely dh gave me a 15 min massage and this morning I'm not tooo bad. On the list today is washing, ironing, vacuuming and mopping and maybe tidy up the kitchen shelves otherwise I think I'll take it easy and watch a DVD.

Cherished - wow you are doing well with all your cleaning! Your DH sounds like a great massager too! :clap: Re the MCN covers from your mum, that's hilariously cute! (I was about to say haha I know how old you are - then realised it's in your sig anyway :rofl: preggie brain huh!). I'm so glad to hear your GD test was fine too and hopefully iron won't get too low.

allejane - welcome to the thread. Like Cherished, I also lost weight before getting PG, about 7-8kg, and I too found that my healthy eating went absolutely out the window during first trimester - actually till about 17 weeks as my m/s seemed to hang around a bit. I've put on 7kg so far this pregnancy, but if I follow the pattern of my last PG where I didn't gain anything after 27 weeks, I hopefully won't gain much more. I'm also still lighter than I was in my last PG (wooo hoo). I think coming in here is great as it gives you ideas and motivates you to eat well when you feel well enough.

Found out this morning that my dodgy hip is actually pelvic instability and I've been fitted for a brace for it. It certainly seems to help which is great, could barely walk last night and this morning. I'm so keen to try and get back to my walking but atm the longest I can do is 15 mins, so I'm supposed to try and do 2 lots of 15 min walks a day... I just keep not getting around to it, as packing up my toddler and leaving the house seems to take as long as the darn walk! And honestly 15 mins is sooooo piddly... but I know I should keep myself moving & keep those BSL's good. So that's my goal now I have the brace, 2 walks a day! Wish me luck :) Have been eating a bit better, am back on antibiotics AGAIN (another bug) and finally my tastebuds like dark chocolate again - which is great, as I find a little bit satisfies me. I also (nobly!) finished up the icecream in the freezer, so phew, that's all out of the way :rofl:

Belfie - You're not having a very good run of it health wise are you? :hug: I really really hope that you're feeling healthy and energetic again soon.

Hopefully once you get the hip brace you should be able to walk again without pain!

Oh and if you think the other weekends on the knees cleaning spree was good...wait till you read what I did this weekend! :o

Cherished - less then 2 weeks now till my EDD WOOHOOOOO :pray: that The Worm makes an appearance on time (or earlier, if that's not too much to wish/dream for).

:rofl: about your mum keeping your wool covers! That sounds like something my mum would do. Apparently she's gone through all my and my brother's old clothes (which were apparently stored in boxed under the stairs for as long as your woolcovers have been stored by your mum) and as soon as she knows what sex the baby is she's getting dad to post over the 'appropirate' box. Must be a mother thing :shakehead:

alle - Welcome. It really is hard in the 1st tri not to go overboard with eating. I ate constantly, the only thing that saved me from gaining about a zillion kilo's was my morning sickness and the fact that nothing actually stayed down for more then 20 minutes. And with that said I REALLY REALLY hope your nausea/MS goes away soon!

AFM - since the washing under the bird cages on my hands and knees worked so well last weekend, on Saturday I woke up with the burning need to make sure ALL the floors in my house were just as clean, and proceeded to crawl around on my hands and knees with a bucket and towel for the next couple of hours. Periodically I'll get DH to change the water in my bucket for me....the crawling aroudn wasn't an issue...getting up and down....well that was another story entirely. He just kept shaking his head and mumbling under his breath. I think he knows better now then to try to stop me when I go on a 'nesting frenzy' as I over heard him calling it when on the phone with his dad.

Then Sunday, I had a nice liesurely (NOT) 2km sprint at about 8 in the morning. I won't get into the whole thing here, but you can read about it in my BB thread (July 1-15) if you're interested. It's in the old one (we got a new one yesterday) so #3 not #4. Second to last page I think...about halfway down....the post that starts

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG GGGG followed by three angry icons :D

Hi all, thank you for your welcome! It is so weird to be posting with people not at the same stage of pregnancy as me - I'm so used to my BB group that it's a little odd to be reading about people being days away from having their babies instead of months! A nice change though; I had no idea that nesting was as extreme as scrubbing floors and cleaning cars, DH will be so impressed when that kicks in for me!

Belfie & Cherished - I had lost 11kg in six months with WeightWatchers prior to falling pregnant which I was pretty happy about - and I'd be thrilled to put on no more than the 11kg during the pregnancy. I don't want to measure my success on what the numbers say so I am staying away from the scales for the time being. If my midwife wants to check how my weight is going, she's free to do that :)

Dr Tal - thanks for your well-wishes, it looks like it may have done the trick - I've been struck down by a cold and a sinus infection, so I currently can't smell anything at all, and the nausea has magically disappeared! I think that I am definitely triggered off by smells, and having no sense of smell right now means that my eating habits resemble what I was eating pre-pregnancy. That said, it won't last, so I'm making the most of it whilst I can.

I've been at home for the last couple of days and daytime TV is just not cutting it, so I've been busy cooking and baking. I made a lovely soup last night and thought I would share the recipe - it's dead easy, and once you've done your prep, it's a matter of popping it in the pot and letting it do its thing. And little hands (or DH, heehee) can help with the porcupines.

Vegie Soup with Porcupines
Makes either 4 large bowls or 6 medium bowls

Ingredients:
500g mince meat (the Aldi mince is really good, and low-fat)
1/4 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup pesto (I used tomato pesto, but basil pesto would work just as well)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
4 stalks celery
2 carrots
400g diced tomatoes
750mL water with two beef stock cubes crumbled in
Dried oregano (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste

Steps:
1. In a bowl, mix the mince, rice and pesto until it's nicely combined
2. Take small amounts of mince (about one dessert spoon) and roll into balls. They're called porcupines because of the rice sticking out of them. You should get about 20 porcupines out of the mince
3. Place porcupines aside for a few minutes
4. Finely chop the onions, celery and carrot
5. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and when warm, add the onions, celery and carrot
6. Allow to sweat for about five minutes until onion is transparent
7. Add the tomatoes, water & stock, porcupines and oregano, and bring to a boil
8. As soon as the soup is at boiling point, reduce heat to a simmer
9. Pop the lid on and let it simmer for an hour. If the simmer turns to a boil the porcupines may disintegrate so you might want to check it occasionally
10. Season to taste, and serve with crusty, grainy bread. It's equally as good the next day - I just had some for lunch!

And another healthy tip from me - stay away from people with colds, it's not worth it :(

Alle - I really feel for you with the sinus infection :comfort: I had a really bad one only a few weeks back. Lasted abut two weeks. That having been said it was the only two weeks during the entire pregnancy where I've not had full on M/S. Still not too sure which one was worse :wall:

I did LOT AND LOTS AND LOTS of steam inhalations during that time since I couldn't take anything.