Getting caught up in the busy-ness of life?

Yeah me too, but I know I bring it on myself.

But is being busy really all it’s cracked up to be?

For a very long time, my friends have always said how busy they perceive me to be. It’s true. I just cannot sit still really for very long. Hell, I have a 4 month old and I’m already back working on my biz, as well as running a household of two babies and helping to support a full time working and studying husband.

I fill almost every moment of every day and get to the end of the day exhausted in a heap, promising myself not to do it all over again tomorrow, only to find myself back in the same spot all over again.

Often wishing for a clone, or for more hours in the day to finally get to read that book I’ve had sitting on my bedside table for weeks, or download that song playlist, or respond to those emails, probably on my iPhone while I am doing something else!!!

How do we get so overwhelmed and busy?

Just as it’s important to schedule time in our diaries for tasks or to-do lists I really think it’s important to schedule ME time or DOWNTIME or FAMILY time or whatever applies, and I’m sorry to say I’m guilty of not doing this lately.

Sometimes afraid to say no to people for fear of letting them down with social engagements, or work commitments, it’s no real difference to staying late at the office or working overtime (by choice).

And does that make for a good worker, or a bad time manager?

Dr Hallowell wrote Crazy Busy, and describes that nowadays we sometimes just do not know how to be un-busy.

With gadgets like iPhones & Blackberrys meaning emails are just a tap away, and even sitting in traffic can mean a minute or two of responding to text messages, we are more available than ever, but also more stimulated than ever too.

Here are my tips to help stop the Busy-ness

1. Allow yourself a set number of social events per week and stop when your punch card is full.  Some people are fine with 2 or 3 social catch-ups, whereas others feel overwhelmed with over 1. If I’ve reached my limit of 1 play date or social catch up for the week then I have to practice my ‘Thanks, but no thanks.”

2. Only answer your emails once per day as per this technique. Not only will you not be wasting precious time that could be served elsewhere (including REST TIME), but also it will enable you to prioritize your responses (if required) when checking them all at once. Emails are very rarely serving you; they are almost always serving the sender.

3. Schedule REST. Rest is not being lazy, and too often we find ourselves working all week, only to get to the weekend and cram more activities, to get back to our working week needing another weekend to recover. There is no shame in having NO plans. The weekend was originally created for REST and to recover and rejuvenate to be ready FRESH for the week ahead.

4. No MORE FOMO. Fear of missing out. Saying no can be difficult if you fear missing out on something whether work or personal, however there is always going to be another night out, or another opportunity to catch up for a cup of tea, or another even better offer, if this one just doesn’t work this time. There is always a next time, and this is not the LAST time you will ever be asked.

5. Recheck your priorities. At a rare lunch date I had with 5 of my girlfriends today which I had scheduled a month in advance (crazy!) one of them mentioned that you don’t get a cheque at the end of the month to pay for the extra stress you put yourself under. You don’t get a medal. What are your priorities? More family time, less technology, more exercise, eating healthier? Work out what is most important to you and work out how it could fit better into your life.

6. Meditate. This is a big one for me. Last year Pat and I did the AOL breathing and meditation course and it was very powerful stuff. They even offer free guided breathing & meditation (Sudarshan Kriya) every Friday morning to previous class participants on our compound, but we never seem to find the time to go. We’ve suggested each of us taking turns each week to do it while the other looks after the children and I think that when you have the least amount of time is when you need it most. If not, just 5-10mins of clearing your mind and sitting quietly will do wonders and we’ve both been making an effort to do at least that.

7. Be present. Get off Facebook, email, twitter etc. for a break and just BE for a moment. Need I say more?

I hope this list has helped you as much as it continues to help me right now as I go back to this list and continue to work on reducing my own busy-ness.

I’d love to hear if you have any solutions or advice for reducing your own busy-ness if you have any in the comments below.

Good luck

Last week I took Manus to have a playdate a friends house.

Little did I know it was going to be a fancy afternoon tea (my favorite!) made especially for ladies.

With gorgeous vintage & antique home decor, and stunning tea cups that looked straight out of the mad hatters party from Alice in Wonderland, my stunning host from LA served us up some delights.

Including delicious rustic spelt banana bread and the best fruit salad I’ve ever had. Hands down.

My friend was delighted when I queried the sweet addition of coconut in the salad, saying she wasn’t surprised a raw chef could detect that.

So this week I’ve been craving that delicious and decadent fruit salad and served it up for today’s lunch.

There’s something about eating fruit more if it’s already cut. As a kid I would eat apples and oranges if mum cut them up and placed them on a platter in the busiest room in the house. It be so easy to drop by and grab a couple of pieces on my way past.

This fruit salad takes it to a new level and makes it very easy for you to get more than your minimum two servings of delicious fruit per day.

Here are my ingredients but you can play around with your favourite and in season fruits.

California Fruit Salad

Equipment

Chef Knife

Ingredients

1 cup watermelon

1 peeled orange

1 apple

2 pears

1 punnet blueberries

1 punnet strawberries

1/2 cup pineapple

1 banana

(kiwi would be nice too!)

All roughly chopped except for the blueberries

Juice of 2 lemons

3 Tbsp melted coconut oil

Handful of soaked (refer to soaking chart here) roughly chopped walnuts (pecans would be nice too)

1/4 cup shredded coconut (we used fresh shucked coconut from mature coconuts – a service offered here at our local supermarket)

1-3 Tbsp maple syrup, honey, agave or your favourite sweetener to taste

Method

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir gently. The lemon juice acts to reduce the apple and banana from oxidizing and going brown.

And serve!

Voila.

{Milk Mama Giveaway Winner}

The winner was drawn randomly from the entrants in this post here.

Congratulations to Jade – mama to Jet.

Jade, please send an email to contact@girlonraw.com with Milk Mama in the subject to claim your eBooks.Thank you to everyone for their entries.

Breastfeeding has been such a joyous experience this time around with my little girl who turns 4 months shortly.

Going in this time I was a little more emotionally prepared for the worst unlike the taxing time I had with Manus when breastfeeding didn’t go according to plan.

You can read more about my breastfeeding woes with Manus in my Post Pregnancy Part 1 and Part 2, but the purpose of this post is to encourage other mummies who also had troubles with no 1 that no 2 is not always going to tread the same path.

When Chloé was first born and I spent those first 2 nights in hospitial with her, she was on my boob all the time, as you do, leading up to milk coming  in. I gave myself permission to give her a little formula if I felt she wasn’t settling or I felt she was too hungry.

I guess my fear was that she would get dangerously underweight like Manus had when I had pledged to only breastfeed, pump, take drugs to bring on more supply, compress, feed, rinse repeat (all while compressing my breast for more milk) during my breast feeding experience with him. Nevermind trying to get a shower in or brush my teeth, those were luxuries my friends.

Whilst I am thankful that I didn’t have other issues like mastitis (touch wood) I’ve heard some mum’s talk about, only the other night, Pat said that I must have really wanted breastfeeding to work considering I taped a tiny tube (nursing supplementer) to the side of my breast to enable Manus to feed on my nipple while we supplemented with formula at the same time.  This was to ensure nipple confusion didn’t occur and breast stimulation was also being done to bring on more milk!

Feeding Chloé has been a dream.

First of all I worked on building up my supply by having Chloé feeding or sucking at least every 3 hours, or less if she was wanting it.

Initially I was supplementing Chloé with a bottle of formula milk of an evening as I was finding her to be the most unsettled then, but after talking with my amazing lactation consultant and breastfeeding extraordinaire from La Leche League, who also was there for me every week with Manus, she told me this was normal for most babies, as there was less milk after a day of feeding.

At 6 weeks, we trialled no bottles for almost a week but Chloé just had had it and was really distressed (which says a lot for a baby that hardly ever cries) on the 5th day and I gave her an evening bottle.

Now at 15 weeks, I just unconsciously noticed (isn’t that funny! But life’s a little more hectic with 2 babies now) that she’s not had a bottle in over 2 weeks. I always offer breast first, but so far lately she has been satisfied with my breast so I’m needless to say, over the moon.

While I am not ruling out that she will not need any more formula, especially during growth spurts, I am truly thrilled that my body has been able to supply my gorgeous little girl with the milk that I so desperately wanted to provide for Manus.

Giveaway

in celebration of all mama’s out there, Joanna Steven whole foods nutriion coach and author  of eBooks The Milky Way and Well Rounded (must haves for pregnancy and mamahood for the healthy inclined) has generously offered her two books up for grabs for one lucky Girl on Raw reader.

 

Good morning! Well it is here in Saudi, and I’m sitting here in my exercise gear ready to hit my boot camp class but my sitter is late so I thought I’d share some tips with you instead on how to eat more raw in a family that just isn’t as into it.

I’ve mentioned before that even though my husband is just as health conscious as me (he owned a champion juicer way before we met and he often only eats fruit only until lunch time) he still wants to eat meat. I’ll only cook chicken or fish, if he wants red meat he’ll eat it when we go out for dinners. And that’s fine by me.

Over the years of progressing from being single to a wife, to a busy mama to 2, running a business from home but also being the main meal provider I’ve learnt how to turn more complicated gourmet dishes cooked and raw, into simple quick and still nutritious meals that don’t mean I have to spend ALL day in the kitchen.

This means I still get to make my husband and children the cooked meals they want without compromising my own desire to eat a high raw diet.

Here’s some of my top tips!

1.  Meal prep 1 day a week. Previously this used to take me hours to do, but I am fine tuning it and on Sunday I also took part in my Canadian friend Angela Peters’s online class The Sustainable Healthy Kitchen   (Meal Prep Workshop) click for details to glean some tips from her. She has some wonderful suggestions for spending just 1 hour per week prepping the meals for the week ahead. You can also download my Kitchen Prep PDF here for ideas on what you can prep for your raw meals.

2. Invest in equipment that will work for you. I use my 5 in 1 (pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, soup maker, steamer) at least twice per week to make cooked dinners for my family. This morning I put in all the ingredients  for apricot chicken in the slow cooker for my family by 830am. All I need to do it pull out our separate rice cooker an hour before serving time to cook up the brown rice to serve with it.

3. Eat what your family is eating for dinner but half or third the portion size and serve with a big tasty salad. Last night I made bean enchiladas for my family and I ate half an enchilada with 2 servings or my guacamole salad.

4. Make your raw dinners easy and delicious. Sometimes my family will be eating a cooked meal while I am sitting there with my nori pinch up wraps. I even will have a huge smoothie for dinner if that’s all I’m feeling like.

5. Make dinner buffet style. Include some cooked and raw choices so you can encourage without pressuring  your family to eat more raw food. If you get adventurous, you can even pick out something a little more complicated like a raw pad Thai or lasagna which doesn’t look like a salad, and leftovers could be your lunch or dinner the following day.

6. Try to recreate your familly’s favourite cooked food in a raw way to invite them to enjoy a raw meal with you. Things like pizza, pasta, sushi, burgers, etc could all be considered.

7. For fancier dinners, have a raw starter like vegetable crudites (sticks) with a delicious raw dip or dressing. I love Kristens Raw Tuscan Sundried Tomato Pesto. It’s a crowd favourite! Or give a delicious raw dessert a shot!

Love to hear your suggestions on how you make eating healthy work in your busy family in the comments below.

Today’s YouTube video from him comes at at opportune time, following on from my recent post on Which Diet is The Right Diet and a much older post I wrote on Diet Labels.

As a mother of two and a wife of a VERY omnivore husband, I more than realise that acceptance of different people’s diet choices is just a normal way of life.

I, too believe, that of course MY DIET is the right diet FOR ME because if I wasn’t why would I be eating that way???

I also believe that YOU choose which is the best diet for you too, and what I discussed in my previous post is that different diets for different purposes (pregnancy, weight loss, weight maintenance, ethics, disease treatment etc) is also strong in my belief system. No judgements, no ego.

I merely promote MY lifestyle, not just  diet, but also encompassing healthy lifestyle because it’s the one that works best for me and my family.

As a Raw Food Leader, MY MISSON is to inspire those who aspire to or are already living a high raw food diet, whether that means you are vegan or not is up to you, emcompassing whole foods and being more conscious of the foods we feed ourselves and our families. Because it’s hardly rocket science that eating more vegetables and fruits is a healthier choice.

In an ideal world I’d live on a large rural piece of land, and grow most if not all or our organic fruits and vegetables, have a couple of chooks and be off the grid and not have to worry about usual daily issues that most of us face like being time poor due to heavy work schedules, family and social commitments etc. And I realise that just isn’t the norm for most of us. But hey I’m working on this and one day it might just be a reality for me and my little family

Anyway take a look at the video below,whether you are a Raw Foods Leader yourself or have been turned off by the many different ‘sects’ that you find yourself faced with in your research on a raw food life.

For the record if you want to know what kind of raw foodies like and benefit from  working with me, it’s usually those that are :

- just getting started on eating raw

- just curious and may not even make the step to a high raw diet but want to learn more about health

- want to increase their raw foods in their cooked diet

- need practical solutions and inspiration for eating a raw food diet, whether it’s 50%,75% or even 100% raw when the rest of the family does not.

But as I’ve always said, YOU ARE ALL WELCOME XXX

Check out the video below and as always, I’d love to hear your courteous feedback below.

My friend is healing from breast cancer and it’s such a wonderful, unique, supportive place we live in here, that plenty of the women have signed up to make dinners for her and her family to allow her time to heal and rest.

Such a great idea and it is all managed through a facebook group and this website called Meal Train. You could even set something up like this for a pregnant friend for when they give birth, so they don’t have to worry about their dinners for the first few weeks and can focus on bonding with baby and family.

Anyhoo, short post today, as I slowly get back into the swing of business here post baby.

If you make this soup lemme know in the comments below. It’s a favourite in our household and tonight I am making it with homemade bread- well our lovely helper Mulu from Ethiopia has taught me how to make it today and the ingredients are, flour, orange juice, salt & water. Amazing! It’s a treat but at least I know what’s going into it! Plus my family eats very differently to the way I do!

Curried Lentil & Vegetable Soup

Equipment

Chef Knife

Pressure cooker/slow cooker or large pot

Ingredients

1 cup of dried lentils soaked overnight and rinsed (you can use canned if you wish I prefer dried)

1 whole cauliflower chopped finely

2 stalks of chopped celery

2 peeled and diced potatoes

juice of 1 lemon

1 diced onion

6 diced tomatoes (you can use a tin of whole or chopped tomatoes)

6 cups of water

2 bay leaves

1 diced zucchini

1 1/2 Tbsp Himalayan salt

2 Tbsp curry powder

1 tsp tumeric

Method:

Place all ingredients in your pressure cooker and cook for 30mins.

If using a slow cooker place all ingredients in slow cooker and follow instructions – ideally place in the morning, ready for dinner in the evening.

Cooking in a pot on the stove? Bring all the ingredients to a boil then simmer for 45mins to an hour with the lid on. Same as the pressure cooker however cooking time will probably be between.

Lasts us all week for quick dinners and lunches.

Enjoy and let me know what you think down in the comments below if you go ahead and make it

Saturdays are my usual day for fridge clean out which involves making fridge clean out juices, smoothies, pasta sauces and stir fry’s ready to be replenished with newer and fresher produce from my weekly shopping trip.

I’ve already posted this Kitchen Pre-Prep PDF to my newsletter subscribers last year: if you are not already signed up to grab your free raw recipe eBook here.

It’s a useful guide I use most weeks to ensure I stick to our reasonably flexible but necessary meal plans each week.

You can click on the PDF here to print out your own copy.

For more Getting Started PDF’s visit here.

Love to hear your suggestions on sticking to your healthy goals in the comments below.

Raw food, for the unaquainted, is generally coupled with veganism and for me this was true for a period of time however when I first ventured into raw food I was neither vegan nor vegetarian. That came 2 years later and was a gradual nondeliberate process.

My veganism lasted 2 years, until I fell pregnant with my first baby, not for any other reasons over than cheese just tasted good and absolutely nothing else for my first trimester.

It was never a conscious or deliberate decision, and even when I was vegan I never really made a song and dance about it, in fact people just assumed I was vegan because i was into raw food and a formally trained raw chef. I even wrote a blog post on labels here when I was vegan but never did I identify myself as vegan nor encourage others to.

When a friend and previous fellow blogger Natasha of the now defunct blog Voracious Vegan came out  after months of  dealing with her change to an omnivore diet due to health issues, I couldn’t believe the outrage over the nets. Honestly? I know many people become vegan for animal activism and sustainability and that I applaud. However I make no apology for choosing a human’s health over an animal especially if it’s your child’s health. Motherhood brings something tribal out in you. And you will never know it until you are one. On a side note, Natasha’s never looked better since changing to an omnivore diet.

Kevin Gianni from Renegade Health also wrote about why his baby will not be a raw nor vegan baby and neither was his wife during their pregnancy on his post here 5 Reasons We Do Not Have a Raw Baby and their Follow Up Thoughts here.

So what sparked this post? Last night my dear friend, mentor and the girl that got me into this raw thing, Kristen Suzanne blogged last night that she is no longer vegan. My first reaction was cool and ambivalent, but who cares – in a nice way, really girl. I guess because Kristen is perceived as an expert in raw vegan circles she felt the need to explain and I get that.

Sayward Rebhal of popular vegan blog Bonzai Aphrodite recently blogged about her failing health as a vegan but refusal to veer away from her vegan diet. {Edited to add: she got better using vegan foods to heal herself.  She found a way to stay vegan AND get better}

Heathy from Sweetly Raw also blogged about her problems on a vegan diet in 2010 here, and Joanna Stevens from rawdivas.com mentions in her eBook, Well Rounded Pregnancy “an unsupplemented raw vegan and vegetarian diet is difficult to follow for many reasons.” She notes soil depletion, over-pasteurisation of some foods, lack of availability year round of local produce etc.

And it’s not just about leaving veganism, but Penni Shelton, head of biggest raw food space in the place Raw Food Rehab made a video post about full disclosure on her starting to eat cooked foods again here.

In a twitter conversation last year Dhru Purohit of Clean Program but former mastermind behind premier but now defunct raw food hub We Like it Raw, we talked about how it’s not about raw food anymore it’s about being ‘healthy’.

So all this got me thinking that what is it about eating a certain way for a period of time that works, but one day just does not. Well Kristen touched on it in her post, that perhaps it’s a cleaning up of a previously poor diet or placebo. Honestly I think it’s more of the former. Also I think that our bodies are amazing and can cope with so much that we throw at it even if it’s not in it’s best interest. Eating a poor meal choice one or twice may not result in an overall calamity but denying your body of variety and sticking to a militant regime over time can possibly cause havoc.

Of course you are going to feel great after a juice fast, because you have cleansed of years of poor choices, but ongoing you might start to deplete of certain nutrients and vitamins. Same with going vegan after years of a highly processed diet. Yep you’ve cleaned up your act but long term you may suffer deficiencies. These are just examples to give you an idea and not necessarily anecdotal.

Like a friend said to me, some people can thrive on a vegan diet just like some people thrive on an all junk food diet, I just think we are all different.

Do you think our ancestors had to give as much thought to what they ate? How about third world countries? It’s all about survival. And one could argue that we have a longer life expectancy than our ancestors and some of our poorer cousins however we do seem to have an abundance of diseases of affluence.

It’s amazing how much emotion one’s dietary choices bring up in others, good and bad. Again I appreciate the activism and as an animal lover I get it. But again when one’s health is in question would you sake you or your children’s health or life to save an animal. Honestly I really don’t want this becoming an activism speech there are many other forums for it.

In Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Dr Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live says eating meat once or twice a week can still form part of a healthy diet, despite generally promoting a vegan diet. I admit this is still less than most omnivore household’s current consumption.

The purpose of this post is not to dictate a militant diet regime and honestly I’ve never been about that anyway, plus who am I to talk. I am a chef, I make food taste delicious I don’t prescribe diets, I merely offer educatied guidance. Plenty of my readers and clients are not even vegetarian but are just wanting to eat healthily (whatever that means to you) and I’m all about encouraging more consumption of fruits and vegetables in a society that is either too busy or too unaware to eat their veggies. But I really encourage you to find your own way, and I’ve always been about that.

If you want to add more raw meals into your diet then you’ve come to the right place. I’m all about that too, sometimes even a yummy vegetarian/vegan cooked dish. And for those living in a family like mine where you want to just eat a smoothie for dinner but your meat eating husband and sometimes son wants some salmon and steamed veggies or even a roast chook and your role is to provide then I can relate. I’m not a chemist (i just like making vegetables taste delicious) and if eating a certain way requires supplementation to sustain my health then I’d rather not,  but if it floats your boat go ahead.

Whenever anyone asks what kind of diet I adhere to, I am reticent to put a label on it for fear of it backfiring on me when as a human, I change my mind, but I will say this, I am committed to learning and practicing the healthiest diet I can based on the information I have, what intuitively feels right and what works for me and my family. I feel the closer I stick to nature the better off we will be and am everyday grateful for having the luxury of choice. Especially when I live in a cross section of cultures and backgrounds here and have daily reminders of the adversity and struggle many of us will never experience, every day I step outside my door and am greeted by the company labourers on my compound. Many of which send most of their money home to their families in Bangladesh or Pakistan, and only get to go home every 2-4 years to see them.

I honestly feel there are different reasons and stages in life where different dietary choices are required. For eg a cancer patient can thrive on a juicing regime (Gerson Therapy) whereas juicing and cleansing is not advisable for pregnancy and nursing, weight loss/maintenance, diabetes etc. Seasons and reasons and lifestyle and climate. And so many more.

I believe in moderation in all aspects in life. You will forever find a for and against for any argument you wish to have in life. The thing is, health ‘facts’ and science appear to change all the time.

I’ll leave you with this awesome quote from Josh Rosenthal (founder of Institute of Intergrative Nutriton)

Nutrition is a funny science. It’s the only field where people can scientifically prove opposing theories and still be right.

Well hello there!

It’s been a while between green drinks, but I’m slowly creeping back into work now that Chloé is almost 9 weeks old (and a dream might I add) so hopefully I’ll get to pop in here and post a little more frequently now as I begin to find my flow as a mama to two beautiful babies.

Last week we celebrated our little man’s 2nd birthday, so I can no longer say I have two children under the age of 2 but they’re still pretty close in age.

Last week I dipped my toe back into presenting some more workshops and classes with a presentation on the benefits of juicing to the Garden Group up at another compound in our area.

I’m also kicking off some raw food classes, so if you’re local and interested in attending, check out the details here. Remember I’m in Saudi Arabia, Dhahran to be exact, but I’m planning some events hopefully in Australia later this year. You can sign up here to be notified of any upcoming events so you don’t miss out – Click HERE 

This week I showed one of my favourite movies, Fat Sick & Nearly Dead, to 26 people in my local community and that has sparked a need for me to lead a gentle group cleanse commencing April 1.

We have started our own little local Facebook group to encourage, support and answer questions and for those people REALLY wanting to attempt a full juice fast (7days) we will be talking pre cleansing these next two weeks, with introducing more raw foods and less unrefined foods and meat & dairy. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think we’ll have strength in numbers. Wish us luck!

So here’s a little something I filmed for my group tonight to answer some questions on the difference between juices & smoothies and thought you might like it too. This is something I have covered on the blog before and in my eBook, Smoothies & Juices for Newbies.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please pop them down below.

See you soon!

Last Monday I gave birth to my second little earth angel and couldn’t be happier with our complete little family.

My first born, Manus was also overdue by around the same amount of days and coincidentally, he arrived the day following a long walk and some wink wink, nudge nudge time I think perhaps I just make it a little comfortable for them inside my womb.

• 5am Monday morning I woke up with slight pains reminiscent of period pain. Not sure if this was the real deal, I pulled out my phone and started timing the ‘feelings’ with my Sprout application.

• 6am Pat wakes up to his alarm for work. I hadn’t woken him up at this stage because I still wasn’t sure if this was showtime or not. By this stage I was pretty sure what was happening roughly every 4mins were contractions. Tell Pat he might have to come home at lunchtime (my plan was to labour at home for as long as possible). He decides to stay home from work.

• 7am I take a leisurely shower and call out to him to press my contraction timer every time I feel them come on. Call my dad in Australia to get my mum’s flight numbers so I can find out when she will be landing into Dubai so I can tell her we won’t be able to pick her up from the airport. Make arrangements with Pat’s buddy to go over to Bahrain to pick mum up at 6pm. Also call a few more family members to update them.

• 8am Pat makes him and Manus breakfast – I don’t feel like anything but Pat insists I have some toast. Then I make sure my bag is packed and sit on my swiss  ball for every contraction and practice my breathing. They are still coming around 4-6mins apart and lasting around 40seconds. There is no real change. They are not painful but I know they are there and a little uncomfortable.

• 9am Pat calls my OB/GYN to tell him I am not coming in for my scheduled appointment later in the day as I am already in labour. He laughs and tells Pat he saw me walking last night! And that he will send my file to the labour and delivery unit ready for when I wish to come in.

• 10am contractions are getting a little more painful but not unbearable. Pat decides to go to the supermarket and to a friend’s house to pick up some supplies, while I decide to go for a neighbour hood walk to get things progressing. On my walk I do some more curb walking and find my contractions coming faster (every 2 mins) and more intense.

• 1030am I get home from my walk and call Pat and tell him to ‘get home now!’ as I feel I need to make our way to the hospital

• 11am Pat makes himself and Manus lunch – as when he gets home my contractions have gone back to 4 mins and I am still getting my things together including my birth plan. There isn’t the same feeling of urgency to get to the hospital.

• 1130am I am still not hungry but ask Pat to make me a smoothie (the one I had been dreaming of the night before) Banana Chai -YUM

Almond milk, frozen bananas, chai spice (this one from Choosing Raw) and vanilla – Blend!

• 12pm ok it’s time to get moving. Contractions are still 4mins apart but getting more intense. They’re starting to feel painful. I tell Pat it’s time but feel like he is moving in SLOW MOTION. Am getting frustrated with his pace. No one can move quick enough for me. Can’t people read my mind?

• 1230pm say goodbye to my little Manus and leave him with our sitter. He breaks my heart as he is calling out ‘mama’ and crying as I leave him. I know when I see him next he will have a little sister.

• 1245pm we are in the car making the 5 min journey to the hospital when Pat says he forgot the written birth plan. I am in the middle of contracting but sign for him to go home and get it. The last time we had a birth plan but didn’t give it to the midwife until AFTER Manus was born I tell Pat that if this is going to be a long labour like last time I am considering an epidural (which is not in my birth plan). He is supportive.

• 1250pm on our way back to hospital and I know mum has now landed into Dubai where she has a wait of about 4 hours before she boards her flight to Bahrain, so I buzz her and tell her I am in labour and Sean will be picking her up instead. She is excited. I’m contracting again!

• 1pm we rock up to the emergency entrance of the hospital and the security guard takes charge – telling me to get in a wheelchair and directing Pat to the car park. I don’t want to get into the wheelchair (walking helps my contractions and having my knees up is just not comfortable) but I get in until after I check in when a lovely Irish nurse picks me up, I tell her I want to walk and we walk and talk on our way to the assessment area in Labour & Delivery.

• 115pm the midwife on duty in the assessment room is already looking after another patient but directs me to a bed and shows me the gowns. She asks if I am Robyn (the OB/GYN has obviously sent the file as he mentioned) and asks if I think I am in labour. I say “hell yes!”

• 130pm (but feels like an hour later as right now, it feels like everyone is moving in slow motion and I want everyone to pick up the pace.) I am dying to know how far dilated I am as I feel that the pain should be indicative of me being on the homeward stretch. The midwife introduces herself as J and examines me. She says I’m only 4cm along, but baby is still really quite high up. This was exactly how far along I was with Manus and it was another 12 hours of labour till he appeared(no epidural). My mind is ticking.

• 145pm our friend, another staff member, sneaks Pat into my area (no men usually allowed) and I tell him I NEED the epidural, between contractions. J says from the other petitioned area, that my breathing technique is really good. There is NO WAY I am going to last a potentially long labour without relief. He is in full support. It’s decided. Epidural and my birth plan goes out the window.

• 2pm I get moved to my delivery room and am told that the doctor has been called for my epidural. Contractions are not getting closer but they are getting more painful. Pat is coaching me through my breathing, but where the hell is the doctor for my EPIDURAL!?! It’s just Pat and I for a while.

• 4pm finally the doctor has arrived to administer my epidural and I am totally ready for it! The contractions have been getting more intense. Due to it NOT being on our initial birth plan, I am however a little anxious about the possible complications that can arise from an epidural (my reasoning for not having one with Manus) but the doctor and J put me completely at ease answering all my questions (sometimes more than once) including the very low C-section rate at this hospital and my next challenge is for me to stay as still as possible whilst the needle is administered. Pat goes green as he glimpses what he thinks is the needle (it’s huge!), but I don’t notice till afterwards. What he was looking at WAS NOT the needle, we are told.

• 5pm I feel amazing. The epidural has kicked in and J has broken my water to get things moving. She has  told me I am contracting but I don’t feel a thing. It feels like I’ve just had my first post pregnancy wine, my legs are feeling a little woozy and I feel like having a little sleep. Pat turns on the TV to watch a movie. J tells us that I’ll be having the baby before she goes home at 7pm but for now I should just wait and rest up.

• 6pm J notices my contractions have pretty much disappeared so gives me some pitocin to get things moving again, she suggests this is the best time for Pat to go and grab some dinner but keep his phone with him. Once he’s gone and the pitocin kicks in the baby’s heart rate drops but not dangerously so, but enough for J to put me on oxygen and stop the pitocin. She tells me the oxygen is not standard in the UK where she trained but policy here. I start asking a lot of questions  and I know J realises my anxiety. I start to feel a little guilt for having an epidural and possibly causing all these complications. She puts me at ease and answers all my questions plus telling me what we are going to do next.

• 630pm Pat walks back in the room and wonders why I’m on oxygen. Both J and I put him at ease. Everything’s fine and J decides to increase the pitocin but by only a small amount. Immediately I start to feel a little pressure as if the baby is moving down. J tells me that I won’t now be having the baby on her shift and starts to prepare to handover to the next midwife. Inside i start to panic as I don’t want this to drag on like my last labour experience and I really hope i get a midwife as good as J. Even though I am not feeling the contractions painfully, I am starting to feel the pressure as if I want to push. I really want J to examine me NOW to see if I am 10cm dilated as am ready to push but I know she won’t do it as she is changing over to the next midwife. Meanwhile mum has texted me that she is finally off the causeway that links Bahrain to Saudi and she is close to entering the camp. She will come direct to the hospital. All I’m thinking is my poor mum is probably starving after her 24 hour journey and the cafeteria closes at 730pm but I am close to pushing and how will she get her dinner????

• 7pm M the new midwife introduces herself to me and I am eagerly waiting for her to examine me and when she does she says I am 10cm. It’s push time. Mum walks in the door! I say hello, M get’s suited up then tells me I can only have one person in the room. As soon as mum arrives she’s out the door off to the waiting room. M announces it’s time to push and tells me when I feel the urge to go for it!

• 724pm After two pushes baby Chloe is here! 3.62kgs/7.98lbs. Lightening fast! She is placed directly on my bare belly (albeit a shorter umbilical cord makes this a little challenging) and mum sneaks back in the room! How’s that for divine timing! The midwife is happy to allow us delayed cord clamping and Pat cuts the cord.

Welcome to our crazy little family Chloe girl.

Even though I didn’t end up following my birth plan of a drug free delivery, I am actually really pleased with how the experience went down and the end result was exactly what we wanted, a happy healthy baby.

I know I had a lot of anxiety going into this labour due to my previous lengthy labour without an epidural, and even though I was happy with the results in the end – a beautiful baby boy, I felt I couldn’t physically and mentally cope with a possible long drug free labour this time around.

In the end, both Pat and I felt with this experience, we were both a lot more relaxed, recovery was way quicker and the hospital staff were amazing with communicating to us both throughout the entire process to allay our concerns as well as keep us informed. Who knows if this is due to the epidural, our experience or many other factors.

With Manus, I was so exhausted from 3 hours of pushing with no result that in my exhausted and stressed out state, I was even begging for an c-section (didn’t happen). This delivery, apart from about the 5mins of intense pushing, was the polar opposite in a calmer way. By 10pm Chloe and I were checking one another out in our hospital room and cuddling up to go to sleep.

Would love to hear your birth story experiences in the comments below! One thing I’ve learnt from chatting with other mothers is not only are two babies never the same, neither are birthing experiences. 

Thank you for allowing me to share mine with you.