Wikipedia Definition: severe form of morning sickness, with unrelenting, excessive pregnancy-related nausea and/or vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids.

I was just reading about this because I suspect I fall into this category this time around.  It's a little scary to read what can happen if this is not treated.  I am not holding down much, some days nothing at all food wise.  Liquids are difficult, but if I stick with liquids, it goes better for me.  This has probably been the worst my morning sickness has ever been.  I am just about 17 weeks along and it is just getting worse.

I am hoping things improve soon as just yesterday I spent most of the day horizontal.  I get really cranky from lack of nutrition and it is just not good for my other children for me to be so incapacitated.  Thank God I don't feel that bad every day.  But some days I feel I am just pushing myself too hard for my current condition (misery, basically).

I have lost 12pounds as of my last appointment.  I will keep you updated on further weight loss and such.  I have my next appointment next week.  Thanks for reading!

We got 12 baby chicks yesterday.  They are darling!  They are messy.  Right now, they are in a large tub on my pantry counter with a heat light above them.  They seem to be happy.  Daughter is writing a list with their names on them as I write you.  They all look pretty much the same, except for two.  One is very blond (Blondie) and the other is reddish (Delaina).

I thought I would get to choose my breeds and I did so much research on them.  But when you go to the Grange Coop and they are only a few days old, all they know is that they are all pullets (hens).  But the breeds I ended up with are desirable.  Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, and my favorite, Buff Orpington.  I'm not sure yet which are which or how many of what, yet.  You get what you get.  When you buy a 50 lb. bag of feed, you get five chicks free.  So I only paid for the seven.  I got organic feed, which I have read can be as much as double.  But it was only $5.00 more than the standard, and it is really important to me. 

When you order from breeders through the mail, you can choose your breeds.  But there is a minimum order of 25 chicks, as they need that many in a box to keep each other warm enough during shipping.  Also, you have to allow that you might lose a few during shipping.  I am not in a position to house that many hens at this time.  They will be in a 100 square foot shed and 12 is probably pushing it.

Later, we'd like to raise some of the Cornish Rocks for meat.  They are ready in 4-6 weeks.  I think I would hoop house them in the field until they are ready to butcher.  We can process and freeze them and not worry about chicken meat for the year.  And, you know what you're eating.

Later, when my older children are 12 and 13, we will find more land to build a green/solar/ecological home, where we can raise more animals.  Here we cannot have a cow or goats.  We can have horses here, however.  Our neighborhood has Covenants, Codes and Regulations governing what types of animals we can have on our land.

Well, I have several chicken books and I am learning as I go along.  I hope I don't lose anybody.

Blessings today,

Miss Kris

Beloved and I have been busy trying to eat well.  We began a 50-75% raw foods diet two weeks ago.  The first week went well, as I we was doing almost 100% raw foods only in order to detox my systems.  I detoxed, but Beloved showed no signs of it, as he was eating some bread, etc.

This past week has been more difficult for me as I have been hungrier.  I have cut out all sugar and caffeine, except for last night.  I fell off the wagon and had some Hershey's Kisses.  Other than that, I have been pretty faithful.

I really want to lose some weight before I have another baby.  I don't know if I'll be able to, but I'm gonna try.  With each baby I have gained more weight that does not come off.  It may not be coming off because I am nursing up until my babies wean themselves when I am pregnant with the next one.  So no break between nursing and pregnancy hasn't been good for that. 

However, with my last baby, I actually lost weight when I was pregnant.  I was very sick plus Number 3 had weaned, so that's probably why.  I also feel my metabolism is down from not eating enough regular meals.  I eat the three meals a day, barely.  So my body is in starvation mode.

It takes a lot of discipline to plan meals to eat every three hours to speed up the metabolism.  Sometimes I wish I was as thin as I was when I was younger.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to look like a Hollywood starlet (right, like I could), but my concern for my health grows with each year and I don't feel like doing as much as I should for someone my age.  I should be able to go on a hike with my children and there is no way I could hike the mountain in the shape I'm in.

What about you?  What do you do to keep your weight down between pregnancies?  I went to the Jeub's site and Mrs. Jeub had some good advice about weightloss.  www.jeubfamily.com  If you don't know about the Jeubs, I encourage you to go to their website and read their story.  Mrs. Jeub and other mothers of large families are always an encouragement to me.  And check out their book, Love in the House.  I am looking forward to buying it soon.

Blessings today, Miss Kris

I am starting a new category called Health, as I've decided to actually pay attention to mine.

Two days ago, I started Weight Watchers online.  This is the only "diet" you can do while breastfeeding, which makes sense.  It really isn't a diet.  It is an accountability system for eating healthy and making smart choices.

As of this morning, I have lost four pounds in two days.  Wow.  This keeps me wanting to stick with the program.  Now I only have eighty more to go, huh?  How did I let myself get this way?

I have never dieted.  When we got married, I was under weight.  I weighed 120 lbs. on a 5'-6.5" frame.  My weight had fluctuated somewhat while in highschool, but only because of muscle gain while playing sports.  I was always thin before I got married.

The first year of our marriage, I became very depressed.  I didn't know what to do with myself at first.  I had quit my job to stay home and at the time didn't have quite enough training to run my home.  I realize now I had led such a structured life that when I had none, I felt lost.  So I gained weight that first year and continued to do so at first because my inactivity. 

As I pulled myself up out of the depression (or rather the Lord helped me out of it) I began to learn more about running my home and got active again.  But I was still not as acitve as I had been when I was working.  Also, once you have slowed down your metabolism, it is hard to get it back up again.

At one point, after returning to work (I had no children at the time), I started to gain more weight because of my sedentary job.  At one point I got up to 175 lbs.  I was not happy with my appearance, so I kicked sugar and red meat and dropped 20 lbs. just like that.  I felt comfortable at 155, the high side of healthy for my height, and was proud of my accomplishment without exercise.

I kept the weight off and then got pregnant with my first child.  I gained weight with each of my children and never took much off.  My most recent pregnancy I did not gain much at all.  Maybe 10 lbs.  I never lose much afterward, unfortunately.  Nursing does not take the weight off for me.  I never dieted or did much because I was always nursing or pregnant.

Now I am at such a high (and undisclosed) weight that I am at risk for heart disease and find that I am not able to keep up with things without getting out of breath.  I am not doing this to "get skinny" although I think that will be a nice side benefit.  I am doing it so I can see and enjoy my grandchildren one day!  I want to live as long as possible to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to theirs.

I believe that the morning sickness I have with my babies is what has caused me to become addicted to sugar, which I never liked growing up.  Unfortunately, I could not eat much while so ill and the only things that appealed were chocolate, soda, Burger King, etc.  I have never been an overeater.  In fact, I undereat (forget to eat) most of the time.  It is WHAT I eat when I do that is the problem.  I am basically malnourished, and my body will not let go of the weight.

Now that is changing.  I am tracking everything I eat and making the five fruits and vegies, water consumption and non-fat milk consumption my goal.  I am being careful since I am breastfeeding.  But I am going to stick with it and keep seeing results.  I am very excited!

I will be starting to exercise soon, too.  I am borrowing my folks treadmill and I ordered a Pilates for Weightloss tape.  I have my jogging stroller, too.  But one step at a time!  One tiny step.  I don't want to set myself up for failure!

Thanks for reading my weight saga.  And please pray for me as I endeavor to get to take care of my body and get healthy.

Miss Kris