Do you believe in traditional supplements ? When I was pregnant with Amber, I took lots of cordyceps, and double boiled chicken essence. I had a very bad bout of cough and it was the cordyceps/ginger concoction that cured my cough. I also took birds nest (against my obgyn's advise) as a treat for myself.
Hubs for one, is against me taking birds nest and such for pregnancy. My first obgyn advised me against it as birds nest do contain a lot of bleaching chemicals and there's lots of faked/reconstituted birds nest in the market too.
One of our colleagues owns a birds nest house in Pahang and she's assured me her birds nest were preservative free. Moreover the recent scare in China caused the price to drop and I took half a kilo from her, at a very reasonable price.The birds nest was of consumption quality with very little 'feather stains' and does not require much picking. There's a method to cook .. or not to overcook the birds nest to preserve the proteins.
I've been taking it diligently since 4 or 5 months pregnancy. If I follow the correct method of consumption, that is just 3 tablespoon everyday, half a kilo goes a long way. My friend taught me to presoak the birds nest for 15 minutes and then double boil for not more than 45 minutes. Easy peasy. Previously I double boiled for hours and that, apparently overcooks and damages the protein structure of birds nest.
I also took some cordyceps - toong choong chou. MIL gave me a box and I double boiled only once. I shall save the balance for confinement..
Hubs packs my USANA vitamins 3x daily and reminds me to take them diligently. I took the multivits, calcium and Omega oils. Occasionally, I'll take the Nutrimeal meal replacement when I don't have much appetite.
I have gained no more than 10kg till todate. Most of the weight gain went to baby and in fact, I have lost some weight. I didn't have much appetite and morning sickness lasted until beyond 7 months.
With these nourishment, I hope baby will arrive healthy and nourished.
