Most of the pregnancy restrictions are no big deal - we're not big drinkers so I don't miss alcohol, though being at Canlis without a glass of wine just feels weird. I do admit a touch of envy yesterday when my fine colleagues were prepping a vodka-soaked watermelon for a late afternoon Happy Hour, but for the most part, I'm fine doing without.
Sushi is another story, though. We have a conveyor belt sushi place that we hit up weekly because it's perfect toddler food - fast, relatively clean, and a reliable way to get protein into BabyT. My choices are very limited now since I am begrudgingly staying away from the raw stuff. I miss salmon the most. Only 8 more weeks, though, and by the last few uncomfortable weeks, I'll probably get all crazy up in here and get a little sushi.
The other thing I realized I can't do any more is make my own mayonnaise. I use fresh eggs, but again, it's a risk/reward thing, and it's just not worth it to me that I *might* get sick. So we're back to storebought mayo for now. T is oddly fascinated by it, but won't try it even though it's non-dairy.
She was enraptured by the non-dairy whipped "cream" at breakfast today. Our waitress thought it was so sad that T couldn't get a whipped cream smiley face on her Mickey pancake so she took the initiative to check on it and then asked us if it was ok. How awesome is that?
This week I am dedicated to avoiding added sugar, in my attempt to S-L-O-W-L-Y get back to a Paleo diet. Giving up the wheat is going to be harder, so I started with something easier for me as I don't have much of a sweet tooth. I was sorely tempted by the cream puffs at the sushi place, but am proud to report I let them go by (many times!) without grabbing them.
But overall, I can't complain. I passed the gestational diabetes test (by just a tiny bit), and Baby X' is growing well and bouncing around. I can't believe she'll be here in less than 2 months (yikes!).
For me the problem was heartburn - I *love* spicy food and it just killed me after! The very first thing I drank after Henry was born was a *huge* glass of orange juice - after confirming that the heartburn really is just because your stomach is smashed, so that effect would be immediately relieved by birth. I remember asking my midwife to be sure because the heartburn was so bad!
ReplyDeleteHah, I love that you were doing an experiment :) Always a scientist, right?
DeleteI don't know what's different but my heartburn is MUCH better this time. Last time it was awful and I had to give up all spicy food. Now I only get heartburn if the food is REALLY spicy, like too spicy for me. And OJ is still fine, thankfully.
What about making mayo with pasteurized eggs? I've used them for a few recipes where the eggs aren't cooked and I was either making the item for a higher risk group or there were a lot of raw eggs required.
ReplyDeleteDi - I had no idea such a thing existed!! Doesn't pasteurization cook the eggs?! Do they come in cartons/shells, or is it a liquid like the egg whites?
DeleteThe ones I'm talking about are pasteurized in the shell. The egg whites are a little thicker, but otherwise mostly behave like regular eggs. I think the whites don't whip as well, but that wouldn't be an issue for mayonnaise.
DeleteI had no problems giving up booze, either- the thought of it made me gag while I was pregnant. Which is a good thing, because we did things like take a vacation to Portland and go to a lot of brew pubs, and if I'd been missing beer, it would have been pretty sad.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing I missed the most was soft cheeses and really good mozzarella. And I hated having to ask so carefully about the queso when I went to Mexican restaurants! But I don't mess with Listeria when pregnant. I was on the food safety email list for awhile pre-first pregnancy, because of a project at work, and boy, that was sobering. We need a better food safety system in this country, people. There is broad scientific consensus on what we should do... and no political will. Sigh.
Cloud, I wouldn't even think to ask about the queso, yikes! I thought I read somewhere that there are some restrictions on selling unpasteurized cheese in the US and it's actually pretty hard to find?
DeleteYeah, I can imagine the Northwest is a hard place to be if you miss beer ;) I was just in Portland during Brewfest and was glad I didn't care!
I totally hear you about the long list of things you're not supposed to eat. I have a feeling the list will just grow every year. What was worse for me was the constant lecturing by everyone (waitresses, random strangers at stores) - if I did NOT eat something, I'd get a lecture about being too restricted, if I DID eat something, I'd get a lecture about how I wasn't supposed to eat it. There was no way to win.
ReplyDeleteI went crazy on dried sausages (a big thing for me here in Sweden), salami, and soft moldy cheeses after the delivery.
Dried sausages sounds interesting. Is it like jerky? Interesting that strangers seemed to butt in. I don't get that here thankfully.
DeleteYeah for some reason it's really common here (the butting in). Also, I've heard of bars refusing to serve women who are breastfeeding because a lot of people here think that the alcohol passes into the breastmilk. (It doesn't, based on what I read - if you get sh*tfaced, it could get to about 0.5% by volume, but is barely dectectable if you have one strong drink.)
DeleteThere are lots of yummy dried sausages available here; the best are the ones imported from Eastern Europe. I got hooked when I first got here and they were the one thing I missed the most when I was pregnant.
Oh I forgot to actually answer your question - yeah the dried sausages are sort of like jerky. Some have a nice smoky flavor that I really like.
DeleteYes, the nosy strangers "advice" was the worst part of it. No I do NOT want decaf thank you very much. And yes I WOULD like a sip of the wine. A few sips at 36 weeks is not going to hurt the baby. I really did miss booze & sushi during my pregnancies. I kept smelling my husband's dark beer, it calmed my nausea somehow, though the thought of any other alcohol made my stomach turn.
Deletegah, the comments about heartburn made me remember some clove gelato that I had at around 38 weeks, tasted great going down, but the whole.rest.of.the.night, ugh. burping up spicy clove flavor. horrible.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the next two months!
Thanks! And I can imagine the horrible clove burps ;) but clove gelato sounds so yummy! I have definitely had those "I wish I didn't eat that" nights but far fewer than last time, perhaps because I've given up dairy (mostly).
DeleteIf you're having issues with giving up wheat, just post on my FB wall, and I'll tell you all the horrible things it does to me. Maybe that'll scare you out of it. :-D
ReplyDelete