what i've learned in the u.s. - food and wine edition

ok i have been silent on this blog for a few weeks so time to fill it with some insights ;)
my unscientific, clearly biased take on wintering in the south and the food and beverages needed to sustain me...

guinness - you CAN get a decent guinness. and holy...happy hour is exactly what it says - a pint of the beautiful brew for 2.25! and taxes of only 6%...sweet and sweeter

meal specials - if you see an advertised special on prime rib dinner, and you go there to dine, and you are under 50, you WILL be the youngest one in the restaurant...make that under 60.

wine - the grocery stores DO sell decent wine. a recent special had 2 bottles of little penguin for 10$. if we had the mail-in coupon (seriously...a coupon for wine!) we could have bought 6 bottles of the stuff for 3$ each!

doritos - too salty, and the flavours are sub-par...not interested in eating them here.

chips - ditto. so salty, and more expensive - no kettle chips in honey dijon, or ketchup chips...c'mon!

mini rice cakes - sadly, another ditto - 2 boring, underflavoured choices and more $

cheese - cheese is cheap. so between the cheese and the oversalted snacks you've got some serious water retention contention.

deli - oh...after the cheap cheese, the inexpensive proscuitto continues the decadent deal - wine, cheese and proscuitto for a fraction of the price i am accustomed to? can make me want to pack it in and snowbird with my elders every year.

fried chicken - i FINALLY understand its appeal. the delicate crunch, the amber coloured coating. guess i shouldn't see food.inc

ice cream - you shouldn't. i shouldn't. i swear i meant to reach for the apple as my midnight snack. it just turned into a scoop of chocolate chip and cookie dough ice cream...two powerhouse flavours in one sea of frozen milk and sugar...deeeeeelish!

cherries - under 3$ a lb in winter. enough said

and for c...a dozen flavours of goldfish on sale last week for 1$ a bag! 1$ - such a nice price had to say it twice.

blogging for haiti

what can bloggers do to help haiti?
good article with ideas

also, my blog for work...
donating airline miles for haiti

i know this shows up as a note in fb, so click on the blog if you can't click the link

frisking baby

so we all flew out for our winter stay in fl on new years day

and honestly
the strangest thing was
having my 3 month old experience a pat down
and i don't know
it made me not want to fly anymore
i think of sars and the plane i was on being "quarantined" in madrid
i think of having to stay seated for the last bit of flights into washington reagan
getting puked on by someone else's child while flying out to a funeral - strangely symbolic i suppose

i used to really enjoy flying
i even learned to fly a cessna 150
sunburnt in the winter
cool air
endless horizon

but it just isn't like that anymore
and i guess it just hit me how much i miss it
the way it was
and never will be again

...briefly about babywearing

perhaps co-incidental...but the only photos i like with me in them tend to be when i am wearing one of my sons. but i have learned that certain carriers work both for bub and me.

so my take on some of the carriers...

stretchy wraps - right now, e and i are loving the sleepy wrap. very easy to use, comfy and easy to wash. e can last in it for hours.

ring sling - e is not a fan yet, but i used an organic cotton ring sling with c until i was almost 4mths pregnant...so past c's 2nd birthday. as they get bigger, best for shorter walks since side carry is used most.

sling - neither bub liked the hotsling...it's pretty but didnt fit well for a heavy-chested mama.

mei tai - great...steep learning curve for me for back carry. c fell asleep in back carry a lot so the only downside was trying to support his head when he conked out. really good for long walks.

baby bjorn - steve liked it but i hated it - my back was so sore if i tried having c in it once he was over 12lbs - no thank you

ergo and beco butterfly - i wanted to love these, i wanted to buy one of these but they are NOT made for a big chest (i am currently a 38i/j while nursing and probably will be for a few more years) - it was almost laughable how far these jutted out from my body...and i so wanted one.

not exactly the sweetest birth story and uterine tearing

we don't always get what we want
sometimes the hardest lessons in gratitude are forged with scalpels and narcotics and crash carts
and this is where the story of ev's birth begins
i've debated as to whether i would write about this - back and forth for days
but i know it won't disappear by ignoring it, and i think there is a message for others in my experience

i had a particularly challenging pregnancy this time
but it was all me, not the baby
was sick til 20wks
on all sorts of restrictions
and then for the last 5 wks was on complete bedrest with the hopes of getting to full term this time around
almost
3 days shy

if i had made it to 37wks i was planning on a homebirth
and was sad that i was so close
and at the same time filled with joy that i made it almost to term

so even though i knew when i went into labour that i was destined for a hospital birth
i was at peace with that

labour began normally
and went very badly very quickly
there was endless pain
and i knew something was wrong
there were no gaps
and the pain was centred on my lower abdomen
my midwife was showing a lot of concern
and she is solid, practical, earthy
the obstetrician came in
- your pain is not normal
i have only seen this once before
- i urge you to have a section
then he left for a few moments
and came back again

i was just blinded by the pain in my lower abdomen
but consented
and was out of there the second i said ok
and wheeled into an or

i begged to be awake for the procedure
as i knew it would take a lot longer to be alert after the procedure if i wasn't
and so had a narcotic and spinal injected
and the cut was so broad and deep that baby e was popped out in what seemed like seconds
there were crash carts as e had a huge decel during the cutting
his head was swollen and there were concerns about how he would do
my midwife and husband went with the nicu team
and somehow,
despite everything
he was ok

it took a long time to stitch me up
i looked at the clock - nearly an hour
and then the dr revealed the other case
he said it had been a complete uterine rupture that didn't end well
and although my uterus had started to tear, they were able to stop a full rupture and the bleeding
and if it had been 10 minutes later things could have been very different
for me
for the baby
he remarked that i had no scarring, so this was a spontaneous tear
but he said the way i described the pain was what made him keep insisting on surgery

if there is anything i have learned about birthing is it has nothing to do with who you are as a mother.
and to accept the things you have no control over
and be grateful that you don't have to lose everything when things go wrong

SOME OF THE SIGNS OF UTERINE TEARING/RUPTURE
these are the signs i had...
disproportionate pain
pain that doesn't stop - contractions only add to it
pain that is localized in the lower abdomen and not diffuse like you normally feel with a contraction
a baby that looks like he's been in the birth canal and then pushes back up

UTERINE TEARING can spontaneously occur
previous births are not necessarily a predictor of uterine rupture
i had no internal scarring and this happened
listen to your body and be mindful that there is bad pain

my body doesn't tolerate birthing well
i've attended homebirths as labour support and will continue to do so with reverance for those whose bodies naturally provide, even if i can never have the experience myself

i am grateful to be moving to mothering only and leaving birthing behind, and that my body is functioning naturally as a mother in a way that it never could in birth.

flu shot could increase chance of contracting h1n1 (swine flu

from the cbc