Sicker than I realized

Well, it's one thing to be sick with a cold, which given our climate and the fact that I am in and out of my kids' preschool four days a week, isn't much of a surprise, but it's another to find out that your body is rebelling on you.

While we were in California, I noticed that my skin was particularly itchy. I thought it was just climate change, scratched a bit, lotioned a lot, and let it go at that. But back at home, it has only increased, and it is now all over my body, not the expected belly stretching itching that anyone at 36 weeks would expect. Three days ago I had my regular midwife appointment, and at the last minute, the itching got the better of me and I remembered to ask her about it. She immediately recognized that it could be liver related and ordered a series of blood tests. Luckily, the next day was the one day each week when a lab clinic opens for three hours on the island, so I was able not only to do it at home, but not have to wait very long to do so.

The results returned the next day - I have something called obstetric cholestasis. A bad definition would be that something has caused my liver's bile duct to not allow the normal amount of bile salts through to my intestine for processing, meaning that there is a back up in my liver. My liver can't support all of that, so the extra spills into my bloodstream. My bloodstream runs near the surface of my skin, and by some miracle, attempts to rid itself of these extra toxins by popping through my skin. Of course this also means that my blood flow going to the baby is toxic. The midwife called with the results and sent us immediately to the hospital to consult with an obstetrician.

Great doctor - she was calm and not given to a rash decision (some of the websites - it can be dangerous to google! - stress that stillbirths become common and that a very early induction is required), so we had fetal monitoring (baby is happy!) and bloodwork. At this point I am elevated but not high, so we are going to wait and see - 35 weeks is a bit early to consider meeting this peanut!

Sick as a Dog

Well, we are finally all home (Chris from Sierra Leone, the kids and I from southern California... you can read more about that trip here). But I caught a nasty, evil cough and chest rattle while on vacation that I can't quite kick. So bad, in fact, that there has been no crafting or knitting or anything in three weeks. Ugh. I spent two days in bed and felt better, but getting up today just about sent me back. BUT - two days in bed at 35 weeks pregnant made my body sore, so I'm just coughing away and trying to get some of life back in order. Thank God for my husband - he has been a real gem, taking care of the kids and helping out.

Once a Month... or blue moon

There are lots of sites on the web for Once A Month Cooking (OAMC)- and I have always been intrigued by the concept. With baby number three approaching fast - I'm now 35 weeks along, it seemed like a good idea to try it out, at least a modified approach. I actually like cooking each night, so it isn't a big incentive to me to just pull things from the freezer each and every night. I'm also not a big leftovers or repeat fan, so making 10 of one meal and then eating it once a week or more isn't appealing either.

So here is my modified approach:
I've searched through most of the websites and read several of the books. As a vegetarian (mostly), lots of the recipes are not good for us - very meat focused. But I do use the soy crumbles that look like ground beef, so for this day of cooking I relied on those. I picked three casseroles that not only sounded like they would taste okay, but were slightly different enough so it didn't feel like one big giant beef casserole month. I also picked a few other recipes that are not technically OAMC - but come from the 5:30 challenge - five ingredients that (since I don't buy everything in cans) come from my freezer.

The kids were unusually cooperative, especially considering I've been sick and this wasn't the smartest use of my limited patience and energy. Chris had gone shopping for all the ingredients, and I didn't want anything to go bad, so I pushed through. It took most of the day - working methodically so as to reduce the number of steps and dishes as much as possible. I also used my bread machine's dough cycle to great use today.


So here's what we ended up with (meals based on our family of four and occassionally a guest) - four pasta/cheese/meat casseroles, two Italian bread covered casseroles, enough pizza roll ups for 6 meals, 12 ready to cook bean burgers, 30 bean and cheese burritos, a dozen crescent rolls, risen and ready to bake (the leftover dough from the italian casserole), and six giant baggies which contain smaller bags holding the ingredients to some 5 ingredient meals (all of which I can put together in under 10 minutes and have on the table in 30). The freezer is getting full! I'm exhausted, but it is so nice to know that when baby comes (or if this sickness continues), I can just defrost, bake and eat well...