Pregnancy Update and Hospital Things

When you are pregnant it is completely acceptable to make microwave rice krispie treats, and eat them out of a bowl with a wooden spoon while watching Jon Stewart.  This is one of the perks of pregnancy and it also happens to be what I am doing right now.

I wanted to share my experiences with the hospital facility tour we took on Sunday.  We planned our tour of the labor and delivery ward of the nearest hospital covered by our insurance a little early so we would be able to explore other options if it didn't feel right.  I hadn't done any research prior to the tour and to be honest, I wasn't expecting anything spectacular.  What I found was more than a pleasant surprise, it was kind of exciting.

The tour was extremely informative.  The tour leader took us all over the facility and explained the processes and procedures.  The first thing I noticed was that the rooms are huge and you don't have to share a room with anyone for recovery.  I was afraid that we might have to do that.  I found out that my hospital is the only facility following the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in my area.  They have one of the best breastfeeding success rates in the Northwest, are very conscious of giving you the birth experience you want, and all deliveries (except for high risk surgeries) are done by midwives.  The facility was also recently renovated and is really beautiful.

I'm so impressed by the facility and I feel much calmer about labor and delivery now because I absolutely feel like I am in the competent hands of people who are going to listen to me and follow practices that I planned to ask for anyway.

Only 10 more weeks to go!
-Kira

I Really Want...

This recipe looks real good.

I want to eat a plate of eggs benedict, but I can't because of the hollandaise sauce raw egg situation.  Out of all of the things I can't eat or drink during pregnancy, this is by far the hardest to avoid.  Once I am no longer pregnant (and recovered from the whole birthing a baby thing) I will be eating a giant plate of this stuff.  There will just be hollandaise sauce everywhere, and it will be glorious.

-Kira

Craving of the Day #5

 It has been a while since I've done a "Craving of the Day" post.  It turns out that cravings kind of go away after the first trimester and I really haven't had a good one since.  I'm not sure if this current craving is related to the pregnancy or if it's due to the fact that summer is finally here.  I think it has a lot to do with the weather.  Either way, I have been eating tons of watermelon lately.  Usually twice a day.  Yesterday I was so lazy that I didn't even cut it up.  I just cut one in half and started eating it with a spoon.  You can do those kinds of things when you are pregnant.
-Kira

Craving of the Day #4 - Junk

I went to the grocery store yesterday because we needed produce and milk.  I did buy those things, but I also picked up a bunch of random junk (pictured) and somehow a whole lot of cheese.

This is proof that pregnant Kira should not go to the grocery store by herself while hungry.
-Kira

Craving of the Day #3

We had our 16 week appointment yesterday.  Everything is going smoothly and we heard a healthy little heartbeat.

Some interesting news for me was that apparently I gained 7 pounds in the last 4 weeks.  This was surprising to me because my jeans still fit.  I am wearing skinny jeans as I type this.  Apparently my pants are stretchier than I realized.  Total for this pregnancy so far I have gained 10 pounds.  I know I am not supposed to be weirded out by weight gain while pregnant, but it's kind of hard to turn your brain around and think that gaining weight is a good thing.  I'm trying to not go overboard and just eat unhealthy things all of the time, but occasionally I crave something really deliciously over the top.  Like...

I went to get frozen yogurt with a couple of friends on Wednesday night.  It's one of those pay-by-the-weight places.  I watched my friend Larissa weigh hers and then did mine.  My frozen yogurt cost twice as much!  I have a hard time making decisions so I ended up with three different kinds of frozen yogurt, chocolate and white chocolate chips, strawberries, blackberries, hot fudge, and carmel sauce.  It was delicious.

Also, I ordered a pregnancy workout dvd from Amazon.  I am tired of being lazy.  I planned to walk the dogs more as a means of getting some exercise in, but the weather doesn't cooperate very often.  I'm sure it will be corny, but hopefully it will be beneficial.

Happy Good Friday!

& Earth Day

& weekend!

-Kira

Craving of the Day #2

Today is my second installment of Craving of the Day where I tell you what foods I have been craving while pregnant.  I guess you could call this one Craving of the Week because I have had this exact same meal three times in the last five days.

I have been eating sandwiches with the following ingredients:
-avocados
-tomatoes
-lettuce
-honey mustard
-mayonnaise
-salt & pepper
on wheat bread.
Right now I am finding these to be the perfect combo of ingredients.  Who needs meat and cheese?  Apparently I don't anymore.
-Kira

Craving of the Day

I'm starting a new series while I am pregnant.  It is called "craving of the day," and it's pretty straightforward.  If there is a day where I have a particularly strong craving for something I'm going to document what it was and how delicious it was once I got to eat it.

Ok, today I had a really strong craving for Burgerville food.  Not just any burger would do.  I wanted the Spicy Anasazi Bean Burger.  I also found it completely necessary to put their Rosemary Shoestring Fries in my mouth asap.

The fries...absolutely amazing.

There isn't a Burgerville near my work and I was already hungry when I left so I drove to the most practically located one (near the Target I needed to visit).  I went through the drive thru, got my food, and parked in the lot.  I devoured my dinner while sitting in a parking lot listening to sports talk radio as it rained outside.  I'm not sure I have ever had a more satisfying meal. 

-Kira