Dinner conversation

Well, our little monkey sure is curious about body parts these days. Yep, there’s whole lot of penis and vagina talk going on. Not to mention a fascination with breasts–today when I got out of the shower she asked if she could please touch mine! When I said, “I’d really rather you didn’t”, she was quite disappointed.

At the dinner table there was talk of daddy’s “boobies” and Maya was wondering why they were so small. Then she asked grandma if she had “big boobies” and more importantly, “are they bigger than daddy’s?”. When grandma said yes, Maya asked, “can I see them please?”. Ah, so polite, yet so wrong. All we could do was laugh… and then of course explain that some body parts are private.

Dinner conversation has certainly changed!

Last leg

How have I landed here so soon? The summer is coming to a close and I return to work in a few short days… such is the life of a teacher. Saying good-bye to summer vacation is always difficult. It’s all the more challenging this year because I’m in my third trimester of pregnancy and just starting to really feel tired and worn out. Which leads me to ask myself, “what the F*#! were you thinking when you decided to go back to work this fall?”

To top it off, I’ve just found out that I have gestational diabetes (GD), although only very slightly. There was one number (of three) that was ever so slightly elevated on my test. My doctors think that I had GD in my first pregnancy, but the screening test has improved slightly, so they believe they missed it last time. It makes sense that I had diabetes during my previous pregnancy; among other things Maya’s blood sugar crashed big time right after birth, requiring medical interventions, and the nurses kept telling me that it was really unusual for that to happen unless I had GD.

Now, I have to prick my finger 4-5 times daily to determine my blood sugar levels and adjust my diet accordingly. I’m kind of neurotically healthy with my food choices to begin with, so I’m finding it hard to believe that I have to make changes. Plus, I have celiac disease which is enough to manage in and of itself. Adding a diabetic diet to this is extraordinarily complicated. I keep telling myself: 10 more weeks, no big deal. But with the hormones, fatigue and added stress of starting work, I’m beginning to think it’s going to be a very long last leg.

Or not…

Have you ever eaten so many sour candies that you got sores on your tongue? Well, this happens to me if I eat a lot of sour things.

I have discovered that this is also what happens to me when I drink apple cider vinegar. My heartburn has eased, but I have terrible canker sores-ick! And so, my natural remedy has backfired. Defeatedly, I return to my previous regimen of prescription medications and watermelon. Ho hum.

Cure the Burn

I have struggled with heartburn for the past 9 weeks, and I’m only 29 weeks pregnant. Needless to say, 20 weeks is relatively early to start feeling the burn, and it was really intense for me. Eating was hard. Tums and other such remedies failed. In the end, I decided to take Zantac and then later, at my doctor’s urging, prescription strength Zantac. In spite of this, the heartburn seemed to be getting worse and worse.

Naturally, the doctor wanted me to take stronger prescription medications. Don’t get me wrong, I like my GP, but she sure likes to prescribe. So, I went in search of other more natural remedies, like papaya enzymes. Then, when I asked my doctor about it, she just gave me a puzzled look and announced, “I know nothing about it”. That said, I tried papaya tablets (from the health food store), which has been moderately helpful. I also read on one of my favourite blogs about watermelon being very effective, and so I’ve been eating loads of it, and it has helped a bit.

Since midwives generally go the natural route, I’ve been asking friends who were patients of midwives about what was recommended for them, but most have simply replied, “I never had heartburn when I was pregnant”. Finally, a friend came to visit yesterday who was a patient of a midwife who also suggested papaya. My friend didn’t take it, but she found instead that apple cider vinegar was highly effective. She’d add a tablespoon of it to her drinking water and down a glass with each meal. Well, I tried it today for the first time, and this is the first day in MONTHS that I haven’t felt the need to take a prescription pill. Halleluyah!

Anyone else know of a natural heartburn cure? Share it here!