Proteksia

Last Wednesday I went to my local Kuppat Cholim (health office) pharmacy to buy TUMS for me and my pregnancy heartburn and cold medicine for Adi. As usual, there was a long line and lots of chaos. The "take a number" system adds as much confusion as it prevents, since in addition to the "regular" line, there is an "express" line for people who are:

• accompanied by children under 3 years of age
  
• buying 3 or fewer items
  
• buying only OTC items
  

Since all 2 of my needs were OTC, I positioned myself in a seat facing the "express" line, while grabbing a number as backup.
My number came up before my place in the express line did, but I was not able to waddle down to the far-flung free counter in time before an elderly patron with a higher number beat me to it. The pharmacists were zipping through the numbers pretty fast, since any given number could easily correspond to a customer who got served at the "express" line. I could have fought her for my position but since she had been ahead of me in the "express" line it didn't seem to matter. (If you're wondering: I had a better number than she did because another woman gave me her unused number after getting served in the express line. Confused? Yeah, so was I.)
Besides, I could see that the pharmacist at the express line was a young woman who I'd connected with before, so I was happy to wait for her as long as I could wait in a chair.
The young pharmacist spotted me and smiled. I thought I saw a bit of extra belly popping out behind her counter, but I wasn't sure. She signaled to me to go outside and around.
Around where? I signaled. Someone pointed me out of the pharmacy towards the medical center hallway. Confused, I went. There, the young pharmacist opened a door and waved me in.
I entered and found myself in the pharmacy storeroom. Cool!! Now it was clear that she too was pregnant! We exchanged cheerful belly points.

The reason we recognized each other is that when I went in to buy a pregnancy test from her back in April, she'd suddenly burst into tears. Now she explained:

"The day you came in, I had miscarried before that day. I had just tried again and done a test myself that morning. It was negative and I was so disapointed and upset. But now, thank God, I'm pregnant with twins!"

I wasn't surprised. I was very happy for her.

She asked me what I needed.
"Oh yeah, I suffer from heartburn too, at night." And on the cold medicine, she helped me choose something better for Adi than what I'd requested. I waited by the open shelves of drugs while she made change, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble as her colleagues came and went, filling orders.

I was so thrilled by our connection and the special service that I kissed her on both cheeks to thank her.

"We should get together... with the babies!" I suggested warmly and gave her my card. "Do you live in Haifa?" I asked her. She's Arab, so I had some doubts.

"Oh yes, on Stella Maris," she said.

Cool. So I have valuable "proteksia" at the pharmacy and a nice new friend!

That Cord Blood Again

OK, so it's not as expensive as I thought. It's like a ONE TIME ~$1,200 payment to store it for 18 yrs. Not a series of annual 1K payments. I still think it is a bit of a boolsheet but now I admit I am having doubts...

Favorite Foods

There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it, but pregnancy hormones sure change my tastes. It's not as severe as in the first trimester, but even now in the homestretch, I have some definite likes and dislikes that differ from my usual preferences. The only semi-coherent thread I sort of recognize is that there's a tendency to prefer foods I preferred in early childhood. These tend to be more boring, bland foods in the carbohydrate and sugar food groups than I usually eat as an adult.
I hear from friends that tastes return to pre-pregnancy normal after birth. Now that's hard to believe, but I look forward to it. So, for the record, here are some of the funky food things I've been experiencing:

Foods I Normally Love that I Can't Stand Now (or are likely to make me puke if I do)

• Humus and pita. Thought I could do it on Saturday. Had a bunch and then it was puke-o-rama for the rest of the day.
  
• Herbs, particularly basil as in pesto.
  
• Baby greens (There may be some biological logic to this one. Lettuce can contain the same bacteria that are safe to adults but toxic to fetuses as can raw meat or cat shit)
  
• Salads in general. One exception seems to be my favorite "salat italki" at Sylva Cafe.
  
• Pizza!
  

Foods I Don't Normally Get that Excited About that I Really Enjoy Now

• Potatoes
  
• Oatmeal. I've been eating tons of it.
  
• Ice cream. OK, so I always love it, but I can generally resist it pretty well.
  

Cravings I've Had

Not too many really, and generally not sustained.

• Potato chips. It was so bad I nearly cried. Good news is that one (small by American standards, large by Israeli standards) bag totally satisfied the urge.
  
• Chinese (pork) dumplings. This happened once very early in the pregnancy. It took me an entire day to make them because not only are they naturally time consuming but I had so little energy then and I had to do a bit of research to understand their construction. I approximated an entirely satisfying kosher version using "mizrachi kebab" meat I had in the freezer. The scallions and sesame oil seem to be the magic that really make them taste authentic. What amazes me is how a flour and water based dough "knows" to taste like Chinese dumpling here, Middle Eastern Pita there..
  
• Coca-Cola. I'd learned to give it up for Diet Pepsi Max. But diet drinks are definitely OUT for pregnancy. I haven't had a lot of Coke during the pregnancy, but an occasional well-placed glass really offsets the 3rd trimester nausea. I don't think it would have made a dent in the 1st trimester, I don't think I even tried.
  
• Lemon juice. As in, the juice of a lemon in cold water, without sugar. Not craving it now, but it helped with nausea in the first trimester. And I just enjoyed it a lot in the second.
  

Foods I Pretty Much Gave up During the Last 2 Years of Disciplined Dieting that I'm Enjoying Indulging in Now

• Butter.
  
• Nuts.
  
• Peanut butter.
  
• Fruit.
  
• Avocado.
  
• Yogurt with a fat % over zero%.
  

It seems utterly unfair and unreasonable that the baby only requires an additional 300 calories over a woman's normal dietary intake needs. Do you realize how little that is? That's like if I kept my diet the same, only:

• Instead of the 0% yogurt I usually have (46 calories), switch to a 3% yogurt of the same size (160 calories)
  
• Eat one "milky" pudding snack (160 calories).
  
• Add one (small) pad of butter to something to make up the additional few calories.
  

Of course, that assumes that I'm able to eat the same diet I was eating before which consisted of mountains of raw vegetables, lots of 5% cheeses, and very controlled quantities of (mostly diet) bread, fueled by pretty serious consumption of diet cola. Um, I'm not. No way. Can't do that now. The vegetables are tough. The diet products are impossible. And portion control is pretty much regulated by what Cholent demands or rejects.
SO, I accept that I'll have some work ahead of me to return to pre-prego weight. But hopefully it will be a lot easier when I get my old taste buds back!

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Enjoying my new Old Navy Maternity fake fur trim vest!
Cooking Cholent keeps me warmer than everyone else. Still haven't felt a need for socks but today I actually succeeded in wearing a long sleved shirt for part of the day.
I tasted the chicken soup and it seems right!!

Chicken Soup

It's been a while since I wrote about food.
Adi has a cold. He's being incredibly brave but I am having a hard time with it. This morning I got all mushy hormonal, crying because I couldn't fix him. He was very reassuring, saying that the tea I made him and vitamins I fed him were helping. Whatever.
I dedcided to do something drastic and make chicken soup today. Drastic because a) It required a trip to the supermarket to procure the chicken and b) It required handling the flesh of a dead animal.
a) Was easier to overcome than I feared when I remembered the small market a 5-min. drive away with easy parking. Normally, I do all my grocery shopping online. The deliver (Lord bless them) and though it *may* cost more (who knows?) it is worth every shekel. Actually I think I spend less when I shop online because it is so much eaiser to compare prices and remove items when the total starts looking high. It is also rather hard to make impulse purchaces online.
When you go to the actual supermarket as rarely as I do, it's actually sort of fun. Especailly when the store is clean, well-stocked yet small enough not to cause nervous break down.
Anyway, I bought the chicken.
"What do people usually get for soup?" I asked the uniformed young Russian behind the meat counter.
"Legs. Or wings."
"Or both?"
"No. One or the other."
I couldn't decide, and the whole chickens looked cuter somehow.
"I'll take a whole one. That small one. Can you cut it up please?"
That was it. Pretty easy. I bought some celery, an enormous thing with a forest of dark green leaves attached.

b)I ate a fistfull of candy corn (DELICIOUS) to brace myself, then rinsed the poulet parts and put them in the bottom of huge meat pot. I added most of the celery (gave up on trying to add all those greens though I'm sure they're very good for you there were just too many!), an onion, a hunk of garlic, several carrots (I resisted peeling though I prefer them peeled). Oh yes and a hunk of ginger. That's my mother's trick. It gives you the best of Jewish and Chinese healing soup powers!
I covered the whole lot of it with water and turned on the flame.

As of this posting it is still simmering and the house is indeed smelling like chicken soup.

Faye Levy includes dill. I don't like dill so I didn't. Planned to include some parseley but I found it had been trapped in a bag with a cuccumber which had rotted, so I tossed it. Ordinarily, I'd probably separate and rinse carefully but being pregnant I'm unwilling to take such risks with food.

I sent urgent mail to my mother and Charles for further instructions and they responded promptly.

My Call on the Blood Banking

Thanks to everyone who responded here and via email! Y'all pretty much confirm the conclusion I'd reached which is that it's an idea whose time has not yet come. It doesn't pay for now, the money is better off being invested in a college fund.

I am disapointed that we can't seem to donate. I do understand that if we were to donate, the blood would not be saved for *our* baby. In fact, I thought that was the point! That it could be used for a) someone who does need it and can use it NOW or b) for medical research. Both strike me as highly worthwhile destinations, especially in this time of absurd anti-science policies of the US government.

I am happy to hear that Haddasah Ein-Kerem does collect the blood and presumably does nice things with it.

I encourage everyone to try to donate the stuff.

BTW, so far I have yet to hear from a friend who DID bank it. Would be curious to hear that side too. One friend recently told me she wishes she had. And I think it's natural to feel a tad guilty. NOT that you should, but those silly advertisements certainly play on those feelings.

Babi-gami

This book is too cute. Baby-Gami: Baby Wrapping for Beginners

Cord Blood Banking

I just can't believe no one has responded on this issue yet.

Real Beauty

Very interesting Dove Advertisement, a video showing how photos of models are manipulated to form images of beauty.

The other night I watched The Thomas Crown Affair, the original with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. I don't think I'd seen it before. I can see why the French would love it. It can be a little slow at times, in that 1960s kind of way. But it is also so bad-ass. Those multi-screen shot must have been soooo high-tech at the time. They are still really cool. Steve McQueen is ultra cool. This quality is the inspiration of The Tao of Steve, a movie I was thinking about the other day.
The recent Spike Lee movie, Inside Man has some similarities: super-clever bank robbery carried out by a group of people conveniently disconnected from the leader; super-clever tough blonde sexy woman brought in by the insurance compny to solve the caper.

The seduction scene in Thomas Crown is one that you just wouldn't see in a movie today. Not only because it is slow and involves a game of chess. But because the extreme close-ups explose the deep crinkles around Steve's eyes and the small scars (chicken pox?) in Faye's. They are both stunningly gorgeous people. To my eye, they're all the more beautiful with those little flaws. You just wouldn't see them anymore, they'd be airbrushed away if the actors hadn'd had them surgically corrected already.

I liked Faye's rich looking beige nail polish in that scene too.

Brain Book

I will admit that my interest in Simon Baron-Cohen's book began because he is realated to Sacha Baron-Cohen (aka Ali G., aka Borat, aka Bruno). But I am really enjoying reading
The Essential Difference: Male and Female Brains and the Truth About Autism. His thesis is that on average, women's brains are more likely to be wired for "empathy" and men's brains are more likely to be wired for "systemizing".

Pregnancy Conference

Last week I went to a pregnancy conference at a local hotel. Basically this was an opportunity to stock up on free stuff and listen to some lectures given by doctors from the hospital where I'm planning to give birth. The lectures were so-so and the free stuff selection wasn't stunning but still it was kind of nice to be in the presence of so many pregnant tummys. Well, a little smelly too.
I smiled at the vendor who was selling brit mila (circumcision) kits.
"Got me a girl," I told him.
"Good, good, take one of these," he said and offered me a free booklet with prayers for before & after the miraculous event.
"Thanks!" To me, this is one of those things that make me happy to live in Israel. That circumcision is assumed and that there would be such a vendor at such a conference. I also overheard a woman (who didn't even look religious) asking a formula vendor why her product was kosher but not kosher l'mahedrin, that is, super kosher.

You should have seen how the free snacks were devoured. This wasn't just a group of Jews facing free hotel food. This was a group of PREGNANT Jews facing free hotel food. I think a swarm of locusts could not have done better.
After the doctors there was a lecture about the importance of choosing a good name. Now, I loooove the name game discussions. But the speaker, who had a backround in psychology, proported to follow something called "cosomo numerology". If you have not heard of this field, you are not alone. I will summarize it for you. It is a boolshit.
It combined a bit o' gematria with a bit o' energy & chakra stuff with a whole lotta boolshit.
I did learn one interesting fact however. It is not only my in-laws who have issues with middle names. Apparantly Israelis in general are very anti middle names. They don't see the point, think it is one name too many and just a pain in the tuchus. Oh well, too bad. Cholent is gonna have one.

Later I quizzed a group of houseguests on the subject. We agreed that it was a highly cultural decision. The native-born Israelis were pretty set against while us foreign-born parents-to-be were pretty pro one if not more middle names.

Cord Blood Banking

So I'd like to open up a discussion and get your opinions on this subject. There were several vendors at the fair pushing banking of cord blood. For those of you who have not spent a minute on any pregnancy website lately, I will explain the concept. The rest of you are already familiar with the idea from the constant barrage of guilt-inducing advertisements.
At the time of birth, one can have the doctors collect blood from the umbilical cord. (I do not know if having the father chew apart the cord with his teeth makes a difference. ) The blood is then sent to a lovely lab (possibly in Switzerland) where it is frozen and stored. Cord blood is no ordinary blood. It has some pretty cool, stem-cell like properties.
The idea is that in theory, if your dear child should someday God forbid develop some sort of horrible disease requiring a very particular sort of translpant that their own cord blood could be used to save them.
My readings on the subject at sites like www.webmd.com make me feel pretty confident that while this is a lovely idea in theory, the world is not really close to being ready to actually exploiting this resource.
Needless to say the service costs many money. It's a kind of insurance policy. The tricky point of course is that while it seems unlikely (statistically speaking) that this blood will ever come in handy, there is that nagging, guilt-inducing worry of "what if"?
I read that you could donate your cord blood where it would be used for research and or banked for others who might be able to use it. This seems to me like a win-win idea. It's free, it's a no-brainer that it might help someone. And, bonus, because it's kind of like stem cells it's a nifty little kick at a certain president who is bent on blocking medical research and, well, PROGRESS of human kind.
I called one of the cord bank companies to ask about donating and they directed me to the Israeli Magen David Adom. Alas, they told me that only two hospitals in the country (Haddassah Ein Kerem near Jeru, and Tel Hashomer in Tel Aviv) collect cord blood donations. Bummer. When I toured my hospital, I asked and was told the same thing. I asked again at the conference (in front of everyone, to raise consciousness about it) and got a very dissatisfying answer from the doctor about the donations being "problematic". Hmm. It wasn't clear why donations were "problematic" but commercial collection was not.
Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone out there (no, not you from those cord blood companies!) can give me a convincing reason why I *should* bank the blood. Also, if any of you out there have media connections, I think it would be nice to have an article about why exactly it is that so few hospitals in Israel are set up to collect donations of cord blood.
Final note: I could link to any number of cord bank companies, but I bet you that the AdSense links I have on this page will now automatically point to them. These guys are VERY aggressive advertisers.

20 Seconds

Thanks to Leah for this very cool speed pregnancy video.

And Counting

A few days ago I was going to start a post with "5 days since I last puked". But then, I puked again, two days in a row. So that's how it goes. I was feeling better: more energy, more "normal". Then exhaustion returned. So it's just day by day.
I'm working on some more pleasant and interesting projects at work. That helps. It was a nice surprise too after recent announcements about mega cuts at MegaCorp. Turns out the cuts both will and won't be deep. They take time to implement. My projects are probably safe. At least for the time being. Of course, as Alex From Hungary says, "We do not know the future. Only the woman who has this as her profession knows the future." Meaning of course a fortune teller.

Bathing Belly

Finally made it to the beach this Saturday. Yes, there are advantages to living in the Middle East, like perfect bathing in October.

Going to Work at 30 Weeks

That expanding skirt I bought in Jerusalem during the war is still a comfy part of my wardrobe. This Target Liz Lange maternity T is not as loose as it used to be.

Free Trip To Israel!

Do you know someone in the USA who is:

• Jewish (either parent, or converted),
• Aged 18 (and graduated high school) - 27 (must turn 27 after Dec 1)
• Who has never been to Israel on a peer (organized) program?
  
  NOW IS THEIR CHANCE
  Taglit-birthright israel Winter program is a FREE 10 day
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  Registration is open ONLY for a few more days!! If you don't
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  about coming yet – register, it's free and will only take 5 minutes!
  
  See www.israelexperts.com/indexbi.html or call 1-800-218-9851

Ticker

I Was Thin Once

This pic just popped up on my puter today. A reminder that I didn't always have this belly. I am starting to look at other post or pre pregnant women and feel jealous that they can wear normal clothes.

Rough Spots

This week was a bit tough. I didn't feel so great. Lots of tired and puking. I had to take stock and scale back on all of the few extra-work commitments I had left. Didn't feel good about that, not easy.

YK

Yom Kippur was not bad. I started it with a personal "tashlich" trip to the beach. I didn't have much time because we moved the clock back in Israel and my day raced by. That was OK though, I didn't have enough energy for a walk and quiet contemplative moment. Instead I walked into the sea getting the bottoms of my capri sweats rather wet and wishing I'd been smart enough to wear a bathing suit. The water was perfect. I sat in the sand. Or rather, sort of lay in it on my left side (the only comfortable position now). The sky was full of bible-illustration clouds. You know, the kind that filter the sun through in impossibly beautiful rays.

I tried to think about sin and forgiveness and the main thought that popped into mind was:

IT IS A SIN THAT I HAVE NOT SPENT MORE TIME AT THE BEACH LATELY

Sure, I can be forgiven. Until recently, it was too hot. And there was the war. But now there's no excuse.

The streets were empty on my way home. Rather than perceiving that as a relaxing, spiritual thing, it reminded me of the war and freaked me out a bit. I was glad to get home, shower quickly, and dress to go out for Kol Nidre.

During the next day, it was a little strange - but essential - to eat. To mark the difference I refrained from some favorite foods (coffee, cake) until after the holiday and didn't cook anything. Not using the computer was challenge and difference enough! I spent the morning resting and reading my journal per my annual tradition. Adi was home studying, not to be disturbed!
At 3:00 in the afternoon I waddled slowly to the Moriah shul (Conservative) for mincha. I was amazed at how few people were there. I took a seat towards the back of the "real" chairs (before the plastic filler seats began). Little did I know that of the many empty seats I'd inadvertently snagged the chair of Haifa's American Consul. D'oh! He was up at the bima to read the book of Jonah. I hope he wasn't too miffed.

The book of Jonah is pretty funny, in a "Humor in the Bible" sort of way. Not ha ha funny. But there's something absurd going on there... the fish, the whole gourd thing (which my Art Scroll machzor said the "kikayon" might not be a gourd but in fact a shady covering - makes more sense to me), and then the ending where G-d says "Yeah, I saved 'em, those people who don't know their right hand from their left, and also so many cattle." Hm. Like the cattle were sinning? The cattle also fast and don sackcloth.

Anyway services were nice. I've come to the conclusion that try as I might, there's no getting over the fact that I prefer mixed seating to mehitza situations, no matter how "egalitarian" they try to be. I think for me it's less a question of feeling miffed by the separation as it is a matter of what's familar. I also find the mixed seating davka less distracting that separate seating. With a balcony or barrier, I'm always curious to see what's going on "over there".
So that was good. And having familiar tunes (sung by many congregants with a lingering American Asheknazi accents) was also comforting.

The young rabbi pissed some people off by sneaking maariv in before the shofar blowing. He did a cool thing though: all the kids were invited upstairs where they were given light sticks. Meanwhile, he turned off ALL the lights. It was pitch dark. The kids came down with their light sticks and he did the declarations ("Hashem OOH Aaa-elokim!" in his South American accent. When the cong. responded with "Hashem HOO HA-elokim" it soudned almost like we were correcting him) ;-) and the shofar blowing all total darkness through havdalah! It was very very tribal. I dug it.

Break Fast

Friends came over for break fast at my house. Some of them unexpectedly early, surprising Adi in his study state while I was still at shul. Not cool. Nice in the end though. I served an apple cake I made before the chag and threw some frozen burkeas in the oven.
One-year-old Almog was a hit with everyone and offered Adi a nice opportunity to talk practicalities with her father.
"This will have to go," he told me of a standing wine bottle\wine glass rack. "But we have about six months before she starts crawling around." Pretty neat.

Back to work/Puking

Tuesday morning I puked when I was about to go to work so I stayed home to work so I could freely puke more if I had to. Work n' puke.
Wednesday was my normal telecommuting day plus I had a checkup at "Tipat Chalav" so I was home again for convenient puking. I felt really pukey. It didn't help that the nurse at Tipat Chalav was surprised when I told her that I'm puking again. She actually got up to check with a colleague, while I sat there thinking, "Duh. I KNOW this can be normal. Not fun, but normal."
And it's not as bad as it could be. I did have a pleasant break from puking during my 2nd trimester. And it's not EVERY day now. And I don't feel constant nausea, just a few dizzy moments before I have to puke. I can eat and drink in between, so I'm not afraid of any real dangers. It's just annoying. And tiring.
My glucose results were good. That means no gestiational diabetes, phew! But my hemoglobin was a little low. Ask your doctor, she said.
Adi interpreted that piece of information as an order to eat meat. I was not thrilled about his conclusion but reluctantly agreed to eat a shnitzel for lunch after bursting into tears.
Since, I've learned that the iron pills I've been taking should be enough. So the test could have been off. I will clarify next week with the doctor when I see him. And I will have a leeetle less faith in the Tipat Chalav nurse.
Hormones have been shifting my mood all over the place.

Blessing

A close friend of mine is pregnant and has been struggling with the decision to terminate the pregnancy. Ironically, just a few weeks ago, her gyn told her that due to ovarian cysts, it was unlikely she could conceive without chemical intervention. Meanwhile, she already waspregnant! Idiot doctor.
I am totally pro-choice but I'm oddly disturbed by her decision. Maybe it's my hormones. Or it could be a selfish desire for all my friends to have kids the same age and to go through this pregnancy thing with me. Or it could be some maternal instinct. Or concern for her that she may regret it later.
I'm trying to be supportive. She's not me. Her boyfriend is not Adi. And they're not married. It's not an easy call for them either way.
It got me thinking about how very, very lucky I am that I never got pregnant when I didn't want to. And that I did get pregnant when I did want to. Neither of these are things that any woman can take for granted. There should be a special blessing for this. And we should all have the right to choose when we want to be (or stay) pregnant.

Wish List

Created a yahoo wishlist for the things not available from Target. Like that yummy Fleurville Pink Chocolate Sling Tote. And the Glamourmom nursing tank.

Better... created a Baby Cholent Wishlist at Amazon.

No, no, EVEN BETTER, a Baby Registry for Cholent at Amazon.com. You can search this one!