Home-made vs. Pre-Made

There are many baby benefits from breast feeding, like building a strong immune system (probiotics). Products like Similac are including special additives to produce the same effect. I believe natural is always better so breast feeding seems like the way to go.
When Rudy starts eating solid food, we're going home-made. Well, that's the plan anyway. Geber baby food is high in sodium and sugars, relatively speaking. Thanks to Rudy's aunt's financial support, I purchased the award winning Beaba Babycook baby food maker from Williams Sonoma. I had my eyes on this beautiful piece of machinery for a few months - reading reviews and watching how-to videos. It defrosts, purees, and heats food. Even though I have 8 months before I need to use it, I'm already reading recipes and scoping out the Beaba accessories bundle (only available in the store). The bundle costs about $15 more than the Babycook - Yikes - and will be on my Christmas wish list. Of course the Babycook is good for veggies and fruit, but what about juice and cereal?

Rudy will have fresh juice made with my Jack LaLanne juicer. I hope Rudy likes carrot, beet & celery juice, one of mommy's favs. We'll be serving Cream of Wheat and Cream of Rice as the hot cereals. Maybe even some Malto-Meal.

Like I said, this is the plan. Home-made takes more time than pre-made so daddy and I will have to be a tag team for this plan to work. I think Rudy is worth it.

Watch Out for The Baby Maker

The last few weeks I've been catching up on my mother-to-be reading. Most recently I got a few sample magazines - American Baby and Baby Talk - when visiting Motherhood and Baby's R Us. I found the most useful read in the Family Health Program mag by Lysol. At first when I saw the Lysol mag with sheets of Lysol coupons I thought it was for OCD moms. I'm not out ruling the OCD part, but they do have really useful tips for first-time moms like me.

I learned that when changing a boy's diaper, while disposing of the dirty diaper you have to lay the clean diaper over his "baby maker". This is for protection. The cool air causes the baby maker to stray - "on you, the walls, or anything else in range". Taking it step further you have to position the baby maker in the downward position before sealing up the diaper. This is done to prevent waistline leakage.

I'll probably forget most of the baby stuff I'm reading, but one thing I will always remember is to watch out for the baby maker!


Lysol, I solute you!

Rudy Needs His Own Bed

In prep for Rudy's arrival, we've been going through our things, doing a late spring cleaning. I came across a teddy bear that my grandma gave me at least 20 years ago. It's in great condition because my mom taught me how to wash him. I wouldn't try this with a the newer teddy bears as they may fall apart.

For old time sake, I decided I wanted to sleep with my teddy. Later when daddy came to bed he grabbed for some sheets and suddenly there was a big black mass that flew across the room and hit the wall. It was teddy! The next morning I woke up and found teddy in a corner on the floor with his head between his legs. My teddy is the size of a one year old child (2 1/4 feet), just lighter.

We've heard about the parents who have their kids sleep in bed with them until age 5 or 7 to build a connection. Truth be told, after what happened to teddy, Rudy won't be sleeping with us any time soon. The crib and toddler bed combo is a must have!

Glucose Drink 050: Orange Kool-Aid or Sugar Attack?

Last week I had a routine glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. According to Google Health Gestational Diabetes is a glucose intolerance during pregnancy. Intolerance meaning high blood sugar levels. In pregnancy these levels are dangerous for both me and baby Rudy. From my light reading it looks like I have 4 out of 7 primary causes of gestational diabetes. The test & post-test experience was wild enough to right about.

First I had to fast for at least 2 hours. Then they gave me a 50 gram bottle of liquid sugar, a.k.a. orange flavored Glucose Drink 050
. I had 5 minutes to pound it down. It was like taking a shot or maybe a sake bomb but much more intense; sweeter than southern sweet tea. After chugging my glucose drink, since I had to wait 1 hour before the testing phase, I walked back to work. There was an extra pep in my step. Even Rudy was kicking around. I also typed faster and talked faster. I walked back to the doctor's office and was tested. They will call with the results if and only if there is bad news. Bad news being a blood sugar level of 140+.

The rest of the day I kept using the bathroom and was thirsty. Then that night I couldn't sleep because I was being attacked by a nomadic spider - biting me from neck to foot. Of course there was no spider and no spider bites. The next day I Googled-it and discovered these issues were symptoms of HBS (High Blood Sugar). Hmm, sounds like Glucose Drink 050 has some unpleasant hangover effects. After this experience, I had to know my test results. The no-news-is-good-news plan wasn't going to work.

My results came in today...my glucose levels are perfect. Rudy and mommy are OK. The Glucose Drink 050 was a definite sugar attack on my system. Would you believe it comes in 75 and 100 grams?