Gluten is a Sneaky Bitch

As you likely know, The Hubs and I recently decided to begin eating gluten free. What we didn't know was how incredibly sneaky gluten is!

We have been sans gluten now for about two and a half weeks, or so we thought. When we sat and thought about whether or not we were noticing any differences, we had to admit that we were feeling pretty much the same. At first we rejoiced thinking brownies and any restaurant we wanted were back in our grasp. What we soon realized was that The Hubs' protein powder has cookie crumbs in it and the chips he eats at work have barley flour in them. This caused me to re-evaluate what I was consuming. As far as I could tell, my eating had been impeccable. I resisted the urge to order a sandwich at Panera. I religiously read ingredient lists and called companies to make sure what I bought was safe. I sadly passed up the brownie samples as everyone else at knitting dug in. What I didn't do, however, was check the gluten free status of my beloved frappuccino.

When I realized that the only thing I hadn't checked was my frap, I quickly made my way to the Starbucks website where I found that they don't release allergen information online. Their feeling is that you should just ask in person. Their official position is that they do not consider any of their products to be gf due to the risk of cross contamination. Their representatives have also stated that "If there are concerns about this product possibly containing an ingredient that you do not wish to consume, we would recommend that product not be consumed." They very much dance around the topic of whether or not their products contain gluten, stating they cannot reveal any more than what their website lists as ingredients for "proprietary" reasons. I'm kind of put off by this! Fortunately, I was able to find an email from one representative who stated that the frappuccino base is not gluten free. So, after much searching and very little actual help from Starbucks, I think I know why I haven't noticed any big changes. I have to admit, I'm a little heart broken. I live for Pumpkin Spice and Egg Nog frappuccinos! I've seen rumours that the lattes are safe, but I honestly don't know if it is worth it.

So, we're starting over, again. Thanks, Starbucks!

Food Review! Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter and Udi's Plain Bagels

When The Hubs and I first decided to go gluten free, one of my first sad goodbyes were to bagels. I've always been in love with bagels. My absolute favourite breakfast is a hot bagels smeared with slightly melty cream cheese. So, imagine my joy when I found gf bagels at Trader Joe's a couple of days ago!

The  pack of four bagels was 4$ at TJ's, and 6$ on Udi's site. The site claims their bagels are "soft, chewy, and yummy," and honestly, they aren't lying. I have heard absolute horror stories about gf baked goods. They taste nothing like bread, they're dry as saw dust, they're super hard, in a nutshell, nothing you would want to eat. These bagels gave me faith that gf eating will be anything but horrible. I normally toast my bagels, but seeing as our toaster disappeared in The Move, I had to try these in their natural state. I pulled one out of the bag, and gave it a good look over before taking my first nervous bite. My fear quickly melted into joy. They looked, felt, smelled, and tasted like a normal bagel. My only complaint is that they are a bit dryer than a regular bagel. This, however was fairly easily fixed by applying a healthy layer of TJ's pumpkin butter.

The pumpkin butter was a bit of an impulse buy. I'm mildly addicted to pumpkin, and will buy just about anything with pumpkin on the label. The Hubs was initially weary of the pumpkin butter due to his negative feelings about apple butter. Upon reading the ingredients, though, he quickly changed his tune. The ingredients are literally pumpkin, sugar, honey, lemon juice concentrate, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger! With the exception of the lemon, it's like pumpkin pie in a jar! I am not the biggest fan of lemon, and so I think the lemon could be toned down a bit. However, even with it being a little more lemony than I would like, it's still fantastic. It tastes like heaven and probably wouldn't be too hard to make. Although, at 2.29$ a jar, I don't feel too bad about buying it. I definitely see this becoming a staple in our home.

So, all in all, these two products thoroughly impressed me! The bagel's slight dryness is easily fixed with a spread and the pumpkin butter is fall in a jar. I don't think my first gf food adventure could have gone much better!

Progress and Grins

So, The Hubs and I failed at the birthday party. We expected R to have a meltdown much sooner than he did, and therefore were at said party much later than we expected. So, we caved and ate crappy Chuck E. Cheese pizza. We started over the next day and are now completing day two of eating totally gluten free.

Day one consisted of Cinnamon Chex cereal, I'm blanking on lunch, and chicken salad on tortilla chips. Today was a tea for breakfast, leftover chicken salad for lunch, and steak, quinoa, and salad for dinner. Snacks have been various fruits, yogurts, and spoonfuls of peanut butter. So, it hasn't been too bad. The pain is going to be knitting at Panera tomorrow night. I've been scouring their nutrition section, trying to find what I can have, and it looks like my options are going to be pretty slim. On top of that, I can't be sure that there won't be any cross contamination, but at this point I'm not going to be too picky about that. I think the important thing right this moment is cutting out as much gluten as I can. I'll be more picky about cross contamination once I've gotten this down.
My life saver so far has been www.gfoverflow.com. The Hubs' sister told me about this site, and I absolutely love it. If you aren't sure about the gf status of a product, you just type in the name and the site will let you know. It's really great for the hidden gluten in "natural flavours." Another site that I've been thankful for finding has been www.glutenfreegirl.com. This lady is married to a chef, so good food is very important to them. Because of that, they have worked really hard to de-gluten a lot of different things, posting the recipes as they go. Things are sorted into neat categories, so everything is easy to find. With the holidays coming up, I was beginning to get sad when I thought about the things The Hubs and I R would be missing out on, but thanks to these sites he won't miss out on anything. He can have most candies at Halloween, and I found a sugar cookie recipe for Yule.

Besides working on this whole gf thing, I have been working on getting smiles out of R. Gathering evidence  of said smiles is my primary occupation.

Taking the Plunge

In the last year The Hubs' mom was diagnosed with celiac disease and several of his family members have at least a gluten sensitivity. With that in mind, The Hubs and I have decided to also remove gluten from our diets. Due to the family history, R is predisposed, as is The Hubs, and we both have several issues that are said to be exacerbated by gluten, so what will it hurt to just cut it out?

We are now on day two of no gluten, and I'll be honest, it makes me feel a little trapped.Things have to change, and as selfish as it is, I don't want them to. I don't like that I can't make a quick stop at some fast food place if I'm out running errands and am starving. I don't like that I might not be able to get anything to eat when I go to knitting at Panera. I don't like that at the birthday party we're going to today I can't have cake or pizza. I don't like that since we have decided that this is the best option for our family, all I can think about are muffin, fresh bread, and all the fall treats I can't have. It's silly, and like I said, selfish, but it's frustrating.

So, now we're working on figuring out what we can eat and how to incorporate it into our lives. It's going to require me cooking a lot more, which is something that has seriously decreased since late in my pregnancy. It also requires me to plan my meals a lot better. I can't just wing things like lunch anymore. I think the thing I'm most worried about is food being boring. I've never been the type of person who enjoyed eating the same thing days on end, and it feels like that is what's in store. So far I've had salad, salad, and more salad.I know there is more I can have and do, it's just the process of figuring it out that seems daunting. I can definitely understand why The Hubs' mom was so depressed when she received her diagnosis, and I have no idea how his sister does it on top of being vegetarian! If they can do it, though, so can we. His mom is just going to receive a lot more calls asking what we should make for dinner. Also, if anyone has any suggestions for gf lunches that are easy to put together while dealing with an angry baby, I'm all ears.

I'll let you all know how this goes and if we see any improvements. :) Wish us luck!

He's Here!

The weeks leading up to my labour were full of bad luck. Our AC had died (and thankfully been fixed) in part of the house, the master bath had mysteriously flooded, the cat managed to get life threateningly ill, and just two days before the big day, the septic had backed up into the house. I woke up at about 5:30 a.m. on August 25th to thunder and mild cramping. I tossed and turned for a bit before finally giving up and deciding to go to the bathroom. Being 41 weeks and 1 day, I did the frequent prayer for bloody show, and this morning my prayer had finally been answered. The poor cat had gotten himself locked in the bathroom with me and must have been quite confused by my little celebration. Afterwards I made my way back to bed, because I knew I was going to have a very long day ahead of me. After a few minutes of being extremely uncomfortable, I decided to make the best of it and just get up for the day. At about six the power flashed and being mildly afraid of the dark, I ran back to the bedroom to wake my hubby up and let him know that I thought things were starting. At this point the thunder was rather intense and he decided to just get up as well. As we worked on eating breakfast and cleaning up we decided to go ahead and time contractions so that we could give our midwives and Marie an idea as to where I was. By about 7:30 my contractions were around 30-40 seconds long and about four minutes apart, and this is where they stayed for most of the day. Around 9 we decided to go ahead and give Marie the okay too come over even though we didn't think we needed her yet. The rain was pretty bad and the streets were flooding, so we were all concerned that her car wouldn't make it if we waited much longer. As it turned out, it was already too late, and the Hubs had to go out and pick her up. Shortly after Marie arrived we discovered that the power was out in half our house. This, of course, was the half that controlled most of our major appliances, including the AC.  The entire time, I was having back labour and my contractions would get very intense any time I sat. We decided to distract ourselves by playing cards until the electric company could come out. Eventually Marie talked me into sitting and continuing to sit through a few contractions to let them continue doing what they needed to do. Without fail I would have a contraction at the start of each of my turns. After a few games and a glass of wine, Marie and I decided to try and get a nap since it was going to be such a late night. I laid down for a little bit, but my contractions were getting stronger and stronger, and laying down was anything but comfortable. I got back up, and Marie followed shortly after. At this point my contractions were definitely a fair deal more intense and my back was killing me! Marie, Laura, and Bettie all suggested I get on all fours to see if baby would reposition himself enough to help my back a bit. I got into position and stayed that way for about an hour, to no avail. My back continued to throb no matter what we did. By now my contractions were close to a minute long, but still around four minutes apart. I spoke with Bettie while we figured out what the plan would be in case the roads were still flooded and to let me know she would be in Virginia Beach for a bit. A little while after getting off the phone with Bettie, Laura texted to see how everything was going. She asked if I wanted Bettie to come by and check on me on her way through town, but I said no because even though things felt intense, I knew it would stay that way for quite a while, especially if baby was sunnyside up. I knew that all she would be able to tell me was what I was already doing. Within half an hour things intensified again, and the Hubs decided he wanted someone to come check on us anyways, even though I insisted that things were fine. Laura said we had missed Bettie, but that she would come over. The Hubs was amazing. He was always right where he needed to be, doing exactly what needed to be done. He would follow Marie's lead, trading off doing counter pressure and holding hot rags to my back. As soon as he would notice I was having a contraction, he would drop what he was doing and hold me while we swayed together, reminding me that I could do absolutely anything for a minute. After a particularly intense contraction I decided to try going to the bathroom even though I really, REALLY didn't want to. Sitting always made my contractions worse, and sitting on the toilet was excruciating. All day anytime I would sit to go to the bathroom, I would have to jump up halfway through to deal with the contraction. This time, the contraction began as I was sitting, and I finally decided, screw this, I'm peeing in the tub. As soon as I stepped in the tub, another extremely intense contraction hit and as it ended, I couldn't not push. With that, my water broke. Almost immediately, another contraction came. After a little bit, Marie came to check on me, and I can only imagine what she was thinking when she saw me standing in the tub! She came over and helped me take my shirt off so that she could spray water on my back. This is where things get a little hazy for me. Someone called Laura to say she really needed to hurry and at some point Marie called Bettie. Bettie began to walk Marie through what needed to be done, and the goal was to keep me from pushing until Laura arrived. She had me lay down on my side and blow through the contractions, which didn't work very well. I remember being really upset that the Hubs' mom and sister weren't there yet, and it seemed like they walked in right then. From that point it was game on, and he was coming whether we were ready or not. Bettie walked Marie through every step, and at 8:10 p.m., he came out, not sunnyside up, just huge and yelling. Marie got to be the one to hand me my baby for the first time, and I honestly couldn't imagine it any other way. Seconds later, Laura walked in and took over. Very shortly after that, we lost all power, so weighing him, measuring him, everything had to done by candlelight. It was really cool and I feel like that just really added to the experience. Everything was perfect, R scored two 9's, I only had a tiny tear that didn't even need stitches, and no one freaked out. It was amazing.

June Photo-A-Day: Day 10

Day 10: 

Best bit of your weekend

Morning silliness with the Hubs. It's the pillow monster!! ^_^