Stress and prayers answered

So, here's an update  on what's been going on over the last few months. In January, Victor came home and my mom arrived to await the birth of our new little one. I was looking forward to a nice home birth and a quiet visit with my mom. Well, 40 weeks came and went. My midwife, who likes to err on the side of caution, recommended at 41 weeks an ultrasound just to be sure everything was going well.

That visit threw everything into a bit of a stressful week long spiral. The doctor who read the ultrasound was concerned about the amount of amniotic fluid and the fact that she wasn't seeing a lot of lung movement in the baby. That coupled with a possible enlargement of one of the ventricle wall in his heart made her concerned that he might have heart problems. So, instead of a nice peaceful home birth we ended up in the local hospital that night for an induction. Well, sort of. Hang on to your seats, people, and see the hand of God work!!!

My midwife made a call to let the on call obstetrician know we were coming. However, when we got there, none of the nurses knew anything. On top of that, the OB that she had spoken to, didn't even work at that hospital. Well, the on call hospital midwife was called in and she said, "no problem, lets get you settled in and I'll take care of you." The whole experience was amazing. Such amazing nurses and doctors who made sure everything went well, and that I was able to get up when I needed to and move. Turns out my midwife had called the wrong hospital on accident (speed dial, you know) but it worked out perfectly. The hospital that night was very busy, but the nurses made sure I had a room and did what they needed to, to keep me there.

The birth was a bit more painful than the last 2 babies because I didn't use the water tub, but the biggest worry was that his heart rate kept dipping when I would contract due to him sitting on his cord in the very little bit of fluid he had left to swim around in. He was wading instead of swimming. Anyway, another answered prayer was that the induction was not much at all. They put in a drug to soften my cervix and did a quick membrane sweep, but that was it. NO pitocin needed, or any other drugs. And they only left the cervix softening drug in for a few hours since my contractions started up right away.

When i started to push, none of the nurses thought I was pushing because I went from a 4 to a 5 to a 10 in 5 minutes. My mom and my midwife both knew right when I started pushing though. And he was born only a few minutes later.
He was perfect! They were concerned about his breathing but he settled down in a couple of hours. Later that day, they did a cardiogram and a chest X-ray and suggested followups with both because they suspected air around his heart. They also kept us an extra 24 hours beyond the initial 24 because he was jaundiced. He spent part of Thursday in a bilirubin light blanket to bring that down.

The followup X-ray on Friday before we left the hospital showed clear lungs and very little air around the heart, and the bili levels were much better so we scheduled a pediatrician visit for the next week and a followup with the cardiologist.

Long story short, after lots of prayer and worry on my part, bili levels were where they should be, X-ray was clear again and the cardiologist cheerfully said, 'I am happy to tell you,  I never want to see little Victor here in this office again!"


Besides a dead battery in the car and the running around we had to do for all the followups, all my worry was for naught. I'm sure the angels and God were both shaking their heads, saying, "Hey, You know I got this, right? Come on! Let me worry about it."

Anyway, I'm glad that's over. More thought on other things later!  Here are some cute pictures for your viewing pleasure! I'm going to do a post for just the many faces of Victor!

Forks Over Knives Challenge part 5

Well, hello people! We've been very busy over the last 3 months. I know we must have made a few recipes from the Forks Over Knives cookbook, but I'm sure I can't remember all of the ones we did. So, I will just look through the book now and see if I can remember some of them.

Josh made the Strawberry Shortcake recipe on page 301 and it turned out really good. I loved it!

For Christmas week, I made a recipe called Oatmeal Raisin cookies from page 272.  I also made Lentil Chili (page 128) in the crockpot and took it to potluck. It was pretty good. I think I will try it in the InstaPot, now that I'm thinking about it, since I've made a couple different bean soup recipes in it, from other sources that turned out good.

Since then, we have tried a few other recipes.  "Cheesy" Broccoli Baked Potatoes on page 191 is a basic recipe that I've done many variations of anyway, and is always a hit, potatoes being one of our staples. It incorporates the No-cheese sauce from page 29. I often leave out the tahini because the boys like it better without and I don't always have tahini on hand, though I need to remember I do have a bag of sesame seeds and could just add some of those to the blender.

At some point in the last few months, I know I made "Ratatouille" page 176, because we all love eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. This recipe uses basil and red onion which I love, so I added extra of both, which turned out okay. A little heavy on the basil, but it was still good!

The last recipe I think, was the grilled Portobello Mushrooms. I've done this recipe before, but had to have it again, because mushrooms are AWESOME! Sorry, Dad. ;)  All my kids love mushrooms, although the girls prefer regular over portobellos and Christina sometimes picks hers out because she doesn't always like the texture when cooked, but she will eat them raw while I'm chopping!

Anyway, one thing I have been discovering, that I'm not liking, is some of the ingredients used in the cookbook, I have to buy at the Asian store, or I don't even know where to find. Also, some of the recipes are more complex than I like. I like simple recipes and simple ingredients, I guess. My kids don't always like the recipes either, because they are more, shall I say, 'gourmet' or something. I do tend to alter them for that reason some, but the nice thing is when I make the recipes to try them they usually only make 1 serving each for our large family so that makes it easier not to have leftovers no one will eat if they end up not liking it. If we do like it, I know I will have to double or sometimes triple the recipe, since we usually don't do lots of different dishes at each meal, though I should sometimes. As convenient as 1 dish meals are, a little variety at the table is nice.

Well, I will post some more things tomorrow if I have time. Bye for now.

FOK challenge post 4

Its been a few days since I posted. We got really busy getting ready for the Christmas program for last  Sabbath and went to the Zoo Lights Saturday night so there were quite a few late nights. However we did make a few recipes.

Jeffrey made Breadkfast Quinoa with Apple Compote. This is from page 50. The boys have not been fond of quinoa anyway, but they were ok with it this time. However the compote was not a hit at all. We only made one recipe which I did on purpose, knowing that they might not like it. I didn’t like that flavor mix very well either, but I did eat more than my share so we wouldn’t have to throw too much away.

Joshua made “Southwestern Twice-Baked Potatoes” on page 192. It was very good, though we skipped the second baking and stuffed the stuffing right on our plates. The leftovers we used in the next recipe which was “Southwest Mac and Cheese” on page 252. We cheated a little on that recipe and used real cheese, but it also was very good. I forgot to get pictures of those recipes and they are gone now, but oh well.

Today, we are cleaning house and getting ready for the weekend. Josh is making Strawberry shortcake for lunch and we will be making bread tomorrow as well as stuff for Sabbath. Then on Sunday or Monday we will be baking pies and cookies for Christmas day. Most of them are not from the cookbook, I think, but I will share them anyway as they are healthier recipes than your typical dessert recipes.

Anyway, thats all for now.

Have a great weekend, and a Merry Christmas!

FOK challenge post 3

So the last couple of recipes that we did this last week were so yummy!  Jeffrey was making Banana Granola Parfait on page46, so the day before I made Banana Almond Granola from page 44. So yummy. I usually make granola with oil, and bake it over night, but since I was following a different recipe, this one called for no oil and baked for about 40 or 50 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. It turned out toasty brown and crunchy. Not as flaky as the one with oil, but that’s to be expected. I really liked the flavor of it, too.

The Parfait basically is a layered dish, usually in decorative glassses. We used regular glasses and long spoons. The first layer was banana cream made out of tofu and bananas and other yummy stuff, then granola. Then Jeffrey put on some fruit salad, that we had tried earlier in the week from page 37, though this time I think we used just the fruit without the dressing. And then he added some more cream. At least thats how I think he layered it. Anyway, here’s a picture of my glass plus a picture of the fruit salad we made earlier.

We ended up having to make extra cream because everyone wanted seconds. Definitely a recipe to keep making! 

Vitamin K

I just wanted to share something that I was researching about. My midwife keeps asking me about doing vitamin K shots or drops for my baby and I had looked into it a little bit before so I didn’t feel comfortable giving them to him/her. My girls never had them and never had any problems. However, my midwife apparently had a client who’s baby had a brain bleed so she is extra concerned now. Because I am uncomfortable giving any kind of shots to my kids, I decided I had better figure out exactly what its for and if the benefits outweigh the risks. Here is a quick rundown of what I found out with some links to go with it. This was copied from the page I typed up and printed out for my midwife so that she could see what I researched and hopefully will help ease her mind as well.

 Facts about Vitamin K and Hemorrhagic disease of the newborn and Vitamin K deficiency in Babies. 

1. Risk for HDN or early onset bleeding is 1 in 100,000, risk for VKDB or late onset bleeding is 3-4 in 100,000
2. Causes include: liver disease in baby; medication use by mom that interfere with vitamin k metabolism like anticonvulsants, anticoagulants and antibiotics; or a diet low in k and fat. Also, any other issue that can interfere with baby’s absorption of vitamin k.
3. Vitamin K shot is synthetic, not easily absorbed or utilized by the body.
4. Vitamin K is metabolized in the liver, and absorbed by gut bacteria.
5. Baby liver and digestion are immature. Drops are not metabolized by baby liver, and interfere with the gut bacteria.
6. Shot has other ingredients, not just ‘vitamin k’. For example, Propylene Glycol, Benzyl alcohol, Hydrochloric Acid, castor oil. Etc. Again, Baby liver cannot process these. Benzyl alcohol has been shown to cause respiratory problems. 
7. Vitamin K shot has a black box warning. It says it can cause death, and jaundice.
8. Best way for baby is to increase moms vitamin k through diet in the weeks before birth, so baby liver can store it.
9. After birth, delay cord clamping to get all the stem cells for repairs from birth process. Vitamin K thickens blood so stem cells cannot travel where needed well.
10. Make sure baby gets colostrum which contains small amounts of easily absorbed vitamin K and stem cells. 
11. Vitamin K containing foods : Raspberry Leaf tea; Greens like Kale, alfalfa, cabbage. Cauliflower, spinach; Soy; Nuts, like cashews, pecans and walnuts; Legumes- green beans, kidney beans, etc.; Nettle; Avocado; Grapes. 
12. Gut bacteria also produces vitamin K, so lots of prebiotic food like onions and garlic and the above foods.
13. God created babies with lower k until 8 days old so stem cells from the placenta can travel through the body to brain quickly. 

http://legaljustice4john.com/jaundiceVitKshotNewborns.htm?fbclid=IwAR3PEuUPyxt6SywL4BHW0GYmnAJXCsgvgT5P7Fd41rCcWa2s5dCKm9EUUao

http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/VitaminK.html

http://barbfeick.com/vaccinations/vitamin-shots/vitamin_shots_for_newborn.html?fbclid=IwAR1XaWWB8kZYZfCchznyycX2E_8nG4t0srJ8dXDtCqOlRQudPewQdKtjP7w

https://www.scribd.com/doc/33874512/Merck-Vitamin-K-Package-Insert-Aquamephyton-PI

https://youtu.be/IFcDz3Kvz8I

https://youtu.be/6rxEo8R5Fwk

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-k#section7

FOK challenge post 2

Today, we made White Bean Chili with Jalapeno and Lime. It is located on page 130. It was very good. A little limey, which was ok with me as we also had Swiss Chard for dinner and that was good mixed in. The kids didn’t like the lime flavor as well as I did, so we may have to alter the recipe a bit if we want to make it again.   This was also supposed to be a very hot chili with lots of jalapeno. 6 servings of chili with 3 jalapenos in the pot. Also lots of cilantro and the zest of 1 lime. I only used 1 jalapeno and I’m glad I did because it would have been way to hot for little ones. Josh liked the heat but the girls weren’t fond of it.

It made a very pretty picture, even if it wasn’t a favorite recipe. I may try it again next year, but with less lime.

Forks over Knives challenge

So, the other day, when my parents were visiting over Thanksgiving, we watched a true-to-life movie about a lady who challenged herself to cook from Julia Childs’ cookbook over the period of one year, writing a blog about it. I mentioned to my mother, “hey, I could do that, except maybe I could do one on the Forks over Knives cookbook, instead.” She, of course, thought that was a great idea.

We have been also working on the Pathfinder cooking honor, not as a requirement for the club, but as part of schoolwork. One of the requirements in the honor is to put together a file of 10 recipes they have made. So we are making some of the recipes in the Forks Over Knives cookbook.

Combining these two projects into one came to mind, so I made a list of some of the recipes to start with and we will be making them over the course of the next few months and letting you know how they fare in our family’s tastes.

Thus far, we have made 3 recipes from the 2012 edition of the cookbook.

A couple of weeks ago, Joshua made Mac and Cheese which is on page 2 which used the No-Cheese sauce from page 29. It was very good, except we over estimated the amount of pasta and ended up with more pasta than sauce, so it turned out kind of dry. Next time we will use more sauce, or less pasta.

The second recipe we tried was the Carrot Cake from page 284. We ended up using a whole can of pineapple for the topping instead of the Vanilla Bean Whip and it was very moist. It was taken to church for the impromptu potluck and mostly gone by the time we left afterwards. I think we will definitely be making that again. Next time we will try the Vanilla Bean whip on top and see what that’s like.

Yesterday, Josh made Corn Chowder off of page 93 for lunch, which he blended using an immersion blender that someone, either my mom or my friend gave me. It was slightly chunky, not meant to be smooth, and was very delicious. Next time we will make a double recipe, I think, and make it using the Vegetable stock from page 23 called for in the recipe. I forgot to make the stock in the morning before we left to go to the store so we used just water with a little miso and it was still good.

So far, the recipes we have tried have been fairly good. And I’m looking forward to trying some more of them.

I will try to remember to take some video or pictures of the next few recipes so you can see what they look like.

Til the nest time!