Oh, hey! Remember me?

Long time, no blog post...

I haven't had anything positive to post, and this post is no exception, so I've kept it to myself. Nobody wants to read a bunch of bitching and complaining about how I'm still having contractions, that Cooper is so low that I'm miserable and waddling and that I'm just ready to not be pregnant anymore... All. The. Time. I haven't even felt motivated to post about the few yummy meals I've made. Sadness. But once Cooper is here and I'm happily sleep deprived and not miserably pregnant I should pick back up again!

I guess this post is exciting in the sense that we've agreed on an induction day for Mr. Cooper! We picked a day around our due date so hopefully he'll make his way out on his own, if that's his plan. I can't wait to get it officially scheduled!! It is nice to know when he'll be here at the latest, you know? I have an end in sight!!!

The part that's depressing, upsetting, whatever you want to call it, is the fact that I won't get to experience the whole "going into labor" thing again... I was induced with Jackson so our little trip to the hospital for preterm labor with Cooper got my hopes up thinking that my body would do it again; would go into labor on its own again when Cooper was more developed and ready to come. There's still time for this to happen since our due date isn't until April 11 but I am thinking we'll be waiting until our date to meet our littlest boy.

I shouldn't complain, it's not THAT far away, but I am seriously impatient. Not to mention seriously tired of walking with my feet a foot and a half apart ;). One of James' coworkers told him that I looked like a lemon on tooth picks... Just what I was dying to hear!! TRUST ME, if I could walk normally, I WOULD! That would mean this child's head isn't directly on my pelvis... So low that the doctor was surprised!

I'm just ready to have my littlest mister here! When is a technicality, the sooner would be better though!!

Reuben egg rolls!

A lot has been going on here lately and I haven't posted anything about food in a while. Time to play catch up :)

I've continued along the path of easy-ish meals around here since our hospital get-away a few weeks ago. Pinterest has played a huge roll in my food-spiration. I love taking other people's recipes and turning them into healthier meals of my own. 

Let's start with the Reuben egg rolls that I found the other day. Arby's has been promoting their Reuben all over the Food Network and they were sounding REALLY amazing... then I find the Reuben egg rolls. That was it!! I had to make them and I am SOOO glad that I did. We actually ate them two nights in a row :)

These couldn't be easier to make, I promise. The only gadget(s) you need are either a thermometer, like a candy thermometer, to monitor your oil temperature if you are frying them on the stove or a deep fryer. I have both, but I chose to use the stove. Mostly because my fryer is a little guy and I wanted to be able fry more than one at a time.

Ingredients:

Egg roll wrappers - These are found in the refrigerated section of the produce department usually. If you are unfamiliar, they are the larger ones.

 

1 pound sliced corned beef

1/2 pound sliced swiss cheese, cut into thirds

small can of sauerkraut, drained

1 egg, beaten with about a tablespoon of water

bottle of thousand island dressing 

vegetable oil for frying, heated to 375 degrees

damp paper towels to keep wrappers and rolls moist while rolling

Directions:

Lay one egg roll wrapper with the corner pointed toward you.
Fold/roll one or two slices of corned beef in the center of the wrapper. Place two of your swiss cheese thirds on either side of the corned beef. Top with sauerkraut to your liking, whether it be a little or a lot. Drizzle a little thousand island on the top. Fold corner up over the mixture. Fold left and right corners toward the center and continue to roll, gently and as tightly as possible. Loose egg rolls will come undone in the fryer. I used my fingers to brush the top corner with the egg wash, about an inch and a half was covered, then continue to roll to seal the egg roll. Set aside on a baking sheet and cover with a damp paper towel while you continue to roll the rest.

Once your oil has come to temp, gently place 2 or 3 egg rolls in the fryer at a time, turning occasionally, or as needed to make sure they are evenly golden brown for 3 minutes. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels or rack. 

 

Serve with more thousand island dressing.

I didn't follow the recipe so I made a simple sauteed cabbage {of course I added a lot of garlic} and garlic smashed potatoes with leftover swiss cheese on top! 

This would be a perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!! 

Updates with a side of rants!

Today is Day 3 off of the medicine they gave me to keep me from going into labor for these last 2 weeks!!

Day 1 was a great day until that night. I started having contractions so bad that I was doubling over in pain. I ended up having to take more medicine to help stop them. If I go to the hospital for them again & I'm not progressing on my own then the hospital is legally obligated to stop my labor before 36/37 wks. I am really starting to have a difficult time with all the circumstantial aspects of this with no clear direction. My doctor is out because of his hand surgery and nobody seems to be able to tell me what's going to happen from here. Obviously my *ideal* method of delivery is to progress on my own, no pit or epidural, just like I did with Jackson. However, at some point there has to be a line where stopping my labor & pumping me full of magnesium again or the continuous contractions is crossed and its no longer ideal or safe for Cooper or myself. At that point I'm open to other methods (induction and all the fun pit & epidural stuff or a c-section if need be), they just need to say "Look, this is what my knowledge and experience is telling me is best for both of you. Let's go with this method at this time/date". They just have to talk to me & tell me these things.

I'm not a doctor (I don't even play one on TV- thanks Dad!) but I just feel like centuries of delivering babies, all the technology readily available and my doctor's (even the new doctor's) experience should be able to guide them down the correct path for their patients. Unfortunately the reality is that they are just out for the dollahs and not getting sued, as Mel pointed out. We're both right... Why would they risk either unless they HAD to? It's just frustrating and yet another reason why I, we, chose to make better lifestyle and food choices to keep us healthy and out of doctors offices as much as possible!! They're great when you NEED them (my father-in-law for instance, because of his heart) but they are really only there for disaster care; my father-in-law had a heart attack, disaster. Somebody breaks a bone, disaster. Quite honestly, same goes for birth. I'd prefer to deliver my child at the hospital not because I want to be hooked up and drugged up but because its a hospital. If there were to be a disaster (even a minor incident, pardon the slight exaggerations) my child & myself would be right where we needed to be!!

Anymore it seems like they say "OH, there's a medicine for that" rather than coaching & guiding you through lifestyle, food and fitness changes to help their patients feel better. How's that helping us build our immune system & strengthen ourselves? Answer: it's not. It even costs more to do it this way than to find natural & healthy alternatives through food, exercise or what have you. Start making the right choices & soon you'll find that your doctor is lowering, maybe even taking you off of, your medicine. That frees up x-dollars per month!!!

I have my next appointment on Tuesday and I'll be meeting the doctor that could be delivering Cooper. I will be voicing these opinions & concerns to him then. We'll see what he says.

Sorry I'm not sorry for my little off subject rant. Back to my update...

Day 2 was the best day for me, by far!! I had a little energy, I really didn't overdo it and I didn't have killer contractions last night!!!! YES!! I made the Reuben egg rolls that I was seriously craving for dinner and we had the new entry door from the garage & back door replaced... They are going to be so much more energy efficient than what we had before. Not only does it keep the cold from the garage out of the house but it keeps Molly IN the house. The garage door was a quick & easy point of escape for her.

Day 3 looks promising thus far. Jackson & I are headed to the zoo with Mel, Rhett, Sarah and Sam this afternoon. It will be a fun mother/son day for all of us :)!! I love these ladies and its going to be nice to get out & chat it up with friends!!

Being awake long enough to write this has brought hunger to my attention. Off to feed this growing baby of mine!!

Just called me over prepared!

I took my last dose of medicine at 5:00pm today!! I deleted the annoying alarms that woke me up or reminded me to take it... That was exciting to me! 1:00 am is now for sleeping, not waking up to take a pill :)

I am still nervous about what is going to happen from here on out. If I go into labor & progress on my own, we'll have a baby. If I go into labor and don't progress then they'll stop my labor again if its before 36 wks. That was no fun so I have decided that I'm not going to go to the hospital again unless my water breaks or I'm extremely uncomfortable & something doesn't feel right. I am pretty in tune with my body so I feel confident that I will be okay in that aspect.

I downloaded two different contraction counters to start helping me keep track of when & how often they're coming. I love the fact that technology makes keeping track of things so easy. I'm a forgetful person anyway and having a toddler can make it worse... Glad I have an app to help me out a lil bit!!

I am so excited to wake up & feel like me again tomorrow!!! Hopefully I'm not contraction city and I can function the way I need/want to...

... Not feeling clever enough to name this post...

I am starting to get very anxious. The next few weeks are starting to pick up speed again in the plans department. I'm excited for this because I've felt like the last week and a half have moved at a snail's pace. My sister is due in a few days so my niece will be here soon :)!! I am so very excited to meet her.

On the other hand, I'm scared. I've started having contractions again, even on the medicine. They aren't regular or anything worth keeping track of yet but if I'm having them while taking the medicine, am I going to have more of them off of it? I talked to my doctor a little about this at my last appointment but I wasn't having any contractions other than braxton hicks. I told him how difficult its been trying to keep up with Jackson while trying to move slow enough to not get dizzy or feel light headed. He told me that I was okay to stop taking it at 35 weeks. Luckily, that's this Thursday. However, I have a diaper study meeting Wednesday evening that I need to drive myself to so I'm stopping it a day early. I haven't felt comfortable enough to drive and since quick movements make me feel dizzy its been the best for me not to.

This pregnancy is so different from Jackson's. I know they say that no two pregnancies are the same but I wasn't ready for them to be this different. Losing 20 pounds (I was at my pre-Jackson weight at the beginning of my 2nd trimester) and preterm labor at 33 weeks weren't what I was expecting. I'm probably the only woman in history that's actually upset that she will weigh less after she gives birth than she did before her pregnancy. I won't dwell on this for the sake of anyone who would love to hit me right about now. I don't wish 13 weeks of not being able to eat on anyone though- it was terrible. I love my food. I was unable to bake my cookies because even they made me want to vomit. Wasn't a pretty time, let me tell you.

I feel a little better about the whole "what if I go into labor early" aspect since they gave me two rounds of corticosteroid shots for Cooper's lung development during our little hospital getaway. It doesn't ease my mind 100% and its hard not to let the unknown bother me. This is my baby we're talking about... I don't want him to be anything less than perfectly healthy. The NICU people scared the shit out of me when they came in to talk to us at the hospital just in case they had to deliver Coop while we were there. So many scenarios and things to think about. It was unbelievably and horribly overwhelming. I just want a healthy little man!!!!!

I'm going to try to force myself to go back to sleep now. I've had a rough couple of mornings lately and they're starting to knock me down a little bit. Mel, Teagy & Rhett are coming to visit us in a few hours so I need to rest a little bit before they get here! I'm so excited to see them and I can't wait to see how excited Jackson is going to be too!!! He loves his Teagy!!

Roasted Veggie 'Enchilada' Bake

This last week has been trying, to say the least.

One down, one to go. 

Since cooking has been a challenge for me because of the fun side effects of the medicine that I'm on, I have been trying out super simple and healthy recipes. I planned 3 (I'll try to share more on those later!) and have only gotten to 2 of them since I didn't cook or we didn't eat at home a couple nights this week.

Tonight I made a yummy veggie enchilada bake. One of my favorite parts about cooking is not having to follow the "rules" or recipes to a T. I added snap peas to this recipe and used more than the veggies the recipe called for. I didn't increase it by a whole lot, but I had enough to make 2 pans of veggie bake; both will feed us dinner 2 nights. I made the 2nd bake in an aluminum pan so I can easily reheat it and then toss it without using one of my good pans!! 

Roasted Veggie 'Enchilada' Bake

Ingredients:

1 poblano chile, cut into matchsticks
  1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
(I added some other colored peppers that I had in the fridge already as well, maybe 1 cup)
1 small head of cauliflower
1 small sweet potato, peeled
Roughly 1 cup chopped snow peas
  2 medium onions
1 1/2 cups corn kernels (I had frozen corn)
Olive Oil
3 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and black pepper
2 cups homemade or store bought salsa/pico de gallo (I used 1 jar of black bean salsa to beef it up a little)
Bag of baby spinach (I left the leaves whole, why cut them if you don't have to?)
9-10 corn tortillas, halved
1 bag shredded cheese (I used cheddar, but you can use Mexican or Monterrey Jack)
sour cream

Directions:

**All veggies without previously listed instructions are cut into about half in pieces.**
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet.
Place poblano, peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels onto cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then use your hands to mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly in the pan. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown in spots. Stir or shake the pan every 10 minutes for even roasting. Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

In a square baking pan (I used 8x8 glass baking dish), spread 1/4 cup of salsa into the bottom of the baking pan. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the salsa. Top with 1/2 of the vegetables, a heaping handful of spinach and 1/2 of the cheese. Make a second layer of tortilla, salsa, vegetables, spinach, and cheese. Top with with a layer of tortillas, salsa and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream


Besides all the chopping, it really is easy. It took me forever to do it, but that's been the name of my game lately. We all loved it! I can't wait to eat the leftovers and I'm excited that I have one that I can pull out of the freezer later on!!


 Here's the basic recipe that I followed: http://www.perrysplate.com/2011/03/stacked-roasted-vegetable-enchiladas.html