As absurd as this sounds, I am not kidding you when I say I am suffering from a very painful cracker injury today. Yes, a cracker injury. Yesterday I badly cut my tongue while eating some Ryvita Sunflower Seed & Oat flatbreads. Nevertheless, I still adore these crackers!
I am probably going to sound like even more of a dolt when I tell you this is not the first time this has happened. I've actually discovered that if I toast my favorite Stonemill sprouted grains bread, some of the crusts and grains can be sharp enough to cut the inside of my mouth.
But please don't be scared off of eating whole grains, I swear the health benefits outweigh the risks!! I really do encourage you to try Stonemill products, they're awesome. Besides, I suspect few people are prone to getting such ridiculous injuries. Did I ever mention I have twice given myself a black eye with a telephone? Don't ask...
Anyways, on to better news. I am pleased about several stories that ran in the Toronto Star yesterday relating to health care in Ontario.
Since both my girls were born via c-section, after their births I was stuck in the hospital for almost 4 days each time. I say stuck because in both cases it was a completely miserable experience.
After Big A was born, neither Adam nor I had health insurance because he was doing a post-doc and I had just completed a contract job at UofT. So we didn't demand a private or even semi-private room. Sharing a small room with 3 other moms and 4 other babies (one had twins) was horrendous.
After Little A was born we both had health insurance so we requested a semi-private room. This turned out to be a mistake because I soon realized that sharing with even one other mother and baby (and associated family members) is enough to prevent any real rest or sleep from happening. Just what you need when you've just had major surgery and are trying to care for a newborn!
Add to all this that they overheat hospital rooms terribly (and you know how much I hate heat), and I was one miserable mamma.
The other thing that was distressing was the appallingly disgusting food the hospital served. I'll never forget one meal Igagged down ate. It was supposed to be corn, mashed potatoes and chicken. I say supposed to be because each element on the plate tasted the same: like nothing. But what really irked me is that because I had had surgery, one condition of being able to leave the hospital was being able to have a bowel movement. Yet nothing I was served had virtually any fibre in it! Definitely no Ryvita or Stonemill bread on the menu (perhaps they are concerned about patient injuries from the whole grains?). So needless to say, nothing was moving through my pipes. I finally had to get my mom to go down to the hospital lobby and grab me two oatmeal raisin cookies from the Second Cup. Hardly health food, but they did the trick.
When Little A was born, I simply refused to even look at the food and had Adam and my parents bring in all my food to me. It just seems so ridiculous that when people are trying to heal, they are served such garbage. Never mind the awful taste...how about a little nutrition??
So I was thrilled to read this article in the Toronto Star today detailing the efforts of the Scarborough General Hospital to overhaul it's patient food services to focus on fresh, whole, local and seasonal ingredients (http://www.thestar.com/living/food/recipes/article/1149469--scarborough-hospital-plans-to-serve-patients-food-that-s-delicious-local-and-made-from-scratch). I just hope other hospitals can follow suit!!
Also great is the news that Ontario will be getting two birthing centres run by midwives for women with low-risk pregnancies: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1148858--ontario-to-fund-two-birth-centres-led-by-midwives
Unfortunately, neither of my pregnancies were low risk enough for me to go with a midwife or consider giving birth anywhere but a hospitl, but believe you me, my hospital experiences were so unpleasant, that if I had the option I would have gone with JUST ABOUT ANY alternative. Heck, giving birth in the back of a cab might have been more enjoyable!
I am probably going to sound like even more of a dolt when I tell you this is not the first time this has happened. I've actually discovered that if I toast my favorite Stonemill sprouted grains bread, some of the crusts and grains can be sharp enough to cut the inside of my mouth.
Anyways, on to better news. I am pleased about several stories that ran in the Toronto Star yesterday relating to health care in Ontario.
Since both my girls were born via c-section, after their births I was stuck in the hospital for almost 4 days each time. I say stuck because in both cases it was a completely miserable experience.
After Big A was born, neither Adam nor I had health insurance because he was doing a post-doc and I had just completed a contract job at UofT. So we didn't demand a private or even semi-private room. Sharing a small room with 3 other moms and 4 other babies (one had twins) was horrendous.
After Little A was born we both had health insurance so we requested a semi-private room. This turned out to be a mistake because I soon realized that sharing with even one other mother and baby (and associated family members) is enough to prevent any real rest or sleep from happening. Just what you need when you've just had major surgery and are trying to care for a newborn!
Add to all this that they overheat hospital rooms terribly (and you know how much I hate heat), and I was one miserable mamma.
The other thing that was distressing was the appallingly disgusting food the hospital served. I'll never forget one meal I
When Little A was born, I simply refused to even look at the food and had Adam and my parents bring in all my food to me. It just seems so ridiculous that when people are trying to heal, they are served such garbage. Never mind the awful taste...how about a little nutrition??
So I was thrilled to read this article in the Toronto Star today detailing the efforts of the Scarborough General Hospital to overhaul it's patient food services to focus on fresh, whole, local and seasonal ingredients (http://www.thestar.com/living/food/recipes/article/1149469--scarborough-hospital-plans-to-serve-patients-food-that-s-delicious-local-and-made-from-scratch). I just hope other hospitals can follow suit!!
Also great is the news that Ontario will be getting two birthing centres run by midwives for women with low-risk pregnancies: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1148858--ontario-to-fund-two-birth-centres-led-by-midwives
Unfortunately, neither of my pregnancies were low risk enough for me to go with a midwife or consider giving birth anywhere but a hospitl, but believe you me, my hospital experiences were so unpleasant, that if I had the option I would have gone with JUST ABOUT ANY alternative. Heck, giving birth in the back of a cab might have been more enjoyable!
LOL a C-section in the back of a cab would be, um, interesting! :)
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