Puppy Progress

It’s the little things in life, my bloggies, that can make a preggo very happy and one of those things is that I happen to get my hands on this:
 Do ya’ll see that? That’s PASTEURIZED goat cheese!  Booooyah!!!!!  I haven’t had goat cheese or feta since I found out I was pregnant and I didn’t realize how much I would miss it!  Especially since one of my favourite things has become the Bella Burger which I LOVE with goat cheese!  So of course that’s what I had this evening for supper.  And the BEST thing that goes along with a bella burger is Williams Sonoma Aged Balsamic to marinade the bella mushroom (+EVOO, S&P, oregano & dried basil), grilled on a grill pan, schmear the bun with cream cheese, top with greens, red onion and a roasted red pepper and you’re GOLDEN:
There truly is no better balsamic vinegar than WIlliams Sonoma.  I WISH we had one here.  I’m still working off my bottle I bought during our trip to Maine in the Fall and I cherish every drop.  It’s like night and day.  I plan on bringing some home with me when we go to Florida in April in my suitcase PRAYING that all goes well in transit since I can’t bring it carry on anymore.  Regardless, it’s worth the risk, trust me!  It’s about $30 a bottle, but worth every single penny.  I’d truly compare it to great wine.  It’s made from grapes, it’s aged and syrupy goodness.
I decided the perfect accompaniment would be a fresh green salad with a honey-dijon balsamic vinaigrette (WS too of course):

(Mesclin Mix greens, red onion, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese & vinaigrette made from balsamic, EVOO, S&P honey & dijon mustard)

I am thoroughly enjoying these lemon spritzers:
      
Lucy says Hi! :-)

We have been making some great progress with her lately.  Currently she has issues with barking at every moving thing that moves outside (passersby, birds etc.) and she barks like crazy at strangers, putting her into an unstable state.  If she’s outside on her leash and somebody walks by she loses her mind and I have to drag her in.  But now, she’s really responding to our training and I’m SOOOO happy!!!  I was having worries about how we were going to deal with her with the baby comes but now I’m optimistic.  Presently, she is very nervous around toddlers (because they are the same size as she is), so we’re working hard and solving her “instability” issues now.  Now she automatically comes to me when I call her even when she starts to bark and she will sit and lay down when I tell her to even when she’s worked up.  That’s SUBMISSION!
I’m also pretty sure that she knows I’m pregnant (article sent to me by Amy).  Ever since we found out, she’s been stuck to me like glue and she has been really sookie.  Also if I’m having a “moment” and start to cry (hormones are wonderful, aren’t they?), she will come RUNNING from anywhere in the house to come to my need and starts sniffing and trying to lick my face and cheer me up.  It’s truly adorable.  I’m pretty sure that she’s accepted me as alpha mama in this house and wants to protect me :-)
Have any of you had to deal with misbehaved dogs when you were introducing a baby to your family?  Do you mind sharing your experience?

HFCS Free

One thing that has caught me by surprise is that for some reason, I keep craving “Pepsi” about every two weeks.  Pre-pregnancy, I was more of a diet pop drinker and the taste of full sugar (or should I say, “full high fructose corn syrup”) pop was “too” sweet for my tastes.  But ever since I’ve been pregnant, I’ve decided to stay away from both. 

Currently, during the course of a day, I drink:

- 1 cup Tropicana OJ (calcium + vitamin D fortified) with breakfast to take my prenatal & folic acid (this has replaced my morning coffee which wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  OJ is delicious, full of flavour, calcium, vitamin C & D, AND folic acid, all the while it helps you absorb your vitamins too!

- with my lunch, I usually have 1c skim milk (calcium fortified) and depending on how many other servings of dairy I’ve had that day maybe another one with supper.  Although yogurt has been a regular on my menu of late.

- the rest of my day I”m drinking water, water and more water usually all through the evening.  Pregnancy has brought me thirst like no other.

For a while, I couldn’t even stomach the idea of fizzy anything.  I used to make POM spritzers with POM juice + club soda, but for some reason that didn’t appeal to me.  It could be because that’s what my drink of choice was on New Year’s Eve when I still wasn’t feeling well?  But then all of a sudden I felt like I reeeeally wanted a Pepsi.  We don’t normally have it around the house, but I asked the husband to pick some up because I felt like I needed it in a real bad way!  So I had a drink and that was the end of it.

 

Then a few weeks later, same thing!  But this time I decided I was going to “try” to satisfy this craving another way.  I picked up this Santa Cruz Organic Root Beer from Planet Organic:

This was a coincidence because one of you lovely readers suggested to me yesterday that I try the local Propeller Root Beer that is made with cane sugar!  I am most certainly going to do that because while the flavour of this root beer was “good”, it definitely lacked on the fizziness factor and I think it was the fizzy part that I was wanting the most!

And last night, I was craving the “fizzy” yummy sweet “Pepsi” again.  And we were going to be watching movies, so I needed “something.”  I decided I would give this a try:

Here we have as much juice squeezed out of the lemon as I could, a squirt of agave nectar and a can of club soda.

The flavour was DELICIOUS and as you can see, the “fizzy” factor was perfect :-)

High fructose corn syrup should be avoided whenever possible in my books and while I’m not perfect, I am definitely making a better effort to steer clear!

Do you guys have any “healthier” option bevvies?

We Are On To You, Sploggers!!

So here we are “innocently” spreading our message on our blogs for you all to read and we are public and we are happy to do it!  We share the link love with each other, support each other and it’s a big part of our life.  We put many hours of time and effort into our blogs providing our readers with original, creative and entertaining content that we love to write about and that we hope you love to read!  Right?!  Well at least that’s what we’re hoping for! ;-)  Some of us don’t earn money from our blogs at all!  Some of us don’t advertise and some of us do, which is fine because it’s OUR blogs and we can choose to do what you want with YOUR content!  Right?!

Then we realize that there are what’s called “Sploggers” out there who are copying our content and posting them on other blogs with ads earning money from OUR content!!!

You can check out Lynn’s blog today to see what we’ve discovered is happening.  Who knows how many other sploggers are doing this without us even knowing!

So what are we  “real” bloggers to do?  Well there are a few steps that Lynn has taken and we are hoping it’s a step in the right direction, but I’m thinking we have to do something further to “protect” our content as our in a more proactive way.  The only thing I can think of at this stage is creating signatures for each post and then linking back to your root blog address every single time.  This way, if they are just automatically streaming your content (links included), then the link to it’s true author is there AND it could work in your favour by creating more “link backs” on the internet which could increase your search engine stats.  Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t, but it’s somewhere to start until we can figure something else out.

If anyone has any experience or suggestions on how to deal handle this, I definitely welcome your comments and suggestions!

~Angie All The Way

(okay it’s not a great signature, but I’m working on getting the plug-in for WLW! lol)

Some "Anything" Questions Answered

I was scared to open myself to this "ask anything" thing, but it turns out it's really fun and I'm really enjoying it! So feel free to ask away!

Warning: my answers tend to be long and I can't help it!

Here are some of the Q&A:

Are you originally from Halifax?

No, I moved here when I went to Dalhousie University in 1998 and I grew up in a smaller town in Nova Scotia. But I'm here to stay!

What hair products do you use?

I use Redkin Clear Moisture shampoo and conditioner and Redkin Body Full Instant Bodifier foam.

I'm thinking about switching to something different for the time being because while many pregnant women apparently get this "big beautiful locks," I got the "limp and flat" deal :-(

Hi Super Star! How did your personality change losing 130lbs? :-)

I hate when people say that they "never changed" when they've lost a significant amount of weight because I just don't see how that could be true when it requires you to change your life! I changed my perspective on health and consequently how I live my life.

Having said that, I think people mistakenly assume that any change in my personality is purely a result of having lost that much weight because that is the thing that sticks out most about me the most.

My weight loss occurred when I was transitioning into an adult, so I believe that my personality likely has changed over the last decade and I continued to grow into a full adult. I fully recognized that my changes were highly influenced by this change in my life, but also by many other significant life events: moving to the "big city" to go to school having never been there before, meeting my husband, graduating university, then graduating college, being asked to be valedictorian, competing for my first job in the real world and getting an amazing job working for amazing and wonderful people who have also influenced my adulthood in many positive ways, traveling for the first time (on an airplane!), getting married, losing my uncle and father-in-law to cancer, dealing with many challenges with my mom and now becoming a mother.

I have no doubt that my personality with continue to change as I become a Mom too.

If I were to compare my younger personality to my adult personality I would say that I was always a very loyal person and friend and that hasn't changed. I've always been very sympathetic and intuitive which I think has strengthened. I always had a healthy self-esteem, but losing weight gave me more confidence when I realized that people DO treat you differently which wasn't obvious to me until I wasn't obese.

On the flip side, I used to be a bit of a "bad ass" teenager who had a reputation for being able to throw down! It's hard to imagine now if you actually know me now. Although really, it was more talk because I never got into fights! I just wasn't afraid to stick up for myself or my friends and being a teenager is tough and I didn't have the ideal childhood situation, like many people. I often say that it could have been "either way" with me and I'm proud of the direction I led my life. Now, while I am still very assertive, I let things roll off my back and keep my mouth shut more! I don't feel the need to prove myself to anyone and find myself feeling sorry for people who do.

Do you have any foods that you can't keep in the house because they'd mysteriously disapear within 24 hours?

This definitely used to be oreos and cookies in general! Now it's Liberte Mediterranean yogurt!

Does your hubby prefer that you keep his presence on a blog to a minimum?

Yes he does :-)

I have always wondered how you handle the fact that you and your husband have different eating styles. Does it frustrate you?

Yes it does frustrate me, but more because he is such a picky eater that every single day he has no idea what he wants to eat, so it's a big song and dance trying to accommodate his eating limitations. It's frustrating for him too because it is an issue for him to deal with his own food issues.

Aside from that, while it is frustrating, you gotta do what you gotta do for yourself and you can't depend on anyone else to change because you want to/can change. I was not going to use my husband as an "excuse" for my own bad choices. I know that while he is still no where NEAR where I would like him to be, he has been making changes, slowly, and that otherwise wouldn't have happened if I didn't change my lifestyle. Any change is good!

Have you ever travelled across the country?

I've never actually been to the west coast of Canada! I've always wanted to and WILL someday. I've only made it as far as Toronto when I met my blogger buddies :-)

Did you ever think your blog would get as big as it did?? How do you feel about the fact that people are constantly watching you/asking you questions? (sorry if you answered something like this already!)

I don't really consider it "big" compared to many of the health & fitness bloggers in our community, but thank you for thinking so ;-)

But no, I never did expect the readership that I have when I started. When we started 4 years ago, we did it more to just journal what we ate and to share tips and recipes amongst the other WW Board members. Next thing ya know, blogs really caught on, especially in our niche, life long friendships were made and it really made all the effort worth it.

I have been very careful about keeping my blog mainly to the subject matter of weight loss and tried to keep my personal life out of it. Part of the reason is for personal privacy and part of it is because my employers read my blog too! I don't mind answer questions at all and welcome them.

What is your favorite junk food?

Brave question to ask a pregnant woman! lol

It varies, but I've known to have a romance with oreo cookies and definitely ice cream!

It seems now that I'd rather overindulge on larger portions of more healthier things now though, like Liberte Mediterranean yogurts! I know it's nuts :-/

Congratulations on expecting! How long had you been trying to get pregnant (if you were trying)?

Thank you very much!

To be quite honest, this baby wasn't planned and wasn't going to be in the plan until after I ran the Half Marathon this year in the Bluenose and our trip to Jamaica in June. We all know that life happens when you are busy making plans ;-)

But considering the obstacles against us with PCOS, we feel like this baby is absolutely meant to be and we are really really happy!

Do you have any feeling as to whether it's a boy or girl?

Not yet! And I don't trust myself either because my whole life I have only ever considered girl names for some reason, so if I have "girl" feelings I'll think that's why, but if I have "boy" feelings, I'll think it's all because I'm trying to keep an open mind from what I've always thought! lol

Ask Me ANYTHING

This is so fun and I'm opening up the floor for you to ask me anything anonymously!  Click here and ask away!

Tempeh Loveh

I’d heard of this “tempeh” business for a while and I’ve never been into many soy and tofu products, so I never paid much attention.  But yesterday when I was picking up a few things at Planet Organic I was browsing their fresh made section and noticed they had some fresh made tempeh burgers with a side of sauce to go with them, so I thought, what the heck!

 

The ingredients on the label included: tempeh (organic soybeans, water, rhizopus oligosporus culture), organic green peppers, organic sushi rice, free range eggs, mayonnaise, sea salt, dry mustard, lemon juice concentrate, organic red onions, organic carrots, organic ketchup, organic quick oats, evoo, organic miso, dijon mustard, organic wheat free tamari, non-irradiated cayenne pepper, fresh dill

 

What a DELICIOUS combo!  The sauce on the side was a bit like chipotle mayo and I served it on an Ezekiel hamburger bun with a side spinach, tomato, red onion salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette (made with the good Williams Sanoma kind of course!):

       

I loved it! And I’m bringing the other one for lunch tomorrow.  What a super duper power house of a supper!  A serving of soy tempeh is an excellent source of dietary fiber and soy protein. It is also a good source of folic acid, potassium, & iron which really is a pregnancy superfood!

Oh and I finally was feeling well this afternoon and got my buns to the gym!  It felt great, especially after a great day of healthy and nutritious food.  It feels soooo reassuring to start getting glimpses of feeling myself again :-)

At Home Edamame & Miso Soup

One of my favourite comfort soups is Miso!  There’s something so soooooothing about the broth and I couldn’t get off my brain a while ago, so I decided to give this a try that I found at the grocery store (stays refrigerated):It was easy peasy and comes with three separate servings.  You just add the contents to the bowl and add hot water and voila:

Served up with some steamed edamame with sea salt was the perfect and balanced lunch:

 

The only “con” to any packaged soup is the sodium content.  It was a “little” high, but I’m not sure if that would be the case with any miso soup with soybean paste?  I should look into that.

Speaking of Miso soup, I’m thinking that some Halifax girls should get together for a Doraku GTG.  I would love love love their sweet potato rolls and they make the BEST Miso soup too :-)

Oh and speaking of GTG, guess who’s coming to visit Halifax this weekend?! We are planning a blogger GTG on Sunday at The Wooden Monkey and I’m soooo excited to get to meet Balance Susan!  If any of you are interested in joining us, please shoot me, Lynn or Susan an email and we’ll add your name to our reservation :-)

Mac & Cheese – The Next Generation

There are so many differences between having a child in today’s world vs. when our parents had us.  For instance, when I was born, breastfeeding was not nearly as common as formula feeding.  I was formula fed.  It was more common for mothers to smoke while they were pregnant and so did my mother.  I am allergic to cigarette smoke and cannot even STAND to be near it and I bet that is why! And when I say "can't stand" I mean if someone driving in the car in front of me is smoking out their window, I have to close all my windows AND air vents!  She also told me that she always craved Kraft Dinner and bread.  I was a kid who practically grew up on the stuff, but that all changed when I changed my eating habits!  But low and behold, guess what I was craving?  Like mother like daughter?

Today we have so much more information available to us then our mothers did and that doesn’t even matter how old you are reading this.  I have books that tell me each day what is happening in my baby’s development.  For instance, today I am exactly 15 weeks pregnant!  According to Babycentre.com:

How your baby's growing:
Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

According to The Pregnancy Journal, it says,

During this entire week, the baby grows rapidly, with growth setting the stage for development later this month.  Your baby’s weight will increase six times during this fourth month of pregnancy.  Even then, the baby will only weigh 6 ounces, not even half a pound.

You probably will feel tired and sometimes out of energy.  That’s normal.  Plenty of rest, good nutrition, and exercise should make you feel better.  Exercise doesn’t have to include a full workout – 5 – 10 minutes of walking, stretching, yoga, or other activity can be renewing.

How amazing is it that we can know that?!  All of this is a way for me to segway my baby’s 15 week “development birthday” with an updated “today’s” version of “Kraft Dinner” which I was craving just like my mom did when she was pregnant with me, only today we have much healthier versions available to us than the artificial stuff. 

I put my faith in Amy who on more than one occasion has enjoyed Annie’s Mac & Cheese and added my favourite addition to any mac & cheese, broccoli and decided to go as “close” to the Kraft Dinner experience as possible and tried this one:

But how can you feel bad when you know this about the product?

 
And when you add pretty much the healthiest vegetable in the world with some lean boneless skinless chicken cubed and cooked, you get a pretty healthy result!
   
It was very very good!   The rice pasta actually had the same texture as regular KD noodles.  Well, I haven’t actually had KD in about 6 years, so to my recollection it was a great substitution!  My only complaint is that it the cheese flavour is a little on the bland side and doesn’t stand out like the flavour would with regular Kraft Dinner so next time I will add less than the 1/4c of milk that they suggest to enhance the cheese flavour.  That’s most likely to do with that it doesn’t have added artificial flavours.  So I grated up some real cheddar and threw that in there too with some salt and pepper and I was a very happy preggo with a craving conquered and felt great about it too :-)

Preggo Pancakes

Now I dunno about any of you who have experienced the so-called “morning sickness” that they leave you to believe is a “morning” phenomenon when clearly that’s a big fat lie because for me it’s more of an afternoon and evening sickness!  One of the things that tend to agree with me the most when I’m feeling this way seems to be carby things like toast with almond butter and jam and a glass of milk (yes I’ve had this for supper)!  I’m not normally a “pancake” person, but the idea of it appealed to me so much, and I eyed this little gem while shopping at Planet Organic:

Nature’s Path Organic Buttermilk Pancake Mix + water = nice and golden and FLUFFY!

Than I jazzed it up with LIBERTE GREEK YOGURT THAT WE NOW FINALLY HAVE ON OUR SHELVES!!!!!!  IT’S ABOUT TIME CANADA GOT SOME REAL GREEK YOGURT!!!!!!!! WOOOOT!  So thick and creamy and pure awesomeness :-) 

There’s TWENTY GRAMS of protein per serving for only 110 calories!  Ummm……pardon moi?  Sounds like a perfect food for a baby mama to me!

After the yogurt, I topped it with a sliced banana and thawed frozen strawberries and pure Nova Scotia maple syrup (is there any other kind?)

The perfect “fluffy” factor too:

       

And I did something I’ve never done before.  I only made half the batter, so I stored the rest of it in a container in the fridge and it made another perfect pancake two days later easy peasy!

What kinds of things do you like to eat when your tummy is acting up?

Doctor's Appointments & Pregnancy Weight Gain Frank Talk

I went to my "first pre-natal" appointment last week with my family doctor.  I really do like her a lot.  She's really down to earth and very relatable.  All the things I've read had prepared me for this long and thorough examination (you know, all the "unpleasant" stuff included) and I had my fingers crossed that she would have the "doppler" to be able to hear the baby's heart beat.  During my first ultrasound (at 11 weeks, 4 days), we could see the little peanut's heart beating very strongly, but we weren't able to hear it because it was an ultrasound ordered for "medical purposes" (in my case to date the pregnancy) and they don't let you have any pictures or anything fun during those ultrasounds because it's purely for "medical purposes."

Side Note: In Nova Scotia (and this could be the case for most of Canada, but I'm not sure), we have to go to a private ultrasound clinic and pay to have those kinds of pictures. However, the upside of that is that I also don't have to worry about any medical bills at all throughout my entire pregnancy and delivery regardless of what kind of medical interventions and/or tests that may be required for me or the baby and I can only imagine what kind of burden that would put on top of everything else

I was happy just to be able to see the little fluttering of  his/her little heart beating away, but every parent can't wait to "hear" it.  So I was secretly hoping we'd be putting the doppler to use at my first pre-natal.  However, not all GP's do deliveries and it turns out that because my doctor is Scottish and they have the midwifery system in Scotland, she is not a GP here in Canada that is trained specifically to carry patients through to delivery, so she has referred me to another GP who does and who she says "loves it" and will do a fantastic job with my pre-natal care.  She said that I am not "high risk" (yay!) and so there is no need to refer me to be followed by an OB at this point.  Okie dokie.  I have now heard from my pregnancy doctor and my first appointment with her is in 3 1/2 weeks where I will be exactly 19 weeks pregnant.  My next ultrasound will be when I'm at 20 weeks which is what they call the "anatomy" ultrasound and I can hardly wait!  I am still waiting for the exact appointment time on that.

Another Side Note:  They also will not tell you the sex of your baby during these ultrasounds either and if you want to know, you must go through the private clinics.  I'm a bit relieved about that actually because I would rather wait until s/he is born and it's REALLY tempting to find out!

So of all the things that I expected to be examined at my appointment (most of which are generally unpleasant), the thing I was MOST dreading was being weighed.  It is no secret that I hate stepping on the scale at any other time than first thing in the morning, so doing it at lunch time inevitably leaves behind a bruised ego!  My "pre-pregnancy" weight was around 185.  My first visit to the doctor when I found out I was pregnant, her scale weighed me in at 187.5 in the afternoon (I heart her scale) while mine had me in at about 191 in the morning.  When I had to step on the scale the hospital when I was having some bloodwork done (boots and all!) a few weeks ago and that mother lovin' scale put me at 198! (I wanted to die!).  Last week, my doctor's scale put me at an even 190 which is only up 2.5 from my last visit and around 5 lbs in total which I was VERY pleased about.  However, then I realized that my scale that morning put me at 195 which is technically about a TEN pound gain from pre-pregnancy. 

I have a few thoughts as to why I think my first trimester gain was more than it "should" be:

1. The constant state of nausea which I am still battling with, ironically can often times only partially alleviated by food;
   
   
2. I'm stressing about weight gain in all honesty and of course it causes me to eat more (we all know this song and dance and I'm not going to pretend to be perfect);
   
   
3. You all know that I have been a weight watcher and a calorie counter for what is now YEARS to lose a significant amount of weight.  This required me to aim for an average of 1500 calories per day (sometimes more, sometimes less) for a long, long time.  There's nothing wrong with that, but generally when you are ready to increase your calories, your body and your metabolism handles it more readily when you slowly re-introduce the increase of calories over time, and from what I've read is generally by about 100 calories a day for a week at a time, then increasing it again, etc.  When I asked my doctor where I should be aiming for in my calorie range, she said around 2000 - 2300 is reasonable, but not to go below 2000.  Of course she also went into the point what we all hear all the time nowadays in an attempt to combat the idea of "eating for two" of how "it's really not that much more food and is only equivalent to two mini yogurts and some nuts."  But in reality, for ME it IS a lot more calories!  That's a minimum of 500 MORE calories per day and not on a gradual introduction.  So I believe that in the beginning, I gained more than average because of this increase in calories may have been more than my body was used to handling.

I didn't stick to everything perfectly, because after about a week of trying to count it out just to get a better handle on what a 2000 - 2300 calories a day looks like, I stopped counting it because, well it makes me nuts, always has and I already have more than enough things to think about right now that are going to make me nuts!  Interestingly, when I stopped counting, was right when my weight held steady for a few weeks too.

So, I have been keeping an eye on the scale and I stayed steady for a few good weeks so that is promising.  I am hoping that the gains in the next few months will be more gradual and will keep me within the range that I am "supposed" to be in for pregnancy weight gain for a person of my size.

What I do know is that I know how to eat healthy and I need to trust myself and just listen to my body.  It's very easy for people to say, "Just enjoy your pregnancy and don't worry about that and let it happen,"  but with all do respect to those people, while I know that probably 99% of all women struggle with the fear of pregnancy weight gain, most of them have not been through the process of losing 130 lbs and the fear associated with seeing pounds come back.  That is an entirely different animal. And I am only making this point to illustrate why I feel the way I do.

I am a smart girl and I "know" better, but I'm just being honest with my feelings and it's scary!  And by "know better," I mean that I know that I should just "let it go" and roll with it and trust myself and just trust nature!  There is a lot of emotional stuff that goes along with pregnancy in itself, some hormone related and some not.  Day by day I am becoming more and more adjusted to this shift in mindset.  I am beginning to think that there are many more reasons other than baby development as to why it takes a baby nine months to join our lives, don't you? ;-)

Travel Insurance is for Chumps - Expedia Saves the Day

Warning: this is a long post in which I rant.  Read if you will at your own risk :-D

I can't remember if I shared with you all that before Christmas, the husband and I booked a trip to Jamaica to attend a wedding of some very good friends (yay another destination wedding!).  The trip is a little later than the expected "destination wedding" and is May 29 - June 5.

So then we find out we're expecting and it puts us in the position to decide if we're going to go.  It's not that we're opposed to traveling while pregnant, it's that it will be 10 weeks before my due date which is a little too close for my comfort.  Luckily, we purchased cancellation insurance right?!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Travel Insurance is for suckers

So we start reading our "insurance" documents and it says if you're canceling due to pregnancy, departure date has to be NINE weeks before or after your due date to qualify unless your doctor says that you are "high risk" or has another reason to say you shouldn't go.  During my doctor's visit on Tuesday, my doctor said she would write me a letter if I needed her to but she had hoped they would be "reasonable" about it since my return date put me over by about 2 days.  Common sense says that we DO have to fly home ya know, but apparently that's not important in the insurance policy.

I do, in fact, have another medical reason that could potentially interfere with my ability to travel during that time, but it isn't known at this early stage in the pregnancy.  That reason is that due to the injuries I sustained in my MVA nearly 4 years ago where I dislocated and fractured my hip, I now have bursitis which I am being treated for which has already included a steroid injection (obviously not while I'm pregnant) and any further treatment of that kind will have to wait until after the baby is born. 

It is impossible to know how this pregnancy is going to affect me in that regard until I start getting bigger and start to see if it does cause me added pain (I already had one excruciating day on New Year's day that can't really be explained, but I couldn't even walk up the stairs or lift my leg - it obviously wasn't due to added weight of the baby, but it was the worst I have ever felt in the last 4 years since I've recovered from the accident.  So that leads me to believe that I haven't seen the end of the hip pain issues during this pregnancy, but that remains to be seen.)  So for that reason, my doctor agreed that it is a condition that would support my cancellation request and she would write me a letter if I needed her to.  Great.

We booked our trip through Expedia and purchased our travel insurance through them which is a different insurance company for about $120 per person.  So I called up Expedia (per my "declaration letter" from the insurance company) and they directed me to the insurance company to call first. (I can already see what kind of gong show this is going to be having me call all over the place.)  So I call and tell "Julie" the situation and she starts counting weeks and says that I'll be 10 weeks and the policy only covers for 9.  Then I proceed to tell her that my return flight puts me over and she informs me that the policy only deals with "departure" dates.  Can you say crock?! 

So then she starts confusing me with all of the different people I now need to call and all of the hoops I now have to jump through.  Now I am a smart girl and I had to go through it with yer about 5 times in exasperation to see if I understood it correctly.  She tells me I have to call Expedia, give them my "Claim #" and then have to cancel my trip through them.  They then contact the airline and it's the AIRLINE who decides whether they will reimburse our airfare or just issue us a credit to be used within one year.  If they decide the latter and I don't want the "credit" because C'MON we're going to be new parents and the likelihood of using those tickets int he next year is SLIM, then we have to write to them and say that we do not accept the credit and then the insurance company must decide whether our request is reasonable to refund us for the tickets.  OH and we have to pay a non-refundable cancellation fee to cancel the trip on TOP of probably NOT getting back the money from the airline.

And THEN she tells me that I MUST have my doctor write my letter within 72 HOURS of this claim being started, but I can't send the letter to them until I receive their claim form which I won't receive for 7 - 10 business days.  So basically, they were forcing me to impose on MY doctor a timeline to write this letter (or have it "dated" within 72 hours of that moment) because she explained they were invoking the "emergency" clause of the policy which requires the physicians to respond in that time.  I was at a loss to understand this because OBVIOUSLY my situation is pregnancy and not a heart attack.  Apparently their little policy doesn't distinguish this in a reasonable way. 

So I am a pretty darn reasonable and level-headed person who does not normally overreact, but bloggies, I am pregnant and I have hormones and I'm not afraid to use them.  Poor "Julie" got an earful from me and while I know it is "just her job" to respond to these claims according to the "policy" but if you don't express your dissent about how ridiculous it is to their representative, then there's nothing communicated. I was not in the mood to start asking for her "manager" and spew it to them either.  I did express to her that I was apologetic for my tone to her, but that it couldn't be helped.  Most people wouldn't have even done that, but that's just me.

Okay done, now I must call my doctor and tell her to drop what she's doing and write ME a letter so that I don't lose my vacation money.....yeah....sounds like a priority over the people who need letters from their doctor to receive medical benefits and coverage for medical equipment and worker's compensation right? Pfffffffffffft.

So now I'm on to "Step 2" of what Julie tells me I have to do and that's to call Expedia and cancel my trip.  So I call and I get "Brittany" who tells me I can't cancel my trip until it's completely paid for.  At this point we were only in our deposit and I was already fired up from dealing with the ridiculous insurance company and I was like, "Oh no, no, no, no I'm NOT giving you $2,300 MORE of my money just so that it won't be refunded to me!"  And while I feel bad for Brittany for being on the receiving end of my exasperated hormonal self, she did nothing to explain the process to me at all other than to say, "Well it just comes off your credit card automatically."  So then I just about hit the roof and said I need to hang up because I had nothing to say at this moment!

So I'm red in the face, sick to my stomach (as if I wasn't enough already), stressed and teary-eyed because fact is that we (NO one) can afford to spend that kind of money, especially when you're not even getting to GO on the vacation to justify it in whatever way makes you feel better!

So then we start entertaining ideas about canceling our credit card.  Then I wondered what would be involved in "changing" the date to be earlier so if we did get a credit, maybe we could put it to use in maybe April instead of probably never. So then hubby calls up Expedia and talks to a different lady and they start chatting and hitting it off and she starts yelling through the phone in excitement about our great news that we're going to be parents and she tells us that "YES" of course there is something they could do for us!  She said there would be absolutely NO issue in getting our hotel accommodations refunded and that is a given.  The only issue "may" be with the flights because they were marked as "special fare" (read: good deal and not likely refundable), but worst case scenario would be paying a fee to have them changed.  But of course better than losing it all and we were going to have to pay a fee "anyway" for cancellation.  Okay so we hang up, discuss it and we decide to go ahead and bite the bullet and whip out the credit card and complete the payment for the trip.  This made me SO nervous.

I called back and got "Paul" so we could go ahead bite the bullet pay for the trip and then cancel it to get the process started so that we could potentially use our "credit" for an earlier trip in April.  So Paul ends up being a complete sweetheart and helpful all the way around.  He starts telling me that there would be absolutely no problem getting the hotel refunded (just like the other lady said) and that would be processed immediately and we would have it refunded on our credit card within 5 - 7 days.  This amount was already MORE than what we had to pay just then to pay off the trip, so already we're happy. 

So I say "GREAT!" and then he says, "we'll really it's not because it's YOUR MONEY!"  (reminding me of what's really going on) and I was like "YEAH! it IS my money!"  We start to forget and feel totally helpless after talking to people like travel insurance companies!  He was totally on our side and it was obvious from his statement.  Then he starts calling me "Angel" and being all cute and made me already feel like I was on my vacation the way the staff flatters you - you know what I'm talking about if you've ever traveled down south ;-). 

So then he proceeds to tell me that getting the refund for the airfare would take a little longer but would also not be a problem.  And I expressed my disbelief that this was possible because I had purchased INSURANCE and I just went through the whole gong show with them who was supposed to have my back on refunding my money and pretty much told me I had to jump through 394848 hoops was in the hands of the airline and was pretty much SOL and then PAUL from EXPEDIA doesn't even require that I HAVE insurance!!  He didn't even care that our fare was "special" and explained that there are "three parties involved" when we pay them for a trip:

1. Expedia
2. The airline
3. A Canadian 3rd party bank that holds and protects our money for the airfare in case something happens to the airline so we can still travel

and he said that because "we no longer wish to travel" our money would be refunded (minus the cancellation fee of $120 per person which isn't that much in the grand scheme and wish we hadn't wasted our money on the insurance).  He explained that because the money is held with the 3rd party, it will take 2 billing cycles to have it refunded but that he was creating the necessary ball in motion for that to happen but there shouldn't be any issues.

HUH??  WHAT????  REALLY???!?!  I had to get him to explain and verify this to me at least three times just so that I would know it was real!

So then he asks me what it was we were canceling for his own curiosity, so I explained and he started going on about how great it was and wanted me to congratulate my husband and that he had 3 kids of his own and told me their names etc.,

I then proceeded to tell him if our baby was a boy, his name would be Paul....:-D

He was like, "Really?!?!"

I was like, "Well, probably not, but I sincerely appreciate all of your help and you were so much helpful!"  He was genuinely concerned that I wasn't getting the service I need from someone else at Expedia.  Truth was, with the exception of "Brittany" when I first called them, they were all very helpful so I didn't complain about them to him, just the rip off insurance company.

I could not believe I would be able to sleep!

We will most definitely continue to use Expedia for travel in the future!

Pheeeeeeeeeeeeew!  Thank you Paul!!

(I am still holding my breathe for 2 billing cycles, but a happy girl at the moment!)

"On-The-Go" Snack Ideas

So now that my little peanut is in there, and I am getting more used to feeling better 80% of the time and my focus is on making sure I'm eating well and getting exercise (this second part is coming a little less quickly, but coming!).  I have really liked having a chewy and nutty granola bar for a morning snack around 10:30, but of course want to include as much healthy variety as possible.

I have always found that one of the key components to starting off the week on the right foot is having lots of fresh ideas in mind for healthy snacks and meal ideas.  Otherwise, I find myself feeling bored and unsatisfied and settling for something that is a "go to" staple that isn't always necessarily the best choice.  For me, I find that I am happiest when I am making good choices and when I'm armed with lots of new ideas.  It makes me feel excited to try them which perpetuates a positive push to the entire day.  The very fact that I felt compelled to post this up shows that I think I've kind of let these kinds of ideas fall by the wayside, so here's a little "refresher" for me to help stimulate some snacking creativity.

I came across an article from Pregnancy.org that gave some really excellent and healthy snack ideas regardless of whether you have a little peanut springing to life in there or not :-)  As you can see she has made quite a few substitutions and suggestions for vegetarian protein alternatives:

(from Pregnancy.org)
by Deborah A. Klein, MS, RD

1. Make your own trail-mix with roasted peanuts
   
   
   
   (check ingredients for peanuts, no oils added), and raw almonds/other nuts/seeds and raisins or dried blueberries/cranberries (check ingredients for no sugar or additives).
   
   
2. Make a shake with ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder, fruit of your choice, ¼ cup plain yogurt and 2 cups 1% milk or Silk soy milk.
   
   
3. Spread 2 Tablespoons of all-natural peanut butter or soy nut butter on half a sprouted grain bagel/whole-wheat pita/whole-wheat crackers.
   
   
4. Blend ½ cup of plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt with strawberry or vanilla soymilk with ½ frozen banana and a handful of frozen strawberries.
   
   
5. Spread pizza sauce/marinara sauce over an English muffin and place a sliced tomato and 1 ounce of Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese or French Yogurt Cheese on top, melt in a toaster oven.
   
   
6. Layer a whole-grain blueberry toaster waffle with ½ cup plain low-fat yogurt and ½ cup fresh berries/defrosted frozen berries.
   
   
7. Scoop ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese into a cantaloupe or honeydew melon half.
   
   
8. Top a half of a cinnamon-raisin sprouted grain bagel with low-fat ricotta cheese and cinnamon sprinkled on top.
   
   
9. Combine ¼ cup low-fat ricotta cheese or cottage cheese with ½ cup apple sauce and a dash of cinnamon. Sprinkle with Grape-Nuts or low-fat granola.
   
   
10. Roll a whole-wheat tortilla up with scrambled egg whites with 1 egg yolk and salsa.
    
    
11. Stuff half a whole-wheat pita with ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese and sliced canned (in its own juice or water) peaches, pears, or a fresh banana.
    
    
12. Stuff a pita pocket with sliced turkey breast or sliced part-skim milk cheese, tomato, and a squirt of mustard.
    
    
13. Use spreads such as chicken or tuna salad onto whole-wheat crackers.
    
    
14. Mix ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese with ¼ cup strawberry yogurt and sprinkle with Muesli cereal.
    
    
15. Add cereal (at least 5 grams dietary fiber) to plain low-fat yogurt.
    
    
16. Spread 1 Tablespoon of Soy butter (try "I'm Healthy Soy Nut Butter" from Whole Foods) on 2 apple halves.
    
    
17. Spread all-natural peanut butter and all-fruit jam on Ak-mak crackers or a mini-bagel.
    
    
18. Top a mini-bagel with turkey or chicken breast.
    
    
19. Put slivered almonds and roasted peanuts in 1 cup of vanilla yogurt.
    
    
20. Have a box of raisins with soy nuts (try Dr. Soy or Genisoy brand).
    
    
21. Have ½ cup of edamame (fresh soybeans) as a completely balanced snack.
    
    
22. Blend coffee flavored Soy-Um soymilk with ¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder and ice for a high protein ice mocha.
    
    
23. Have an ounce of yogurt cheese on "Woven wheat" (available at Whole Foods/Wild Oats/Trader Joe's) crackers.
    
    
24. Have low-fat string cheese (choose Organic part-skim milk, e.g., Horizon) with an apple or pear.
    
    
25. Melt part-skim mozzarella on a whole-wheat tortilla or toasted wheat pita, put some veggies on top (e.g., tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli).
    
    
26. Spread all-natural peanut butter with sprinkled sunflower seeds in celery sticks and on apple slices.
    
    
27. Frozen banana: Peel bananas; dip into cocoa and a dash of honey or pure maple syrup; roll in ground nuts (ground peanuts and walnuts or soynuts), freeze individually in plastic wrap.
    
    
28. Have ½ cup fruit or 2-inch across piece of fruit with 20 soy crisps, flavor of choice.

That's quite a few suggestions!  I especially like the idea of rolling the banana in honey and nuts and then freezing them!


Do you have any favourite healthy snacks that you'd like to share?