oh, my poor kidneys

Why, oh why, do I have to have kidney problems when I am pregnant? Seriously, I'm looking for advice. Last weekend, I woke up at two in the morning to a weird stomach ache, which then turned into a painful cramping, which led me to the hospital. Since I'm 6 months pregnant, I was whisked up to the maternity floor and diagnosed with a kidney infection. A week of antibiotics later, I am better, however, I fear that I am going to have a kidney stone attack.

When I was pregnant with my son, the same thing happened. I woke up in the middle of the night, went to the hospital and found out I had a kidney infection. Fast forward to three weeks after my son was born - I'm having a kidney stone attack that was more painful than his birth! So, you can see why I am fearful that I will have another attack in the future.

I have been drinking straight cranberry juice and eating cranberry pills, I don't even know if this will help prevent a stone?

Any advice?

Thanks :)

best thing since sliced bread

Oh, bread... How everyone loves thee. My husband, however, has that unfortunate little disease called celiac - you know, the one where if you eat bread you're stuck in the bathroom for a long time?! It took forever and a day for him to figure out that gluten was the culprit, however, as soon as he eliminated it from his diet, his life changed. At first, gluten free feels overwhelming and unpractical! However, it's been 5 years or so, so we're pretty used to it and luckily, it seems like the rest of the world is starting to catch on. They even have a large gluten free menu at The Hill!

There have been a couple of products that are really great and I just wanted to share.

First, we recently discovered Udi's Gluten Free Bread. To say that this bread is good is an understatement. It is definitely the closest thing to real bread that we have tried. My husband remarks that you don't even need to toast it/turn it into a panini to make it taste good. They also sell pizza crust, muffins and bagels.



Have you ever tried to make any of those casserole recipes you had growing up? For example, Chicken Divan, one of my husband's favorites. Well, it virtually impossible when you have to use a non-condensed gluten free cream of mushroom soup and then attempt to thicken it with cornstarch and Campbell's has wheat flour in it, not to mention monosodium glutamate and soy protein. You can imagine the excitement when I found Pacific Natural Foods Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup. Not only is it gluten free, but it's organic and doesn't have all the gross ingredients that Campbell's does!



Pizza - such a pain when you are gluten free - sure you can make it at home, but don't you miss ordering pizza?! We have found Passport Pizza , Buddy's Pizza and Uno's Chicago Grill all offer gluten free pizza. Passport Pizza even makes gluten free breadsticks!

These are the three recent finds for us that have made a big difference. Please let me know if you have any other questions about gluten free products and hopefully I can help! Happy eating :)