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Will and I left NYC yesterday evening to drive upstate with Moxie for the weekend and enjoy the recent snowfall (we've been woefully snow-deprived in NYC this year, as has much of the East Coast). We stopped at a restaurant we love along the way and I proceeded to try to find something I could eat with my list of gluten and egg restrictions of the past few weeks. I was so focused on these that I didn't think about all the other food restrictions of being pregnant and I ordered a warm beet and goat-cheese salad. Which was delicious. Until I realized that I think goat cheese is on the no-no list because of the potential risk of listeria.
Cue minor freak out (these seem to happen fairly regularly, don't they?). A thousand thoughts ran though my mind...should I make myself throw up to get it out of my system? That didn't seem like it would effectively get rid of a bacteria if I'd been exposed to it, and besides, sounds a little...bulimic or something. Should I order a glass of wine and drink half of it, hoping the alcohol would kill any listeria present? Hmmm, alcohol is also a major no-no and besides, I wasn't sure that would actually kill any bacteria present. Should I call my doctor and get an Rx for prophylactic antibiotics? Gosh, that sounded really neurotic.
So instead, I took another action (hangs head sheepishly). I texted my nurse. I am ashamed to say that on a Friday night, I chose to interrupt my nurse's life. (Yes, this wonderful woman gave me her cell phone because she is just that amazing and knows that I am that traumatized. And she told me to call or text if I need reassurance, but still. It was Friday night. I am a grown woman.) She told me to chill. And that it was probably ok. That the chances of being infected were slim. And that I just needed to be sure not to do it again. And she added an emoticon smiling at me to make me feel like less of a fool for being so worried that I would intrude into her life.
So, that helped quite a bit. Although I'm still somewhat worried. I'm feeling fairly immune-suppressed over here, what with the prednisone and the IVIG, the Lovenox and the vitamin D. So I'm picturing just one tiny bacteria would be needed to set off a storm inside my poor beleaguered body.
Honestly, even after being pregnant 6 times before, I'm a little confused about the cheese situation in pregnancy. Is it ok if it's pasteurized? Or not even then? Are all soft cheese out, including cream cheese and Laughing Cow? Or just some spreadable cheeses? With wheat and eggs a distant memory, dairy is one of my remaining major food pleasures...but I want to get this right.
For those of you who've been pregnant, how careful were you about these food recommendations? This pregnancy is so hard fought, and the potential for regret so great, that I think I'll play things very, very carefully for as long as we can (knock wood) stay pregnant. But I'd be curious what others out there have done during their pregnancies.
Mo
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