Monday, September 27, 2010

oh my heart...

Heartburn.
It is a fact of my life right now...something I've been blessed with during each of my pregnancies. I keep Tums on hand though, so it is manageable, and I will not complain.
Except last night, I ran out of Tums. And I ate a late night slice of pumpkin pie, leftover from the World's Largest Pumkin Pie baked nearby in New Bremen, OH. (That's right...WORLD's largest! 20 feet in diameter, to beat their own previously held record of 12 feet. How cool is that?!)
Anyhow...back to the "burn." I knew instantly it was going to cause me problems...but it didn't slow me down. I ate it anyways. And sure as shootin, as soon as my head hit the pillow, the familiar burn set in. No prob. Chew a few Tums...and I'm snoozin. No Tums, remember?! Well I had forgotten. So I found myself first tearing apart every purse and travel bag I could find looking for a forgotten roll, and then doing what I do next when I have a dilemna...googling.
C'mon Mr. Google, don't fail me now...show me "home remedies for heartburn." I found every horrible idea under the sun...from drinking vinegar, or baking soda, or a combination (isn't that what you put in clogged drains?!), someone suggested drinking mustard straight from the bottle, or pickle juice (only dill.), milk, NO MILK!, yogurt, oh for heaven's sake. What's a girl to do?! One idea that kept creaping up was to take a bite of a raw potato. Hmm. I like raw potatoes, so it didn't sound horrifying (or caustic), and I happened to have a couple potatoes sitting out on the countertop that I ended up not using for Sunday brunch.
Hmm. A bite of raw potato?!
I went for it.
I peeled the end off one potato, and nibbled 2 small bites.
I sat up on the couch just a couple minutes, waiting for a reaction.
And guess what...

It worked!!! That darn bite of potato cured my heartburn within minutes. (faster than Tums, maybe.)
Okay, so there's no calcium benefit. And maybe it was just a placebo effect. But a single bite of potato is harmless ( I think) to me and baby, so I'll certainly try it again in a pinch.

I'm just saying. It's sounds better than the drain cleaner option!