Check your push rods if their bent by rolling them on a flat surface and observe any variation in their "roll" in the center.  ANY kind of variation will cause the pushrod to bend easily because of the forces present.  Just buy two if the other pass the ROLL test.

And no...bent pushrods are to be replaced unless you have a lathe, dial indicator and a press.  Even then..any bend of any metal changes the structural integrity  of the bent side which makes it differ from the opposite side to cause an inbalance and in turn cause a failure if their is enough force in order to do so. 

Not replacing suspect parts when rebuilding an engine? Sounds like "penny wise and pound foolish" to me. How many hours are you spending removing/rebuilding/replacing that engine? Want to do it again in a month?

I am no mechanic.

How did you go about straightening the rods?

Either way my 2 cents is that if they bent once they could bend again, so why not play it safe and get brand new pushrods so you minimize the chance of having rebuild the engine again?