Just found out im Pregnant! Now what!?
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AmberLoYo
Posts: 11 Member
I tested positive on a test day before yesterday.... and about 6 more test since then! I want to stay as healty as possible during this pregnancy... any help would be appreciated!
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Replies
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Well, besides making an OB appointment and taking prentals...
When I found out, I was lost too lol. It's weird being in the middle of losing weight and having to kind of stop it all because of being pregnant, but basically i'm just still eating healthy, just eating more. I was only eating 1200-1400 calories before, now I'm around 1700-1800, set my goals to lose 1/2 a lb a week, originally set to maintenance, but it being over 2000 calories a day freaked me out, that's just too much for me. I'm 7 weeks and only gained 2 lbs so far, so I'm hoping I'm doing something right!0 -
The best advice I can give is to eat, sleep, and exercise. Anything else is your decision.
Pregnancy takes a lot out of you, so eat. Eat. Eat. Eat. It's not an excuse to eat whatever you want (like 2 large fries and a half bag of chocolates >.> Not that I'd know), but it is an excuse to eat whenever you're hungry - which you will be...at all hours of the day and night. It took me a while to get over how hungry I was. Like I just had dinner an hour before, but I'm ravenous again. Eat. And be sure to eat good foods. Like a big *kitten* bowl of oatmeal, with honey, and raisins, and pecans, and maybe a banana. It's an excuse to combine everything you ever knew existed. And you know what? If by some chance your eyes were fooling you, and that grilled cream cheese sandwich isn't as good as you thought it was, no one can fault you for throwing it away. Blame it on nausea, but be sure to go BACK into the kitchen and try something else.
Watch out for when the baby gets higher, though. I didn't think about it and started making myself sick from eating too much at once. Small meals, yo. And if you're worried about gaining too much weight from all that eating, don't be. I went from eating 1400 calories to eating 2300/2400 and I've only gained ~10 lbs, and I only have 10 more weeks to go. So eating like you have a tapeworm isn't necessarily a death sentence to your waistline.
Sleep like Rip Van Winkle. You're like a bear going into hibernation. Eat and sleep. And then repeat. Especially during the beginning when morning sickness is an issue. Before I knew I was pregnant I was sleeping almost 20 hours a day sometimes. I thought I'd caught some horrible flu strain and I was going to die. And then I realized it was morning sickness and I got some great ginger pills with B vitamins so I could stay awake without vomiting. You will probably nap like a crazy person. At this point (30 weeks) I usually wake up, drink my breakfast (I'm running out of room for normal food), sit up for an hour, and then go back to bed for an hour or two. Naps rock. Sleep.
Exercise isn't the easiest thing to push. You're tired and hungry. But! Exercise helps. Walking is probably the easiest thing to do while your pregnant, but I suggest throwing in some squat aerobics and yoga.0 -
Congratulations!
I second the prenatal vitamins as well as a pregnancy-approved DHA supplement (Expecta is one, and Target has a generic version). Don't just take any old DHA supplement because you have to be careful what the source is. My OB keeps asking me if I'm taking those and suggests stopping them at 35 weeks (I forget why). I prefer the Target brand (Up & Up) prenatal vitamin because it is not a huge horse pill (Publix ones are huuuuge!). I took those last time I was pregnant, too, though no one pushed the DHA supplements then.
Otherwise, do what you can exercise-wise without going breathless, sleep if you're tired (you will be), eat if you're hungry (you will be), and try to relax as best you can!
As shnoots said, it's not about eating whatever you want but whenever you want. My OB says six small meals a day. That's a good way to stave off morning sickness, too, should that hit you.
Be sure to check out the 1st trimester thread, and it appears that there's now a thread for September 2013 due dates (there's an August 2013 thread if you fall into that one).
Best wishes!0 -
First, congratulations!
What I did when I found out I was pregnant was get out all of the books I thought could be useful for me and learn as much as I could. I do not support one poster's recommendation to constantly eat huge calorie counts, even if it is of good food. Your calorie count depends on how much you weigh when you start out, and there are physician-approved recommendations that should be taken into account. If you are a healthy weight, they say the baby only needs 200-300 more quality calories as you move into second semester and beyond. You are definitely not "eating for two." The baby doesn't even weigh 1 lb. until around 22 weeks. Its calorie needs are minimal. I have known some women who were obese to actually lose weight during pregnancy with their doctor's approval.
Personally, this whole pregnancy threw me for a loop with my eating and fitness. I was so nauseous until about week 16 that I could only eat very specific foods (read: carbs). No, they weren't what I wanted to be eating to support a developing baby, but it was literally all I could stomach. Before the pregnancy I was eating two different vegetables for lunch and dinner, low carbs, high fat and protein. In terms of fitness, pre-pregnancy I ran my lifetime best half-marathon, a number of 25 km trail races, and was swimming 4-5 days a week on a master's team. Now? I feel like I spent the first 16 weeks taking constant naps, I can't run at all (nausea/heartburn), I deferred the last month of my master's membership, and I am desperately trying to find something regular. Even walking causes a huge stitch in my side and makes my back ache.
What I am saying is that you need to get out and educate yourself, talk to a doctor (or a nurse practitioner who will give you advice), and listen carefully to your body and what it is telling you as it undergoes some radical changes. You may be able to continue your activities and eat normally, or you may have to make some major adjustments like I did. Good luck!0 -
I do not support one poster's recommendation to constantly eat huge calorie counts, even if it is of good food. Your calorie count depends on how much you weigh when you start out, and there are physician-approved recommendations that should be taken into account. If you are a healthy weight, they say the baby only needs 200-300 more quality calories as you move into second semester and beyond. You are definitely not "eating for two." The baby doesn't even weigh 1 lb. until around 22 weeks. Its calorie needs are minimal. I have known some women who were obese to actually lose weight during pregnancy with their doctor's approval.
Did I specifically tell her to constantly eat a huge calorie count? No. Not in the least. I told her to eat whenever she felt hungry. Which she will, and it's good to have some reassurance that it's ok to eat. If you haven't noticed, a lot of chicks seem to have a problem with letting themselves eat when their bodies are telling them to consume more that what seems socially acceptable. I listed my personal calorie goals, but only as a nod to the fact that a ridiculously increased appetite doesn't mean you're going to put on a million pounds.0 -
Here is my advice:
Don't let yourself get too hungry (possible nausea, vomiting)
Don't let yourself get too full (see above)
Sleep when you can. The first and third trimesters can be very tiring
Don't worry about a specific day's calories. There are days that eating just doesn't sound or feel good for you and other days that you can't seem to get enough. Make sure you're calories even out over the week.
Keep snacks with you all the time. There will be times that hunger like you have never known it will hit you and waiting to eat just isn't a good idea.
Relax and enjoy.
You'll figure out what works for you and keeps you comfortable and happy!0 -
In terms of fitness, pre-pregnancy I ran my lifetime best half-marathon, a number of 25 km trail races, and was swimming 4-5 days a week on a master's team. Now? I feel like I spent the first 16 weeks taking constant naps, I can't run at all (nausea/heartburn), I deferred the last month of my master's membership, and I am desperately trying to find something regular. Even walking causes a huge stitch in my side and makes my back ache.
What I am saying is that you need to get out and educate yourself, talk to a doctor (or a nurse practitioner who will give you advice), and listen carefully to your body and what it is telling you as it undergoes some radical changes. You may be able to continue your activities and eat normally, or you may have to make some major adjustments like I did. Good luck!
I agree, it can throw your fitness regime off. I was Spinning 4 days/week and running 1-2. I lost so much energy the first trimester that I could only handle Spinning 1-2 days/week and fast walking for 1 or 2 days/week. Then I had bleeding issues (not dangerous, just a friable cervix that has actually been getting better (knock on wood) since I saw my doctor about it), so my OB told me to take it easy, and I'm on pelvic rest (no sex or anything else "down there"). She said I could walk or do the elliptical, but yesterday I went to the mall to return something and get a couple of other things, and for the rest of the night my hips hurt due to round ligament pain. It was hardly a workout! So yeah, I just have to take it easy, I guess. We all need to listen to our bodies and only do what we can.
Some good books: the perennial favorite, What to Expect When You Are Expecting, and I recommend The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy, which is written by a non-medical-type person (in other words, she's not a doctor or a nurse or anything) because it was easy to read and funny (some people get up in arms over the fact that she is critical of those who don't get epidurals and are smug because of it - frankly I don't care whether you get an epidural or not, just don't be smug about it either way!)
I'm sure some other ladies have good book recommendations...0 -
I second _The Girlfriend's Guide_!
Another thing to think about is what kind of setting you want for the birth. It seems like a long way off, but this decision will dictate your health care provider during your pregnancy, and that's something you will need to choose fairly soon. I initially didn't know about options beside a hospital birth.
Early on, I toured some maternity wards and found them very off-putting, although some were nicer than others. I also learned there that almost all OB's operate in a care group, with each one taking turns being on call for whatever births are occurring at that time. Which often means that the person with whom you've established a relationship with for the entire pregnancy, the person who knows your pregnancy history and your personality, is not going to be the person delivering your baby! (Some women get around this by hiring a doula, who is often not covered by insurance, and most write a "birth plan" as an attempt to deal with an unknown labor crew.) Almost every woman on the tours was in her eighth or ninth month, and was very surprised to discover this. I had also read the book _Pushed_ about hospital labors and it had me scared about unnecessary medical interventions, even though many close friends and family members have had very positive hospital labors.
Knowing that I wanted try for a natural, unmedicated birth but wasn't confident enough to do a home birth, I looked into other options and found a birth center staffed by a team of certified nurse midwives, located in a separate building on hospital grounds. I have been going to them for my prenatal care, have interacted by now with all of them, and I am totally happy. If there are any complications, they will accompany me to the hospital (which has a strong NICU unit) and advocate for me like a doula would.
This is just my own story and my own preferences, but it is very important to find the right health care provider and labor situation that suit your personality and belief system.0 -
I second _The Girlfriend's Guide_!
Off-topic, but I think I love you simply for having underscored the book title to indicate that it should have been underlined. I normally do such things (I'd have done it if I were on Facebook), but I tend to get lazy on forums!0
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