Pregnancy- July 2011

Brittony! What a cutie! Glad your recovery is short and sweet! I'm impressed that you are logging exercise. I have my 6 week tomorrow and haven't started back yet other than the occasional walking. I'm a super whimp when it comes to my period though - i DESPISE pads so I tend to do nothing but sit on the couch and be miserable for how uncomforatble I think they are. :laugh: I finally am more active this week now that the bleeding stopped. If you are a tampon user - know that about 2 weeks in your Dr might let you go to tampons since you don't have the same trauma as a vaginal birth. That was one perk to a C/S for me! Since the little one is in the hospital and the older one is at grandmas I'm thinking that I might have the chance to actually get to the gym a few times in the next couple weeks! I thought about going to spin Saturday, but then i thought that was still a bad idea! :laugh: :laugh: Still bruised down there for sure (mildly... but spin hurts on a normal who-ha day! :laugh: )!

I just mentioned to Dragonfly on the other board - get some lanolin if you don't have some already. Works wonders on the nipples!

This is just what I was looking for! I just joined MFP about a week ago, so while I'm at work, I dip in and out of some of the threads and I saw this one and it's exactly where my husband and I are at. We've been married for 3 years, living together for just over 1 year and we're now finally ready (as ready as we'll ever be) to have our first baby. It will be my second baby and my husband's first. However, I'm a little *ahem* overweight. I'm 6' tall and I've struggled with my weight my whole life. About 2 years ago, I did the phentermine thing, lost a TON of weight only to pile it all back on and then some, in less than 6 months (those damn Egyptians can COOK!). My son is 7 now and when I was pregnant with him, I had high blood pressure and was bedridden for the last 3 months of the pregnancy. I weighed 280lbs at the height of my pregnancy (10lbs. 9oz of that being baby) and I'm not looking to be there again. It's not healty for me and it's definitely not healthy for the baby.
So, I've decided that I need to get to a healthier weight and learn how to maintain it before we go down the baby road.

P.S. I also tend to overshare and over-explain, so don't be surprised if my posts are novel-esque.

Had a prenatal this afternoon.
BP is good and I lost 7 lbs. Wicked!!
She wants to see me again next week to monitor my glucose levels which are borderline needing insulin. I can deal with that as long as my BP is staying good I'm happy!

Julie - I can understand your "irrational" (not the right word... but...) thought of just waiting. I was really sad to be induced because I (providing I am prepared with work, the boy etc) was really looking forward to the spontaneity of labor. When will it come? Will water break or not? How long can I hold off before going to the hospital? Will my retard hubby try to take a "short cut" to the hospital like he did last time and have me almost try to kill him again when it turns out to NOT be a short cut? Who will win the guessing pool for a due date? How accurate is my "due date"... etc etc. You give some of that up when scheduling.

Julie - Will my retard hubby try to take a "short cut" to the hospital like he did last time and have me almost try to kill him again when it turns out to NOT be a short cut? Who will win the guessing pool for a due date? How accurate is my "due date"... etc etc. You give some of that up when scheduling.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ahh you just made my day

I have a question, should I stay at my recommended calories when I get pregnant or should I increase them? I take in more now than most because I'm taller.
Also, is it healthy to try to actively lose weight while you're pregnant?

Maureen- I am sorry about your appointment. I know it isn’t how you planned but at the latest you can have your sweet baby this weekend. Your picture is so nice, I love it!

Elle- Welcome! You will have to ask your dr. about trying to lose when pregnant, I think it depends on if you are overweight or not when starting. You don’t need any extra calories in your first trimester… you need about 300 extra after the first trimester.

Julie- Sounds like a fine choice to me! I don’t think there is any harm in waiting… usually when a baby goes overdue it is for good reason. My SIL had her baby 14 days late with no problems! I think it will happen for you this weekend too But if not early next week is a great time for a LO!

Caperfae- glad your apt. went well.

Mel- You make me laugh about your DH.

Melissa- Well for me a good eating day is one where I can keep more than 1 meal down But generally if I wasn’t having this issue I would say a good day for me is one where I keep portion sizes in control and get in mostly nutritional foods (I love my snacks so I wouldn’t say all). Stupid men and there comments, you look great!

Thanks everyone, I think it is a fitting way to remember Jill.

Headed off to dinner with some girls Going to eat there because I know they have a private RR I can puke in

Ok awesome! Thanks, AnneElise! My first pregnancy I just ate whatever I wanted with total disregard for my weight gain becuase, "it's what the baby wants". That's no longer my excuse :-P No more massive bowls of Count Chocula at midnight or stuffed crust Pizza Hut pizza for me!

Melissa - Good eating days for me are when I get within about 300 cal of my goal and most of the food is nutritious (fruits, veggies, proteins, etc) ... of course, I've been having a hard time eating the recommended amount of calories and I'm sitting at 28 weeks with a 7-8 lb total gain, so I may not be the best one to look at either :laugh: I do have MFP track my calcium and iron and trying to get them both as close to 100% as possible. I also found that if I start craving meaty things I'm probably low on my protein (and baby definitely needs the protein).

Maureen - I love your new pic!

Elle - I think, in general, unless you are quite overweight, the recommendation is to either gain less or to maintain weight when pregnant. I was 20 lbs overweight when I got pregnant and didn't gain anything until about 20 weeks (well, gained some and then lost it again). Doctor was okay with it, but the WIC nutritionist was acting worried ... I specifically asked doctor again, and he said it's fine. I have my calories set to be gaining 1 lb a week, and it gives me 2250 cal (but I'm only 5' tall). I still have a hard time eating all those calories.

Welcome!
Elle - I think most of us set our calories to maintenance for the first trimester rather than any sort of loss goal. My midwife encourage me to NOT add the 300 cals in 2nd & 3rd tri because I started out overweight. She also wants me to only gain 20lbs max in total. She is monitoring me and as long as baby is growing nicely and I am feeling good we'll stick to that plan. Now, that said, I probably go over at least 3 days per week just because I'm more hungry.

Welcome!
Many - you've come to the right place for healthy weight support during pregnancy.

Welcome!
Caper - sounds like a huge pain doing all those tests

Welcome!
Melissa #2 - we might need a nickname for you!!

Welcome !
Cori - where are you from? not the US if you're using kgs

Melissa - I consider it a healthy day when I've stuck to my calorie goal and eaten enough calcium, a good amt of protein and several servings of veggies/fruits.

Maureen - cute picture ! Hope your LO makes an appearance soon :flowerforyou:

Anne - good for you and your friends setting up that donation

Julz - yay - 90% rocks!

Brittony - what a cutie - he's got an "up to no good" look already !! Sorry about the nipples, it sounds awful

Maria - maybe you, Julie, Rachael and Maureen will all get full moon fever

Collins - you NEED to take it easy. Seriously your older kids will like if they miss a class or two and your hubby needs to step it up big time !!! But taking care of yourself is priority #1 right now. I'm all for teaching kids some responsibility but hubby is the other adult here. Your post is making me very mad at HIM !!!!

Rachel - thanks for the link to your blog I did read it and do think I'll be getting a Doula - now just the matter of finding the right Doula.

Elizabeth - if you are reading at all - hope everything goes to plan tomorrow and CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!

Jen, Danielle -hope you are both well !

AFM:
I had my first preggo related hormonal reaction yesterday, soooo ridiculous. I wanted to get on a bus, he had just barely pulled away from the curb and was just sitting in stopped traffic at a red light. Knocked on the door but the *kitten* driver smiled and waved and would NOT let me on. So I promptly bust into tears :sad: WTH ????? I could hardly believe I was crying but couldn't stop either. Now I finally understand what some of you have gone through.:laugh: Oh and I'm usually a tough cookie - maybe I'll cry over something once a year if that.

In other news, we toured the hospital last night and I liked it. That's a relief because I didn't want to have to change my midwife if I hated it.

I had my first prenatal appointment tuesday! Nothing too special..she couldn't find the heartbeat yet and we didn't do labwork because my veins move around and have a tendency to "bend" so she's going to wait until I have more volumes of blood at my next appointment when I'm 14 weeks. Filled out all the paper work which was pretty easy since she had my chart from last birth so I just copied it all over again :P I haven't gained any weight yet so that's a plus. My goal is to only gain around <25-30lbs. Taking off that 40 I gained last time was rough.


About the BFing:
I had a tough couple of weeks in the beginning learning how to breastfeed. I remember when my son was born, my husband caught him and the midwife handed him to me and told me to start feeding him. I was like...uh...okay?! Never done this before! So, I pretty much how to learn from my mom over the phone! hehe and of course my midwife showed me a little more about it later on. I never was infected, but I had such huge amounts of milk that I'm pretty sure I could have fed a small village! If I took my pads off I would literally have milk shooting across the room or all over my baby's face! It wasn't always like that though. It took a while for it to come in and I got so discouraged waiting on it but knowing it's what I wanted for my baby I kept going. I couldn't get him to latch on properly, and I didn't want to feed him from a bottle at all in case he were to get confused and never want me again so I would pump out what I could into a cup and feed him with a syringe! Oh I cringed when ate. Literally crying the first 10 minutes of feedings. I cracked, bled, bruised, etc. But still, I kept going. The point of my ramblings is what helped. Like someone mentioned..lanolin helps a lot. Making sure you keep them clean and dried off but don't use soap too much as it may irritate or cause more dryness. But I think the best things that helped (and it sounds crazy) were shredded carrots in my breast pads and cabbage leaves through out the day. They have special healing properties and enzymes in them that help with almost everything BFing ! And because they are cold...it's really soothing! Just a suggestion for those who might like to try! Have a great evening everyone!