First let me send you over to my partner’s blog for a ridiculous post about my ever increasing breasts. Find her here.
So last night I begged A. to let me tell some more people. I am having a positively horrid time keeping this secret. I find myself telling the cashier in C.VS. So we made a list of some people we could tell. Mostly they were people from out of town – good friends. But since we really want to wait to tell the family until Easter, we didn’t want to tell anyone else in town. So I feel a little better.
So we are officially under the care of our OB. We go in Thursday for an appointment for blood work, planning, scheduling with the nurse practioncer and then we go to see the OB at the end of March. We still haven’t decided if we are going to stay with her (she has been our GYN for 5+ years and we both love her) or if we are going to move to a midwife. The problem in Richmond (ass-backwards town that it is sometimes) is that only two hospitals allow midwives. 1 has a horrible reputation and the other is glossy and new and wonderful and 30 minutes away from our house and even further from our jobs. So we are going to talk to our OB about C-section avoidance and natural childbirth and her commitment to making sure this birth feels natural and not like a sickness.
Part of our problem is we are both very research driven. We read books and delve into the internet to learn so my “can’t do” list is really long. I want to get a reality check about this stuff. We are committed to doing this as naturally as possible (including the exciting news that we were accepted into our local CSA after being on the waiting list) So here is the list I’ve started of questions to ask the nurse practitioner on Thursday:
- Can I get a pedicure? cuz really it is one of those girlie things I do and I love them and I can’t give one to myself.
- Explain the whole fish thing. I think I understand that some of the lower mercury fish I can eat occasionally – but if it is harmful should I avoid it all together?
- How often can I take Ty.lenol. I get headaches a lot, but I don’t want to take too many. Can I take it twice a week if needed?
- How come I’m starving until lunch and then have trouble eating dinner and end up feeling yucky? (reverse morning sickness?)
- Can I eat bacon? (I do avoid most meat, but I’ve been craving bacon)
- How many tums can I take?
- Can I lift things? (A. would have you believe I can’t lift a thing over 5 pounds..)
- Those twinges I get that aren’t cramps but feel like something is poking me from the inside – they are ok right?
- Can I have some diet coke every now and then. I haven’t had caffeine since I found out and caffeine free drinks taste like syrup.
- How do I be a normal, naturally focused pregnant lady without going overboard?
8 Comments
February 26, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Yea! Everything sounds like it’s going great for you. I’ve been looking forward to a new post. I think we have a lot of the same mentailities regarding pregnancy and birth. I’ll try to answer some questions, as I’ve been a research whore myself. You can tell me to shove it though.
1. Pedicures are ok without polish. Most nail polish is very toxic to your baby. There are some pregnancy safe brands that you could buy and take with you. Schedule your appoinment early in the day so you’re not around all the fumes.
2. My doc just gave me a list of ok fish that’s low in Mercury and isn’t overfished. Ready? Anchovies, Calamari, Catfish, Arctic Cod, Domestic Crab, Crawfish, Herring, N. Atlantic or Chub Mackerel, Oyster, Ocean Perch, Pollock, Pacific Sole, Tilapia, Freshwater Trout, Whitefish, Whiting. The really bad ones include Tuna, Swordfish, and Seabass. Check out http://nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/index.asp for more info.
3. I’m no help. Be careful though love. Check out some essential oil blends that may work in place of the drug.
4. I’m no help here either. But I’m sorry!
5. Watch Babe.
6. I think you can take quite a few tums. Mixing a bit of baking soda with water works too.
7. Don’t lift to exertion. I’m sure 5 lbs is fine!
8. No help, but I’ve heard lots of these feelings and they all seem to be natural.
9. No! The fake sugar is incredibly toxic to your babe. It’s better to have regular sugar if you must, but your sugar intake overall should go down during pregnancy.
10. You are doing it beautifully. It’s natural to worry about things. Look at me! I’m not even knocked up yet. Being informed can take the fear out of it.
xox
February 26, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I am soooo not pregnant, so feel like a big jerk even trying to answer your questions. But, hey, here I go.
5. Bacon without nitrates is ok – more expensive than normal bacon but acceptable
9. diet soda sucks – it is the nutrasweet or asparateme or whatever the fake sugar substitute is – it’s bad.
Anyway, your approach is great & I hope you figure out the doc and midwife thing. You’re going to do it your way!
February 26, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I have all the same types of questions, so when you get the answers will you post them!
February 26, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I know nothing about meat stuff I am a vegetarian!
3. Supposed to be safe, very safe. I resisted taking it (have pregnancy headaches) Obstetrcian assured me it was safe and that if i used it for a few days it might make the headaches go away-i reluctantly took two doses and they have been gone for two days now! It is the one drug that lots of pregnant women have used with no bad effect. You can not take ibrubrufen (thats what its called in australia i think its known as ad.vil in the US). but check with a pharmacist about any and all drugs you are worried about.
4.Sickness can occur at any time. for what it is worth i found (and it took me 1.3 pregnancies to figure it out) if you eat regulary and small simple foods you will reduce the nausea- big gaps seem to make the body freak out!
How many tums can I take? ask a pharmacist!
7. I think ordinarily you can lift things (i lift a 13kg 2yr old every day). When pregnant with Piggy i had some spotting and was told not to lift heavy things or strain at all. I guess if you lift safely and don’t go crazy then it should be ok. Avoiding lifting is not wrong though..if you have someone around to do it for you! although when the nesting kicks in its quite hard not to move a whole house of furniture because you just ‘have’ to reorganise the room that is driving you crazy!
8. perfectly normal. both pregnancies (worst with the second) i was so surprised by how many twinges and pains and how aware i was of my ovaries and uterus- i stressed out a lot about it, but most women feel it! i guess most don’t talk about it. severe pain is bad, period like pain is bad, short twingey pain is normal. if you ever concerned go see someone-no point sending yourself crazy over it!
9. as the other commenter said-nutraweet is bad, you would probably be better off drinking a small amount of full strength coke than the diet stuff. apparently that recent study about caffiene and miscarriage found that excess increases your risk but up to two cups of coffee a day is safe. i completely cut out caffiene until last week (at 16 weeks) now i have maybe a cup every second day.
Then again for all these answers its all about what you can live with. If something very bad happened would you blame yourself for eating a bucket load of fish covered in bacon while getting a pedicure after taking tyl.enol washed down with a diet coke? Or would you put it down to bad luck? So do what you feel comfortable with and if it stresses you out or makes you worry just avoid it!
10. um….when you figure it out let me know. I invent new things to be scared of everyday- are our pots and pans safe? Whats that smell? it smells poisonous-hmmm hope its not bad for the baby. Are baby wipes really good or really bad? is my sunscreen secretly damaging my baby? what is in shampoo….
It is perfectly normal to worry i think pregnancy kicks off some very primal evolutionary instincts and we become driven by the babies in our belly to do everything to protect them. Again, if it makes you worry or feel bad, just avoid it and don’t feel silly about doing it. It is your body and your baby.
of course all of this is just my opinion, from experience. the next person may say completely different!
February 26, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Not pregnant either so short on advice. But, I just wanted to remark about how excited it made me to see you embracing the pregnancy and being excited about it and wanting to tell people and how real it is becoming and feeling now. I remember how down you were in late December and look at you now!! It gives me hope for my future a few months from now.
February 27, 2008 at 9:11 am
We visited the nurse practitioner yesterday (1st OB visit) and had an hour-long meeting with her going over my (very similar) “list.” She has been doing this for 20 years. Essentially, she said that anything besides alcohol, smoking, sushi and unpasteurized food is fine – in moderation. Tylenol (even extra strength), tums, hair coloring, caffeine, and artificial sweeteners are ok (according to her) in limited amounts. She told me that I should stop stressing out over lunchmeat – she’s never seen a case of listeriosis in the entire time she’s been doing this. And it was funny – she started off the conversation saying, “cramps are NORMAL.” It was like she read my mind.
I am not sure how much of her advice I’m going to take (I think I’ll still avoid caffeine and artificial sweeteners), it was a relief to have a medical professional reign in my fears a little. Ultimately, I guess you have to make your own decisions about things and what feels right to you based on your doctor’s advice. She made me promise to stop Googling and to just call her with questions. I think that’s what we’re going to do from now on – listen to her advice and then make our decision.
February 28, 2008 at 11:05 am
We are goign to a birth center staffed solely by midwives, and birth assistants (RNs I believe.) When I had a bad cold a few months ago (January, I believe), I was taking half the dose of Tylenol recommended by the bottle b/c I was so worried about hurting my babe. We finally called the midwives because i was so miserable I couldn’t sleep… the advice I received, “You are under-medicating. Take 2 extra-strength Tylenol ever 6 hours if necessary. If you need help sleeping, take some Benedryl.”
In general, the midwives at our clinic are not overly concerned with lots of things. they said I could drink wine if I wanted (I don’t.) They were particular about which fish to eat and avoid. I couldn’t remember a lot of it when out, so I just know I can eat shrimp and salmon and leave it at that.
She wasn’t worried about soft cheese in particular. They said I could take baths, just to not let my skin turn “lobster-red”. I can lift things and participate in any exercise that I was doing before pregnancy… They like to remind me that my body was made for this, and that my immune system is too. (Lifting things, though, is somethign I do less and less of b/c it doesn’t feel right anymore…I figure their whole point is to listen to my body….)
It will be good to hear it from your own doc/midwife too…but don’t be surprised when she basically says that we’re not delicate flowers who will be bowled over by the wind. A lot of that crap people tell you is just that: crap.
I hope you’re feeling well!!
February 28, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I could have written that list myself! So many new and different things to stress about. And I too, feel like a crazy person being worried about so many things. In a nutshell, I defer to the collective knowledge of all those wise women who have posted before me, and especially the advice to do what feel right TO YOU! We’re going all out with restrictive diets to try and avoid future food allergies (cos our Princess has a few major ones) even though the evidence doesn’t fully support the need to do so – our point of view is that a couple of years of restriction for me may mean a lifetime of freedom and health for our baby. It’s a small price to pay, even if there is only a small chance it will make a difference. So for us, no artificial sweeteners, preservatives only very rarely (like when I absolutely must have ginger ale), no dairy, no wheat, no caffeine, no peanuts as well as all the standard pregnancy restrictions. It’s so hard sometimes! But I feel so sick most of the time that I don’t really want to eat anyway….
I hope that you have got some sound advice and have managed to sift out what’s relevant to you.
And btw I tagged you!