8 Weeks and Counting

Thursday, 11 January 2007

I'm somewhere in the 8th week of pregnancy now, and since I haven't quite decided on a provider for my pre-natal care yet, I decided to make an appointment with my regular doctor to discuss some of my health concerns; namely the digestive issues.

After much discussion, it was basically determined that there's nothing much that can be done diagnostically while I'm pregnant. So, we just speculated as to why I'm bloating up like a watermelon every time I eat a meal, and discussed some possible things to try. Nonetheless, it doesn't leave me feeling much relieved and worries me a bit about going the homebirth route if I have some underlying, unidentified medical condition.

One of my worst habits is getting too busy and getting famished, and then rushing around preparing a meal for everyone. I tend to then take a few bites here and there during the preparation, and then eat standing up while the kids have already finished and I'm now looking at clean-up before I've even got a chance to sit down and eat. This approach isn't a problem for overeating. I know how to reign myself in that way now, but it's just concentrating the bulk of my food intake into one large meal, which is a sure way to become really bloated for me.

After some experimentation, I know I do much better if I eat like four or five times a day. The problem with that is that in order to feel satisfied, it takes some forethought and preparation. I need to prepare little containers of things that I can grab during the day, so I don't have to think too much and get stressed decided what to eat while on the go.

So, the process of tweaking my diet continues. I just really need to slow things down and focus on feeding myself really well. And by that, I don't just mean food. I mean the way in which I eat, like sitting down and breathing in between bites, rather than standing up with the kids fighting in front of me, or eating on the run. Also, finding some way to relax through meditation or yoga or something. I really keep putting this off. We have some stressful stuff in our life now (financial concerns, Darren's miserable commute, possible moving, pregnancy, etc.) and a lot of it I just can't do anything about right now, and have to work around. So, finding a peaceful spot in my head just a few moments a day could really help. Anyway, like that isn't the challenge of half the parents in the world, but I'll work on it.