Week Nine

Friday, 19 January 2007

Since pregnancy consists of 40 weeks, more or less, I might as well use the week marker to post here and keep track of things. I'm right in the middle of week nine, and am doing okay. I feel nauseous a lot, and the eating small little snacks throughout the day definitely helps with that and the bloating problem. I'm considering the possibility that I have developed an intolerance/allergy to something I've been eating, and I want to try to do an elimination diet, just taking one thing out for a week and seeing if there's an improvement. I suspect wheat might be a culprit, so I would start there. But it's so hard. I didn't REALLY have any wheat today, but I took ONE bite of Joe's Tofurkey sandwich and I licked the spoon when I made the kids gnocchi for dinner, so technically, I had a little. However, I ate a lot of fruit for dinner instead of any grains, and though I'm feeling a little bloated, it's not as bad as usual. So, something to work with maybe...

Aside from totally rearranging the scheduling of when I eat, I've cleaned up things even more than usual. Obviously, I've eliminated coffee, which was a big weakness, but I really pay attention to labels and avoid any additives, chemicals, etc. and I try to eat mostly organic. My biggest problem is I literally feel hungry ALL the time! Not just that "I'm eating for two" mentality that we often indulge ourselves with when pregnant, but real gnawing hunger, or sometimes just the sensation that the nausea would be relieved by eating. I've just come to manage that by accepting that I can't feel "full" because I can't eat one big meal, but have to spread it out. However, I definitely have to be conscious of my food choices and plan ahead a bit. According to the scale I've gained four or five pounds so far, but I'm really not freaking out about that too much because I know I'm eating well, and I've been continuing to exercise daily. Also, my pants still fit, so that's good. Of course, I don't know how many more weeks I'll be able to say that.

Ooh... today's craving for something chewy and sweet lead to a tasty discovery. I got some dried organic mission figs, and some organic pecan halves (ouch... a little pricey), and I just took a bite of fig and a pecan and YUMMY! Perfect! I topped that off with two Bosc pears, an orange and a mango, and called it dinner! I've also been into that hot creamy rice cereal from Bob's Red Mill. I make it with raisins, add a tiny bit of sweetener and soy, rice or almond milk. It makes a nice breakfast with some fruit.

After much deliberation, I finally decided to see a local OB/certified nurse midwife practice here in town. It will be a hospital delivery, but I've heard really great things about the midwives and they're very supportive of natural birth, etc. So, I had my first appointment with the nurse yesterday. She just took my history and stuff, but she was very nice. I have my first appointment with a midwife the second week in February, so we'll see how that goes. I have a big list of questions already!