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Pregnant lady books

First, I need to rescind a book recommendation I may or may not have made on this blog. I can’t find it through any search, but in case I’ve mentioned it to you or told you to get “The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy” by Vicki Iovine — don’t.

I read the 2nd edition while pregnant in my first trimester with Johnny. I thought it was hilarious! The author’s descriptions of things just struck me as so funny and I thought she really knew what she was talking about. After all, she had birthed 4 children.

I reread it — this time, the 1st edition (so who knows what the differences are). First, the book is not nearly as funny as I remember. Second, the author takes a markedly anti-natural birth stance. She apparently knew no one who made that choice and she just went on and on about how fabulous the epidural can be.

You’re left with the impression that you would be so foolish to even attempt an unmedicated birth. WHATEVER!

She’s also pretty anti-breastfeeding past like the newborn phase or something.

So whatever.

I viewed that book as just some extra perspective on what it’s like to be pregnant, from a non-medical source, and it is that. But I think readers would be better served to at least hear why natural births are good.

So yeah, skip that book.

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Next, I picked up “Birthing from Within” from the library. It had good reviews on Amazon, so I figured, why not?

It’s a strange book. I read most of it and flipped through the rest.

Rather than offering real laboring coping techniques, the book seemed to focus on some bizarre spirituality to get in tune with. It encourages creating artwork to express yourself on how you feel about different aspects of birth.

Uh…ok?

Not exactly helpful to me. Maybe it’s a good book for some, but I can’t recommend it either. Check out the 1-star reviews on Amazon to see more of how I feel.

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Next, I’m rereading “The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth.” This book truly is a gem. It’s really helpful to teach more of what you can expect from hospital births especially.

My first read (when pregnant with Johnny) was useful, and now that I’m reading it again with an even better understanding of how it all works, I think I’m gaining even more insight.

I do wish it went into a little more detail on some subjects, but overall the book is a good starting point for you to continue your own research.

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Also from the library once again, I’m rereading “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth.” It was a good read the first time and I’m looking forward to reading it again.

I requested “HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method” from my PaperBackSwap list just to see what that’s all about. Expect some sort of comment on it soon.

Any suggestions for other books I should read? I’ve read “Husband-Coached Childbirth” and I have “Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way” and I’ll reread that one as well.

Pregnancy nutrition

Everyone knows good nutrition is important — especially when you’re pregnant! But actually going about it can be a challenge.

If you’ve got nausea or a queasy stomach (which I don’t have yet, thankfully!), or if you’re too tired to do much menu planning or shopping or cooking (yep, that would be me), it’s even harder to make sure your nutritional needs are met.

I am determined to have better nutrition this time than when I was pregnant with Johnny. I think if I ate better, perhaps I would have avoided the pre-ecclampsia (aka toxemia) that cropped up.

Also, I read somewhere reputable (wish I could remember the source!) that the gestating  baby will pull the nutrients it needs from its mama. If mama isn’t getting enough herself, then SHE will be deprived. The baby could be deprived too, if her nutrition is seriously poor.

Mama needs to be on her a-game so she feels good and is in good health.

So — I guess I’m technically eating for three: Me, my nursling Johnny, and Baby. Johnny is nursing much less frequently and I am starting to suspect he’s on the path of self-weaning.

I have noticed a sharp decrease in my supply lately. I’ve had to supplement his nursing with sippy cups of milk (and he drinks whole milk with meals anyway) because he just isn’t satisfied anymore. The supplementation will probably make my supply go down even further.

Now, this could be temporary, but unless my hormones do something drastic, I think this is the path that we’re just on.

Oh well — at least we made it to 12 months!

I briefly studied the Brewer Diet last time, but I was so completely overwhelmed at how to incorporate all that food into my day, and how to make meals out of it all, that I just gave up on it entirely.

Rather than do that, I think if I just try to follow the general plan and allow myself to miss the mark and not beat myself up over it, that would be better than throwing in the towel.

To sum up, the Brewer Diet is a pregnancy meal plan that’s high in protein, nutrient-rich fruits and veggies, and a big advocate of whole foods.

There’s a page on the site that classifies me as “high needs” because of my previous pre-e and also since I’m still nursing.

For each item, that means I should get an additional 20g of protein and 200 calories per day. Good grief!

I am not at all concerned about weight gain. I was slow to gain last time, but toward the end I was up probably 30 lbs. total, which is fine. And it all came off and I fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes once again. Shane has lost quite a bit of weight with all that running he’s doing, and I’ll probably pass him up when I’m full-term. I don’t think I’ll love that, but whaddya do.

So how do you take that giant list of food requirements and turn it into an actual meal plan for a day? This site has several helpful plans to get ya started.

I also am using an app with my iPod Touch to help me track my nutrition. It’s a (paid) app called HomeRoutines and it’s fantastic for making a list of routines you need to do each day or weekly. I added a routine for the Brewer Diet, and added a line for each of the requirements so I can tick ‘em off each day and know what I still need to do.

I’ve been making “green smoothies” to help my intake of the fruits and veggies. Drinking ‘em can be an easier way than eating them, at times. I do think an all-veggie smoothie is uh…gross. Definitely be sure to add bananas and other fruits at at least a 50/50 ratio!

Have you tried the Brewer or other pregnancy diets?

Big yawn!

Oh man, the exhaustion! I remember being tired when pregnant with Johnny, but I didn’t think it started this early!

I have been increasingly tired lately. I’ve been napping during Johnny’s nap and that helps, but I still wake up pretty tired. I don’t know what I’d do if he had already outgrown naps.

I haven’t gotten much done lately and I’m starting to feel like a lazy bum. But I should just remember that this fatigue doesn’t last that long and I’ll be ok soon! Growing a person is hard work.

16 months

My sweet baby is 16 months old today! That’s 1 1/3 years. Sheesh.

He is more fun than ever. Always laughing or doing something to make us laugh. He loves to dance and sometimes sings along a little. He cracks up at silly things like flashlights.

It seems that he doesn’t have a favorite type of music. Any thing with an identifiable tune he’ll dance to. Or if I start to sing a song and he’s in the mood, he’ll dance. Or if one of his musical toys is playing, he might dance. He even has been known to break into dance without music.

Since the weather has finally warmed up, we’ve been able to play outside! He loves it, of course. For the longest time, the kid couldn’t stand to wear shoes, but now that he knows it means he’s going outside, he’s all for it.

We sometimes to go a few of the playgrounds around here. He likes to slide now and isn’t so much a fan of the swings. That’s the opposite of how he reacted to those things last fall. Oh well!

But really, when we’re at the playground he seems to prefer just watching the kids and then walking around on the grass and checking out the rocks and sticks and bugs.

Same goes for around our apartment. We don’t have our own yard but there are areas where we can sorta wander around. He loves carrying sticks (and he will say “stick!”) and he puts rocks and dandelions and pinecones in his little bucket. It’s fun.

Lately he’s been experimenting with different facial expressions. He’ll furrow his eyebrows and look at us like we’re totally bananas. Or he’ll raise his eyebrows and open his mouth really wide in surprise, and then crack up at it.

He enjoys looking at books and will go grab one off of his shelf and sit down and point at things and say “dat!” or something like that, and flip through the pages. Sometimes, he’ll go grab one and bring it to me and we’ll read it together right then.

Johnny thinks spaghetti is hilarious. He’ll put a small end of it in his mouth and slurp the rest of it in and then cackle! Hahaha. We can work on table manners when he’s older .

I think I mentioned this earlier, but Johnny always likes to unpack Shane’s lunchbox when he gets home from work. We aren’t really sure where he got the idea, but he picks it up from near the front door and carries it to the kitchen, opens it and starts handing the contents to us.

He’s pretty good about putting his dirty clothes in the hamper (with some prompting) and he loves to help carry things in for me.

Today, we went to the grocery and I repacked a bag so it would be light enough for him. I set the bags near the front door and he dragged what he could to the kitchen to help me, and then when we were through he helped gather all the bags up.

He used to be extremely afraid of the vacuum, but he seems to be over that fear now. Today, he helped me push it. Seems like a fair trade — after all, we were cleaning up HIS mess! hah

I love having a little helper!

He loves helping and he loves making us laugh.

Last week, Shane’s parents visited us for a few days. We had a nice visit. On one of those days, we all went to the zoo. Johnny seemed much more interested in the animals. Last time we were there, he was only 6 months and didn’t really care about that sort of thing. We’ll have to go back soon!

During dinner, we’ve started clinking cups and saying “cheers.” Johnny will say it too and clink cups. Or clink cheerios. Or whatever he’s holding.

So he says bye-bye, mama (but he doesn’t use that much), cheers, stick, yes (but I don’t know if he knows its meaning), and maybe a few other things, but his pronunciation isn’t so clear. He babbles all the time and he’s probably trying to say stuff but I guess I’m not familiar with his Pittsburgh dialect.

He likes to scoot toy cars around and will go grab one, give it to me, and run and get another for himself so we can both play. Looks like he has potential at being a good sharer!

And not sure if I posted about it here, but we found a solution for his baths. Apparently, the regular tub was too big and scary for him. So he takes baths in the sink and loves it. How weird. But at least he’s clean!

My back needs to pop!

Current or former pregnant ladies, please tell me you know what I’m talking about.

My back feels like it needs to pop, but it just can’t! Ugh! I think it’s the relaxin hormone already setting in and loosening my hips. I felt this when I was pregnant with Johnny, but it was much later on that I noticed it.

It’s WAY down low. Probably one of the bottom few vertebra. It just feels like it really needs to pop. I’ve twisted my back every way I know how, but I just can’t get it to feel right.

It doesn’t hurt, it’s just kinda annoying.

I guess a chiropractor could help? I will probably see one later on, but I was thinking more like third trimester — not first!