Lie 3 of Pregnancy

This really is a lie of omission but still I didn't realize quite how much this would affect almost every other waking thought I have on a daily basis.

Lie 3: after week 13 you stop worrying about miscarrying.

It's true after week 13 my worries and stresses regarding miscarrying decreased. I didn't constantly check for bleeding when I went to the bathroom and I didn't worry about every little cramp.

When the little mister started kicking it was relieving because other women I knew had started feeling movement far earlier than I did so I started to get concerned about that. Since I started to feel him moving, being able to feel him move every couple of hours has been comforting and even though annoying when he decides to play or jump on my bladder it has been worth it.

No one prepares you for the fear that comes when you don't feel them move for an extended period of time. I will find myself at work distracted and thinking not about my job but about when the last time I felt him move was.

You see he is almost always moving rather strongly before and after every meal, and before I go to bed. Essentially I have almost always felt him by 10am. Which was why this past Sunday I started to get concerned when I hadn't felt him move all day and it was already 1 p.m. I turned to Jared in Sunday School and told him that I was worried and why, and not that he isn't empathetic or concerned about our baby but more his quick dismisal of my (what I thought as valid) concern was to help put into context the reality of the situation. I was having a practical  genuine freak out over not feeling him move all morning, and 'he was probably just sleeping'. Quite honestly I was about two minutes away from calling my OB's on call nurse with my concern and even contemplating making Jared leave to take me to instacare so someone could dopple my stomach to see if there was a heartbeat.

Thank goodness I have a farther-along pregnant friend who told me to eat something sugary and drink something cold and give him a bit to move before I really started freaking out. I did so (on fast Sunday, in Sunday School which definitely earned me plenty of dirty looks) and thank goodness he started moving pretty quickly afterwards.

But I can honestly say I have never felt such fear so intensly over something so small. In that moment I felt what I'm sure I can look forward to once this little babe decides to come into the world and every day afterwards: a mother's intense love. We have a name picked out (no you won't know until he's born) and I already have plans for the nursery (light gray with a triangle theme). We already have hopes and dreams for this little one, and I have already imagined all the sleepless nights walking the floor with him and comforting his cries. I look forward to how Adi and Aspen will be his overly protective big sisters-because that's how they are with other kids. I know Jared will fall in love immediately with this little him and when he's older will be taught to fly-fish, and all the important things of life (according to Jared that includes hunting and shooting). I can't imagine life without this precious soul as part of it and I know that that will never change.

Here's to some sanity as I wish the next 18 weeks away quickly so I can meet this little babe.

Lie 2 of Pregnancy

I want to preface this with the sentiment that I don't want these posts to come across as negative or making me seem ungrateful to be pregnant. I am not doing this to complain about pregnancy, merely to highlight a lot of misinformation that floats around the baby world that really just isn't how it is. If anything this is to help give insight to other soon to be pregnant women that shows why a lot of the widely publicized doctrine is misinformation. I want to clarify you should always follow your doctors advice, and all opinions given are mine from my own experience.

Lie 2 of Pregnancy: you should only eat 300 calories extra each day vs. you're eating for two

I feel like both of these are terrible awful horrible guidance's of how to adjust your eating habits for pregnancy.

Firstly people who watch calories and weigh themselves daily are more prone to having issues with self esteem, stress management, and lets be honest are just really control freaks. Suggesting an nutritional intake based on calories confuses a lot of women, and it really backfires more than it helps. Those who have never counted calories before and then start, often spend most of their day hungry and when you're pregnant being hungry is the first step to being sick, nauseous, or faint.  You really shouldn't be letting your blood-sugar levels drop based off 'caloric intake', because it risks all of these things. And quite honestly when you are pregnant your blood sugar can and will drop unexpectedly and quickly. From personal experience I can go from feeling fine to white as a sheet in a five minute period, especially if I am busy and forget to snack on anything. And yes, as a pregnant woman snacks will be your new best friend at work, in the car, at school, on your bedside table, and trust me you eat them between every meal or else you feel you might die.

The whole concept of you're eating for two really gets taken the wrong way. This concept is given a bad rap because supposedly people use it as a guide that they should be doubling each meal because baby needs a whole meal as well as you. First of all this concept that women are eating double at their meals is ridiculous. The majority of us are so sick until about 12 weeks that we can barely eat anything. I personally LOST five lbs. during my first trimester because it was all I could do to gag down enough food to not starve. And then after the first trimester you feel like you are carrying around a bowling ball that is pushing up all your organs and constricting your body cavity space including the space your stomach usually would expand into after a normal meal. So the concept that women are going to eat double meals is ridiculous because we feel we can barely fit half a regular meal! And I say regular very loosely but basically a meal is what makes you feel full, but not uncomfortably full to the point it could all come back up.

In my personal opinion the best rule of thumb for eating is just like it should be before you get pregnant-eat until you become full but don't be a glutenous pig. And if you feel like you need to eat two hours later then eat! If you have extra food from your meal then don't eat it! And you need to know your body enough to know when it is bored or actually hungry. But being pregnant you are normally pretty clear on when you are hungry because you either will be nauseous because of acid reflux or have heartburn if you haven't eaten in a couple hours. Or pass out. Essentially small (half a normal meal) frequent meals (about every two hours) are the best guidelines to how your eating habits should change when pregnant.

That is all.

Read Lie 1 of Pregnancy here

Lie ONE of pregnancy

The first falsehood of pregnancy I'd like to call out: You will have luscious gorgeous locks of plentiful hair that you didn't have prior to pregnancy.

LIE

Actually most of the pregnant women I've talked to have not noticed a reduction in hair loss, but normal or even increased amounts of shedding.

I have definitely fallen into the later category of increased amounts of hair loss probably due to the fact that my body now calls for an increase in protein and since my body can't easily provide it, it takes all the protein intake it gets that would normally have gone to my hair and nails and has redirected it. Which of course is in the best interest of the baby, it just kind of messes with your head when you were expecting one thing and another happens.

Thank goodness I am finally being able to eat meat slowly a little at a time. Chicken for the first time since I got pregnant yesterday. And I was actually craving steak earlier today so this could be more hopeful for my hair situation if I can increase my protein intake. 

Maybe someday near the end of my pregnancy I'll see those gorgeous luscious locks people tell you about.

^^^ I used to have hair like that. Hopefully soon again ^^^