4th of June 2011 (26 weeks 1 day)
Hello to all the Blog readers!!
Unlike most of my posts, this post will be for the readers instead of for Baby Noah. So the topic today is myths in pregnancy. As you might know by now, we had been trying for a while before getting pregnant. Well not that long (8 months) but for us it sounded like forever. As we were attempting to get a baby in my belly I came across a lot of information from pregnant women. Most of them complained about being pregnant. In my non-pregnant mind I always told myself “Why are they complaining? We’re not even able to get pregnant and they don’t even care- they just complain.” When I was pregnant, I complained.
I was thinking the other day and I came to the conclusion that some “general concepts” about pregnancy are totally false while others are 100% real. Let’s start with the real stuff.
- It hurts to be pregnant. It’s true! It does. It’s beautiful to carry a baby and at first the baby weights almost nothing but our body undergoes so many changes. One day we wake up with a headache, another day we have a pubic pain, then we have cramps…Is it THAT bad? Well, picture your stomach stretching, your baby making room for him (kicking and pushing on your sciatic nerve), your pubic bone shifting, back pain and a sudden weight gain. All that within 9 months. But no, it’s not THAT bad. All these changes occur with time and nature does things well but it just isn’t like before.
- Cravings. Cravings are 100% true. They are actually telling you something. A craving of ice signifies that your body is lacking iron. Most of the time, when I crave something it’s because my body needs it. I mainly crave fruits and veggies. Two aliments that I didn’t eat that often. Wonder why pregnant ladies crave pickles? Well they are very rich in salt and being pregnant, your body needs more salt since you are supposed to be drinking more water.
- Food Aversion. I LOVED chicken. Now, I would prefer a big juicy steak to any kind of poultry. I also didn’t like fruits that much and right now I sincerely could eat 3 cantaloupes and 1 watermelon. I am not sure why this happens. I guess this has to do with hormones of something of the sort.
- Hormones. Okay well, when you are pregnant you have a hormone boost. Soooo as much as some women are very nice and lovely while pregnant, some can be the total opposite. The thing is that, it’s not our fault. As much as we changed we didn’t decide that. In my case, I am still the sweet old myself but I’M SO BLUNT. You know that annoying child that runs around in grocery stores screaming and over running you over with the shopping cart and yelling at her parents? Usually I would have told myself “How rude” well I said out loud “Omg! She’s so rude, I would never take her out.” Yes, her dad heard. GOOD.
- Emotional. I think this goes both way some girls become less emotional and some become more emotional. Once again, hormones are to blame. In my case I am more emotional. I just feel more emotionally fragile. A little friend fight can make me cry and a when my husband does something sweet I also want to cry. I also know for a fact that some women become more suspicious or insecure (not my case-phew). The big thing men need to understand is that everything is changing in our bodies. How would you feel if you gained a lot of weight without eating more or changing your habits? A big extra 15-45 pounds….
Now let’s get to what is according to me pregnancy myths.
- Eating for two. This is totally false. Being pregnant I did feel the need to eat more often or to have more consistent meals. Your body is working harder and you do need to actually eat more. Hell, I am eating more but you know what, I only gained 1 pound total (and I am 6 months pregnant). Now, I think I am a lucky one because at that point, your baby weight more than a pound. So if you start off with a healthy weight, you should be gaining more than just a pound. At the same time, I made choices in what I ate and sure I could eat more ice cream and more cake (who wouldn’t?) but it’s not good for me and I won’t blame it on pregnancy (but I do blame the 3 cantaloupes on pregnancy). Also, if you gain too much weight (see normal weight gain or ask your doctor) that weight will be hard to take off after your give birth. Please don’t allow yourselves to go through a major weight gain thinking that “you’re just pregnant”. Once you’ll give birth you’ll be pretty bummed to realize that it’s not going. If you gain a good amount of weight during your whole pregnancy it will go off very quickly after birth. That personally encourages me to be careful with what I eat. I don’t want to end up being bigger when I give birth. I want to be able to regain my pre-pregnancy weight fast enough.
- The glucose test drink. It’s NOT AWFUL. I was scared to have that test because of the liquid. Everyone around me said it was SOOO bad. It’s not ladies! It tastes like flat orange crush. I understand it’s not the most delicious thing ever but it’s not that bad.
- You just “know it”. Although this is true for many pregnant women, for me it turned out to be completely false. I was sure that my baby boy was a baby girl. I had this huge intuition since I conceived that it was a baby girl. WRONG and all “old wife tales” turned out to also be wrong including the Chinese gender predictor.
- Don’t exercise. It’s written all over the place that if you didn’t exercise pre-pregnancy then you shouldn’t start now. I say no. You’re pregnant and you need to be healthy. I agree not to do major exercises but walking for sure won’t harm you. Don’t take pregnancy as an excuse to just sit down and do nothing.
Well ladies, that was it for me. Feel free to add myths that you came across. Of course, these myths only take place if you are having a normal pregnancy. Otherwise you need special care and these “myths” might not apply at all to you. Be safe everyone and enjoy being pregnant!!!
