Today I went to the doctor for a blood draw and to answer the prenatal questionnaire with the nurse. Thursday I will go back to meet with the doctor and hopefully hear the baby's heartbeat.
I knew that today's appointment would require me to get on the scale. I have been faithfully avoiding the scale for the last month. I decided that I am not going to weigh myself this pregnancy. Why? Because I gain a lot of weight when I am pregnant, so I am rarely happy with numbers on the scale. If I am happy with the numbers on the scale I tend to celebrate by eating, which makes me unhappy with the numbers on the scale the next time I get on the dreaded thing.
I am not weighing myself.
I even told myself that I would not look at the scale when the nurse weighed me. But I did. My weight was lower than I expected AND I didn't celebrate by eating. Yay me!
Now before y'all jump all over me saying, "You're so skinny why are you worried about weight gain because you are pregnant after all, crazy lady." Let me give you some background information.
Belle, my first baby weighed 7 lbs, 6 ozs. Ariel, my second baby weighed 9 lbs, 8 ozs. Do you see the problem with that? Now let's add this little fact, my darling husband is the baby of his family, his mom's fourth child. Jeff weighed over 10 pounds. Do you see the even bigger problem?
Giving birth to my second child was not a pretty sight. I am a small girl and not equip to deliver big babies without sustaining a lot of damage. After Ariel was born I saw a specialist who told me that I shouldn't have another baby. I didn't really like that answer, so he conceded that I could have another baby, but only by C-section. I was somewhat satisfied with that answer, but not thrilled with the possibility of a C-section. I spoke to my OB who spoke to the specialist and they decided that if I could keep my weight gain around thirty pounds and deliver at thirty-eight weeks, I can avoid a C-section.
A thirty pound weight gain is a lofty goal that I have no idea how to meet. During my first pregnancy I ate what ever I wanted and gained seventy pounds. During my second pregnancy I tried really hard to eat well and only gained sixty pounds. I know that there are mothers everywhere who gain thirty pounds or less each pregnancy. I am not one of those moms.
Today I weighed in at 137 pounds. That is a 5 pound increase from my pre-pregnancy weight. I know that most of this gain is fluid. I am not too worried about it. I hope I can hold my weight at this level for the next month or so. I hope.
I will be talking about my weight for my entire pregnancy, but not because I am worried about getting fat. My only concern is keeping my baby's birth weight manageable so that I can deliver this baby myself instead of being cut open. I will not be cut open. All of you out there with a"C-sections are wonderful" story can save it for someone who doesn't have an irrational fear of scalpels. I may be irrational, but at least that fear will keep me for gaining too much weight.
I hope.
10 comments:
Oh Amy.
Bless your heart. I'll be thinking light thoughts and skinny (healthy) wishes for you and the little one.
Yowza.
Amy.. I HEAR YOU.. I am one of those women that just gained weight for no reason when I was pregnant.. even my OB said it.. With my first I gained 69..with my second I gaind 58.. and I never ever indulged.. makes me mad that I did not... and I was scared to death of the c-section..thankfully I was able to do natural both times.. whew..
This is why I adopted...well not all the reasons...but weight gain (hellloo...I'm fat enough already) plus the pushing a baby out/c-section bit. No thank you.
You can do it though...and if you don't...c-section or not...you get a baby at the end of it all, and that's ALL good :)
The only advice I can offer, which is really no help at all, is that the only way I kept my weight gain to a minimum with my second baby was to learn to accept and embrace the every-day-of-all-nine-months "morning" (and let me tell ya, that was a looooonnnngggg morning) sickness.
Outside of that, I got nuthin'.
BUT.... I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. And I absolutely offer to be your proxy for the celebratory eating. Shoot me a message when you're happy about something, and I'll have a scoop of ice cream or something for you so you don't have to. :)
Amy,
I am one of those c-section moms and I assure you that I have the pictures of my tummy (staples and all) following the c-section that make a pretty good case for why c-sections are not awesome at all. I have your email address and will send it to you separately...it looks like something out of a shop of horrors chop job. The good news is that today, after all the healing, the scar is barely visible and well below the panty line so I can still wear bikinis! :-)
But, I hear ya'...if at all possible avoid the c-section. It's not fun. Best of luck!!!!
Oh man, I know!! I had just lost like 30 lbs on WW before I got pregnant and was down to about 132 or so. I was hot.
They asked me not to gain more than 25 lbs because I'm so short (5') and I am weighing over 160 now. I go in on Friday and I probably will weigh closer to 170. It's crazy. And scary. I hope I can lose it all again!!! YIKES!
And also, this is my first baby. On his measurements he was always around 55% until this last visit when they told me he was more like in the 75%!! GEESH. He was 4.5 lbs like 4 weeks ago and that's what he's "supposed" to be now. Yeah.... fun.
I completely do the weight deal you described. I gained 1 lb last month & have eaten like a little piggy on Christmas over the last 24 hours! That being said, you have completely different reasons. I hope it goes well & you can keep your weight under 30 lbs! Here's to a seven pound baby!
I hope you can avoid that c-section. I had one each time :(
I wish I had some tips on keeping off weight but if I had any that worked over the holiday season, I would not gain that once a year 5 pounds!
I have an irrational fear of the epideral needle. Four deliveries, no drugs.
With both my pregnancies, I wanted so bad to have them natural. My issue with the first wasn't weight but that she was in breech position, too difficult to turn. With my second, I wanted natural, except he turned out to be a big baby and that and other factors led to a 2nd c section. I learned with my 2nd pregnancy that I couldn't let disappointment take over the joy of having a baby. Of course, I didn't want to be cut open. Who does? But it was out of my control and if it meant giving birth to a healthy baby, then I had to leave it in God's hands. I think if you do your part in maintaining your weight, you'll be fine. But don't let that consume you for the next several months. I'm sure mommy and baby will be just fine. Congratulations!
Post a Comment