Pregnancy update: 30 weeks
Woohoo! I finally made it to the 30 week marker a few days ago.
Along with this mile marker came a fairly significant change in our birthing plans - we switched from the free-standing birth center we were planning to use to opt instead for a midwife and either a home birth or laboring at home and going to the hospital right before "popping the baby out" as the midwife says.
I never expected to consider a home birth this time around (call me a scaredy-cat!), but after various complications with the birth center, I started looking elsewhere for other possible alternatives. The first certified nurse midwife I found happens to be very competent, take our insurance (even for home births!), and have delivery rights at a nearby hospital. I am thankful to the Lord for working out what appears to be a much-better-suited situation for us.
I had my first real appointment with the new midwife today (She came over last week for a "meet and greet" with Jesse and I but we didn't have an appointment then because we wanted to get to know her before we decided whether or not to change care providers.) and I feel much better about everything. As many of you know, I've not been feeling well at all in recent weeks - lack of energy, nausea, reflux, and so on. The midwife gave me all sorts of help and ideas with my various complaints today and I am hopeful that things may improve with some diet changes and adding some new supplements.
We also discovered, to my surprise, that my protein levels were really low and I'm also quite dehydrated. I guess I wasn't eating and drinking as well as I thought! I'm going in tomorrow to get my hemoglobin checked - I'm suspicious that is also low inspite of trying to eat as many iron-rich foods as possible.
We're headed to the grocery store and health food store to pick up some Blackstrap molasses, lots of high protein foods, and some additional supplements to help me get back to feeling more "normal" - er, I guess as "normal" as one can feel when they are in their third trimester! And I'm supposed to start eating at least 80 grams of protein per day, preferably more like 100 grams. I realized I've been woefully lacking in getting enough protein in. Any great ideas for accomplishing that?
In other news, baby is well and healthy and I'm actually measuring on track - as opposed to about 4 weeks behind like last time. I guess that definitely means I'm bigger this time around, which I don't doubt. I haven't weighed in almost eight weeks (we don't own scales), so I have no clue whether or not I've gained more or less this time. Maybe I should just stay off the scales until about six months after the baby is born!
Oh and one last quick thing: You know you are 30 weeks pregnant when you turn your air conditioner on before the calendar reads May. It's not even that hot outside (high of 80s) and I've been burning up! I think the rest of the family is going to be wearing Winter coats and hats inside soon.
How are the rest of you preggo mommies doing?
Along with this mile marker came a fairly significant change in our birthing plans - we switched from the free-standing birth center we were planning to use to opt instead for a midwife and either a home birth or laboring at home and going to the hospital right before "popping the baby out" as the midwife says.
I never expected to consider a home birth this time around (call me a scaredy-cat!), but after various complications with the birth center, I started looking elsewhere for other possible alternatives. The first certified nurse midwife I found happens to be very competent, take our insurance (even for home births!), and have delivery rights at a nearby hospital. I am thankful to the Lord for working out what appears to be a much-better-suited situation for us.
I had my first real appointment with the new midwife today (She came over last week for a "meet and greet" with Jesse and I but we didn't have an appointment then because we wanted to get to know her before we decided whether or not to change care providers.) and I feel much better about everything. As many of you know, I've not been feeling well at all in recent weeks - lack of energy, nausea, reflux, and so on. The midwife gave me all sorts of help and ideas with my various complaints today and I am hopeful that things may improve with some diet changes and adding some new supplements.
We also discovered, to my surprise, that my protein levels were really low and I'm also quite dehydrated. I guess I wasn't eating and drinking as well as I thought! I'm going in tomorrow to get my hemoglobin checked - I'm suspicious that is also low inspite of trying to eat as many iron-rich foods as possible.
We're headed to the grocery store and health food store to pick up some Blackstrap molasses, lots of high protein foods, and some additional supplements to help me get back to feeling more "normal" - er, I guess as "normal" as one can feel when they are in their third trimester! And I'm supposed to start eating at least 80 grams of protein per day, preferably more like 100 grams. I realized I've been woefully lacking in getting enough protein in. Any great ideas for accomplishing that?
In other news, baby is well and healthy and I'm actually measuring on track - as opposed to about 4 weeks behind like last time. I guess that definitely means I'm bigger this time around, which I don't doubt. I haven't weighed in almost eight weeks (we don't own scales), so I have no clue whether or not I've gained more or less this time. Maybe I should just stay off the scales until about six months after the baby is born!
Oh and one last quick thing: You know you are 30 weeks pregnant when you turn your air conditioner on before the calendar reads May. It's not even that hot outside (high of 80s) and I've been burning up! I think the rest of the family is going to be wearing Winter coats and hats inside soon.
How are the rest of you preggo mommies doing?
posted by Crystal Paine at 4:20 PM
36 Comments:
Congratulations on getting some decisions settled:)
I ate that protein diet too. I think it's the Brewer diet.
I ate nuts, cheese, yougurt, beans, ice cream even has protein;)
Once I started keeping track and eating a larger portion of protein foods it wasn't too hard!
I'll see if I can find you a link.
Lizzie
http://nutrition.birthingnaturally.net/brewerslideshow/brewerdiet_files/frame.htm
Eggs, eggs, and more eggs. I also make pancakes with cottage cheese.
14 weeks and running on that second trimester energy! (and also I've stopped throwing up, yay!)
My main problem is that I want tacos ALL THE TIME. This is my third and I'm always amused by my cravings. Usually, they vary, but not this time. I just want tacos. It's a mystery! :)
-Elisabeth
I hope the new situation works out for your Crystal! I just switched providers too, even though I'm nearly 35 weeks now.
Even if you don't do the Brewer Diet (it's a lot of food, I wasn't able to keep up with it), it's a good idea to aim for 80-100g of protein a day when you're pregnant, esp. in the third trimester because the 3rd is when the baby's brain is growing fastest.
One thing I eat a lot of to get enough protein is cottage cheese. The lowfat cottage cheese at Aldi has only 80 calories per half cup, but that has 12g of protein. So I eat a full cup of it or sometimes even 1.5 cups with some fruit, it makes a good breakfast or lunch. Another thing I do is make an omelet with two whole eggs and 4 egg whites, plus some spinach (for iron) and salsa (for taste!). If you use egg whites, you still get a lot of protein, but it's leaner (a whole egg is about 70 cal with 6g protein; an egg white is 15 cal with 3g protein).
Not that you need to watch calories, but I'm trying to a little bit since I'm gaining faster with this baby than the last one. :)
Glad to hear the new midwife seems to be a good fit! I hit 30 weeks today and I'm still definitely feeling a lot better than the first and second trimesters. *phew!* Still trying to get the nursery organized and set up, decide which cloth diapers to try out, and the like. Feels like it's all mental exhaustion this month! *sigh*
I had two homebirths. LOOOVED IT! I have used the same midwife for all three of my children. We transfered to the hospital when I wasn't progressing after over 24 hours of labor.
I tried a "birthing center" and honestly it felt like a nicely decorated hospital to me. So I went back to my orginal midwife. She is like a friend to me, and is such an encouragment.
Glad to know you found a good midwife. :) I think you will love having a homebirth too.
I had a homebirth with my second child, and loved it! I hope that I can do the same with any other children God blesses us with. I don't know if you ever got to read my homebirth story (almost exactly a year ago) but you can find it at http://carriespregjournal.blogspot.com
if you're interested.
I'm happy you found a midwife that you really like, and I hope all goes well through these last weeks of pregnancy. It will be fun to hear what happens and to read your next birth story. :) I worked on eating lots of protein toward the end of my pregnancy, too. I ate a lot of beans, and also cheese and peanut butter . . .
Take care and get lots of rest!
Hi, Crystal. My advice is: eat light meals or nothing after 3 p.m., lots of fruit (believe it or not, even apples have protein), and green smoothies (basically juicy fruits, berries, and lots of greens- you can do an internet search for more info.). I did this the last six weeks of my last pregnancy (which ended 28 March), and wow! what a difference in energy and easier labor and delivery.
Eat eggs! Lots of eggs! Yummy eggs! Don't you just LOVE eggs?!
Blech, I am tired of eating eggs and I don't even eat them that often. :) They are fine scrambled with sausage, but I've stopped eating the sausage because pork's not the greatest thing AND it has nitrates. Peas actually have a lot of iron, I discovered the other day. :)
I'm 23 weeks and feeling OK. I was recently diagnosed as hyperthyroid and we are trying to figure out what to do to treat it. We're trying some natural things first, and praying that they work so that I don't have to take meds!
My only obvious symptom of hyperthryoid has been a high resting pulse that we just can't get to go down, so my midwife referred me to a doctor which led to finding out I am most likely producing way too much thyroid hormone. I didn't even know where the thyroid WAS until now. :)
I have been pretty tired and just BLAH feeling lately, I think mostly because my pulse is racing all the time - it's kind of like my heart is working out constantly, so it has definitely contributed to the normal pregnancy exhaustion.
But, baby is doing super and we got to see him/her via sonogram the other day (thankfully, without seeing what it is since we want to be surprised). I never had a sonogram with Reagan so it was pretty neat!
Crystal - i'm so tickled for you about the midwife. I love my doctor and I'm not considering a change since I really do *have* to have c-sections, but I have been longing to see a midwife just because I think they tend to be so much more helpful with the less medical aspects of pregnancy. My doctor, bless him, is always looking out for things that might go wrong or tests we might need to have. But what I need is "what do I do about this constant nausea?" and "how do I get some energy back?" So i'll be following along with great interest!
I will be 32 weeks tomorrow and have been concentrating on getting extra protein to and I eat a lot of hard boiled eggs and peanut butter and it has really helped make a big difference.
I'm at 27 weeks and still having some nausea issues. I haven't gained any weight, which isn't necessarily bad for my size, but I'm also not eating near enough protein either. The midwife is after me constantly over this. It is so hard when one finds meat so nauseating! LOL! I too, just found out that I'm not drinking enough water. If I drink any more I will NEVER get any sleep at night!
It's funny because it just really "dawned" on me that we will have a baby in 13 more weeks! YIKES! Yes, it's #5, but it's always a shocker for me when it gets this close!
By any chance did your midwife recommend Floradix? That's what mined recommended for my fatigue and extra iron. I'm glad things are going well, keep us updated!
Hi Crystal! Congrats on the milestone.
I craved protein throughout my pregnancy- and satisfied it with lots of eggs, beans and cheese. Quiche and hummus (and other beany items eaten in burritos) were my big favorites; quiche is versatile enough that we had it for dinner a lot, with spinach or other veggies thrown in plus a large salad for that good fiber. Same for homemade breakfast burritos!
How exciting that you're going to plan for a homebirth! I will look forward to reading about it.
protein source....at Sam's and Costco they have this big bag of protein shake mix. NOt bad at all. It is 47 grams per shake and about 140 calories. I have one or two a day...not pregnant just lost a lot of weight and nutrition counselor recommended me keeping my protein levels up.
The bag is about $20 but has an enormous amount of servings in it.
Good tips for protein. I am 17 weeks now and have been so sick with this pregnancy. It has been so different to my previous 4 pregnancies.
I know for a fact I am not drinking enough or eating well enough (you just can't when you get sick).
I also get really low iron when pregnant and breastfeeding and I get low blood pressure when pregnant - not too bad but it means I have to sit down when I sing at church!
It is tough! But on to more positive things...
I love homebirths or coming home right after birth. My first was born in hospital and was very straight forward so the second was born at home (waterbirth). It was an amazing birth and was wonderful to be sitting in my own lounge eating yummy food 1/2 an hour later. Then to spend the afternoon in bed with my new baby and dh, we just gazed at her all afternoon.
I was lucky enough to have parents close by so they took my 3yo home with them after baby was born.
I went on to have a hospital birth with number 3 but straight home afterwards - I had a labour that didn't progress for 24 hours. My 4th baby was born at home and it was a very quick easy birth (if you can call giving birth easy).
I don't know what it is like in the States but in NZ our midwives come to our home for our pre-natal visits and post-natal visits until the baby is 6 weeks old.
I am hoping for a homebirth this time too.
Louise
Crystal,
I hope the rest of your third trimester goes well.
As a vegetarian, I'm always on the lookout for good, healthy sources of protein. Eggs are great, but the current recommendation is to eat one egg every day, not more.
Combining grains and legumes supplies quality protein, with a balance of all the essential amino acids. For example, rice with beans or rice with lentils. Of course, it might not work if you are extra-sensitive to beans...
Crystal, that is very cool. I have always wanted a homebirth, but dh was leary. I think after what's gone on with this pregnancy, he may be the one to suggest a homebirth next time.
I'm gonna be 36 weeks here in a couple days! I can hardly believe it. I have a 15 month old daughter who keeps me busy, so time has really flown by with this pregnancy.
The last few weeks I have had a serious lack of energy, and it just dawned on me that it is probably protein related.
Last night I was feeling pretty bad, so I ended up having tacos (ha ha) after dinner. I felt better right away (meat and cheese) and I'm feeling good this morning. I think I haven't been eating well, so I'll be joining you with the eggs, eggs, eggs and peanut butter and cheese and beans diet (Beans were planned for dinner tonight anyway.)
I'm glad you figured out what's up. Hopefully you'll start feeling better right away. Also, I'm planning a homebirth. We're getting very excited about it. I was unsure at first, and the Lord led me to some scriptures that really gave me peace. One was definitely about not being fearful. I was thinking about making some little posters for myself, so I would stay focused on Him during labor. I enjoyed the last labor and birth so much (it was a hospital birth) and I want this one to be great, too.
Ok, Sorry for the lonnng note. I should also mention I've been visiting your blog for a few weeks and I really love it. Thanks. And I'll remember to pray for you. I hope you enjoy the rest of your pregnancy, and the birth!
Kathryn
Glad to hear that you like your new midwife. I am 32 weeks tomarrow. My iron was low so my midwife had me start taking an iron supplement and encouraged me to eat more red meat. I know you don't buy a lot of meat and I didn't usually buy red meat either but I have been really trying to have red meat more often. It must be helping because I definately feel an improvement over the dragging exhaustion I felt a few weeks ago. If you don't want to serve red meat to the whole family, you can buy some roast beef lunch meat and have sandwhiches just for yourself at lunch. And like many others have said, eat at least one egg every day. God bless!
Elissa
Congratulations on your awesome birthing decisions. I am so pleased with the changes dh and I have made recently made regarding our baby's birth. My midwife emphasized how important it is to be in a situation where one will have as few interventions as possible. Many interventions lead to another, which can ultimately even lead to having surgeries one doesn't need. One of the best ways to protect your body, is to be careful in the selection of your birth attendants and your birth place. At Bradley classes we have been learning about how the foods we eat prepare our bodies for birth. There are also many exercises which really aid in preparing for birthing. I will be 30 weeks tomorrow.Continued prayers for a healthy pregnancy for you! Blessings!
Regarding eggs, according to the amazing study by Dr.Brewer, who helped many women avoid complications in pregnancy through diet alone, eggs are a critical protein during pregnancy. Pregnant women need the cholesterols found in eggs. Two or three servings of eggs is healthy!Pregnant women are in a completely different category for what they ought to eat, than non-pregnant women.
I used to have chronic low blood sugar. I was told to use sugar to get my blood sugar up and then eat a lot of protein to sustain that. As a vegetarian, that was hard for me! I ate a lot of peanut butter and cream cheese. I remember just sitting there, dipping celery sticks in cream cheese and eating it. I also made soy milk shakes. Yum! Good look and God bless you!
Good for you in choosing a better birthing situation. You're going to do great!
Everything's going good here, and overall I'm really enjoying being pregnant. Last night I was really struggling to stay awake and it was only about 6 p.m. Needless to say, I was in bed by 7:30. I guess I just needed some extra sleep time :)
I din't have time to read all the responses on protein, so sorry if this duplicates info. A few years ago, due to health issues, we discovered we all needed more protein. 6 mini meals a day will help the naseua as well. Ideas? Eggs for breakfast! Great protein and omega 3's! Mini meals (snacks) should always include a protein. String cheese, almonds, other nuts, peanut butter, hard boiled eggs etc. Also, you may need to increase your protein portions at dinner. You probably need a whole chicken breast, not just part. If they didn't give a sheet with protein amounts per serving, email and I'll send you one. Also, red meat helps with anemia. I always ate red meat during my pregnacy's, and never became anemic despite nursing till the next pregnacy, but after the last baby I started excercising more and went to all chicken and fish. Within 6 months I was anemic. Go figure. Pay attention to your body, mine slips into anemia if I go too long without reed meat. Good Luck! And while your eating more protein, don't forget your omega 3's!:)
wow a home birth!!!
That's great!!!
That's THE way to have a baby if you ask me :)
And don't worry it's not scary... here in the Netherlands everyone gives birth at home... it's normal :)...
I know I will do this one day...
Well actually I don't know... but I will if I get the chance
I have to agree with all the "eat eggs" ladies. I also like peanut butter and cottage cheese, well, not at the same time, LOL! Anyway, we are here at 38 weeks and I am having a tough time getting around, but I am so excited, too! The nesting is really kicking in, too, and I want to wash and clean and bake like crazy.
I recently had jaw surgery and needed to increase my daily protein intake as part of my recovery. I couldn't eat for about two weeks, so I used protein shakes. They come in a dry powder(based on whey or soy protein) that you can mix with milk or water. I used the chocolate whey protein powder with whole milk from a local creamery. It tasted fairly good and each shake was 14g protein. You can also find unflavored whey protein that you can add to other dishes or smoothies. I think it also has 14g per serving.
Only a few weeks left! Hang in there!
I am so happy you found a midwife to work with :-) I am blessed to have my wonderful mom come to all my births and play the "role" of midwife.
Becareful with the proteins that you don't create a ginormous baby ;-) Right now I can't recall why but my mother told me to eat ALOT of protein in my last trimester(with my second baby). I ended up with a 9lb 4oz baby!! And I am a small girl, 5'1" , 110 pounds, pre-preggy.
My last was 8lbs 9oz, so I am a little worried I how big this one will be. I am currently 28 weeks and I have quite the large stomach people keep thinking I am due next month ;-(
Glad to hear you found a midwife you like! I'm homebirthing this one (Lord willing), so of course I'm biased in thinking yous hould too. ;) If you still want the option to labor and/or birth in a bigger tub, there is a great thread here (http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=589333) about how to do so cheaply. One of the options is to buy a specific kiddie pool, which you can find this time of year for cheap at most toy stores or places like Target. And then after the birth you can clean it and have a wading pool for the kids! Plus, I know you're planning on more children if God blesses you with them, so once you make the investement you can hang onto to it and use it if you homebirth next time.
Doing great! Had my baby April 11th. We had a homebirth and although it was long and hard, everyone turned out healthy! IT was awesome. Hope you have an excellent birth! I'll email you the birth story if you're interested!
Glad to hear you and baby are doing well. You should post another belly pic for us. I just posted my 33 week pic on my blog, so I'm sure if you go check it out you won't feel quite so large :-D And I'm with you on the AC--it hasn't gone past 75 here yet and I am miserable!
Jennifer
www.xanga.com/homekeepingheart
Kristen - I'd love to read your birth story. Please do email it to me. I'm a bit obsessed about all things birth related right now. :) And any of the rest of you who have your babies before me, be sure to email me and send your birth story or send me the link to it.
Jennifer, you look beautiful! I need to take another picture but haven't gotten that done. Maybe next week!
I gave birth to my first at home and our second in a birthing center here in Guam. I was trying to find a way to give birth at home but God did not allow me to find anyone. It proved to be such a blessing because he unexpectedly deployed for the tsunami at Banda Aceh. All the women there were such a blessing and helped me when I thought that I needed my husband to give birth. I missed him dearly though and spoke to him through some of my contractions.
The Lord has blessed us with finding a homebirthing midwife and I pray that you may find all the right encouragement for your plans.
I really enjoyed reading about and reminding myself of women giving birth in other countries (where the hospital was only for extreme cases) or giving birth in rice fields. It was empowering to know that other women have done it and that I could too. One thing a friend told me that helped me out a lot was to tell myself, "It's as natural as eating, sleeping, and drinking."
May the Lord give you comfort and strength!
I was so dehydrated with my first pregnancy and ended up having very, very low amniotic fluid which ended up making the doctor feel I needed an emergency induction. Not fun! The second time around I was much more careful and noticed a huge difference in my overall sense of well being! I felt terrific...tired of course, but terrific none the less! I don't normally drink alot, but found it easy to get in eight glasses a day by filling a water filter pitcher and making it my goal to drink at least two of those a day.
For protien, that was another struggle since I'm not a big meat eater. I ate alot of raw nuts, lean chicken breast, etc. and mixed molasses into oatmeal.
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