Tuesday, April 26, 2011

(First Trimester) Is the world trying to make a newly pregnant woman completely paranoid?

~* Written from my perspective; pregnant for the first time, nervous, unsure what to expect and really hormonal; take these posts with a grain of salt please *~
The first week; Over the next four days, I tried to deal with all the things that I couldn’t have while pregnant and picked up a book that promised ‘277 stress free tips for pregnancy,’ but one of the first things that the book told me was that I couldn’t sleep on my back anymore, and that I needed to really think about my diet, protein, no junk food, etc. Here we go again, more, NO’s. I didn’t like the book anymore; every “no” caused me MORE stress, not less. Did I sleep on my back last night, did I kill my baby? This is madness! How do women deal with all of this? The final straw came when the book told me to avoid high altitude, I live in Denver at 1 mile high, and my love is hiking. Not just any hike, but I love to climb big mountains, and realized that I couldn’t hike a 14er this year, according to the book; this really made me sad. I had pictures in my head of being pregnant and still hiking; it’s something that calms me and puts me in a good head space. I needed to ask my doctor about this high altitude “no.”

On Friday, my 7 month pregnant friend Heather stopped by with her 1 year old cute as can be daughter ,Jillian, and I told her the good news, and cried some more on her shoulder as she hugged me. I told her my fears and she suggested I look forward to the milestones and things that I was excited about, maybe taking pregnancy photos, or feeling that baby move for the first time (which is again something that scares me because it’s a foreign feeling in my body). But then she mentioned that I couldn’t eat the turkey sandwich she brought for me because I couldn’t have lunch meat; and then  something about too much vitamin A will cause birth defects, (what the hell has vitamin A in it, I thought?). She cautioned me against using my homeopathy remedies, and said I should ask my doctor if I can take them. More; NO’s, and things I hadn't even considered.  AAAK!

The one thing that she said that did stick with me; that I think about every time my stomach ties in knots is that there is such a euphoria when the baby is born and placed on your chest, it’s the most wonderful feeling ever. So, I try to think of my baby being born, but November seems so very far away.

She also suggested I register online at thebabycenter.com; so on Saturday morning I got up and signed up, put in my day of last normal period and got my due date (something that I had done a zillion times on day 1). October 30th, A Halloween baby, I liked that. I started to read about the first few weeks of pregnancy and one of the things that thebabycenter.com suggested was to take another pregnancy test a few days after the positive test; to make sure an early miscarriage didn’t occur. That freaked me out! So I took the last remaining test that I had; waited 5 minutes and made Josh go check it “you’re still knocked up” he says; then thebabycenter.com said that sometimes it takes 10 minutes for the test to accurately read; so after 10 minutes I asked Josh to check it, he confirmed that I was still ‘knocked up again.’ At least that was good news, no miscarriage this week; do I need to take a test every week until the 2nd trimester? Do they just tell you these things to freak you out, I think so!

Then Josh brought me a small cup of coffee and cautioned me that I wasn’t supposed to have very much coffee or caffeine (the only caffeine I ever have is my 2 cups of coffee each morning). I grumbled to him that I didn’t want to hear from him what I couldn’t do, and sipped my 1 cup very slowly savoring it.
Someone please tell me what I CAN do?

3 comments:

  1. Hey there lil mama~
    don't worry about the little things when you're pregnant, your body already knows what to do!
    We are very similar because we sew handmade clothing (Green Mountain Threads) and I had a lil baby who just turned 2! Thank you for sharing your story~Peace & Light~~

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  2. Jen, I just loved reading all your posts. Thank you for the words about not being able to get pregnant too. I know we've talked about that, and it's nice to know we aren't the only ones out there. I don't know what you CAN do besides not read all those books. They will freak you out! Talk with your doctor and get rid of the books. :) So excited for you!

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  3. Hi Jen! I'm a big hiker too, and although i don't live at such a high altitude as you, i hiked through the entirety of both of my pregnancies- it's what kept me sane!!!! i toned it down towards the end, but my last hike was the day before tanner was born. walk that baby out! I'm guessing the altitude thing has mostly to do with changes in altitude rather than just "high" altitude- your body is already accustomed to the high altitude of denver :)

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