Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Pregnancy Journal: The Spinach Can Wait









From 5 Minutes for Parenting

By Kelly

I remember my first pregnancy so vividly.

I remember being snarly and sick and wanting to die, TO DIE, during the first trimester. (Note: Some things don’t change.)

(Another note, and yes, I realize this is my second, but I’m pregnant so I think I’m entitled: During that first pregnancy, I was teaching a high school media class – which means I taught teenagers to shoot and edit video and we watched “The Matrix” a lot and I was still one of the worst teachers in the history of teaching – and I shared an office with a 22-year-old male teacher who was absolutely sweet and adorable in an Eddie Haskell kind of way. One day, when I was particularly grouchy and whiny and I was laying my head down on my desk every 10 seconds and groaning, he gently asked, “Are you OK?” At which point I got up, walked straight to our office door, slammed it, whirled to face him and snapped, “I’m pregnant!” Poor boy. Up to that point, I had never seen that kind of fear in another human.)

So where was I? Oh yes. First pregnancy. Memories.

I remember being so overjoyed once I hit the second trimester to realize that I got my life back, I tried to do everything right for that little one inside of me. I followed all the standard advice. I exercised. I took prenatal vitamins. I stayed away from sushi. I tried to eat a balanced diet. And for the first time in my life, I ate an inordinate amount of vegetables.

My habit was to eat one cup of raw spinach (which is a lot of raw spinach if you pack it in) each day, whether I liked it or not. I considered it my afternoon snack. It didn’t taste all that great, without dressing or icing or chocolate. But every afternoon, you would find me at my desk, dutifully munching along like a cow with her cud, until my plastic baggie was empty of greens. And I did it all for my baby.

By the time I was pregnant with my second, I was less diligent with diet. I didn’t even pretend to exercise. (I figured it was enough I was chasing a toddler all day.) I ate lunch meat and even the occasional hot dog.

And these days, now that I’m pregnant with number four? Well. Let’s just say I might consider a balanced diet one that doesn’t shift on my McDonald’s tray as I carry it from the counter to the ketchup bar. And vegetables? I haven’t had a naked vegetable since September. They make me gag.

I know it will get better. I’m just now entering the second trimester, which means I have lots of time to regain my sense of self, my sense of propriety, my sense of healthy living.

But right now? I’m so happy to be nausea-free, I think I’ll have some ice cream. I think the baby will be just fine with mint chocolate chip.

The spinach can wait.

Kelly blogs about her family, her faith and her love affair with food at her blog, Love Well. She would also like to point out that her oldest child is very, very smart, which she credits to the spinach.

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14 comments:

  1. I just know that poor then 22 year old man was the best husband ever to his most-likely pregnant wife! You put the fear in him!

    You mean we should eat healthy when pregnant...hmmm...maybe that is where I went wrong. lol I did crave oranges, so there's Vitamin C. Good thing it was winter and they were in season! We went through 2 pounds a week.

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  2. Oh cool! you got your own button!

    I remember dying with laughter when reading Adam Gopnik's account of his wife's pregancy when they were living in France. (in his book "Paris to the Moon") The dr. told his wife to drink red wine and avoid raw vegetables! Cracked me up, as my doc told me the exact opposite. But both sides have good reasons. I prefer the French dr's advice though.

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  3. Very funny! I think my diet has been a bit worse with each pregnancy too. I've been a sugar fiend this time! Unfortunately, I was just diagnosed with glucose intolerance (not quite gestational diabetes, but on the way), so now I have to start behaving myself. Sigh. Enjoy some extra ice cream for me!

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  4. I'm, uh, a little more guilty of the nitrates and sugar this time around, too. No wonder the firstborns are always the smartest (says a firstborn)!

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  5. The funny thing is, I was the healthiest with my 2nd pregnancy than my 1st, 3rd, or 4th. I exercised the whole way through. I did the raw spinach thing, too! This is why I only gained 50 lbs with that pregnancy. The other pregnancy weights were: 60lbs, 65lbs, and 80 lbs. And yes, they were single babies, not multiples. I would like to point out that all of the babies were perfectly healthy and similar in size at birth. That's what prenatal vitamins are for. The "diet" and "exercise" part affected only MY body, apparently. I would also like to point out that I did, in fact, lose all that weight between each pregnancy each time. Enjoy your pumpkin pie! ;-)

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  6. lol that is so funny i wonder how quickly my diet would deteriorate

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  7. With my first it was all junk food all the time. McDs for breakfast, Wendy's for lunch, and pizza for dinner. I remember I had my husband wait at the BBQ restaurant until the workers got there in the morning and then begged them for a rack of baby back ribs for me! I ended up having my gallbladder removed when I was 7 months preggo. But I only gained 30 pounds so I guess it all worked out.

    With my second, all I wanted was fruit. Oranges, bananas, strawberries, grapes, and apples. My daughter was bigger than the first baby by a whole pound, but I only gained 11 pounds! It was pretty easy to lose it.

    Now that I am on my third (one more week till I am out of this first trimester!!), I want carbs. Mashed potatoes and buttery toast and cheez-its. Meat turns my stomach, but I make sure I drink a HUGE glass of OJ each morning. So far I have gained 10 pounds and still have 28 weeks to go!! YIKES!

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  8. Hi Kelly,
    Hope your pregnancy goes smoothly! Running after 3 kids while expecting can be a challenge! Just over a year ago, my husband and I found out that the fourth child we were expecting was really number four AND five!! Our twins are now almost 9 months and life at our house is predictably chaotic. Children are such a blessing, so congratulations and enjoy that mint chocolate chip!
    Shelley

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  9. [...] is journaling her fourth pregnancy at 5 Minutes for Parenting. This is one of my favorite posts of hers so far, probably because also I hit the spinach pretty hard when I was [...]

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