Pregnancy Overload

Right now I am sort of feeling overwhelmed by this whole pregnancy thing. Just because I feel like every waking moment something to do with being pregnant has to enter my mind. Hiring and interviewing a midwife, childcare, maternity leave, etc... These are the things that wake me up in the middle of the night. I am banning myself from buying or borrowing anymore pregnancy books, I want to read something that has nothing to do with childbirth and babies. I am in the mood for a good sci-fi novel actually. Only thing that gives me relief lately is the weather; it's nice and cool outside which I love. During the heat wave, I was having trouble sleeping because I was so hot. I even shunned my Snoogle for awhile because I just felt too hot to touch anything. Meanwhile, it seems like I can't get enough sleep. I have been averaging like 10 hours of sleep lately. Tonight I have to go to the gym because I just couldn't get up this morning. As long as I go tonight and tomorrow morning, I will have met my goal for gym attendance for the week. I may even put in extra credit on Saturday morning, for some reason going to the gym on Saturday morning puts me in a great mood. I spoke to my doula for a long time yesterday; she's awesome and I love the fact that she is a young mother; she had her son last October. She really helps me and reassures me. She is having a doctor come and speak at her store about alignment in pregnancy on Saturday afternoon. It's free so I'm game. My back is all messed up, especially the right side. Yesterday, I had a little pregnancy weight gain freak out. I mean it's been so hot lately, I know I was probably retaining some water but I still freaked out. This morning my weight was back to "normal", reflecting a 11.5 weight gain since December/January. I have tried to come to terms with the fact that I may end up gaining as much as 25 pounds, which to me sounds like SO much. According to my BMI before getting pregnant, a 15-25 pounds weight gain would be appropriate for me. I was about 7 pounds overweight before. I was wishing so hard to only gain 15 pounds, but considering I am at the 11.5 mark now with 3 months to go, I can't imagine not getting to at least 20 pounds. It seems like a lot of women end up gaining a lot more than 25 pounds these days due to poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and "cravings", so I guess I should consider myself lucky that I am still in control although I will admit I ate a cookie last night. One cookie and it was really good. One thing I really indulge in on a daily basis is fortified Eden Soymilk. I love it because it is a great source for calcium, folate, B12 and protein. I know protein is something I struggle with so I definitely drink the soymilk pretty liberally; one serving has 11 grams of protein. I also like the carob flavor they sell too. I know some pregnant women eat like a pint of ice cream everyday. I would feel gross if I ate a pint of soy ice cream every night. The baby is squishing my stomach so I feel like stuffing myself with anything would be asking for trouble. I like to feel energized after I eat, not sluggish and bloated. Even drinking too much can cause that not so great feeling. Anyway, it's Thursday, almost the weekend and only one more week after that until I get to take a nice vacation. It's not the wonderful vacation abroad that I had planned but I do intend on making the most of it and doing stuff in the city and its environs and attending summer events that I would normally be too tired to go to. I wonder what's on the menu for lunch today?
Pickles and ice cream is definitely NOT on the menu! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! LOL! Later people!

"I'm crunchy, but not THAT crunchy!"

My doula called me yesterday to answer some questions that I had asked her over e-mail. Nothing major, just inquiring about prenatal yoga, childbirth prep classes and just shooting the shit. So our conversation took an interesting turn. I asked her "Um did you do anything with your placenta?" She said "It's in my freezer." "What are you planning on doing with it?", I asked. She said that when they get a house, she wants to plant it in her garden or under a tree. I thought that was nice. I said "Oh I thought you were going to say that you were putting it in a smoothie or something!" LOL! She said "I'm crunchy but I'm not THAT crunchy!" I told her that although I guess some people would consider me "crunchy"(all natural, hippie, alternative type moms, also known as "granola") to some extent, the thought of taking bites out my placenta, aka afterbirth, while it's still warm just makes me want to hurl. Some people like to freeze it and put it in a smoothie. Or they cook it up. There are actually websites devoted to recipes for the placenta. I was like "Um......no." I definitely believe in the power of the placenta and its nutrients though. So my happy medium will be having my doula dehydrate it and then put the powder in capsules. Apparently consumption of the placenta, even in capsule or tincture form helps stave off postpartum depression. I have researched things like lotus birth, which is when you leave the baby attached to the placenta until the umbilical cord naturally falls off in a few days. I also I have read things about delayed clamping, where you do not clamp the umbilical cord until after you have birthed the placenta and it has stopped pulsating. I believe I am going to opt for the latter. I can't imagine carrying around a stinky placenta for like 3 or 4 days. Apparently you have to massage it with oils and clean it... Yeah lotus birth seems a little bit too crunchy for me. Another idea that seem a little too extreme for me was frying the placenta up with onions and garlic. I don't eat red meat and I RARELY eat fish, so even if technically the placenta is not animal flesh, it would still freak me out to be chowing down on my own afterbirth. I was explaining the lotus birth to B and he was like "Ok now you are going too far, that's just WEIRD!" LOL In some of my next posts I plan on discussing the controversial topic of co-sleeping and also the concept of "attached parenting"(new to me!). Later people!