The Pregnancy Diet

On Friday we had our 23 week appointment and unfortunately it didn't go quite as well as we thought it would. I found out that I have somehow managed to lose another pound despite all the Girl Scout cookies I've been munching on! This loss gives me a net weight gain (since getting pregnant) of -1. I find it incredibly ironic that I have struggled to lose weight all of my life and now that I am pregnant I can't seem to gain any. If we could just market the "Pregnancy Diet" we would be rich.

My doctor measured my belly with a tape measure for the first time and noted that I am measuring small (I was 3cm smaller than what I should have been). He explained that I am within the acceptable parameters but had I been one centimeter smaller I would have had an ultrasound that day to see what was going on. He said that it could simply be a matter of how and where I'm carrying but doesn't want to let it go a full month before seeing me again, so my next appointment is in two weeks instead of the regular four.

Early Thursday morning I woke up to severe lower back pain and painful contractions. Unfortunately, these were NOT Braxton-Hicks contractions. They lasted an hour which was upsetting and nerve-wracking, but because they stopped and didn't start back up again, I waited until the next day to discuss it with my doctor at the appointment. He didn't like this news, but was reassured that I was still feeling a great deal of movement. While he is not ready to put me on bed rest he wants to run two different tests that can determine whether I will go into premature labor within the next two weeks of having them performed. In the meantime, I have been instructed to call him if I have more than four contractions in an hour and he will meet me at the hospital. Jeff and I were very reassured by his proactive but not over-reactive approach. Besides we are pretty convinced that the whole ordeal was a result of the extreme stress I have been under lately (see previous post)!

We left to go check out and schedule our next appointment with the receptionist who we both really like and enjoy chatting with. As she was setting up our next appointment she noted that I would be in two weeks earlier than normal. I told her what was going on and she asked how far along I was. When I told her 23 weeks, she glanced down at my belly and said "well you don't even look pregnant! You just look...." at which point she gagged on the foot in her mouth, so I helpfully supplied "chunky". With a relieved look she laughed and replied "yes, chunky!".

Yes. Chunky. That's exactly what I needed to hear.

So on March 2nd Jeff and I will be in for:

• Ultrasound to make sure everything is fine with the baby
• Glucose challenge where I get to drink the nasty orange drink (blah)
• Two tests that will determine whether or not I'm likely to go into premature labor in the following two weeks.

In the meantime I will endeavor to gain weight and try to look more pregnant than chunky. Wish me luck!