answering your questions

remember that formspring fad?
i never understood why having an anonymous form was any different than a comment box [which can certainly be anonymous if the commenter wants!] but a couple of years ago these things were all the rage. i remember getting asked about a million times whether we wanted kids — i hadn’t come out about trying to conceive yet, and so i just left those all unanswered. [and probably moped about it a little].

i am not a ‘big’ blogger by any stretch of the imagination — so i don’t get bombarded with questions via email or comments. but i do get a smattering! a few came recently that i thought i’d address here, in case anyone else had similar queries.

question 1: pregnancy weight gain
i emailed you a long time ago when i was going through a long infertility phase – and then followed your pregnancy – and now i am finally pregnant myself! hard to believe! i’m actually emailing because i cannot believe how much weight i’ve gained in the first trimester. like you, i had to gain weight in order to get pregnant (well, sort of – with multiple ivf cycles it just kind of happens . . . ) so i’m extra uncomfortable and shocked by how BIG i am! i havent really talked to anyone about this since i have just been trying to be thankful for the pregnancy (i AM) and enjoy this time, but i can’t help but wonder . . . what in the world?? it is encouraging to see that your weight gain slowed down pretty dramatically over time. if you have any tips to manage it, and stay sane, i’d appreciate it! good luck!

i totally understand having those nervous feelings and gaining weight when you’re used to being a certain size is really hard. while i wrote about my experiences with an RD prior to getting pregnant [best decision ever], i have to say i actually don’t have too many tips for weight gain during pregnancy. i am somewhat surprised i haven’t gained more because really i’ve stuck with very intuitive/’whatever i want’ type of eating over the pregnancy, and even purposefully added extra ice cream at night in at the end because i could see that i wasn’t going to meet the 25 lb recommended goal.

in the beginning, i was STARVING and wanted: bagels, cream cheese, cheese – so i ate those things. i think that’s why i gained more quickly in the beginning — and admittedly i did stress about it — at least a little. but then, the aversions/cravings really lessened and i could go back to normal eating [the most bizarre thing ever was not wanting nut butter of any kind! i previously could not go a a day WITHOUT it!].

by the mid-2nd-tri i started to have issues with feeling overfull and pretty sick with big meals — so i think i subconsciously adjusted accordingly, sticking to smaller meals + more snacks. i can’t say that i stayed away from things like cheesy pizza, burgers, ice cream, etc. i do eat healthy foods too but it’s a mix!

for example, last night’s dinner may have been a jalopeño cheddar burger + deep-fried pickle chips
i will say that compared to many i have found it actually pretty easy and natural to remain active throughout the pregnancy. i’ve gotten in 4-6 workouts/week most weeks, usually 30-40 minutes of either elliptical or running [in 3rd tri, run/walk intervals on the treadmill]. at times i am also pretty active at work too — but this does vary depending on what i’m doing from day to day.

in the end, i think i just gained what my body wanted to gain for this pregnancy. perhaps i could have fought harder to meet the ‘official’ guidelines, but i find it hard to believe that my body doesn’t know best! my true advice would be to try as hard as you can not to stress over it. let your doctor or midwife worry about it instead [mine never expressed any concern — at the beginning or the end]. of note, my sister-in-law gained something like 40 lbs with her first baby and just 20 with her second — and reports that she actually bounced back faster the first time. furthermore, both my niece + nephew are both healthy, adorable, and smart!

question 2: lists
What do you do with your old lists? Do you save them? Toss them? This just popped into my head seeing your lists up there. Just wondering!

i can’t WAIT to throw this one out! and don’t worry, most of these boxes are checked now.
TOSS!!! [into the recycle bin 🙂 ]. i do have a couple of planners that i’ve saved [not every year — but ones with memorable things in them, like my intern year or a great marathon training cycle], but that’s it. i’m not into saving much in general. except digitally!

question 3: baby book
As a reader but non commenter and fellow lover of paper products, I was wondering where you found your baby book? I’m 33 weeks along with and looking for the perfect one!

YAY for 33 weeks! i have to admit i’ve been a little behind on this. i have the moleskine baby journal, but i have to admit i haven’t done much with it yet!

there’s a whole ‘9 months to go’ section that would be useful for planning/documenting, but i feel like for me it’s a bit redundant since of course there’s the blog to look back on. plus, at this point those 9 months are essentially over! [i hope.]

however, the subsequent sections look great for adding memories on the fly, and there are actually really useful charts/tables — like a growth record, vaccination section, and a feeding log. i definitely plan on using these practical spaces as well as the sentimental ones.

i do REALLY want to keep up with this because i remember looking back at my own baby book when i was little [thanks mom!!]. it was fascinating [come on, little kids are INTO themselves — it’s okay!] and made me feel so loved.

other things
✔ nope, no signs of labor. [i am including these updates particularly for the family on babywatch!]

✔ work is winding down. although i won’t be on maternity leave until i check into L&D, i just can’t start anything NEW at this point, and i’m getting closed to finished with what i had planned. today i plan to work on my poster at home, read some articles, and that’s about it.

✔ you win some, you lose some
after raving about CE‘s fig pasta the other night, i really wasn’t a fan of the citrus shrimp soft-tacos. i just didn’t enjoy the grapefruit mixed in with the avocado — give me plain guac any day. ahh well.

can’t win ’em all . . . although josh did like it