As someone who's always been very healthy and rarely needs to see a doctor outside of a yearly check-up, it feels out of the ordinary to be seeing a doctor every month. Yet then I surprised myself that more wasn't happening at most of the appointments, because I thought that with all the advances in medicine, surely being pregnant in 2009 would come with some heavily monitored program from the get-go. Aside from some standard tests or procedures, (such as a blood test at the first appointment, the ultrasound at 20 weeks and a glucose test at 28 weeks) most of the early appointments in the first seven months are what I describe as "meet and greets." The doctor asks you how you're doing, he or she checks the baby's heart beat and then you're on your way. But I've realized, just because you're pregnant, you're not sick. As long as you and your baby are healthy, as fortunately has been the case for me, these prenatal appointments are not all that much more different than that annual check-up.
I've also learned that while modern medicine can detect or fix many problems that can occur in pregnancy, ultimately, how healthy your pregnancy will be is actually determined before you become pregnant. Whether or not you're blessed with good genes aside, the health of you and your baby is mainly contingent upon whether you ate well, exercised regularly, maintained a healthy body weight, didn't do drugs, didn't smoke and drank moderately - nothing we haven't heard whether we plan to procreate or not. Even though salad doesn't look as exciting to me these days and I can't even envision myself having the energy to play 90 minutes of soccer like I sometimes did pre-pregnancy when no subs showed up, I try to remind myself that my (former) healthy habits are what really counted. I thought I'd have to completely revamp my lifestyle and purge myself of anything remotely unhealthy - go completely organic, kick that sweet tooth, pump myself full of extra vitamins and anti-oxidants. But really, all the advice has amounted to is, keep doing what you're doing and see you in four weeks. It was possibly crazy to think I'd have to make major changes in my lifestyle just because I'm pregnant. Such drastic changes would set anyone else up for failure, like the person who suddenly cuts out carbs or only drink Slim Fast in a quest to lose weight. It's too difficult to make too many changes to one's lifestyle overnight and it's not sustainable, even over nine months.
Now I also see why first-time moms are a breed of their own. By my second pregnancy, I predict I'll have that "been there, done that" mentality and be much more relaxed with the responsibility of having a new life growing inside of me.
The only advice the doctor has for me is that she suggested I take an omega-3 supplement, in addition to the prenatal vitamin I've been taking. Because I'm a vegetarian, I'd done my own research on whether I needed to take a supplement, but couldn't really find any helpful information (even in the baby books), and my old clinic didn't think it was an issue, and only recommended the prenatal vitamin, mainly because of its folic acid, which helps prevent birth defects. And every woman, regardless of diet, is advised to take a prenatal vitamin starting before she even tries to become pregnant. Despite how much I pressed, no one was concerned about any vitamin deficiencies because of my vegetarian diet and basically told me to stick to the bedrock of good nutrition - the well-balanced diet. (Easier said than done when you're pregnant though!) The omega-3 supplement was admittedly less based on hard science, but rather on my doctor's opinion, which was that supplementing that flaxseed meal I sprinkle on my oatmeal each morning doesn't hurt. Easy enough. I obliged by stopping by Target and bought an economy-size bottle. When Chris notices that the capsules are made with fish oil, (there are omega-3 capsules made with flaxseed and other vegetarian-friendly ingredients) I hope he doesn't get excited and think the omega-3 capsules are a "gateway meat." I won't be coming home with a big bucket of KFC any time soon.
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Minnesota Goodbye - noun
The act applying to most Minnesotans while visiting others in which, when one person has to leave, they proceed to talk for another hour, then the departing party is walked to the front door, where they talk for another hour, then the departing party gets walked to their car while the host family talks to them through the car window for an hour, and finally the departing couple SLOWLY departs down the drive, yelling back & forth with the host family.
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