Weight a minute!

Hi Friends,

- "Sixty eight point three."

- "Sixty point three kilos?"

- "No, sixty eight point three."

- "Oh, I see. Sixty eight point three kilos."

That was my interaction with the prenatal nurse yesterday when she asked me to read my weight off the scale for her.

"Sixty eight point three", I repeated silently to myself. I was going to check that in pounds once I got into the exam room.

Two minutes and 4 clicks of my iPhone later, I had an answer, one hundred and fifty point five. One hundred and fifty point five?!

Now, I'd like to say that those numbers came as "quite a shock" to me, but I'd be lying. The truth is, I have been acutely aware of the ever expanding rear end accompanying my cute (not so little) baby bump.

What did come has a shock was how I felt about it once the Dr read it aloud off the paper. A wave of crappy rushed over me. A sinking feeling of guilt mixed with shame bubbled up as I thought back to the laissez faire attitude I'd taken with my meal and snack selections as of late (Using homo milk to make my KD? A mid-day afternoon snack of jalapeno poppers? Don't mind if I do!). I had also fallen victim (and hard) to the old cliche "eating for two" and my Dr was about to call me on it.

Ugh, not again.

"Now, I recognize that it's a time for rapid growth and development, so we will tend to see higher gains during this time. However, four kilos between appointments is not something we want to be repeating each visit."

Her words, while not overly critical, left me feeling a tad embarrased. An embarrasment that was likely amplified by the fact that D just so happened to have a free day to accompany me and K to the appointment.

With K, I gained a lot. Like 25lbs beyond the recommended weight gain for pregnancy, lot. This time, I told myself, would be different. And, it started out that way. In fact, I was feeling so crappy for the first three months that I didn't really gain much at all. I guess I thought that gave me a free pass to do the whole "eat what I want, when I want" thing. Apparently, this was not the case.

I don't think the weight gain itself is what's bothering me, so much as the crappy feeling that comes along with poor diet and lack of exercise. I haven't been feeling great, and as much as I joke about my big butt, it really is starting to be quite the pain. It's becoming ever so hard to clothe and I seem to bump it off things more often than I do my basketball sized belly.

What I find even more challenging are those people in my life that I feel not only condone poor eating during pregnancy, but encourage it. As a pregnant woman, I'm already fighting an uphill battle with cravings and constant hunger. The last thing I need to hear is, "don't even think about the calories, you're pregnant, it's allowed. And besides you look fabulous".

A) I only need 300 extra calories a day. That's like one Peanut butter cookie from Tims.

B) While I don't think I look horrible, you my friend, are suffering from bump blindness.

Bump Blindness- The inability to notice anything about a pregnant lady (acne, stretch marks, triple chins, Kardashian-esque booty) other than her bulging baby bump.

While I don't expect, nor would I encourage anyone to point out my flaws or ridicule me for indulging in the occasional craving. I would appreciate if they would be more open to facilitating my attempt at a healthy pregnancy weight gain. A facilitation that can be as simple as being ok with me declining that freshly baked muffin or a second helping of dinner, or as complex as commiserating with me over the fact that my butt's already outgrown 3 pairs of maternity pants (true story).

That being said, I'd like to thank the handful of people in my life who are already all over this. You may not know all the pregnancy rules and guidelines, but you've seen my pre-pregancy butt enough to understand when I say I need to "slow these rolls".

So here I am, on my way to 27 weeks (yay third trimester), up twenty one pounds from my starting weight. I still have a buffer of 14lbs to stay within the recommended weight gain, with just under 14 weeks to go. While staying within the recommendations is a doable goal, I'm not going to be too upset one way or the other. Rather, my goal will be to keep myself feeling as good as possible for the next 13 or so weeks so that I can enter into Mummyhood (take 2) feeling refreshed and recharged. In order to do that, I will need to start eating better and moving more. With the warm weather knocking on our door, and fresh produce arriving at our local famer's market, I have a feeling mother nature might just have my back this time.

Until next time friends,

-A