The more weight you gain early in your pregnancy the more weight you will gain through your whole pregnancy.  Weight gain increases the further into the pregnancy you go, so if you pack on the pounds in those first 3 months you could find yourself in trouble later in your pregnancy.  It is important to talk to your doctor or midwife about what your weight gain expectations should be, they vary from woman to woman and depend in large part on whether you started out your pregnancy below average, average or above average in weight.

There are a few things you can start early in your pregnancy that will not only help you avoid packing on too much weight early in your pregnancy but will also help you throughout your pregnancy if you keep them up:

• Exercise. Even if it is a just a brisk walk in the evening it will help keep you active during your pregnancy which will in turn help feel better, gain less weight and have more energy throughout your pregnancy.  Be sure to talk to your doctor before starting any exercise routine.
• Keep a food journal.  This can also be helpful if you are suffering from morning sickness to help identify those foods which help and those that make you ill.  Keeping track of the food you take in will help you make better choices, especially if you weren’t a very healthy eater before you became pregnant.
• Eat small meals and supplement with small snacks.  Eating throughout the day will help curb your nausea and will also, if you make healthy choices, help you control your weight gain.
• Make healthy choices.  Avoid high fat, high calorie, high sugar foods.  Choosing lots of fresh foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean meats will be good for your growing baby and will help you control your weight gain.

You should never diet during pregnancy or overdo it when it comes to exercise.  Weight gain is a part of pregnancy.  The key is to make healthy choices and stay active so that you gain a healthy amount of weight during pregnancy.  Talk to your doctor about what kinds of exercise you are cleared for.  If you aren’t sure about what constitutes a healthy diet for a pregnant woman ask your doctor for a referral to a nutritionist so you can have a guide in making the right choices.

Things to avoid when pregnant:

• Contact Sports –  You can continue exercising during pregnancy (unless advised not to by your doctor) but that doesn’t mean you can still do everything you could before you got pregnant.  If you partake in contact sports like kickboxing, martial arts, skiing, football, soccer, etc you should stop during you pregnancy.  The risk of injury to yourself and your fetus is too great with these activities.  Talk to your doctor about what sports are considered safe for you during pregnancy.
• Hot tubs and Saunas – Water activities are great for pregnant women.  Swimming and water aerobics are great ways to get your exercise without feeling the extra weight and pressure from the pregnancy.  However, it is not safe to use the hot tub and sauna at your local pool (or any where for that matter).  The high temperatures are unsafe.  A rise in your core body temperature can lead to fetal abnormalities.
• Raw Seafood, Sushi – Seafood, if cook and eaten in moderation, is considered safe during pregnancy.  However, sushi is not.  Raw seafood can carry parasites which could cause you to become ill or affect the fetus.  So if you have a hankering for seafood go for the cooked variety and skip the sushi.

For the most part the list of things you need to avoid is usually short.  There are more things you can continue doing versus those you need to avoid.  Be sure to talk at length with your doctor early in your pregnancy to determine what is considered safe and what you should avoid.  Be prepared for things to change during your pregnancy.  If complications arise your doctor may add a few things to that list of things to avoid.

When you feel those first faint movements will vary widely from woman to woman and even from pregnancy to pregnancy.  Often times women will be able to recognize the faint flutters of movement earlier in second and subsequent pregnancies since they already know what to look for.  On average a pregnant woman can expect to feel her baby moving sometime around the 15 to 20 weeks of pregnancy.  The baby begins moving as early as 7-8 weeks but since it is still so tiny at that point you won’t yet be able to feel the movements.  Your size can also impact when you feel the first movements.  Larger women often don’t feel the first movements until closer to the 20th week of pregnancy or later.  While petite women may feel the baby move earlier.  When I was pregnant with Maya I felt her move for the first time during my 14th week of pregnancy.  It felt like tiny little flutters, sort of like popcorn popping inside my tummy.  It is definitely a very cool feeling.

As the baby continues to grow and take up more space inside your abdomen you will begin to feel stronger more regular kicks.  You’ll begin to recognize your baby’s cycles.  There will be certain times of the day when the baby is very active, like just after you’ve eaten or when you are relaxing or trying to sleep.  Other times of the day the baby will be very still.  Recognizing these patterns will help you identify if something is wrong.  If you haven’t felt the baby move at his or her regular times you’ll know to call your doctor.   A general role of thumb for fetal movements is at least 10 distinct movements in no more than 2 hours.  You don’t need to constantly count the movements but occasionally, during a regular active time for your baby, sit quietly or lay on your side and time how long it takes to feel 10 movements.   Call your doctor if you do not feel 10 movements in 2 hours.

Feeling those movements, even though they can sometimes be uncomfortable or keep you awake at night, is the best feeling.  Those little hands and feet moving away inside giving you a glimpse of the person you will meet on delivery day.  Enjoy those kicks, they are definitely one of the things you will miss about being pregnant.

Be sure to talk to your doctor if you are at all concerned about your baby’s movements.

I’m stuck in a waiting game I never expected to be stuck in.  Every month I wait.  Wait for something not to come, but every month it comes.  Waiting is hard, waiting isn’t fun, waiting sucks.  I’m not very good at waiting for things.

Last year as Maya’s 2nd birthday approached Lorne and I decided it was time to grow our little family.  We decided that having another child when Maya was around 3 would be good.  So, shortly after we celebrated our baby’s 2nd birthday I stopped taking that little daily little birth control pill and began taking a daily prenatal vitamin.  I started dreaming about what it would be like to have a tiny little baby again.  I started wondering what Maya would be like as a big sister.  I started dreaming about the shape our little family would take.

After waiting a couple of months to let my body return to a regular cycle we really began trying to make a baby.  I started paying close attention to my cycle, my timing. We began the waiting game.  Each month we did our best to get the timing right and then we waited.

For 6 months we have been stuck in this waiting game.  Each month I listen to my body to see if it is whispering to me, trying to tell me something.  Each month I wait to see if I will get those telltale signs that our efforts may have worked.  Each month I wait and hope not to see that telltale sign that our efforts were all for naught and that another month has come and gone with no baby.  Waiting it hard.

When we decided to start trying to get pregnant the first time things were easy.  I went off my birth control pill and got pregnant the first month we really tried.  I hadn’t expected it to be that easy and when it was I figured my history wouldn’t affect my ability to get pregnant. I figured this time around would be more of the same.  I was wrong.

About 7 years ago I discovered I had an ovarian cyst growing on my left ovary.  A very large ovarian cyst, about the size of a large grapefruit.  The size of the cyst caused some major damage to my left ovary and fallopian tube.  So much damage that my fallopian tube had to be tied off and my left ovary is pretty much nonfunctioning.  During the surgery to remove the cyst and fix some of the damage it was also discovered that I had endometriosis.

Once I was all healed up from my surgery I started on a form of birth control pill that was known to help control endometriosis as well.  It worked for me and things were good.  I continued to be symptom free as far as the endometriosis was concerned and my doctor was fairly confident that it wasn’t getting any worse and hopefully wouldn’t impact my ability to get pregnant in the future when we decided to start trying.

4 years later when we finally decided it was time to start a family I was a little worried that my history would affect my ability to get pregnant and that it might not be a quick or easy process for us.  However, when I got pregnant right away my fears were laid to rest and truthfully I never really gave it much thought again.  It never even occurred to me that things might be different this time around.  It never occurred to me that unbeknownst to me my body may have been changing in a way that would make having another baby a lot harder than we expected.

I try to remind myself that it has only been 6 months and maybe next month will be our month and all this worry and frustration will become a distant, fading memory.  It is harder to believe that though as the months continue to tick by.  In a few months I’ll have my regular yearly visit with my OB/GYN.  If we are still stuck in this waiting game when that appointment rolls around I’ll talk to him about my fears and about what may be the cause behind our difficulty getting pregnant this time around.

In the meantime we’ll keep enjoying the awesome little girl we are so lucky to have in our lives.  We’ll keep trying.  We’ll keep waiting and hoping that this will be our month.

When I started the March for Maddie St. Louis team a few months ago I figured there would maybe be two or three other people who may join me.  I figured we’d raise a couple of hundred dollars if we were lucky.  Then something amazing happened.  Others found our team through Heather Spohr’s blog and joined our team.  Together, the 8 of us (one wasn’t able to walk with us) raised an incredible $2690 for the March of Dimes in the name of Madeline Spohr.

As we met up, got to know each other and share stories it was so amazing to know that each of us had been touched and inspired by Maddie and by Heather and Mike.   We were each walking to support a family we had never met but who we felt like we knew and who we wanted to support, love and honor.  We were each walking to honor a little girl we had never had the pleasure of meeting but who filled our hearts that day.

The walk was amazing.  Like last year I was inspired by all the little kids walking wearing shirts declaring “I was a preemie, Look at me now!!!”  Seeing those kids, so big, so healthy, was a true testament to the amazing work that the March of Dimes is doing and the wonder that the money we raise for the cause by participating in events like the March for Babies can really do.  My friend Heather was walk with her daughter Claire who was born 6 weeks early.  Heather sported an adorable t-shirt with the weeks her two children were born at in hearts, 36 for her son Logan and 34 for her daughter Claire.

Maya had a great time on the walk.  And though she doesn’t get why were walking she understood it was for Maddie.  She loves Maddie and proudly wore her Friends of Maddie t-shirt.  The most amazing thing was that she wanted to bring her Maddie’s Monster (melted my heart).  She also brought her Abby doll, not knowing that it was one of Maddie’s favorites too

Walking for Maddie, walking for all babies, was an honor.  I can’t wait to do it again next year.

This is my favorite picture of the day, taken by my friend Heather.

Labor inductions are done when your body does not naturally go into labor so your doctor decides to artificially start your labor.  Sometimes medication like Pitocin is used to fool your body into thinking it is in labor so contractions will begin and your cervix will begin to dilate, other times your doctor will use techniques such as stripping the membranes or rupturing your membranes to trigger labor to start.

There are many reasons that your doctor and you may decide that inducing your labor is necessary, they include:

• When a pregnancy has lasted more than 42 weeks and labor has not started naturally on its own.  The placenta usually stops functions after 42 weeks so it is no longer safe for the pregnancy to continue.
• Your pregnancy has resulted in high blood pressure and your blood pressure is getting too high and the doctor feels continuing the pregnancy is no longer safe for you or the baby.
• You have an infection in your uterus.
• Your water has broken but contractions have not begun.
• There is a growth problem with the baby.
• You have a pregnancy complication such as gestational diabetes.
• There is some other risk to the mother or the baby if the pregnancy is continued.

Most labor inductions go smoothly and the baby is delivered complication free through a normal vaginal delivery.  However, with induced labor there is an increased risk of a prolonged, difficult labor that can lead to complications and the need for a caesarean delivery.  Your risk is highest if this is your first baby and you are not full term yet.

Inducing labor is not without its risks and should be considered only if medically necessary.  There are sometimes stories out there about women who request that their labor be induced if they have not delivered by a certain date because of other events they do not want to miss or interrupt.  Babies will come on their own time and if there is no medically necessary need for your labor to be induced it is always safer and better to let your body start labor naturally on its own when your baby is ready to be born.

The rise in induced labors is a contributing factor in the continuing rise in c-sections.  C-sections account for nearly 30% of all births here in the United States.   Induced labors are also contributing to the rise of late pre-term births, babies born between 34-36 weeks.  Though these babies are often born healthy there is the risk for breathing problems, added breastfeeding difficulty, digestive issues and more when a baby is born pre-term.

If your doctor is recommending a labor induction be sure to get all facts including why it is necessary, what you can expect, and what you should do before the induction to be prepared.

This Saturday, April 24th, I’ll will done my Friends of Maddie t-shirt and my running shoes. I’ll meet up with the other women, friends and strangers, who make up our March for Maddie St. Louis team. We will walk side by side in honor of a little girl who continues to touch my heart every day. We will walk side by side in solidarity with Heather and Mike Spohr. We will walk side by side in support of an organization doing amazing things to advance maternal and infant medical care so that one day, just maybe, every baby will be born healthy.

Walking in honor of Madeline Spohr in this weekend’s March for Babies is such an honor. I am proud to be contributing to a cause near and dear to my heart.

As I walk I will remember all the people in my life who have been affected by prematurity, including my baby brother. Who will be celebrating his 19th birthday this summer. He has come a long way from the rough start his life had when he was born 8 weeks early.

This Saturday my heart will be filled with love for Maddie. With each step I take I’ll will be thinking about Heather and Mike and their sweet little girl.

I’ve almost reached my fundraising goal. Just $20 to go! Please consider making a donation to help me reach my goal. Every dollar helps. The money to money you donate goes directly to the March of Dimes.

Today when I opened my mailbox there was a package from Cafe Press. I have been anxiously awaiting this package since I placed my order with them last week. You see, this package contained two very special t-shirts.   The t-shirts Maya and I will wear on April 24th when we proudly walk along side the other members of the March for Maddie St. Louis team. We will walk for Maddie. We will walk with all the other family and friends of Maddie who will be walking all over the country that same day.

When I showed Maya her t-shirt she said “Oh, cute shirt!”

The March of Dimes is an amazing organization and walk for Maddie and raising money in her name for such an amazing cause means a lot to me. Please consider making a donation to the March of Dimes by sponsoring me in this walk. You can just click on the badge above and it will take you to my March for Babies profile, you can make your donation there. Every little bit helps.

Last year, in the midst of the sadness of Maddie Spohr’s passing something magical happened.  All over the country people asked what they could do to help.  What they could do to support the Spohrs and to support the families of other preemies and the joined March of Dimes walks in their local community to walk in the name of this little girl who had in some way touched their hearts.

I was one of those people.  Although I had already been planning on trying to walk last year before Maddie passed, I hadn’t really done much to figure out how I was going to go about doing so.  After learning of Maddie’s passing I knew without a doubt that I had to walk.  It was something I could do to show my support to Heather and Mike from here.  It was something I could do to honor Maddie.  So I joined the St. Louis March for Maddie team and walked along side other people who had been touched by Maddie and thousands of others who had in some way been touched prematurity.  The experience was very profound and I knew as I left the walk that day that I would be back every year, to walk for Maddie and to walk for all those people in my life who have been touched by prematurity.

So, about a month ago I set up March for Maddie St. Louis.  I will be walking again this year in love and remembrance of the amazing Miss Maddie.  I will be walking in support of Heather and Mike Spohr.  I will be walking for all those in my life who have been touched by prematurity.  I will be walking in hopes that one day no one has to know the grief of losing a child because they were born to soon.  I will be walking to give every baby the fighting chance they deserve.

If you are in the St. Louis area and would like to join our team please go here and sign up, we would love to have as many people walking for Maddie as we can get.  We would also appreciate your support.  Please consider making a donation, all money raised goes to the March of Dimes and helps in their efforts on behalf of pregnant moms and babies everywhere.   To donate to our team please click on the banner above.

For many people, women and men alike, caffeine is absolutely essential to their day.  Going without their usual cups of coffee or tea or soda throughout the day is out of the question.  However, for pregnant women, or women trying to conceive, caffeine may not be safe.  You should talk to your doctor about your caffeine consumption early in your pregnancy and determine if you need to make changes.

Caffeine is a stimulant and a diuretic.  As a stimulant it elevates your heart rate and your blood pressure, both of which can have a negative effect on your pregnancy.  Also, as a diuretic caffeine causes your to urinate more frequently, affects your bodies ability to absorb calcium and iron and decreases your bodies fluid levels which can lead to dehydration.  Several studies suggest a link between caffeine consumption and an increase risk of miscarriage and preterm births.  Although there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to caffeine consumption during pregnancy most doctors recommend that you stay away from caffeine if you can, and if you must consume some caffeine you should limit your intake to less than 200mg (or about 2 regular cups of coffee) per day.

Many people forget all the things that caffeine can be found in and think mostly about coffee when thinking about caffeine.  However, caffeine is found in all sorts of products including coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lots of sodas, chocolate, ice cream and some pain relievers like Excedrin.  So when you are trying to avoid caffeine be sure to remember it is in a lot more than you think.

If you are a big coffee drinker be sure to talk to your doctor about his or her recommendations regarding caffeine consumption during pregnancy.  When we are caring for this tiny life growing inside of us we want to do everything we can to give it the best start to life.  Sometimes we have to give up the things we love during pregnancy, but it is all worth it.