12 weeks

It's getting more tempting every week to tell everyone about the pregnancy. But then I think about how much cooler it will be if I can wait another month. It's so much fun to watch people's faces when you tell them you are 3 or 4 months pregnant. I can't remember if I wrote this already, but with Ginger, I didn't tell anyone (except family) until I was 20 weeks! You should have seen the amazement on people's faces when they found out. Plus, it gives me extra incentive not to gain any more weight then necessary.

I was just doing some research on weight gain during pregnancy this morning, and it was interesting to see the trend over the past 100 years. Back in the early 1900's, women were put on restrictive diets to prevent difficult labor, as well as "preservation of figure". They were told to gain no more than 15 lbs. In the 70s, the recommended range was 20-25 lbs. Currently, we are told to gain 25-35 lbs. I believe 35 lbs is way too much! What a difference it makes to gain 25 vs 40 lbs. I know, I did both. With Winter I gained 40, while I only gained 26 with Sterling. Winter's labor brought a bunch of complications with it, that could have been avoided if I hadn't eaten for 2.

"High weight gain is associated with increased risk of both prolonged labor and cesarean birth". So I know to be careful, and not hork out. But part of the problem is that my body really does need more food. I used to be able to eat breakfast, go to church, and eat lunch at 2pm with just minor stomach grumbles. However, yesterday, my stomach was grumbling by the time it was 11am, and if I hadn't brought a snack, I wouldn't have made it home. There's just a fine line between eating enough, and eating too much. I try to just eat enough, and eating mostly healthy foods. Before I eat a piece of cake, I carefully evaluate whether that's worth all the extra calories. (ice cream and chocolate usually make the cut)