Pumping Iron

Pregnancy is a very strange experience in so many ways, but one revelation I had today is that examining your nutrition and what you should be eating is more complex than just a checklist of food groups and servings you should be eating. You really need to tally up the vitamins in each of the foods you are eating to make sure you are getting the vitamins, proteins, and fiber you need to have a balanced diet.

In case you aren't aware, pregnancy consists of receiving a series of contradictory information. When you become pregnant, you get a laundry list of food groups and servings of those foods you should be eating daily to meet nutrition requirements. But don't eat for two! But also this list is easily double the amount of food you would reasonably eat on a daily basis. But don't gain too much weight! But also, you better eat ALL THIS FOOD because you really only absorb so much from your prenatal vitamins.

But I digress. Since I've started my third trimester last week, there are a few things I need to focus on - specifically getting more protein and iron. Great, I thought, I've got this one - I've always focused on a well balanced diet which includes protein and iron-containing veggies and lean meats. But hey, just for funsies, let's see how much iron content is in the daily foods I'm consuming. The answer is, NOT NEARLY ENOUGH IRON!

Reading up on iron intake, it turns out that even before I was pregnant, I probably wasn't getting enough iron. I figured since I'm prone to anemia and I've made it my goal to eat a balanced diet of recommended food groups because of this, I was good. However, even things like lean ground beef and beans don't have as much iron as you would think. Apparently, around 80% of Americans aren't getting the iron they really need, and pregnant women are even more prone to getting less than they need since you should be getting at least 27 grams a day throughout your pregnancy (9 grams a day while - or if - you're breastfeeding).

So what is a up and coming momma to do? After reading several articles about iron-containing foods, and remembering that I still can't eat things like liver (not that I would because I hate liver, but anywho), I really need to refocus on grains; specifically grains I can eat like quinoa and oatmeal. And I need to eat more beans - I eat a fair amount of beans, but I really need to eat more chickpeas (which are good to focus on for the other vitamins that they contain anyways).

Something I may have neglected to mention previously is that I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and one of the very few ways I've found to control my IBS is by being on a gluten free (GF) diet. Side bar for those who think gluten intolerance is a hoax - Imagine you are having daily horrific digestive pain and inconsistent bowel issues even when you eat a healthy balanced diet, and the pain only gets worse the older you get. And also imagine after years and years of invasive tests, the only thing they can say conclusively is that you have IBS. Now imagine changing one thing about your diet and the pain goes away. Would you believe all the articles that say gluten intolerance doesn't exist, or would you continue eating in a way that prevents the horrific pain from coming back? Me, I prefer to live pain free. Fortunately, we live in a day and age in which being GF is easier than ever, and I thought I had added enough supplementary foods to my diet to balance out the lack of grains. Boy was I wrong!

Now, there is Iron in the GF cereal I eat; however, keep in mind that A) you don't absorb vitamins as well from foods in which those vitamins have been added and B) If you eat your cereal with calcium containing beverages like I do, you aren't absorbing as much iron because calcium prevents total iron absorption. Note: See edit below regarding additional information I found on this subject

Now, this last point is pretty controversial - a lot of people believe you can have your iron and calcium too without these repercussions, but again, life is all about contradictions; especially in pregnancy it seems, so I would rather be safe than sorry.

Isn't nutrition fun?!

So, what is the actual point of this blog entry? Nutrition is tricky. Unless you are already obsessed with nutrition like I am (and even with my obsession, I still missed my lack of iron intake), it's probably a good idea to consult with a nutritionist if you really want to get the most of the foods you eat - pregnant or not.

In case you prefer to learn these things on your own like I do, here's some helpful articles I ran across today:

• Here's a list of iron-rich foods that will help you in your pregnancy diet:: Iron in Your Pregnancy Diet
• Hate Baby Center? Here's a similar article on WebMD: Iron Rich Foods
• And here's another article from WebMD : Are You Getting Enough Iron
• Want to break down further the type of iron you need even if you aren't pregnant? Here's another nifty article I ran across today: Iron Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet
• Here's a little summary from this article in case you just want to know what I mean by type of Iron -- There are two types of iron in foods:

• Heme iron is the type your body absorbs best. You get heme iron in beef, chicken, turkey, and pork.
• Nonheme iron is the other type, which you can find in beans, spinach, tofu, and ready-to-eat-cereals that have added iron.

Edit: I found another article about boosting Iron absorbtion when eating cereal:
Breakfast Cereals High Iron

"Absorption Boost

The iron in breakfast cereal, whether it’s naturally occurring or added during processing, is not as readily available as the iron from animal sources. You can significantly boost the amount of iron you’re able to absorb from cereal by consuming it along with a glass of orange juice, some fresh strawberries or any other vitamin C-rich food. Just as vitamin C enhances iron absorption, however, other phytonutrients interfere with it -- drinking coffee or tea with your bowl of cereal will decrease the mineral’s availability."

So if you eat your cereal with a glass of OJ, you're much more likely to absorb the iron from Iron enriched cereal! This is great information for me. Now OJ gives me terrible heartburn; however, I'm going to try incorporating some other high Vitamin C fruit combination with my cereal is in order to better absorb the Iron.

Grateful

As typical as it sounds, I usually post on Social Media at least a couple of times in November each year about the things in my life in which I'm grateful. The last few years, it usually involves my husband, or the things in life that make me a stronger person, or maybe just something random that came to mind that day. But with Thanksgiving coming up and everyone posting their "grateful lists", I want to join in because I know that I have so much in my life to be grateful for. But once again, I feel hesitant to alienate my friends by posting about the baby. You see, I think the thing this year that I am most grateful for is the life growing inside of me. I'm so grateful that this baby will be with us in just under three months. It seems like it's taken so long for me to get to this point in my life; this point in my pregnancy. I'm so grateful to be where I am in my life right now.

I didn't always know that I wanted to be a mom. In typical teenager fashion, and perhaps because babysitting my cousin's small children may have scared me, I didn't think children were something I wanted for a long time. This in hindsight is kind of a silly thing because I was often in the position of being the group mom with my friends at that time, and well, I'm sure most teenagers have a hard time picturing children in their life. But as I grew up, things changed.

In my early 20's while I was in class, we were doing a meditation where we imagined our perfect futures. At the time I was an aspiring artist, so I pictured myself sitting in a sun-filled room in a house on a beach somewhere, painting on a large canvas. Even now, knowing that my art was never pursued on a professional (or even a personal level lately), that vision sounds amazing. In this dream-like state, as I was painting, I heard a giggle. I looked over, and standing beside me was a little girl, toddler aged; with short curls much like the ones I had as a toddler, and I realized in this meditative state that she was my little girl. As the teacher wrapped up the meditation, I opened my eyes, and I was crying. I wasn't sad, or even joyous; simply overcome with the emotion of what I had seen. This was when I first knew, I wanted to be a mom.

As my 20's progressed, I realized that while I wanted to be a mom, I didn't want to be a mom unless the circumstances where just so - again, in hindsight, this is a silly thought because there's never a perfect time for anything; much less children. But even though I leaned towards long-term relationships in my 20's; marriage, much less children, just didn't seem in the cards. As I left another failed long-term relationship when I was about to turn 31, I felt this great sadness because I thought that was it; children weren't going to happen for me. By the time I met someone new and built another relationship, it would be too late. I was happy to be out of the relationship, but I felt old and tired; like things were just final in a way.

Then something wonderful happened - I met the love of my life, and things moved quickly. We married two years after meeting (okay, maybe that's not quick for some, but it was for me), and then a little over two years after getting married, I got pregnant.

We had stopped try to avoid pregnancy about two years ago, and we started actually trying to conceive a year before I became pregnant. At the time, I was worried that it might not happen for us. What if I had waited too long to start trying to have kids - was I too old? Was I going to have to resolve with the idea that it just might not happen (again)? There was nothing medically wrong with us, so maybe it just wasn't in the cards.

On Mother's Day earlier this year, I was in a terrible mood. My birthday had just happened a couple of weeks earlier (a birthday in which I wasn't really up for celebrating), and I decided that maybe we needed to take a break from "trying". I could feel my period coming, and as it had every month passed that we didn't conceive, I felt like a failure. I had just turned 36, and it felt like were were running out of time. We took my husband's parents out to brunch that day, and when we got home, I broke down and cried. My heart felt so heavy. The week proceeding was even harder because my period just wasn't coming; I hated it when my period is late - especially while trying to conceive, late periods had become a norm (probably because I was stressing myself out over it), and it was heartbreaking every time because I was never pregnant.

Pro-tip because this was never explained to me - you can actually cramp early on in your pregnancy, especially when you would normally be on your period. I didn't know this. I was always told that when you're pregnant "you just know". I didn't "just know". I was so focused on the idea that it wasn't going to happen, it didn't occur to me at that very moment it was happening. Finally, days after my period should have started, I decided to take a pregnancy test. I couldn't believe my eyes. Unlike every month before, the second strip that indicates pregnancy was showing. But it was so faint, I was worried it was a fluke. I took two more tests; same results. I took a picture of the test results, and sent it to my sisters thinking the faintness of the results meant something. My oldest sister responded "You're pregnant, schedule a doctor's appointment." I immediately texted my husband with a picture of the results (which I then I had to explain because he had no idea how to interpret the test). That whole Mother's Day that I had been grief-stricken, I had actually been pregnant.

I spent the next few weeks worried out of my mind. I didn't want to get too excited. What if I lost the baby? I was so cautious about who we told at first. And it was so difficult. I wanted to shout from the rooftops, but I was too scared. Even after I reached the 12 and 16 weeks hurtles, I was too scared to buy baby things, or tell too many people - every little thing that could have potentially meant something was wrong signaled to me that I could not be completely comfortable.

Then we had the genetic testing (all clear), and later on the 2nd trimester ultrasound - on the monitor, there was my perfect (healthy) baby. I think that ultrasound is when it finally became "real". I finally accepted that the baby was growing inside of me, that everything could be alright. And what was more exciting is that we were having a girl (after being informed that my husband was the first son of the first son of the first son, I was sure that we were likely having a boy).

The past few weeks have been amazing because even as I become bigger and more exhausted, feeling the baby getting stronger and stronger, moving around more and more... she's there. She's active. She's healthy. I can feel her, I can count her kicks. I talk, and I know she can hear me. I sing to her. I giggle because sometimes her kicks tickle me. It's a wonderful feeling. My husband likes to put his hand on my belly and tell her that he loves her. When I feel her first thing in the morning, I tell her "Good Morning Baby!" and I tell her how grateful I am for her. My nightly prayers for her safety have morphed into prayers about how grateful I am for her (and yes, I still pray for her safety).

So this November, while I take stock in the things in my life in which I'm grateful, more than anything else, I'm so grateful for my baby girl. I'm so grateful that we've made it this far, and that she's healthy. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to carry her, and to feel the love inside of me grow for her each day. I love her so much already, and I'm so excited to meet her.