From: Fireshifter (h139-055-159-246.adsl.navix.net)
Subject: My McDougall Pregnancy (with pictures, as long as they last)
Date: February 22, 2006 at 8:21 am PST
Yes, if you missed it, we finally had our baby. He is so awesome. Here's a link to the birth story in case you weren't on the day it was posted...http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=410635
I have to tell you about my pregnancy. I've been waiting to do that because I wanted to make sure everything turned out okay for the birth.
For those of you not familiar with my history, I started McDougall 2 yrs ago after I was diagnosed with PCOS. My assinine doctor told me that because of my genetics, I was predisposed to having high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and problems with fertility. I knew that was a farce because NO ONE in my family has any of those problems. I read the McDougall program for Women and decided to start eating this way. At the time, I weighed 243 lbs and am 5'9". My blood pressure was hovering around 180/100 most of the time.
I lost 15 lbs in the first month and then slowly lost more weight until I plateaued for about 8 months and stuck at 200 lbs as of last May...In June of last year, I suddenly lost 15 lbs and my appetite. I was never sick or uncomfortable, just very much NOT HUNGRY. I was also a bit dizzy. I put two and two together and took a home pregnancy test that showed I was pregnant.
We went to the doctor and they did an ultrasound that showed me 10 wks pregnant!! I had experienced no morning sickness or other problems. They also tested my blood sugars at that time (they were normal) and my blood pressure was 110/60 where it stayed the entire pregnancy.
I did get my appetite back, voraciously, and my biggest 'craving' was peanut butter so I bought organic peanut butter with nothing added and ate that on millions of pieces of toast and celery. I didn't fall into the trap of 'eating for two' necessarily, but I did eat a lot and eat well. I had no real problems passing up non-McDougall food (except for the occasional cake or brownie at work) and tried to eat a lot of raw veggies, even though they tasted like cardboard.
I had gained 29 lbs by my 36 week appointment and maintained that weight until I delivered Cameron at 42 weeks. I would have liked to gained less, but after talking to several people who gained 70+ lbs, I feel pretty good about myself.
Cameron was a big boy, almost 9 lbs. He wanted to stay inside my tummy for a bit longer than the doctors had planned, but I have also been told by several people that healthy women have babies that tend to stay in longer because there are no medical conditions forcing eviction.
It is really nice to have my body 'back' after pregnancy. DH has forbade me to start working out til 2 wks post-partum (that includes horseback riding, which I'm dying to do) so next Sunday, I get to start walking a lot and working on strengthening my back (chronic back problems, much worse since baby came). My goal is to get down to my ideal weight which is 160-170. Once I am at 180, I can start running again (worried that doing it while heavier will further damage my knees) which I'm SO excited about.
I am a walking poster-child for the McDougall diet. My baby will be the same. He is thriving on breastmilk and 2 days after leaving the hospital, he was back up to his birth weight (had gone from 8lb15oz to 8lb7oz while in hospital). He is going through a growth spurt now as well and wants to eat about every 2 hrs or less during the day. When he weans (which I hope will be in a LONG time, like 1.5-2 yrs), he will be raised according to the McDougall program and hopefully choose that once he's older. My fears about DH forcing him to eat meat when he's older have been calmed as DH told me last week that he was so happy we would be raising such a healthy baby, even if it meant he was a vegetarian.
Anyway, just had to share with you all personally, hopefully, my ISP doesn't get blocked again...Here are some links to newer pictures of Cameron..
Fireshifter
http://i1.tinypic.com/oa8x0z.jpg (he will SO hate this when he gets older;)
http://i1.tinypic.com/oa8xzd.jpg
http://i1.tinypic.com/oa8zkm.jpg (we call this the 'coy' look, does it all the time, he's probably just messing his pants ;)
