I get tips

I subscribed to an e-mail newsletter from "Fit Pregnancy." I had flipped through the magazine once and it seemed to have some decent information. But we have so many magazines around the house, I really didn't want more.

For the most part, I do find the weekly e-mails helpful. They tell me about how the fetus is developing and the changes I'm going through based on my particular week of pregnancy.

Today's e-mail newsletter has some interesting tidbits. For instance, at 11 weeks:

"Your baby is about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long and weighs about a third of an ounce, the size of a peanut. This is a big week for your baby's growth — she'll double in height. At the end of the week, her head and body will be roughly equal in length. This week also starts an active phase for her — she can turn somersaults, roll over, flex her fingers, hiccup, and stretch. You won't be able to feel her movement for another month and a half."

But then it gives me some tips:

"Are you feeling tired and weak? Try eating a high-iron food, such as linguine with clam sauce, a glass of prune juice, milk with a few tablespoons of blackstrap molasses, liver and onions, or a well-done hamburger."

I'm sure high-iron foods are really, really good for me, especially right now. But just the thought of most of the things they suggest turn my stomach. In fact, some of those things would make me gag even if I weren't 11 weeks pregnant. Prune juice? Liver? Ugh. I love healthy tips, and try to follow good advice, but this is definitely one piece of advice I'll have to skip. I'll find other ways to get my iron. Thank you very much.

Embracing the frustration

As someone who has suffered a miscarriage and was told I wasn't likely to get pregnant without artificial assistance, I'm trying really hard to embrace all the symptoms of this pregnancy. That includes the morning sickness (I'd like to kick whoever named it "morning sickness" right in the throat. If it only came and lasted through the morning, it wouldn't be so bad.) and the fatigue.

The main problem is I'm not that much of a holistic, airy-fairy kind of person. I'm more a live-in-the-moment, kick-the-butt-of-anything-that-gets-in-my-way kind of gal. Obviously, that has to change with the coming of Nubbins (I'm stealing that name from my good friend Lisa over at Grandma's Briefs). Soon -- OK, now -- I have to think about the future and about someone other than myself and the S.O. And I really do need to learn to embrace the symptoms and see them as good things.

I've been lucky that the nausea hasn't led to vomiting -- I guess. But it has meant a change in my normally healthy-to-the-extreme style of eating. Where I used to love most vegetables, now only a few taste good. Lettuce pretty much made me gag. I'm eating lots of yogurt and other dairy, and fruit is OK. So I haven't started eating entire boxes of Oreos or having chili-cheese fries for breakfast, but I do crave ice cream a lot (hold the pickles and that silly stereotype).

The most frustrating thing of all, though, is the extreme drop in my energy level. Before I became pregnant, I was working out five or six days a week. I alternated kickboxing workouts with Boot Camp. I was doing all kinds of crazy moves, like push-ups with my toes on a stability ball. I'd crank out 12 or 15 reps, while the 20-somethings around me just gawked. Now, I'm lucky to do about 10 kneeling push-ups at a time. Still, I tell myself it's a good thing. I was in probably the best shape of my life before the pregnancy, so now my surplus energy is going to Nubbins. That way the nubs can become actual arms and legs and the tiny little brain stem can grow into a full-fledged brain.

And when he or she grows into a real-live person, it will have been worth it to miss out on my kickboxing and eat a few extra scoops of ice cream.