*Baby Corner*

[Eveline 9]

@MARM: I wouldn't worry about it. Just start trying and you'll see how it goes. Maybe you can chart temperatures and watch your cervical mucous to see when and if you are ovulating, maybe jsut to get you better 'in touch' with your body. It will happen. Best of luck.

[tnh9479 1]

Jaime: I had very little morning sickness and I was carrying twins. For me, it was the other stuff that was tough...especially the fatigue and tenderness. I wish you lots of luck!

Marm: My mom was severely irregular and she conceived my sister and I pretty easily. I think if you stress about it, it is only going to make it worse. Just let go and it will happen for you.

[Jenn! 918]

I had morning sickness for the whole first trimester and it lasted throughout the day. Never vomiting though, just nausea. In fact, I felt nauseous even before I missed my period. Every woman's experience with MS is so different. I hope you don't have it, Jamie!

[Jenn! 918]

Thanks Jenn about the picture!!! I have to ask you, because I have read other threads about food and know you are a foodie .... are you avoiding certain things during the pregnancy? I love sushi and bleu cheese (not together!) and avoided them during pregnancy. I also really like eggs benedict for Sunday brunch and had it once, then realized, oops, hollandaise, not good for a preggo. I might have been super psycho rigid about food though, because I also avoided all dyes (and they are in EVERYTHING!!!).

I've eaten a lot of things they recommend against, just because I feel that the risk is so slight. I eat soft cheeses as long as they're pasteurized, fried eggs, medium rare steak, lunch meat. The only things I've stayed away from are raw fish and fish high in mercury.

I can't wait to have sushi and other raw fish again. Tonight DH ordered raw oysters as an appetizer and I was so jealous!

[HLM 1]

The Dr. told me about raw fish but it was already late and did have sushi a few times actually..

what can happen to my baby?

[Eveline 9]

@HLM: I had sushi during both pregnancies and not too little. Here's a little article: http://babymed.com/Blog/Blog.aspx?44 I would just make sure that the sushi is fresh and not been sitting out forever (like when you buy it at a supermarket).

[Staashi 371]

@ Marm...If I could give you two pieces of advice, from someone who a) had a baby this year and B) went through the visa process 5 years ago...

1. Find out about natural family planning - although I never used it, as a Catholic, they taught us all about it in our Engagement Encounter class. It is actually fascinating. If you start now while your fiance is out of the country, you will be able to start to chart your cycle - which might be off because of the visa process, but over time you will begin to see the patterns of your cycle and you'll be able to see your most fertile days. I have friends who aren't Catholic (they're Jewish) and she suffers from endometriosis. Well, the doctors told her that it would be almost impossible to get pregnant. I mentioned NFP to her and she decided that instead of undergoing fertility drugs a second time (she had a boy 1.5 years earlier), that she would start doing NFP. She began to chart her period patterns for about 3-4 months, by 6 months she knew everything about her body, and 10 months later she had her little girl. I believe in birth control, used it myself and still got pregnant with Enzo.

2. You might want to give yourselves some time before trying to have a baby once he gets here. Enjoy your time together, get to know each other very, very well, and let him adjust to living in the USA. The stress can be tremendous and I can't imagine what throwing a baby into the mix would be like.

All the best to you both...may you get everything back in order soon.

[HLM 1]

@HLM: I had sushi during both pregnancies and not too little. Here's a little article: http://babymed.com/Blog/Blog.aspx?44 I would just make sure that the sushi is fresh and not been sitting out forever (like when you buy it at a supermarket).

Thank you so much for your reply! the link was very helpful

[Nessa 23]

@autumnchik: about food i ate blue cheese very often, always cooked though. I stopped having tuna. i stopped drinking coffee and coke 0. I made my potato salad that has raw eggs twice during the pregnancy and desserts that contains raw eggs a few times. I had medium rare steak. my thoughts on it is, i stopped having things that can harm the baby without you getting sick, like caffeine they said could cause miscarriage, so i just stopped drinking that and tuna/fish in genetal because of high-mercury.

Now things like blue cheese, raw eggs, raw meat, sushi, etc, it's not the food per se that will be bad for the baby, it's only idf you ger sick from it then iit could harm the baby. listeria, salmonella is not something that happens all the time. How many times did you get sick from it?

[Anna C. 4]

I didn't eat anything that could carry listeriosis-bacteria or toxoplasmosis. So all lunch meat was cooked, no unpasteurized dairy stuff, only well done meat. I didn't do caffeine the first 16 weeks, later on studies show it has little influence (but before 16 weeks it elevates the risk of miscarriage). I don't eat fish anyways so no mercury for me there. During pregnancy I read a lot about nutrition and that is why I stopped sodas, high fructose corn syrup / any corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and preservatives completely. It is not bad at all, I actually have better tasting food in the house now (ketchup with sugar instead of HFCS tastes a whole lot better anyways!).

I think though once I had a sandwich with ham and they didn't cook that meat in the sandwhich place. I felt awful afterwards, but the meat was obviously clean. I just couldn't stop myself

[caybee 21]

I didn't eat anything that could carry listeriosis-bacteria or toxoplasmosis. So all lunch meat was cooked, no unpasteurized dairy stuff, only well done meat. I didn't do caffeine the first 16 weeks, later on studies show it has little influence (but before 16 weeks it elevates the risk of miscarriage). I don't eat fish anyways so no mercury for me there. During pregnancy I read a lot about nutrition and that is why I stopped sodas, high fructose corn syrup / any corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and preservatives completely. It is not bad at all, I actually have better tasting food in the house now (ketchup with sugar instead of HFCS tastes a whole lot better anyways!).

I think though once I had a sandwich with ham and they didn't cook that meat in the sandwhich place. I felt awful afterwards, but the meat was obviously clean. I just couldn't stop myself

It's been pretty much the same for me. I did start drinking caffeine again halfway through the second trimester because I was getting so sleepy at work, but I made sure everything was well cooked. And the last few weeks, I've been off sugar completely -- everything tastes so much better here too, and I'm eating far more raw veggies than before. Glucose is finally where it should be after a med adjustment BTW, thanks again, Staashi, for your advice and encouragement on that front.

[Autumnchik 6]

Looking back, I think I was just super paranoid about eating during pregnancy. For my next pregnancy, I still feel strongly about avoiding caffeine, food dyes, chemicals, but am not going to be as rigid about other things. There was a lot of good that came out of my paranoia about eating during pregnancy, because I was super healthy and avoided a lot of the ####### that I had eaten beforehand. I need to eat like that again!!!

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

I was not SUPER paranoid during my pregnancy. I was a smoker and gave that up all together when I knew I was pregnant. I had about one caffienated beverage a day (whether soda or coffee) and drank alot of decaf in between. I am not a fish eater so that wasnt a hard part for me at all, i did however eat cold lunchmeat all the time. I did eat alot of salads, at least one a day, and LOVED LOVED LOVED pasta... Meat was not my friend , the smell just made me so nausous..

on a side note. I am amazed how Zaid is turning into a little boy. His baby face is non existant and he is thinning out so quick with all the walking and running he does. He can say about 20 words now, some in english and some arabic, and is great at following simple commands. He even says please and thank you I miss my baby boy. Sof and I really wanna try for another baby soon but I am so confused as to when is the right time. I am in the process of a huge promotion which is going to make my life tons more stressful, I am enrolled in school this summer taking only 1 course and will be taking 2 classes in the fall, and I feel so overwhelmed as it is. I will not be done with school for 3 more years but cant imagine waiting that long for baby #2. I just cant figure out how to balance my life I guess

[MARM 7]

@ Marm...If I could give you two pieces of advice, from someone who a) had a baby this year and B) went through the visa process 5 years ago...

1. Find out about natural family planning - although I never used it, as a Catholic, they taught us all about it in our Engagement Encounter class. It is actually fascinating. If you start now while your fiance is out of the country, you will be able to start to chart your cycle - which might be off because of the visa process, but over time you will begin to see the patterns of your cycle and you'll be able to see your most fertile days. I have friends who aren't Catholic (they're Jewish) and she suffers from endometriosis. Well, the doctors told her that it would be almost impossible to get pregnant. I mentioned NFP to her and she decided that instead of undergoing fertility drugs a second time (she had a boy 1.5 years earlier), that she would start doing NFP. She began to chart her period patterns for about 3-4 months, by 6 months she knew everything about her body, and 10 months later she had her little girl. I believe in birth control, used it myself and still got pregnant with Enzo.

2. You might want to give yourselves some time before trying to have a baby once he gets here. Enjoy your time together, get to know each other very, very well, and let him adjust to living in the USA. The stress can be tremendous and I can't imagine what throwing a baby into the mix would be like.

All the best to you both...may you get everything back in order soon.

Thanks so much Staashi

I really appreciate your advice and everyone else's who offered theirs as well. I will surely look into this NFP idea and even involve my fiance in it when he gets here.

Thanks once again!

[tnh9479 1]

Eating during pregnancy...I had such a hard time with the fish part. I LOVE fish...especially tuna. I went through withdrawals. Like some other people, I added one caffeinated drink back in after the first trimester. I had to. I was soooooooooo fatigued and school had started back up. Getting up at 5:30 am to head to work was tough! I really don't miss it AT all. The newborns waking every two hours was easier feeling than how that felt.

Kelly: I know what you mean by seeing your baby turning into a little girl (or boy as the case may be). Hana is getting so active that she is thinning out and turning into all arms and legs. I had to go through clothes tonight and dig out the 12 month sleepers I have. I like the babies to sleep in footed jammies since we turn the a/c down at night. Well, Hana is leg bound in her 6-9 mo clothing.