Once again three weeks have come and gone and it is time for our fifth prenatal appointment. I do not have any major concerns going into this appointment and I am excited to see how my baby is doing!
We arrive at the appointment a few minutes early. While we were waiting my husband took our son outside to run around and I collected my urine sample for the midwife to check once she was done with her other client.
As my husband and son came inside the other pregnant mom was finished and leaving. The midwife checked my urine and it looked great!
Next we headed up stairs to her appointment space. Our son was soon busy lining up dolls, while our midwife took my blood pressure and it was also great!
After that I got on the scale and held my breath. I had been concerned at our last appointment that I had gained too much weight and had not, but this time, as I watched the numbers go up, I started to panic silently. All those seemingly harmless indulgences (a bowl of ice cream there a homemade cookie(s) here and excessive amounts of fruit) had really added up and I more than doubled my target weight gain for the three weeks. I was freaking out inside and silently going through all the foods I could stop eating. I knew that I had not been keeping very good track of all the “extras” and I knew that I had to do better for the rest of my pregnancy. This huge jump in weight gain CANNOT happen again. The midwife talked to me about things I could do and foods I could avoid so as to not see a repeat in the weeks to come. I put a smile on my face for the rest of my appointment but inside I was a wreak.
I had maintained good eating habits, however, aside from too much sugar. My protein intake was on target and I was drinking three quarts of water daily (soon to increase to four). I took my vitamins faithfully too.
The last thing we did was listen to the baby’s heart beat and it was good and strong. Our son was particularly excited to here her heartbeat this time and actually sat quietly this time to listen. I measured right on target too.
Overall we had a good appointment, aside from my huge wake up call on the indulgences. I spent the rest of the day thinking about all the yummy treats I was going to faithfully give up for the duration of my pregnancy and resolved to keep track of every thing I eat in a journal.