People keep saying "wow, you look amazing!" or "you look like you're doing great!" to Michelle when they see her. And she does and she is. There have been plenty of annoying pregnancy things but overall I think Michelle is doing a great job and we've been pretty lucky so far. Sure, there was some morning sickness (that happened at all different times of the day) but she's only thrown up three times which isn't bad considering she's carrying three babies. Lots of women with multiples are dreadfully sick and some even have to go on a pump of anti-nausea meds. Soooo glad that isn't the case for us! The hardest thing for me has been trying to get Michelle to eat vegetables and other healthy foods. It is really amazing how pregnancy can change your diet! Seriously, we are pretty healthy and adventurous eaters; we eat tons of vegetables and all kinds of ethnic foods. Well, that pretty much went out the window for the first trimester! Michelle's "go to" foods were toaster waffles with peanut butter, macaroni & cheese, chicken & rice, and other carb heavy comfort foods! For those who have known Michelle for a long time, this lack of interest in vegetables probably sounds familiar but it sure feels weird to me because probably 80% of our diet pre-pregnancy was vegetarian!
It was my mission to get as many healthy nutrients in there as I could so I made her green smoothies with spinach, added chia seeds to her PB waffles, and made homemade mac & cheese with pumpkin in the sauce. Our usual Sunday routine of making food for the week was also gone because she couldn't predict what she might be able to eat at any given time! We've eaten a lot of sweet potato fries over the past couple months because that was one vegetable I could usually talk her into!
The other crazy eating thing is how much Michelle has to eat! Lots of people recommend that moms carrying multiples gain a lot of weight early because the babies will be born early. Calorie recommendations range from 3,000-3,500 daily! And when you sometimes feel nauseous, and if you eat too much at once you get heartburn, it can be really tricky to get that many calories in your system in a day! And she's also supposed to try to eat upwards of 180 grams of protein a day. That has also been a big challenge and one I doubt we're beating every day. It's particularly tricky when eggs don't always sound good and when chicken is the only meat that ever sounds do-able. I've started making her protein shakes every day with soymilk, some protein powder, lots of peanut or almond butter, a few slices of frozen banana, and some cocoa powder and that gets us closer. Every time we leave the house we have to have a bunch of snacks packed. Michelle has a snack by the bed each night so she has something to eat if she is hungry in the middle of the night or to eat as soon as she wakes up in the morning.
Thankfully, now that we're heading into the second trimester Michelle is starting to eat vegetables again! Cobb type salads have been a weekly event so that's been lovely! Last night she even tried a bite of my kale portobella mushroom bowl with spicy peanut sauce and said it tasted pretty good! Hopefully by the time our CSA starts in June we'll be back to our normal diet (well, plus 1500 calories for Michelle!)
I loved carbs during all 3 of my pregnancies, but luckily was able to get enough protein as well.
ReplyDeleteI could not stand protein during either of my pregnancies. The very thought turned my stomach. Just do your best! -- Gina
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