Today was my 18 week appointment with the midwife. Entirely uneventful, which is what one hopes for in a pregnancy. Visits that are short and sweet mean that nothing is wrong!
Curiously enough though, the midwife seemed a tad concerned about weight gain…as in, she wants to make sure I’ve at least gained 3-4 more pounds by the next appt. Today, I weighed in at 133.4 pounds, which is only a 6 pound weight gain total. That’s not terribly low, but when you take into consideration I never once threw up in the first trimester and that right before I got pregnant with Gregory (as in, January 2010) I weighed between 133-134, it’s not a lot. Basically, it took me 18 weeks of pregnancy to get my weight back up to where it was pre-babies.
Yeah, so holy crap. What on earth did breastfeeding do to my metabolism? I thought for sure that the moment I stopped feeding G that I would suddenly go back up to my old weight (which hadn’t fluctuated since college). I never thought it would take this long.
This isn’t quite a problem yet. There are obvious upsides. It means that the nightly cheesecake helpings (courtesy gift from my father-in-law! double chocolate cheesecake!!!), twice a week In-N-out trips, twice a week huge helpings of mac and cheese (I eat a whole box in one sitting, I kid you not), and the midnight bowls of cereal haven’t done a lot of damage. Looking at that list, I think I need to re-evaluate my eating habits…perhaps add some veggies? 😉
Then again, if I don’t gain enough weight, and my body goes into super over-drive mode again during breastfeeding? It’s probable that having enough milk will be tough, if not impossible.
I know that many other moms don’t identify with this problem and can’t see it as a possible concern, but I am very determined to not only try to re-introduce Gregory to breastfeeding after the baby comes, but also continue to breastfeed for up to 2 years with #2. The fact that G has only been sick with one cold his entire 13 months of existence is a direct result of breastfeeding. I think it’s really really important.
I’ve already directed tons of questions to the midwives and nutritionist about how to slow down the weight loss after giving birth. I really want to make sure from the start that my body never enters “starvation mode”, and that I never lack for milk supply. Perhaps it’s just my genetic build, who knows. WIC has even assigned me a special lactation consultant who’s familiar with facilitating tandem breastfeeding. I’m finding high-cal protein smoothie recipes and thinking ahead about how to keep stocked in high-fat and high-nutrition foods.
Then again, maybe I should just stop trying to control things? That’s a problem that I’m sure every mom can relate to!
The upside to having to go to a boring pre-natal appt. is that I always have lunch with my Dad, since French Hospital is just 5 minutes away from downtown SLO. Today, we tried a BBQ place…mmmmmmm….yummy Cobb salad, cornbread with honey butter, and sweet potato fries…!