Growing Up Too Fast

Megan at 7 months old

There are so many days when I look at my “baby” and cannot believe how big she has gotten.  She is only 9, but I know the next 9 years are going to fly by just as quickly – if not more quickly then the first 9 years.  She is growing up to fast! It does not seem like that long ago when I was pregnant with her.  I actually really enjoyed being pregnant, with both her and the twins.  My one big complait was that I had horrible migraines, literally they were daily with both pregnancies.  With my first pregnancy they finally went away after 15 weeks, but with the twins I had them through week 21!

Not Safe to Eat During Pregnancy

While I was pregnant, the one other thing that I had to keep track of was what was safe and what was not safe to eat during pregnancy.  I was a little disappointed that I had to stay away from Sushi.  I realize the reasons why, and agree with them – but I do love sushi.  Deli meat and hot dogs are on the do not eat list since pregnant women are about 20 times more susceptible to getting listeriosis. While you should eat fish, fish with Omega-3 is great nutritionally but you want to stay away from fish with high mercury.  Specifically, shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish are very high in mercury.  Raw oysters is another seafood on the no list. I am a huge cheese eater, so staying away from certains types of cheese was a little difficult.  For instance, avoiding soft cheese such as feta, Brie, Camembert, blue-veined cheese like Roquefort and gorgonzola, and Mexican-style cheese like queso blanco, queso fresco, and panela was a bit challenging!  Especially avoiding the Mexican-style cheese since Mexican food was all I craved.

Sleeping During Pregnancy

Honestly, I was very lucky since I had not problems sleeping during pregnancy.  I think my husband had more problems than I did since I had started clenching my teeth while sleeping.  I am not quite sure why I did that since after I had my babies the clenching ceased.  However, when I slept I did use a body pillow, which I absolutely loved!  I was also fortunate enough to not be a back sleeper, which when you are pregnant is a bad position to sleep in since in can cause low blood pressure and decrease in circulation to your heart and your baby.  Sleeping on your side is what is recommended, which is the way I normally sleep, and on your left side is even better since it will increase the amount of blood and nutrients that reach the placenta and your baby.

So as much as I did enjoy pregnancy, I am glad to be past that part of parenthood!  I am just trying to make sure I take advantage of all that I can with my children as they grow so I don’t miss out on it.  As challenging as it can be to raise children, it really does go by way too fast.  We only have a short amount of time to raise what will be great adults!