BFP - so now what?

[olivesyou]

I feel a little lost right now. I didn't plan much on being pregnant yet, and now that I have a few weeks before my doctors appointment I want to make sure I'm doing everything right.
Obviously no drinking or smoking anymore. What about caffeine? What about sushi? What about ibuprofen? Anything else I should stay away from in the food/medicine department?
Also - I just started the new rules of lifting for women. The program encourages you to lift heavy. Should I lift like normal? OR scale back? Or not lift at all?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!

[AmyRI]

Limit caffeine to less than 200 mg per day (no more than ~16 oz of coffee).

No more sushi. Avoid cooked fish that are high in mercury content - shark, tuna, swordfish.

Other dietary suggestions: Avoid lunchmeats that haven't been heated, mayonnaise, anything containing raw egg such as caesar dressing. No bleu cheese or any unpasteurized dairy. All of these things are to avoid food poisoning that put you and your baby at risk.
Try limiting foods with nitrates in them - some types of hot dogs, bacon, lunchmeat, and other processed meats like ham.

No more ibuprofen (or any nsaid). Tylenol for aches/pains/headaches. Check with your doc before taking any other meds. Take a prenatal vitamin daily, best if it contains DHA as well.

I would at least scale back on lifting. It puts a lot of stress on your abdominal muscles, which need to naturally weaken to make room for expansion for baby's growth. But I'd ask your doc about it at your first appointment, or call and leave a message asking and they should call you back even before your appointment.

Congrats!

[cheesekake]

Congrats!
Amy covered all the bases pretty well.
I might add that a lot of gals also switch the make-up they are using to all-natural, mineral stuff. That's not something that concerns me too much, as I don't wear it every day & when I do, it is a pretty small amount.
Thought I might throw that out there just in case.
I also am not going to dye my hair. The studies claim to be inconclusive as to whether it is safe or not. One of my concerns is that all your hormones are changing & your fingernails & hair are growing & reacting differently. I can wait 9 months to dye my hair & not have as much risk of having a reaction.

[auroraloo]

May 22, 2012 11:34:05 GMT -5 AmyRI said:

Limit caffeine to less than 200 mg per day (no more than ~16 oz of coffee).

No more sushi. Avoid cooked fish that are high in mercury content - shark, tuna, swordfish.

Other dietary suggestions: Avoid lunchmeats that haven't been heated, mayonnaise, anything containing raw egg such as caesar dressing. No bleu cheese or any unpasteurized dairy. All of these things are to avoid food poisoning that put you and your baby at risk.
Try limiting foods with nitrates in them - some types of hot dogs, bacon, lunchmeat, and other processed meats like ham.

No more ibuprofen (or any nsaid). Tylenol for aches/pains/headaches. Check with your doc before taking any other meds. Take a prenatal vitamin daily, best if it contains DHA as well.

I would at least scale back on lifting. It puts a lot of stress on your abdominal muscles, which need to naturally weaken to make room for expansion for baby's growth. But I'd ask your doc about it at your first appointment, or call and leave a message asking and they should call you back even before your appointment.

Congrats!

All the things she mentioned in bold are basically bullshit, IMO. Talk to your doctor, ask for a food list, and don't take advice from strangers on the internet.

For instance, carrots also have high levels of nitrates. The only cheese you need to avoid is unpasteurized, which is nearly impossible to find in the US, even bleu cheese is pasteurized here, unless you're buying it from the farm. Basically, if you got it at the grocery store, you can eat it. Same goes for mayo and Ceasar dressing you're buying at the store. Unless you're making it yourself, the egg content is fine.

eta: and none of those things are mentioned on caution lists for food poisoning reasons, the lunchmeat is a listeria concern (which is so low it's silly) for instance, not food poisoning.

Make your own decisions based on the advice of your doctor.

Congrats.

[twopugs]

May 23, 2012 17:38:46 GMT -5 auroraloo said:

May 22, 2012 11:34:05 GMT -5 AmyRI said:

Limit caffeine to less than 200 mg per day (no more than ~16 oz of coffee).

No more sushi. Avoid cooked fish that are high in mercury content - shark, tuna, swordfish.

Other dietary suggestions: Avoid lunchmeats that haven't been heated, mayonnaise, anything containing raw egg such as caesar dressing. No bleu cheese or any unpasteurized dairy. All of these things are to avoid food poisoning that put you and your baby at risk.
Try limiting foods with nitrates in them - some types of hot dogs, bacon, lunchmeat, and other processed meats like ham.

No more ibuprofen (or any nsaid). Tylenol for aches/pains/headaches. Check with your doc before taking any other meds. Take a prenatal vitamin daily, best if it contains DHA as well.

I would at least scale back on lifting. It puts a lot of stress on your abdominal muscles, which need to naturally weaken to make room for expansion for baby's growth. But I'd ask your doc about it at your first appointment, or call and leave a message asking and they should call you back even before your appointment.

Congrats!

All the things she mentioned in bold are basically bullshit, IMO. Talk to your doctor, ask for a food list, and don't take advice from strangers on the internet.

For instance, carrots also have high levels of nitrates. The only cheese you need to avoid is unpasteurized, which is nearly impossible to find in the US, even bleu cheese is pasteurized here, unless you're buying it from the farm. Basically, if you got it at the grocery store, you can eat it. Same goes for mayo and Ceasar dressing you're buying at the store. Unless you're making it yourself, the egg content is fine.

eta: and none of those things are mentioned on caution lists for food poisoning reasons, the lunchmeat is a listeria concern (which is so low it's silly) for instance, not food poisoning.

Make your own decisions based on the advice of your doctor.

Congrats.

This.

We asked my doctor about the lunchmeat thing and she rolled her eyes at it. She said her food rules boiled down to watch the caffeine and no raw fish.

[Brie]

May 22, 2012 11:34:05 GMT -5 AmyRI said:

Limit caffeine to less than 200 mg per day (no more than ~16 oz of coffee).

No more sushi. Avoid cooked fish that are high in mercury content - shark, tuna, swordfish.

Other dietary suggestions: Avoid lunchmeats that haven't been heated, mayonnaise, anything containing raw egg such as caesar dressing. No bleu cheese or any unpasteurized dairy. All of these things are to avoid food poisoning that put you and your baby at risk.
Try limiting foods with nitrates in them - some types of hot dogs, bacon, lunchmeat, and other processed meats like ham.

No more ibuprofen (or any nsaid). Tylenol for aches/pains/headaches. Check with your doc before taking any other meds. Take a prenatal vitamin daily, best if it contains DHA as well.

I would at least scale back on lifting. It puts a lot of stress on your abdominal muscles, which need to naturally weaken to make room for expansion for baby's growth. But I'd ask your doc about it at your first appointment, or call and leave a message asking and they should call you back even before your appointment.

Congrats!

This is BS.

I've lifted 100+ pounds throughout this pregnancy and my baby is perfectly healthy.

I don't attempt to set any records, but that's more because I don't want to injure myself, which is more likely when you're attempting a weight you don't know if you can handle. But if you've been weightlifting pre-pregnancy, there's no reason not to continue.

Lifting is incredible practice for L&D. Stronger muscles lead to less fatigue, greater endurance, and more efficient pushing from everything I've read and learned from my trainers.

I've done NROLFW myself and I think it would be an excellent program for pregnancy. Use common sense and you'll be fine.

[olivesyou]

Thanks for all the advice. I am not big on lunch meat in general, so it won't be life changing for me to not eat it. I tend to roll my eyes at some of the overly cautious live in a bubble type of pregnant women. I will most certaintly talk to my doctor about my concerns, but thought I could get a head start on this message board. I do hope it picks up!

Also, about the lifting, I agree with Brie. I feel like if I'm out of shape and my muscles are weak then being super pregnant and giving birth will be harder on my body. Of course I won't push myself to the ultimate limit on anything, but I plan to keep up a good healthy exercise regimen as long as I can (and as long as the doc okays it)

[lauraannie]

Amy's advice is not bad if you want to be extra cautious before you see your doc! That said, heating lunch meat and cutting back on caffeine are probably the most important things (other than not drinking or snarfing tuna sushi).

[Deleted]

Everyone's doctor is different. Mine said heated lunchmeat only with the disclaimer that the chance of listeria is so small but since it does exist that they have to recommend against it (I ate it cold anyway). They also said no lifting more than 25 pounds. Since it was my first it wasn't as much of an issue but I'm sure when I'm pregnant with #2 and #1 wants to be picked up I will do so unless I have a real safety reason not to.