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During pregnancy weight gain is inevitable. You just have to be careful with how much weight you gain. You can’t gain too little or too much. Right now I definitely have gained a little too much weight so I’m trying to watch what I eat more often. It’s hard to keep track of how much I’m eating because I don’t want to be sitting here counting calories. I do weight myself but sometimes I don’t know if it’s baby/water weight or fat. When you look it up they tell you how much weight you should gain and what will make you gain weight: What to Expect. So for me, since I was of normal BMI before I was pregnant, I should gain 25-35 pounds. Only 7 pounds of that is maternal fat stores and 2 pounds is for your breast tissues.
I don’t weigh myself all the time. You’re not suppose to because that will just drive you crazy. You should be weighing yourself every week at the same time every day and wearing the same amount of clothes. They say that you could also wait until a regular appointment to get weighed. Every time I got weighed at the OB clinic, they didn’t say that my weight was abnormal. I think they just don’t want to worry you unless it is just too much weight. I have gained about 26 pounds and I’m at week 26. I’m just trying not to gain a lot more. Eating at home helps a lot because you can control what you put in your food. I’ve been, sort of, measuring my food in those old Kellogg’s bowls that have that 1 Cup marking in them.
The swelling in pregnancy is pretty bad depending on who you are. It is different for everyone. I used to be able to wear my engagement ring which is a size 4.5 but now my finger has moved up one size to 5.5. I feel naked without my ring so we’re going to find a good chain to put it on so it doesn’t fall off. My hands have been swelling pretty bad and my joints also hurt a little. The PA I spoke to told me that pregnancy hormones make your joints loosen up to get ready for birth. It’s been uncomfortable opening tight bottles and opening doors because of my joints. My wrist has also puffed up a little so I have to loosen my watch when I wear it. My feet have swollen a bit too so my shoes feel tight. I had to find a wide pair of shoes to wear in the meantime. So usually your hands are suppose to be more swollen when you wake up and then your feet are more swollen when you go to bed. This makes sense because as you move around during the day, the fluids tend to flow downwards to your feet.
I’ve just been worrying about my blood pressure. I always ask whenever they take it. At my last appointment it was 124/80s. So far this is normal for pregnancy. I just don’t want that bottom number (diastolic, when your heart is resting between beats) to be 90 or above.
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