Expectant Mom Mantra

I was pretty horrified that I gained double the pounds in my 5th month but just yesterday, I started telling myself that my total weight gain and my weight itself are both right on target and my weight gain is good for the baby. "It's good for the baby, it's good for the baby." Then today, I opened my weekly email from a pregnancy website and was surprised that this arrived perfectly on time and it reinforced my own mantra. Here's what it said:

"Expectant Mom Mantra

Repeat after me: I am not fat, I am growing a baby. After a lifetime of watching your weight, it can be unnerving (and sometimes depressing) to watch it go up, up, up. Whenever you feel bummed about your expanding girth (and your expanding bum), remind yourself that there's a beautiful reason your body is changing. To fuel that baby growth, you need to keep your growth going, too, so dieting's never an option when you're expecting. Instead, eat as healthy as you can (remember, you share every bite with your baby), and eat as much as you need to in order to gain at the right rate. (One more time, with feeling: I am not fat, I am growing a baby!)"

I really don't mind the weight gain but I was just horrified at how much I put on in just 4 weeks. I read somewhere the breakdown of the 25-35 pounds a pregnant woman should gain:

• Baby: 7-8 pounds
• Placenta: 1-2 pounds
• Amniotic fluid: 2 pounds
• Uterus: 2 pounds
• Maternal breast tissue: 2 pounds
• Maternal blood : 4 pounds
• Fluids in maternal tissue: 4 pounds
• Maternal fat and nutrient stores: 7 pounds

Seven pounds of stinking fat! "Maternity deposits" is a better term. 4 pounds of blood, can you believe that? That's about 64 oz, almost 2 liters (picture a 2 liter Coke bottle).

I'm determined to keep my weight gain stable - about 4 lbs a month til delivery. That will give me a total of 30 lbs of weight gain by the end of pregnancy.