What have you changed in your life?

[ladylove]

Are you doing anything different now that you're pregnant?

I gave up coffee (so hard!), and am being extra diligent about taking my vitamins. I'm also trying to go to bed early.

What are you doing?

[AfricanQueen99]

I'm only allowing myself one caffinated drink a day. Right now it's coffee...and decaf tea in the afternoon. I think I'll just pick up decaf coffee at my next grocery trip.

I really need to go buy some vitamins.

[MyZoeJane]

I'm also trying to be extra diligent about my prenatal vitamins.

I've also given up meat again. It's going to be hard, because for the past 7 years I've been eating it. But it's just the right thing for me to do.

[MommyNicoleTX]

As far as my body and health goes, I am just taking it easy and making sure I am eating well, no caffeine, no advil (i usually take this alot for lupus pain, so i miss it!) and well sadly not riding my husbands 4-wheeler anymore.

What I noticed I am really changing is the way I spend $$ (less eating out, no impulse buys, etc). With another baby I know expenses will add up quickly. This is the 1st baby where my insurance will not cover maternity care (so labs and u/s will be out of pocket) luckily the midwife is reasonably affordable, but you know how it all adds up. Plus the restaurant industry (my dh) took a big hit with the hurricane we had here and with the economy, so $$ is tight. Also, I literally gave away just about all my maternity clothes, baby clothes & gear to friends in need. I will need new slings, 0-3 mo clothes, cloth dipes, blankets, high chair, nursing bras, etc. Things that just add up, so i need to be frugal!

So I am all ears about ways to save $$ with the pregnancy and new baby. I know I want to try to cloth diaper more and longer than I did before. Any other ideas?

[winnie]

I am trying to eat less chocolate, which is hard, because I was given so much of it at Christmas. If someone comes to visit, they have chocolates forced on them.

I am cutting the caffeine out of my coffee, for the most part - some days I brew 1 cup with 1/2 regular and 1/2 decaf, but mostly drinking decaf.

Trying to up the protein (vegetarian), calcium, iron, etc in foods and take my prenatal.

I also check out my belly in the mirror every day to see if it's grown.

Erin

[Auroara Bobcat]

Instead of drinking coffee I have switched too about 2 cups of black or green tea a day. I have cut out refined sugars and other overly processed foods. It felt really good tonight to pass up a grossly deliciouse fudge brownie.

[mommyto3girls]

Originally Posted by BrightBabies

As far as my body and health goes, I am just taking it easy and making sure I am eating well, no caffeine, no advil (i usually take this alot for lupus pain, so i miss it!) and well sadly not riding my husbands 4-wheeler anymore.

What I noticed I am really changing is the way I spend $$ (less eating out, no impulse buys, etc). With another baby I know expenses will add up quickly. This is the 1st baby where my insurance will not cover maternity care (so labs and u/s will be out of pocket) luckily the midwife is reasonably affordable, but you know how it all adds up. Plus the restaurant industry (my dh) took a big hit with the hurricane we had here and with the economy, so $$ is tight. Also, I literally gave away just about all my maternity clothes, baby clothes & gear to friends in need. I will need new slings, 0-3 mo clothes, cloth dipes, blankets, high chair, nursing bras, etc. Things that just add up, so i need to be frugal!

So I am all ears about ways to save $$ with the pregnancy and new baby. I know I want to try to cloth diaper more and longer than I did before. Any other ideas?

We really need to watch money as well. We just sunk all of our savings and emergency back up into opening a new office. We are at the break even point less than two months after opening so I think it will go well but right now we are a family of 5 living on just my teaching salary and still paying out almost $400 a month in child support for my step-daughter (even though i cover her health insurance, her mom makes more than dh and we have a 40/60 custoday split)

I am also trying to be very conscious of our large family. Baby will be child number 4 living in the house (dh also has a 19 year old) so we will be a family of 6 and I feel we need to be consious of the footprint we are leaving on the earth. I was just telling dh I woul dlike to see how little of an imprint this child can make. I want a new car seat, but will be looking to borrow, buy used, get from Craig's list, etc everything else. I think if we start looking early we should be able to find quality (and safe) used baby gear and clothing. As with my other kids I will cloth diaper (most likely buying used from our local group or from diaperswappers.com) and breastfeed and make my own babyfood. It will be hard to fight the urge to shop, but I am giving myself permission to shop goodwill/saver's/once upon a child, etc.

[Doulatron]

I'm trying really hard to do my physio exercises every single day as I don't relish the thought of having 25-35 lbs more to carry when my knee is not working properly.

I'm passing up a lot of my favourite foods, such as cured meats and soft cheeses with rind (my dp was scarfing these down last night right in front of me when I was so hungry!), smoked foods (bye, bye lox!), pizza and refined treats. Also chocolate, though I had a hot chocolate a few days ago. It made me really nauseated though, and I am finding this to be true in most of the cases when I allow myself a "treat" that is really sugary or has caffeine.

Happily, the things that I am craving the most are really good for me: squash, kale, fennel, brown rice, salmon, lamb, eggs, broccoli, porridge with milk for breakfast, etc. Hope it continues!

I'm actually also craving flax seed oil and the only research that I've been able to find refers to avoiding it in the second and third trimesters due to a correlation with prematurity. The bottle itself says, "do not take if pregnant or breastfeeding." Does anyone know about using it in the first trimester?

I was at a long birth Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and by the end felt really nauseated. The nurses were great and gave me soda crackers, cause the borscht that I had left was just not appealing at that point! I think I ate about 20 of them and then felt quite a bit better.

[mommy2one0326]

Cutting down on caffine...I really only drink sweet tea but I have been cutting down.
eating heathier
saving money and not spending it on things I don't need