Minor Gains
I met OB Doc # 2 this week, at my 9-week checkup. There's still one doctor yet to meet in the practice, but Jake was impressed with the guy we met Thursday, calling him "Mr. Smooth." Jake says that doc could walk into a room full of women and get a date with any one of them---not because he was especially handsome, but because he gave me an incredibly meaningful and timely compliment without it sounding contrived at all.
I've been really upset at the amount of weight I'm already gaining. I didn't expect to gain anything during the first trimester, but my online research shows this was a flawed assumption from the start. There are lots of reasons why women gain weight during the first trimester, but that knowledge isn't all that comforting when I've just spent the last year working my ass off to work my ass off, and now the scale is tripping back steadily in the opposite direction that it should. I've gained 6 pounds since that first positive pee stick---not quite a pound a week, but damn close. Most of it has settled in my heavier boobs and pudgier stomach.
The culprit for the weight gain is three-fold: Nausea has finally kicked in and rears its head every 2 hours, nearly on the clock. If I try to ignore it, it just grows stronger and I feel worse. If I have a snack, it immediately disappears, so you can imagine I'm not ignoring it much. The other reason is that when I wake up in the morning for my 5:30am workouts, I feel like a big slug. I'm all bloated and achey and the last thing I want to do is jump around and haul myself on and off of sweaty gym equipment. The third reason I'm packing on winter weight in the spring is that this new weight gain is completing sapping my motivation. When I was losing weight steadily, it was incredibly motivational. But, now, when a week of hard work at the gym yields only more weight gain instead of weight loss---well, it makes the whole thing feel damn pointless.
I'm trying to retrain my ego, trying to accept that this is how it's supposed to go. No one except me seems worried about it, and that is probably the most comforting aspect. Hence, my doctor being christened Mr. Smooth. At my appointment I bluntly asked him if my weight gain was normal, or if I should be concerned about it. He was completely undisturbed, and said, "No, you're totally fine. This is all normal. I'm really not anticipating any problems with you. You're young, you're thin---you'll be fine."
Yes, people----He called me Thin. And, he did it this totally off-the-cuff way that made it seem like casual fact, rather than a contrived compliment. This manner of delivery is what earned him Jake's admiration, and made me feel so much better about things. My normal response to such a compliment is to question the person's rational thinking abilities, but he's my doctor. I figure if he were worried that I was careening into obesity, he would definitely say something about it. He would want to stop me early on from wandering down a destructive path, but he's not worried at all. I'm trying to believe him.
I've been really upset at the amount of weight I'm already gaining. I didn't expect to gain anything during the first trimester, but my online research shows this was a flawed assumption from the start. There are lots of reasons why women gain weight during the first trimester, but that knowledge isn't all that comforting when I've just spent the last year working my ass off to work my ass off, and now the scale is tripping back steadily in the opposite direction that it should. I've gained 6 pounds since that first positive pee stick---not quite a pound a week, but damn close. Most of it has settled in my heavier boobs and pudgier stomach.
The culprit for the weight gain is three-fold: Nausea has finally kicked in and rears its head every 2 hours, nearly on the clock. If I try to ignore it, it just grows stronger and I feel worse. If I have a snack, it immediately disappears, so you can imagine I'm not ignoring it much. The other reason is that when I wake up in the morning for my 5:30am workouts, I feel like a big slug. I'm all bloated and achey and the last thing I want to do is jump around and haul myself on and off of sweaty gym equipment. The third reason I'm packing on winter weight in the spring is that this new weight gain is completing sapping my motivation. When I was losing weight steadily, it was incredibly motivational. But, now, when a week of hard work at the gym yields only more weight gain instead of weight loss---well, it makes the whole thing feel damn pointless.
I'm trying to retrain my ego, trying to accept that this is how it's supposed to go. No one except me seems worried about it, and that is probably the most comforting aspect. Hence, my doctor being christened Mr. Smooth. At my appointment I bluntly asked him if my weight gain was normal, or if I should be concerned about it. He was completely undisturbed, and said, "No, you're totally fine. This is all normal. I'm really not anticipating any problems with you. You're young, you're thin---you'll be fine."
Yes, people----He called me Thin. And, he did it this totally off-the-cuff way that made it seem like casual fact, rather than a contrived compliment. This manner of delivery is what earned him Jake's admiration, and made me feel so much better about things. My normal response to such a compliment is to question the person's rational thinking abilities, but he's my doctor. I figure if he were worried that I was careening into obesity, he would definitely say something about it. He would want to stop me early on from wandering down a destructive path, but he's not worried at all. I'm trying to believe him.
posted by deanna at 7:52 AM
9 Comments:
Yay, you're thin!!! Go you :) I get, though, that the pudgy belly could be really annoying until it's big enough that people "can tell." But people might not notice at all if they're staring at your boobs. :)
This in between time is hard. I felt like a wide-load most of the time. And you're so right, keeping food in my stomach was the only way to hold the nausea off.
(and yeah, I would have loved that doctor too!!)
Sounds like a great doctor! And don't stress too much about the work outs...you've got plenty of time to take off what you put on. :)
I agree, if he didn't truly think you are thin and he did have concerns - he wouldn't have said that. He would have said, "We'll see" or something noncommittal like that.
And weight gain in your boobs totally doesn't count against you. Ask any man.
Awww, bless the doc for saying the right thing.
It must be so hard to learn not to worry about weight gain, when you spend so long and work so hard to lose it. I'm sorry this has been difficult to process for you. And like Heather said, if it's in the boobs, it totally doesn't count.
You'll be looking adorably pregnant very soon. Hang in there.
I second, third and fourth everything everyone said. And that is one great doc!
Here's something which will hopefully help - even though you feel pudgy now, and you'll feel a lot more gargantuan as you progress during the pregnancy, your workouts and starting weight puts you in PRIME position to drop it all pretty quickly, and hopefully without too much angst, after the baby is born. And if you feel crappy now and can't always drag yourself to the gym, chalk it up to first trimester. You need to do what your body tells you to do, and soon you will be jumping with energy and feeling fabulous, raring to work out. Just take it one day at a time for now.
I've always thought it sucks that you can't enjoy pregnancy in the first trimester if you have nausea. Hard to be doing the happy dance when you're green.
Hang in - it gets much, much better!!! :) And the weight gain does slow down. You'll have spurts, but you'll also be able to see where it's going, into that baby belly as you look more and more pregnant!
Umm...where do you live? I'd like to go to Dr. Smooth, too.
He's absolutely right! You are tall and thin. Being physically fit always helps when you are in labor and delivering - and after while losing the extra weight. It's inevitable that you will gain weight - and it's a GOOD thing. Keep trying to do some sort of exercise. Not crazy strenuous, but a little something to keep you toned. You'll get past the first trimester blahs (being tired, sick) and feel like yourself again soon.
I think you should believe him! Try to love your body for what it's doing inside - growing your baby! I think I would have a hard time with the weight gain too, but try to keep your eye on the prize! There's time for weight loss once you have your baby!
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