Coffee and Other Confusion

I think I ovulated yesterday, even though it was only day 12, and now I'm doing everything I told myself not to do!  I'm feeling "different" today, even though I know symptoms don't show up this soon.  I also went online to see when my due date would be if I am pregnant.  I was happy to see that it would be mid November.  I don't want my kid to have a birthday too close to Christmas.  Why can't I just convince myself to not think about being pregnant?

Because I could possibly be pregnant, I spent a half an hour this morning trying to decide whether or not to have coffee.  I switched to decaf when I started trying to get pregnant because I figured it would be best to go without caffeine.  I have never been someone that drinks it every day, but I usually have one cup 3-4 days a week.  The other day, though, my brother-in-law mentioned something about chemicals being used to decaffeinate coffee.  I decided to do some research and found a lot of conflicting information.  Some people think its totally safe to have 1 cup of regular coffee a day, while others say to stay away from it completely.  In regards to decaf, some say the amount of chemicals left in the coffee after decaffeinating it is so small that it isn't an issue, while others say you are better off drinking regular coffee than decaf because of the chemicals.  There is decaf coffee that was decaffeinated using water instead of chemicals, but I don't have any and I've heard it is expensive so I finally resorted to going totally without coffee.  I just feel like I can't take that risk because if I am pregnant, now (and the next few weeks) is the most crucial time in the baby's development. 

I just wish there were more clear yes or no answers in regards to nutrition during pregnancy.  I don't want to do anything to harm my baby, but I don't want to go way overboard either.  Sometimes I think about how many people just live their lives like they always did and have totally normal, healthy babies, but I know that's not the attitude to have.  I guess I'll just continue doing my best and trying not to stress about it.  It will be easier when I know I am pregnant.  March 17 can't come soon enough!  Yes, I set a date to take a pregnancy test so I won't keep taking them too early and wasting them!

The Week!

This is the week!  The week I am supposed to ovulate, that is.  Honestly, I don't know how I feel about it.  I am trying not to feel excited and thus set myself up for letdown if I don't get pregnant, but at the same time I feel like we have a pretty good chance this time.  This will be my fourth month off of birth control, which is about when most women who were on birth control can start to get pregnant.  So far we are keeping up with the every-other-day thing so I think we have pretty good chances of conceiving, but it is still difficult to be optimistic.  For some reason every time I hear about someone else's pregnancy I feel more pessimistic about the whole thing (and I have been hearing about it a lot lately!).  What makes it even harder is the fact that I can't really explain to myself exactly why I want a baby so bad!  Is that a cause for concern or is that normal?  I just feel like it's the right time for us to start a family.

Knowing I could conceive this week has also made me increasingly concerned about what I eat.  I have read that the first few weeks after conception (before you even know you are pregnant) are the most crucial in the baby's development so what I eat for the next three weeks is more important than what I eat the entire rest of my pregnancy!  My husband thinks I am worrying about it too much and that I should just eat what I normally eat, but I feel like I have to eat the absolute perfect diet in order to give my baby a good start.  I have no problem going without caffeine, herbal tea, soft cheeses, Cesar dressing, etc... and I don't drink alcohol, eat shellfish/most seafood, or use tobacco/drugs.  The problem is I have never been good at getting my fruits and veggies in.  I am doing way better now than I used to, but I worry it isn't enough.  I know my prenatal vitamin will cover all of the bases, but I still worry I'm not doing enough.  I know the stress isn't good for me, though.

One thing that has helped a lot in this department is Feed the Belly, by Frances Largeman-Roth, RD.  It covers all the basics in regards to nutrition during pregnancy and has a ton of recipes.  I have only tried one of the recipes so far, but there are quite a few that sound good.  I bought this book used on Amazon for around $5 or $6 including shipping.

While I'm on the topic of books, another I would highly recommend is the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy.  If you only buy one pregnancy book, this is the one to get!  It has everything I was looking for (besides good recipes which is why I bought Feed the Belly).  It has great weekly and monthly summaries of your pregnancy, too.  I got a great deal on this book (used) on Amazon as well.

My goal this week is to stay optimistic about getting pregnant, but to try not to think about it much.  I also want to really watch what I eat in case I do conceive.  I guess I'll see how it goes!