My Vegan Pregnancy: Part 3

Well, I am 16 weeks and 5 days pregnant today.  This is pretty significant for me, because with my last (omnivore) pregnancy, it was only here that I was ending my severe food aversions and constant nausea.  While I felt like I had pretty bad "morning" sickness this time, in retrospect, I was able to eat a LOT more.  During my first pregnancy, I would eat breakfast and just hope that I could eat again at some other part of the day.

This time, maybe because I also had to feed a toddler, I ate three meals a day through my whole first trimester.  I am still having tummy troubles after I eat, and am not as regular as I'd like to be, but I am able to eat complete meals- what a nice change!

During my last pregnancy, by 16 weeks I had lost 15lbs.  This wasn't horrible, but it's certainly not the goal while growing another human.  This time, my starting weight was 15lbs lighter than my previous prepregnancy weight, and I haven't lost more than a lb or two which I've already gained back, so I'm right where I started.  The baby is only a few ounces, plus some placenta and amniotic fluid, so it's completely fine to have not put on weight yet.  Because I started out overweight, it's not dangerous for me to not gain until midway through my second trimester.

I think the biggest difference between my last pregnancy and this pregnancy in regards to eating enough is that my big food aversions are no longer a part of my diet.  Eggs, chicken, and fish no longer smell up my house when I eat.  I can remember going downstairs into our family room and hiding while my husband would cook chicken for us during my first pregnancy.  I could still smell it cooking from there and I would dry heave at the faint smell.  Now when I cook, most of the smells are good to me, and I've become an adaptive enough chef that I can alter recipes to exclude certain items when I'm having an aversion.  Sometimes the smell of onions or beans or kale bother me, but it hasn't been consistent.

In addition to my steady lack of growth, the baby is measuring exactly to the date when it should, so that's great.  We have our "anatomy scan" ultrasound in three weeks, so we'll see again then how each particular limb and the major organs are growing.  I've requested a B12 blood test when they do some other tests at 28 weeks, and my midwife suggested a vitamin D test as well because in Alaska nearly everyone needs more D.  I have just switched midwives to one who will attend my home birth, and so after seeing two midwives I'm pleased to say that neither had any concerns about a vegan pregnancy.  In talking to me, neither even felt the need to suggest changes in my diet.  They both said that a balanced vegan diet gave them no cause for worry.  What a great reassurance, especially when you see silly stories in the media about previously vegan starlets giving up their vegan ways "for their baby."  It's a shame that an innocent unborn child takes the blame for animals to be harmed.

My Vegan Pregnancy: Part 1

Well, first things first, I'm PREGNANT!
We are so excited after a few months of expensive trying.  That's another post that I'll save for later though.

This is my first vegan pregnancy, because it wasn't until my daughter started eating solids that we decided to go vegan.  I'm going to sound really irresponsible and say that quite frankly, I'm not concerned... bum bum bum bum of ominous music...

The thing is, when you're pregnant you need to eat healthy and be aware of getting a bit more of certain nutrients.  To me, a healthy vegan is the perfect person to do this.
Breaking it down:

• You should really  take a prenatal vitamin (even though I'm not a fan of getting your vitamins from pills).  This isn't a vegan thing at all.  In fact, vegans usually get more of their vitamins from their food than most omnivores I know.  No matter what your diet, unless you are really well versed in nutrition, this shouldn't be skipped.  For me, it's not an issue becaues I am breast feeding, so I never stopped taking prenatals after I had my daughter.  I've been on prenatal vitamins for 2 years.  so that's taken care of.

• Omegas, protein, folic acid, and calcium are particularly important and should be consumed in food form as well. 

• Omegas- since I have a toddler, I'm already conscious of adding omega-rich foods to her diet, and since beginning trying for another I've been adding these things to my diet as well. Our favorites are avocado, hemp seeds, and walnuts.  
• Protein- Based on my own diet before and after going vegan, I would guess that I get more protein now.  Who knows...  I do know that I eat a good amount of protein from soy, legumes, grains, and vegetables.
• Folic Acid- The prenatal vitamins have a good amount of folic acid, but it is also found in dark green veggies, which I eat daily.
• Calcium- Since I am also breast feeding, this is especially important because both breast feeding and pregnancy drain your body of calcium.  I eat tofu, drink enriched soy milk, eat sesame seeds just about daily (I keep a jar of raw sesame seeds on the counter and add it to foods all the time), and eat broccoli.  I am also taking an extra calcium supplement because I have bad teeth anyway and I need all the help I can get to keep them from falling right out of my head.

• In early pregnancy, you should try to eat balanced meals while avoiding the foods that you have aversions to so that you don't get sick.  This one is what I'm so excited for.  With my first pregnancy, my aversions were all meat, but especially chicken, eggs, and fish.  Basically, I needed to be vegan.  My weird aversions were coconut milk and anything containing coconut milk and spinach.  I can't explain either of those, but they both went away happily because they are two of my favorite things.  I had some peanut curry quinoa last night and I think that's the last time I'm having coconut milk for a while.  Sad, but that's how it goes.  I haven't had the spinach aversion this time, so we'll see how that goes.

There's also the stuff about avoiding lunch meats, soft cheeses, hot dogs, sushi, etc that I don't need to worry about.  Nice.

So I'm only 4+ weeks along so far, and I'm just starting to get my "morning sickness."  Just like last time, mine seems to be worst at dinner time.  I'm having cravings, but they are funny: carrot sticks, tahini dressing, and Daiyadillas (quesodilla made with Daiya cheddar shreds).  Other than the Daiyadillas, it's pretty healthy stuff, not the brownie madness I had last time... although I could go for some brownies right now, and I did plow through some mint Newman's O's with pretty impressive speed and agility.

That's my part 1.  As I progress I'll update with my experience as a pregnant vegan- a pregnant, breast feeding, vegan at that!