Diet Coke … for pregnant chicks!
It’s no secret that throughout this pregnancy, I have been missing my #1 fave drink — Diet Coke.
Like really missing it.
I have always drank Diet Coke, even when I was a kid — don’t judge my ‘rents, it was just what we had in the house. Regular pop has always tasted like pancake syrup to me in comparison, so I’ve been happily chugging DCs for more than 15 years.
And then …
… I got knocked up …
… and quit it cold-turkey …
I’m a firm believer in not messing around with stuff that could hurt a baby, even if it’s a small chance, so I’ve been a stickler about not touching the stuff. Along with not dyeing my hair, not eating cookie dough, overcooking my eggs — all the good paranoid preggo behavior.
So while I’ve been a brave little solider, I have missed it. Dearly. Cutting out caffeine and aspartame means no dark pop at all — not even orange! — and that means I’ve been left with 7Up, Sprite and Ginger Ale. Yawn.
After 9 or 10 weeks of chaste living, I started to feel desperate. I sent Darling Husband on a mission for caffeine-free regular Coke — which HELLO, totally used to exist like 10 years ago or something, but apparently does not anymore.
Being the totally reasonable crazy person that I am, I was convinced he just wasn’t looking hard enough. I accompanied him to the grocery store and scanned those shelves like my life depended on it. Sure enough, caffeine-free Coke did not exist anymore.
I was in the middle of apologizing — to Darling Husband’s delight — when something caught my eye …
A silver, black and red case of STORE-BRAND pop that announced itself as having no aspartame or caffeine. I grabbed it with a little squeal and may or may not have danced right there in the aisle.
Ladies, I am proud to introduce … Cola Freedom:
It has … drumroll, please:
- No sugar
- No sodium
- No calories
- No fat
- No aspartame
- No caffeine
Full ingredients:
- Carbonated water
- Colour
- Natural flavour
- Phosphoric acid
- Citric acid
- Sucralose (proven safe for preggos by the FDA)
- Potassium benzoate
- Acesulfame-potassium (also proven to be safe)
- Potassium citrate
How does it taste? Well, kind of like Diet Pepsi, actually. I was so excited that first night, to be drinking “mock-Diet Coke,” that I almost didn’t care what it tasted like.
Once the excitement wore off, I realized that while Cola Freedom is a nice subtitute, it’s probably not that much better for me than caffeine-free Diet Coke.
Even though the ingredients seem OK, I’m definitely not going to be drinking a lot of it. Artificial sweeteners in general are not the best idea while pregnant– even though sucralose seems to be less risky than aspartame — so I’ve only had two cans (spread over the week that it’s been in my fridge).
Still, it’s a good substitute to have on hand for when those Diet Coke pangs are too much to bear!
Picture perfect
Thursday, November 19, 2009
11 weeks, 4 days pregnant
It’s been more than 24 hours, and I still can’t stop thinking about yesterday’s heartbeat and spur-of-the-moment ultrasound.
Darling Husband and I actually got two photos from the ultrasound! One of them is very clear, and you can see a side view of Little Baby’s perfect profile, and the other one doesn’t really show much — at least not that I can tell.
I don’t plan on posting them here — since I’m planning to scan them for my real Facebook profile as soon as I drop the bomb. But I realized I needed to blog about these photos, even if I’m not displaying them on this blog, because of one important reason: I CAN’T STOP LOOKING AT THEM.
Seriously.
It’s like these photos are actually the baby or something — that’s how carefully I am guarding them.
The second I got to my office yesterday, after leaving the hospital, I grabbed a clear plastic folder — tossing the contents in a random bin — and cut out a little protective cover. Once I slipped the photos inside, I taped all around the edges to make sure the photo wouldn’t fall out.
Then, I felt free to show the photos to everyone in my office — since they know now — without worrying that they would bend or rip or breathe on my precious first baby photos. I kept the photos propped up on my desk all afternoon, and glanced over every few minutes seconds.
Last night when I went to bed, I propped up the little plastic-covered photos on my nightstand, and then picked up my book to read for a bit. Immediately, I put the book down and picked up the photos again, and stared …
… and stared …
… and stared …
All of a sudden, I was sobbing over these two tiny black-and-white photos. Pictures of our baby. With a teeny-tiny head and a little nose and mouth and a little waving hand. Our baby was real, and it was inside me, right now, looking like a little human already. The baby that wouldn’t even be a person without me and Darling Husband and I just — *sob*
Needless to say, I brought the photos back to work with me today, and have already made plans to get copies made this weekend — and buy little frames!
The photos absolutely cemented the fact that there is a baby in there, and it’s ours. Suddenly I am totally and completely impatient for our next ultrasound in January, when we’ll get another glimpse of the little person that’s in there …
… and hopefully more photos!
The beat of their heart
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
11 weeks, 3 days pregnant
It’s official — there is definitely something inside me (besides cereal and pizza), and I am on Cloud Nine!
Let me start at the beginning! This morning was our first visit with our OBGYN, and I was super-nervous on the drive there. I was worried that either she (A) wouldn’t even try to find the heartbeat, or (B) would try to find the heartbeat, but wouldn’t find it.
And since at every appointment, they make you do a pee test, I was worried — as always — that they would go, “Oh, actually you’re not pregnant …?” I was just a huge bundle of nerves, basically.
We got there super-early, and went through several levels of checking in/filling out forms, and then found ourselves in a small room — with a bed! I told Darling Husband that’s where I would get to lie if she did the heartbeat, and felt myself get even more nervous.
A really nice nurse came in first, and went through a ton of additional paperwork — basically my whole medical history, the pregnancy up to this point, contact info, everything.
I also signed up to take part in an H1N1 study of preggo peeps — I’ve done studies before, and I believe they’re important. My sneaky ulterior motive is that if I even suspect I might be sick, I get special phone numbers to call, and doctors to see me right away. H1N1 is hitting my city hard, so I’m glad to get a little extra help in case my vaccine fails.
After my blood pressure was taken and the last form was filled out, the nurse surprised me by saying she would try to find the heartbeat! I practically dove for the bed, and she went straight to work with a plastic wand thingy.
At first we just heard regular breathing-type noises — mine — and inside-of-the-body swishing and pumping sounds. It was pretty staticy, and I didn’t hear anything like galloping horses.
And then …
All of a sudden, it was totally clear: Whoosh-a! Whoosh-a! Whoosh-a! Whoosh-a!
It was incredible! Even the nurse had tears in her eyes, and she exclaimed at how she was surprised she got it so clearly.
I wanted to listen to it forever, but it was over too soon. She excused herself to get the doctor, and I immediately wanted to listen to it again — luckily Darling Husband refused to let me at the machine 🙂
During the round of questions and forms, I had casually mentioned to the nurse that I kind of thought it could be twins. So after we heard the heartbeat, she sent me to Room 10 and told me the doctor would “do a little scan.” I had no idea what that meant. Could it mean … an ultrasound? No, it couldn’t possibly be that easy … could it?
Darling Husband and I packed up all our stuff — about 10,000 forms and information packets — and walked down to Room 10. The first thing I saw was … one of those TV screens! Yesssss!
Once again, I dove onto the bed and happily yanked my dress up and my leggings down. We got to meet our doctor — let’s call her Dr. L — and she was amazingly, fantastically cool and fun and nice. She is totally the kind of doctor I want around when I’m screaming and writhing with labour owie-ness.
The nurse squeezed some goo onto my stomach, and I was shocked that it was warm — almost hot! Isn’t it always freezing cold on TV and in movies?
I was still distracted by the warm goo when the little image appeared on the screen. At first it just looked like an empty balloon, but as she moved the wand around, I kept seeing little glimpses of something — someone — inside it.
Dr. L pointed at something flickering, and she said that was the heart! It was like a tiny flickery lightbulb in a blur of static. Then she got a good angle, and we could clearly make out the side profile of a little baby! You could see the head, and even the tiny nose and mouth, and — OH MY GOD, IT’S WAVING!
Yes, dear readers, the baby was waving. Its little hand was flapping back and forth to greet us. Dr. L and the nurse were cracking up at his/her little antics, while Darling Husband and I stared in disbelief.
Our baby is clearly a genuis already.
An ode to my maternity jeans
Monday, November 16, 2009
11 weeks, 1 day pregnant
Hallelujah! I have maternity jeans!
Darling Husband took me out on Saturday and bought me my first pair of maternity jeans, plus some tops, because he, ah, couldn’t handle the daily “I-have-nothing-to-wear” drama any longer.
I’m wearing them now, and they are incredible. They’re dark, they’re bootcut, they fit properly, and THEY STAY UP!
No more sagging regular jeans because my band can’t keep them tight enough. No more yanking up my pants everytime I stand up (very attractive). And I can actually start wearing any of my tops and sweaters now (since I don’t have a lump band threatening to slide down).
The jury is still out on how long they will fit me, since they fit so well now, but I don’t even care. They are 100% awesome, and I am in jean heaven.
Welcome to Week 12
A model of a baby at 12 weeks (SOURCE)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
11 weeks pregnant!
Hello, Week 12! Have I been waiting for you or what!
I am officially 11 weeks pregnant today, and it feels great. My energy has improved over the last week, my nausea has left the building (knock on wood), and now that the office awkwardness is behind me, I’m actually starting to embrace my new bump (and not just panicking over hiding it).
I’m really happy to be in Week 12, because it sounds so far along — compared to Week 10 or Week 11. At the end of this week, I will officially have been pregnant for “three months” (in this-only-applies-to-pregnancy sense that four weeks equals a month).
I’ve got my first OBGYN visit on Wednesday, and I’m really, really looking forward to it. Once again, my regular doctor has promised I’ll get to hear the heartbeat at that appointment, but we all know how he promised that last time and didn’t deliver.
I’m REALLY hoping my OBGYN will try to look for the heartbeat (and find it, of course). From what I’ve read, they say you “may” be able to hear it in your 12th week, but I can’t even imagine how freaked I’ll be if I can’t hear it.
Oh, and on the off-chance that my OBGYN thinks I am measuring too large for my 12th week — which means twins is a possibily, since there is no way in hell I got my dates wrong — she may schedule an ultrasound to check. No one believes me, but I still think there’s a chance!
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