What to expect when you're expecting (71 page)

Keep in mind, too, that pregnant skin is often extra-sensitive skin, so there’s a chance you’ll have an allergic reaction to the henna, even if you’ve had it applied before without incident. To test your reaction to it, place a small amount of henna on a patch of skin and wait 24 hours to make sure no irritation appears.

“I’m nearing the end of the first trimester and I’m surprised that I didn’t gain any weight yet.”

Many women have trouble putting on an ounce in the early weeks—some even lose a few pounds, usually courtesy of morning sickness, and others, because they started out overweight, don’t need to gain any this early on. Fortunately, nature has your baby’s back, offering protection even if you’re too queasy or food-averse to eat. Tiny fetuses have tiny nutritional needs, which means that your lack of weight gain now won’t have any effect on your baby. Not so, however, once you enter the second trimester. As your baby gets bigger and your baby-making factory picks up steam, calories and nutrients will be more and more in demand—and you’ll need to begin playing weight gain catch-up, piling the pounds on at a steady pace.

So definitely don’t worry, but do start eating (hopefully any morning sickness will ease up soon). And from the
fourth month on, start watching your weight to make sure it begins to move upward at the appropriate rate (see
page 167
). If you continue to have trouble gaining weight, try packing more of a nutritional wallop with the calories you take in, through efficient eating (see
page 91
). Try, too, to eat a little more food each day, by not skipping meals and by adding more frequent snacks. If you can’t eat a lot at one sitting (which isn’t so good for pregnancy digestion anyway), graze on six small meals daily instead of three big squares. Save salads and soups and fill-you-up beverages for after your main course to avoid putting a damper on your appetite. Enjoy foods high in good fats (nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil). But don’t try to add pounds by adding lots of junk food to your diet. That kind of weight gain is more likely to round out your hips and thighs than your baby.

“I’m 12 weeks pregnant and I was shocked to find out that I’d already gained 13 pounds. What should I do now?”

First of all, don’t panic. Lots of women have that “oops” moment—when they step on the scale at the end of their first trimester and discover they’ve gained 8, 10, a dozen pounds, or more in three short months. Sometimes it’s because they’ve taken “eating for two” just a tad too literally (you are eating for two, but one of you is really, really small), relishing sweet release from a lifetime of dieting. Sometimes it’s because they’ve found that comfort from queasiness can come in high-calorie packages (ice cream, pasta, burgers, or just bread by the loaf).

Either way, all is not lost if you’ve gained a little too much in the first trimester. True, you can’t turn back the scales—or apply the first three months’ gain neatly to the next six. Your baby needs a steady supply of nutrients (especially in the second and third trimester, when he or she will be growing overtime), so cutting way back on calories now isn’t a smart plan. But you can aim to keep your gain on target for the rest of your pregnancy—to slow it down, without putting the brakes on it altogether—by watching the scale (and what you eat) more carefully.

Check with your practitioner and work out a safe and sensible weight gain goal for the next two trimesters. Even if you stay in the pound-a-week club through month 8 (most women find their weight gain slows or stops in the ninth month), you won’t end up more than a couple of pounds over 35 pounds, the outside limit for recommended weight gain. Check out the Pregnancy Diet (Chapter 5) to find out how to eat healthily for two without ending up looking like two (of you). Gaining efficiently, on the highest-quality foods possible, will not only accomplish that goal but make the weight you do gain easier to shed in the postpartum period.

Boys Will Be Boys

Hungry, Mom? As you close in on your second trimester, you’ll likely notice that your appetite (which you may have lost somewhere around week 6 or so) is starting to make a comeback. But if you’re bellying up to the refrigerator with the regularity of a teenage boy, you may be expecting one (or, at least, a male fetus on his way to becoming a teenage boy). Research shows that moms-to-be carrying boys tend to eat more than moms expecting girls—which could explain why boys tend to be heavier at birth than girls. Food (and more food) for thought!

“Why am I already showing if I’m only in my first trimester?”

Have lots more to show for your first trimester than you expected? Because every belly’s different, some stay flat far into the second trimester while others seem to pop before the home pregnancy test is dry. An early bump can be disconcerting (“If I’m this big
now,
what will I look like in a few months?”), but it can also be welcome, tangible proof that there’s actually a baby in there.

Several possibilities might explain why you’re showing so early:

Small build. If you’re slender to begin with, your growing uterus may have nowhere to hide, causing a bulge even when it’s still relatively little.

Less muscle tone. A pregnant woman with loose abdominal muscles is more likely to produce a pronounced pooch faster than a mom-to-be with a taut and toned torso. That’s why second timers tend to show earlier—their abdominal muscles have already been stretched.

Overeating. If you’ve been eating for two (but forgetting that one of those two is only prune-sized right now), your belly might be sporting more fat than baby. If you’ve gained more than 4 or 5 pounds by this point, that could explain your prematurely protruding tummy.

Wrong dates. A sooner-than-expected show time could be the result of a miscalculated conception date.

Bloating. Excess gas and bloating could be behind that supersize stomach of yours. So could bowel distention if you’ve been going long stretches between movements.

More than one on board. Some women who sport an impressive bump in their first trimester later discover they’re having twins. But before you start doubling up the layette, keep in mind that most women whose bellies balloon early turn out to be carrying just one baby. A relatively round belly in the first trimester is not generally considered a reliable sign that an expectant mother is carrying multiples (see next question).

“How will my doctor know if I’m carrying twins or not?”

Have a hunch that there’s more than one baby on board? There are plenty of clues you can look for when trying to determine whether or not you’re toting twins:

A large-for-date uterus.
The size of the uterus, not of the abdomen, is what counts in the diagnosis of multiples. If your uterus seems to be growing more rapidly than expected for your due date, a multiple pregnancy might be suspected. A big belly alone doesn’t count.

Exaggerated pregnancy symptoms.
When carrying twins, the typical troubles of pregnancy (morning sickness, indigestion, and so on) can be doubled, or at least seem that way. But all of these can also be exaggerated in a one-fetus pregnancy.

Predisposition.
Several factors make a woman more likely to have nonidentical, or fraternal, twins. These include nonidentical twins in the mother’s family, advanced age (women over 35 more frequently release more than one egg at a time), the use of fertility drugs to stimulate ovulation, and in vitro fertilization. Some evidence indicates that identical
twins might also be genetically influenced (something in your egg or your spouse’s sperm could cause a fertilized egg to split).

As for your practitioner, he or she might try to listen for two (or more) distinctly separate heartbeats, but it’s not an exact science (the heartbeat of a single fetus may be heard at several locations), so twins aren’t often diagnosed this way. The best diagnostic tool for detecting multiples is an early ultrasound. In virtually every case (except in the rare instance where one camera-shy fetus remains stubbornly hidden behind the other), this technique accurately diagnoses a multiple pregnancy. If you are carrying twins (or more), see Chapter 16.