Duh!
Cheesecake!
Over the past six and a half months, I have been inundated with lots of advice about pregnancy and parenting. I have read tons of books (most of which were full of crap) and listened patiently to everyone's advice about how to deal with various physical and psychological issues regarding pregnancy and childbirth.
I appreciate every tidbit of knowledge people have passed on to me. Most of the people I have spoken to about this journey have been helpful in ways in which they couldn't even imagine. (Jess Gilbert--> you are my pregnancy Yoda. May the childbirth force be with me!).
In sharp contrast, the books and other miscellaneous literature I have inherited have been preachy and aggravating. I would much rather listen to someone pass on their wisdom face to face rather than tell me in a giant book, which generalizes all experiences and quite frankly frightens me.
Over the past few weeks, I have been spending a lot of time in the bathtub. The feeling of being weightless in a warm place has made me feel calm and happy. Also, being sick and having a hard time breathing warranted lots of 'tubby time' because the warm steam would loosen all the goo in my chest.
While in the tub, I've been reading all my pregnancy and baby books. I've completed at least three cover to cover. We aren't talking light reading either. These tomes are at least the size of a dictionaries and the subject matter is sometimes hard to stomach (especially if you are squeamish about the notion of heavy bleeding for three weeks after you deliver your baby. Yikes!).
These books are great for people like me, who have never done this before and don't know what questions to ask. The only problem is that after a while, you read the same nonsense over and over again and begin to worry. My list of worries have grown tenfold since I caught my cold a week ago.
Now instead of fearing that a few sips of red wine or an intense workout is going to harm 'Peanut', I have new fears like whether or not I'm going to be able to breastfeed successfully; or if I'm ever going to have any semblance of a life again. These books have answered these questions as such: Breastfeeding is natural but hard (wha???); and no. Your life is over once you have this baby.
Uh Oh.
If there is one lesson I've learned from watching hours of The Golden Girls it is this:
Cheesecake solves all your problems.
This is the best news ever!
I love cheesecake and now that I'm not lactose intolerant and I can eat an extra 300 calories in my day, a slice of the good stuff is really useful. It doesn't help my phlegm issue but I'm hoping that my cold is on its out. Cheesecake is yummy and Alex and I make an awesome one!
We currently have an orange/cranberry cheesecake in our fridge which I made last Sunday. It is slowly being 'evened out' as concerns or fears arise.
The books tell me that I shouldn't be indulging in too many sweets or high-carb/fatty delicious foods. They say it will be harder to take the pregnancy weight off if I eat too much crap. They are right but what the preachy books don't realize is that they are the reason why I am driven to the calming allure of a slice of cheesecake. Its a vicious cycle!
My take away advice is this: don't let the books tell you not to eat cheesecake! You are growing another human being inside you and if you feel like a slice of comfort food like cheesecake eat it. Don't go crazy and eat the whole damn thing. You will regret it and feel bad and want more. Then you will be out of comfort cheesecake and up shit creek (literally).
In one of my favourite Simpsons episodes, Apu and Mandulla have Octuplets and Marge brings over banana bread. Apu makes a joke that "all [his] problems are solved now that there is banana bread". If anyone wants to make me a GF banana bread and bring it over, I'm sure it would solve my biggest problem; the soon end of my cheesecake. ;)
As mentioned before, food is a huge part of my life. Having Celiac disease is a major bummer but it has kept me on a healthy track for the past few years. As a personal trainer I do not encourage emotional eating for anyone (including myself). I want to make it perfectly clear that although I enjoy a slice of comfort cheesecake once in a while, I'm not overindulging nor have I put on excess weight throughout my pregnancy.
The best advice I have received from my fellow moms and moms-to-be is that everyone is different and that the only person who should tell you what to do is your health care provider. Captain Steve doesn't seem to have any strong opinions about cheesecake or my weight (or anything pressing for that matter. The guy is so calm he may as well be comatose).
Also, taking life advice from the Golden Girls may seem like a good idea but inevitably an out of date TV series about four old ladies living in Miami could come back to bite you in the ass.
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