Why Is Protein So Important During Pregnancy? - A guest post

When I was pregnant with my first son, I spent countless hours researching everything from what he looked like during the stages of development to what I should be eating. I'm excited to share the following guest post on why Protein is so important during pregnancy and ways to get enough!  If you have a guest post you'd like to share - email me!  I'd love to share everything from birth stories to tips for deliveries from moms!

Why Is Protein So Important During Pregnancy?

We all have heard about the importance of protein in our nutrition, but what makes it so important? Actually protein is made of amino acids and these are considered to be the building blocks of your body. This means that they also are the building blocks of the body of the little one.
You should really focus on the protein intake during the second and third trimester. This is because that is the period when the little one is developing at the fastest rate and so the demand of nutrients is at its peak.

 

How much?

Nutritional specialists say that during your pregnancy, your body requires about 70 grams of proteins on a daily basis. This is only 25 grams more than normally. The good news is that the majority of women consume more than they should, so most probably you won’t have problems with the protein intake.
Nonetheless in case you don’t have in your diet any meat, which is one of the major protein sources, you should make sure that you obtain the nutrient from another source.

 

Sources

There are numerous sources of protein, so you can make sure that you won’t get bored with eating the same thing all over again. These kinds of foods include beans, poultry, eggs, meat, milk, tofu, cheese and yogurt, among others. To make sure that you consume enough proteins daily, you should have 3-4 servings per day.

 

Nuts, beans and legumes

In order to get the amount of 20 grams of protein, you should consider consuming the following meals. One of these meals is made of tofu and you can eat about 1 cup of this protein source regardless that it is firm or soft. The same amount of nutrients can be found in 5-6 tablespoons of peanut butter or a handful of peanuts.
One and a half cups of cooked beans, the like of baked beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, refried beans, black beans, pinto beans or lentils. Another option you have is to drink three cups of vegan milk the likes of soy milk.

 

Dairy products

To get the 20 grams of protein per serving, consider consuming almost a cup of cottage cheese, two cups of yogurt, a few slices of cheddar, Swiss or other kinds of cheeses, 200 grams of parmesan cheese, three large eggs, or two and a half cups of milk. You should have these only in case the kind of diet that you have allows you to. As an example vegan people aren’t supposed to have any dairy products.

 

Fish and white or red meat

Having 3 oz. of meat, such as chicken, beef, turkey, lamb, veal or pork offers you the 20 grams of protein just like the servings that have been mentioned before. The same amount can be found in 3 oz. servings of trout, salmon and tilapia. You could also have 17 larger shrimps, or one and a half cups of baby shrimps. It is also healthy to have three and a half oz. of lobster, crab or thee oz. of canned clams. There are some fishes that you shouldn’t consume.


Author Bio: Liza is an avid blogger and freelance writer. She loves writing on health – women’s health and pregnancy, to be more specific. Don’t forget to check out her pregnancy week by week articles on ThePregnancyZone.com, where she writes on topics relating to preparing for pregnancy, pregnancy stages, labor & delivery, and pregnancy issues, among others.

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4 Steps to Making Labor Easier - Guest Post

Who isn't looking for ways to make labor easier?  I'll never forget how scared I was going in to my first labor (little did I know my first would be 9 pounds 9 ounces...).  I spent hours reading books and reading up on delivery stories.  I'm excited to share the below guest post with 4 Fantastic Steps to Making Labor Easier!

Expecting moms have much to prepare for when it comes to getting their home and their body ready for delivery day. Making theses preparations usually satisfies a mother’s need to nest as well as helps her feel mentally prepared to take on labor. Here are a few tips to help you stay organized.

Exercise
When you first discover that you’re expecting a child, making a doctor’s appointment with an ob-gyn is the first step to beginning a healthy pregnancy. From there you can learn about how to alter your diet to be sure you and your baby are getting plenty of nutrients. If you were already in an exercise regimen before you became pregnant, speak to your doctor about continuing your physical activities and how to alter the intensity and regimen to keep it safe for both you and baby. It used to be believed that exercising would cause miscarriages in women, but that’s not true; women who exercise during pregnancy generally have an easier time during delivery with muscle control and managing their pain.

Prepare the Nursery
At home, preparing a room or space as a nursery can be a very fun and creative preparation step. Not only will it satisfy a mother’s nesting needs, it will help you relax knowing that your baby has a safe place in your home to grow up in. Be careful when putting this space together, you don’t want to overexert yourself and painting is not a safe activity for you to help with. Get the help of your partner or family and friends. A nursery can be anything you’d like it to be, but standard furniture includes a crib, changing table and nursing chair. Stocking up on onesies, diapers, and toys can also help with your nesting feelings.

Childbirth Classes
Attending a childbirth class is a great idea for an expecting mother whether it’s her first child or third. It’s a great place to learn about your birthing facility, what pain management options you have and other optional procedures like cord blood banking. Knowing your facility can make you feel more comfortable about delivery day being able to visualize where you’ll be during labor. Your choice of pain management, whether it’s natural or medicated, is up to personal preference barring any medical needs. Outline what you’re comfortable with in a birth plan for your medical team. Optional procedures, like cord blood banking, are good to learn about and consider for the future health of your child. Cord blood banking is where the umbilical cord blood is collected to be saved and potentially used in the future to treat certain medical conditions. This is something that should be discussed and planned ahead for with your doctor.

Pack a Bag
Packing for your hospital stay a few weeks before your delivery is a good idea to do. Packing is easy; loose, comfortable clothes for mom, slippers, toiletries, and outfit to come home in and of course a cute outfit to bring baby home in, and anything else to keep yourself comfortable during your hospital stay. Having copies of all of your medical information and birthing plan is a great idea to put in there as well. If you have things that need to be grabbed last minute, like a camera and your phone charger, keep a list in an accessible place so you don’t forget anything.

Finally, moms need to remember that childbirth is a natural process so mental preparation is just as important as physical prep. When delivery day comes, you’ll be able to go into the delivery room with confidence and excitement as you welcome your new family member.

This article was written by Alan Cassidy, an active writer within the blogging community covering maternity and childbirth, and always advocating for infant and children’s health. Connect with him on Twitter @ACassidy22

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Anthropology of the Due Date - A Guest Post

Are you or someone you know expecting a new addition to your family?  I'm so excited to share the following wonderful guest post from Shawn A. Tassone, M.D. author of “Hands Off My Belly! The Pregnant Woman’s Guide to Surviving Myths, Mothers, and Moods” – Mom’s Choice Gold Recipient and Arizona Book Publisher’s Glyph Award Winner.

So much mysticism and mythology surrounds the pregnancy due date. Much of the mysticism is held by physicians who hold on to the old ways of determining when a pregnant woman will deliver. Believe me, most physicians would love a way to determine the due date so we could plan our lives around the deliveries of our patients, but the truth is only 1-2% of women will actually deliver on their due date. So what determines a due date, and what is the difference between EDC (estimated date of confinement) and EDD (estimated date of delivery) and what the heck is Naegele’s Rule. This post will help show the origins of the due date and how we are currently using a system that is about 250 years old.


Franz Karl Naegele (1778-1851) was the German obstetrician who initially came up with the rule to determine a woman’s due date based on her last menstrual period (LMP). There are many ways to calculate Naegele’s Rule. I use the system where you take the LMP, add 7 days, and subtract three months. So if your LMP was April 1, 2009 then your due date would be January 8, 2010. You can impress your friends at parties with this maneuver. There are problems with Naegele’s Rule and many people have pointed out that this 250 year old method is no longer appropriate for our advanced age. What are some of the potential errors with calculating the EDC in this method?

It assumes that you are having a regular period and that you ovulate on day 14 of your cycle. I am a gynecologist and there are many women out there that have irregular cycles that ovulate on day 20, 25, 12, 15….you get my point. This obviously would add potential error to the EDC determination and could change things by days to weeks.

There is another assumption that the routine pregnancy is 280 days long and that is based on our current calendar system. The problem with this is that there are many months that contain 30 days or 31 days and what happens in a leap year, or if you are not pregnant over the shorter month of February. The point is that there is a movement out there that is trying to say that the number should be 288 days and that we are inducing women that have premature babies. A study done in 1990 stated that the proper method for determining a due date was to take the LMP, count back three months and add fifteen days for a primiparous (first pregnancy) woman or 10 days for a multiparous (subsequent births) woman. This was published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

There are many that argue this method of calculating the EDC is as archaic as the term EDC itself. Lending to the agrarian societies from whence it came, the EDC literally came from the fact that a woman was confined to her bed for the last part of her pregnancy to prevent preterm labor. While we still prescribe bedrest today as a possible therapy for preterm labor it does seem odd that the medical establishment uses terminology from the 1700’s.

The due date is as individual as the pregnant mother. While the EDC is currently calculated by Naegele’s Rule this does seem a bit archaic and inefficient; especially if we are using this dating method to determine inductions and postdatism. There have been other methods with increased accuracy but they require a woman to measure body temperatures and be move involved in her own self-care. Many reading this article are very involved with birth and feel as though self-care is very important, but there are many women out there that simply choose not to be observant of their own cycle. So, what do we “do” with the “due”. Unfortunately, I think we will keep going with the current system and back it up with ultrasounds which are accurate within 5 days if done in the first trimester.

Approximately 3% of so-called term births (occuring after 37 weeks) are completed with fetal lung immaturity and this could be because the baby may have been between 35-37 weeks and not term.

Are we too involved in the birthing process? Are there better ways to determine the pregnant due date or should we not worry about and just let man/woman be born in his own time. The latin word natura gives rise to the word natural and means “to be born”. Maybe we should just leave well enough alone.

For more information go to http://www.handsoffmybellyguide.com/

Hands Off My Belly! The Pregnant Woman’s Survival Guide to Myths, Mothers, and Moods is for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and at most brick and mortar stores.

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