I'm Drowning!

Pregnancy comes with a lot of challenges.  Some deal with nausea, being lethargic, moodiness, stretch marks, swelling, cravings, insomnia, and sleeping too much.  All deal with the inevitable, weight gain.  Each woman is different when it comes to gaining weight.  According to the "experts" the ideal weight gain is 25-30 pounds.  Every woman's anatomy is different, so not all will gain the same amount. 

With me being so petite, I figured my doctor would tell me to gain close to 20 pounds, but I was wrong.  She said that she wouldn't get on to me if I gained up to 40 pounds.  40 pounds?!?  This woman has to be INSANE!  Note, before I became pregnant, I weighed 95 pounds, at 5 foot.  I know 130 may be the ideal weight for some women, but not for a petite person like me.  At 31 weeks, I have only gained 15 pounds, which isn't bad, considering I have a little one growing inside of me.

When I was told that I would be on moderate bed rest, my doctor told me to increase my fluid intake.  Fluids such as juice, tea, or Pepsi doesn't count.  Fluid means water, and only water.  Of course I could spice things up a bit and drink Koolaid, but that's it.  I was told to drink a gallon of water at 22 weeks pregnant.  As hard as that was to master, I did my very best.  With moderate bed rest and contractions still not under control, she increased my daily intake of water to two gallons. Yep, two whole gallons of water per day.  A gallon of water weighs 8.3454 pounds.  Multiply that by two, that's 16.6908 pounds of fluid intake per day.  Multiply nearly 17 pounds of water intake by 12 weeks, that's 1404.0272 pounds of water intake for the remainder of my pregnancy.  No wonder my doctor said 40 pounds was okay, heck, I'm to consume more than a thousand pounds of liquid in 12 weeks! How am I supposed to be on moderate bed rest when I dash to the restroom every three minutes? 

I'll be honest, I cannot drink two gallons of water a day.  The best I can do is a gallon and a half.  Go ahead, try and see if you can do it.  I dare ya!  When this little boy is born, bye-bye water, hello the good stuff!