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My Modern Pregnancy, or A Nine Month Bout with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

March 30, 2010 by sue campbell

The title of this post is a bit misleading.  It was actually more like twelve months.  When we started trying to get pregnant, I began taking pre-natal vitamins and avoiding microwaves and deli meats.  I read every book on pregnancy and followed virtually every recommendation, from abstaining from over-the-counter medications to sleeping on my left side.  If I knowingly went against a recommendation, I not only felt guilty but also worried myself sick over the possible birth defects I could be causing.  In my first trimester, I took a Gas-X to prevent what felt like an alien trying to explode from my lower abdomen.  With the level of guilt I felt, it may as well have been high-ball.

I took gestation seriously.  I remember going out to lunch with a co-worker (and mother of two) and telling her we couldn’t go to a deli because I couldn’t eat cold cuts.  (Listeria, you know.)  She looked at me like I was wearing Kleenex boxes on my feet.  I remember walking with another co-worker downtown and scolding him for trying to cross against a light with a pregnant lady in tow.  I’m certain I was insufferable. 

I’m not sorry for being careful, but with all the hormones coursing through my body, an unfortunate side effect of being this diligent was that I blamed myself for any complication that arose.  At twenty-eight weeks, I took the obligatory glucose tolerance test.  I got a call that I’d need to take it again.  The second test came back with border-line results so I took it a third time.  I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  Ridiculously, I was devasted.  Clearly, I was to blame for endangering my baby with a high birth weight.  I cried in self-recrimination — even after reading that the cause is simply hormonal.  I followed the guidelines laid out by my nutrionist to the letter, but my blood glucose levels were still too high.  I flogged myself when I had to go on medication. 

Looking back, I can see how needlessly obsessive I was.  But could I have helped it?  Probably not.  Hormones will have their way with you and there’s no telling how they will manifest themselves.  My husband once took a course of steriods to reduce some inflammation in his back and became a raging lunatic for four days.  I took the opportunity of explaining that he was experiencing something akin to PMS.  A cartoon lightbulb appeared above his head.  And PMS has nothing on pregnancy.  I should just be thankful the hormones didn’t give me the urge to go play in cat poop.  (Toxoplasmosis, you know.)

What guidelines did you follow (or not) while pregnant?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: diabetes, emotions, pregnancy

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What kind of blog is this?

This is a blog for PARENTS. True, the writer, Sue Campbell, writes books for kids. But this blog is for grown-ups. It has some swearing and would be super boring for kids. Except for the swearing.

The PODCAST is for KIDS and PARENTS. In fact, my twelve-year-old daughter is my co-host.

If your kids like Sue's books, send them over to suecampbellbooks.com where there's some kid-friendly content. EVEN BETTER, join the mailing list. You get stuff for grown-ups and printable stuff for kids. And sometimes there will be super ill-advised giveaways or coloring contests for free books.

MORE ABOUT SUE: She makes an ACTUAL LIVING from writing words and marketing books and lives with her husband, two daughters, six chickens and one messy house rabbit in Portland, Oregon. And yes, Portland IS that weird. She really couldn't be any luckier.

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