Preparing for Pregnancy: Nutrition (Part 2)

While NaturalGuy and I work on re-jiggering how to cook and eat (see Part 1), we've paid special attention to how what we eat will effect fertility and pregnancy. We recently read "Be Fruitful," by Victoria Maizes, MD. "Be Fruitful" is written with couples who are not yet pregnant in mind. Dr. Maizes recommends that couples protect their fertility through healthy living, well in advance of planning to have children. She explains what dietary changes typically improve fertility, what lifestyle changes couples can make prior to trying to conceive, and other preventative medicine tips. She also discusses conventional and alternative approaches to treating infertility.

Pros: 
I thought the chapters on diet were sensible and helpful. The chapters on environmental hazards and pollution were informative and helpful, without being alarmist.

Cons:

Preparing for Pregnancy: Nutrition (Part 1)

NaturalGuy and I have been focusing on "family planning" in its broadest meaning lately. We've combined our finances and set up a plan to save for our new family's future expenses. We've reconnected with old friends and expanded our social network. And, after eating and eating and eating for the pre-wedding, wedding, and honeymoon, we're finally getting back to normal eating.

I've also had more time to read and cook since the wedding (not working helps!). Before the wedding planning got crazy I'd been working through some of NaturalGuy's family recipes.  We come from very different ethnic backgrounds, so the recipes include a lot of unfamiliar ingredients. NaturalGuy is the expert on how the dishes should taste and a great cook, but he hasn't learned to cook all the dishes either, so we've both been figuring the recipes out - often with some help from my mother-in-law :)

Married!!!

NaturalGuy and I got married on March 14th!!! The wedding was beautiful, and the honeymoon was very relaxing. We've been back to normal life for a few days now - although it's not quite normal to me because I quit my job before the wedding (unbearable boss!) and I'm now looking for another job while unpacking NaturalGuy's boxes and trying to make our tiny apartment fit 2 people :) I haven't even managed much reading! Hopefully I will get back to posting regularly later this week.

Interesting articles

I've been incredibly busy with last minute wedding details, but in the empty moments, I've managed to squeeze in some reading. Two especially interesting articles, about changing recommendations for childbirth that recognize that many women have long, but healthy labors, and a critique of the pill.

Long cycles and honeymoon :)

I'm on day 3 of a new cycle. The last cycle was 73 days, probably because of stress. I'm getting very excited for the wedding and honeymoon! It looks like we'll be in the fertile window for the honeymoon - to be more accurate, we'll be 7+ days before when I normally ovulate, so we suspect I won't be fertile, but don't want to test our luck. We'll be bringing condoms, but still avoiding sex altogether during the time we'd predict top fertility. (One more reason we're bad Catholics, but we're really only concerned about avoiding abortifacients, we're happy to enough.)

Anyway, probably won't be online very much for the next 2 weeks!

5 Benefits to Natural Family Planning Before Marriage

1. We've gotten very comfortable discussing the human body. After discussing the consistency and color of my cervical mucus, not much else is "too gross" to talk about.
2. We've been extra-motivated to get our financial lives in order. We've paid off student debt, saved significant amounts, and, after the wedding (aka "the money drain") is over, we're on track to live off one of our incomes, while putting the rest away for savings.