And as of this morning, to all the naysayers who say that caffeine is bad for you during pregnancy, I say blergh.
When I found out I was pregnant, I ceased my morning coffee, and coincidentally absolutely ceased to be productive during the day. At all. After feeding Ryan breakfast, packing him lunch, making him coffee and sending him off to work at 6:15 am, I would go back to bed. Wake up when Baby woke up, nurse her in bed while dozing for, oh, an hour. Trudge out to the kitchen, make breakfast for us. Eat at leisure. Put on boots and go garden, lament that it was only going to be shady for 30 more minutes. Get one row weeded, trudge back inside. Put baby to nap, sleep. Wake up when she woke up, trudge into the kitchen to eat some lunch. Finally, at about 1:30, think about the fact that I should clean a little, or maybe work on the book. Simultaneously realize that I haven't made bread or thought about what's for dinner. Make bread, spend 30 minutes thinking about what's for dinner. Decide to make spaghetti and therefore not to worry about it for 4 more hours. Put baby down for afternoon nap; fail at self-discipline and lay down anyway. Have finally swept the floor by the time Ryan comes home. Have to admit to him that in 10 hours I've only weeded one row and swept the floor because I'M JUST SO DARN TIRED.
So last night I admitted to him that I just can't do this healthy thing anymore. Unless, that is, he's happy to have a wife who sleeps all day. He said, "well, then drink coffee!" (This is the same man who tried to forbid me any caffeine whatsoever when I was pregnant with Heidi. Tried. For our own good, of course.) And this morning, I had two cups of blessed blessed coffee.
Which means I weeded almost all of the watermelons AND the radishes AND the turnips. And trellised the peas. And weeded the one canteloupe plant that I had forgotten to put straw around. And picked all the dangerously fungus-y looking leaves off the raspberries. And ate three blueberries and one absolutely perfect strawberry.
I was going to bring it up to the house to take a picture of it, because it was perfect. And then I smelled it. I couldn't help myself. It was deep bright red and shiny, small and round and just ripe enough to have the seeds fall off in little squishy patches when you squeezed it. And it was SWEET AND DELICIOUS.
All before baby's naptime. She played on a big fuzzy blanket out in the shady part of the garden, and then got bored, whined a bit and fell asleep. To be quite honest, I wouldn't have done so much out in the garden if she hadn't fallen asleep, but once she was asleep I thought it a shame to wake her up to bring her inside. She also learned that weeds are itchy when you crawl off your blanket onto them, and that dew is chilly. She has some little red bumps and lines on her skin from the grass. And you know what? I'm ok with that. I'm working so very hard at overcoming my hyperprotective instincts.
I might join Heidi for nap #2 this afternoon. In fact, I hope to. I'm gestating; I'm entitled. But oh my goodness, my life is so much happier this morning for being caffeinated. If anybody knows how to be coffee-energetic on only water, I'm willing to listen. In the meantime, though, natural health and responsibility are far less important to me than feeling human.
I drank tons of espresso when I was pregnant because I worked at Starbucks. I think the limit is 300 mg a day which is 4 one ounce shots. And that's about two cups of brewed coffee which has about 15-20 mg per ounce (depending on regular drip vs french press). I think that this is fine and healthy and necessary and I occasionally drank more than 300! Congratulations on the new addition!! Praying for you!
ReplyDeleteKatie Cosgrove
Hey, Katie! Thanks for making me feel better. Dr. Mercola says to have NO caffeine during pregnancy at all. I say, Dr. Mercola doesn't have an 8 month old to keep up with, isn't starting a homestead, and gets to take all the mega-awesome-seaweed-and-just-the-right-kind-of-fish-oil supplements that he sells on his website. Me, I'm stuck with OTC prenatal vitamins, and they don't quite give enough of a boost to make up for coffee.
ReplyDeleteCONGRATULATIONS!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth has been drinking coffee throughout her pregnancy. The doctors at the practice she's going to told her she'd have to drink a pot of coffee a day to do any damage to the baby, so we're keeping it to one or two cups per day. ;)