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Old Tue, Oct-08-13, 17:40
KristyRusi's Avatar
KristyRusi KristyRusi is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 292
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 251.9/179.8/160 Female 5'6 inches
BF:43%/40%/31%/28.8%
Progress: 78%
Location: Troy, Alabama
Default Low Carb and Pregnancy? Need Advice (TMI)

So after 7 years of trying to get pregnant, back in may i had my first pregnancy of my life at age 30. It ended in a pretty physically brutal miscarrage but at least a good sign that something about eating low carb and losing weight had helped me conceive.

I just found out 2 and a half weeks ago, i'm once again pregnant (about 6 1/2 weeks) but i do not have my first ob/gyn appointment to confirm with a bloodtest until 2 weeks from now and i'm just a complete wreck.

My first question is about eating Low Carb. As soon as i found out i started upping my carbs (as low carb google searches suggested) but i did it in the form of fruits and veggies. (i'm now around 50-60 carbs a day) i have not gained nor lost a lb in the past 2 1/2 weeks of adding carbs, and i'm still taking my usual 1 a day vitamins + magnesium 200mg, + vitamin D3 4000iud, and 3x a week i take a 250mg capsule of Omega 3 (since they say its good for brain development). Have any of you maintained a low carb diet while pregnant and was there any complications?
My biggest fears are a.) that i'm starving my baby of something it needs or b.) changing back to a "non low-carb" lifestyle will screw me up back to the way i was before the diet and my body will no longer be able to get or stay pregnant.
The scariest thing is not knowing "what about this way of eating fixed my reproductive problems?" It could have been the weight, it could have been a vitamin deficiency, it could have been an allergy to wheat it could be so many things and there's no way to know.

My second concern is how to separate dietary symptoms from pregnancy symptoms?
Since finding out i was pregnant i have had the worst constipation of my life. I've literally (TMI) had to "DIG" feceis out of me while crying on the toilet. And this is after taking a stool softener (which is all i can take) every day for a week 1/2. I had bad constipation before pregnancy and i've upped my water because i'm ALWAYS thirsty and my mouth is constantly dry. I probably drink 2 gallons a day minimum. I've cut back from 2-3 mugs of coffee a day to only 200ml of anything with caffine in it a day. I'm eating the same foods i ate before but MORE fiber, so it makes no since. (fruits and veggies being more fiberous). Also, i've started (for the first time ever) getting leg cramps. I never suffered from this when i was low carbing before but i did get bad atkins flu, but now i am getting foot twitches and leg cramps daily.

Finally my last question is more for mothers than just low carbers, is a sudden loss of pregnancy symptoms something to worry about?
My constant symptoms have been EXTREME exhaustion. I sleep about 14-16 hours a day (before pregnancy i had SEVERE insomnia sleeping about 6 hours every 2 days) and constipation. Those 2 have never stopped, but at weeks 3-4 of pregnancy i had heartburn, gas, extremely sore breasts, itchy nipples, cramping on and around my ovaries, and a sensitivity to smell (but never once had any nausea/vomiting that could be discribed as "morning sickness").
All those symptoms have gone except the sleeping and constipation. My nipples are slightly more sensitive, but barely noticable, and evvvery once in a while i'll get a little tug in my stomach but that's it.
Mentally never having a sucessful pregnancy i'm flipping out while waiting on my appointment. I just fear the worst, and worry that i'm hurting my baby by not feeding it this or that or that i'm not getting the right nutrition but on the flip side i worry that if i change what got me pregnant in the first place it could also hurt the baby.
I know that low-carb can really help a mal-functioning thyroid and if low-carb helped my thyroid function, if i stop, it can starve the baby of t3 and t4 and i will miscarry again. I'm just so emotional (maybe that's a symptom lol) i spend 1/2 the day trying not to webMD myself into a craze and crying because i "don't FEEL pregnant".

Anyone else's experiences are welcome. Thanks guys i just really needed a little support!
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