Protein and My Growing Belly

Day: 27 28+4

No matter how much I try to eat chicken and turkey, I am still not sure if I am meeting the goal of 100g a day of protein (301/2 oz meat = 30g of protein).

Dr. Gil advised me to double the intake of protein after he checked my food log last week. I gained 6.8 lbs three days after following his advice, having at least 2 eggs a day, and eating more yogurt and drinking rice milk. I have also been trying very hard to be creative to cook chicken and turkey: chicken gumbo, chicken shawarma, grilled chicken salad – you name it! Last night I made my first Buffalo wings, it was yummy but I had the worst pain on top of the left side of uterus last night. Audrey, the midwife thinks the babies are taking over my body and Dr. Gil thinks they are growing as well. But I woke up couple of times at night and couldn’t go right back to sleep because of it, and propping up my position seemed to relieve the pain a bit, still it’s getting hard.

Today Michael and I went to Asian Aroma and I noticed the size of my belly is bigger than yesterday, I can actually place a bowl on it, LOL! We stopped by Dr. Gil’s office and got some extra whey protein, PaleoMeal is the best protein formulation out there – using minimal processing of the grass-fed cow milk, free from any pesticides, chemicals, antibiotics, growth hormone and GMO (genetically modified organisms), I tried this as the new addition to my all-in-one smoothies, and it tastes great.

The goal for us, is to reach full 36 weeks of gestation, and hopefully at least the first baby is head down (40% in twins both are vertex, and 40% first one is vertex, so 80% is pretty promising), these are the minimum requirements for an attempt on vaginal delivery. Protein is the building block to ensure at least the boys don’t need to fight for nutrition, and I am not sure walking is helping the expansion of the uterus but inevitably the space will be tight for them no matter how big my belly can stretch. Another motivation of carrying them close to full term (38 weeks for twins is considered full-term) is the great benefits to go through labor even if I end up with a vaginal delivery with the first one, and C-section with the second one. These benefits are:

• Labor may clear the infants’ lungs and increase surfactant to promote normal breathing.
• Labor may encourage a stronger blood supply to the heart and brain.
• Labor may facilitate bonding between mother and child during the first hour of life because of the increased alertness of the infant.
• The mom’s uterus might be less susceptible to excessive postpartum bleeding because it performed its natural function prior to the surgery.

This is an excerpt from a book called “Preparing for Multiples The Family Way” by Cindy Carter, Jeanne Green and Debby Amis. I received this book yesterday for preparation of the multiples class starting April 15th. And I was surprised how good it is!