Weighty Matters

First off, thank you for your support yesterday. I felt kind of bad blogging about weight gain. I mean, really? Weight gain? Have I come that far that I am going to go on about something so completely irrelevant?

I guess the answer is yes (but I still feel whiny about it). Part of the problem is (was) that I hadn't been gaining a lot of weight up to this point. If it had been the steady, one-pound per week gain that is quoted in all of my pregnancy books, then perhaps it wouldn't have knocked the wind out of my sails. Each time I have been in, I have not looked forward to my meeting with The Scale, but each time, the nurse has smiled as she wrote down the number and assured me that I am doing great with the gain. In fact, last time, they even encouraged me to add some more fat into my diet, since I had gained so little.

Yesterday, after weighing me, there was no smile. Instead, she wrote the number down and asked if my eating habits had changed dramatically in the past month. Then, she told me that while overall, my weight gain is good, this past month's eight pound jump is not okay.

The thing is that I don't feel as if I have been eating that much differently than at any other time during my pregnancy (first trimester excluded when I couldn't eat at all). My appetite has increased lately, but I am eating really healthy stuff. My current craving is fruit, namely mangoes and watermelon. I have had to throw an extra snack in during the afternoon, but I usually do a yogurt or granola bar.

So, I am obviously not wanting to repeat another such increase at next month's weigh in. And not purely for superficial reasons, either. I don't want an unhealthy weight gain to negatively affect the baby's health. But in reviewing my habits of the past month, I really don't know what to change. I tried taking out the afternoon snack yesterday, and then I was so hungry, I ate more than usual at dinnertime.

My husband and I have been more active lately, with the weather getting nicer. We are getting out with the dogs, walking, taking them to dog park, etc. I walk a fair amount for work and now that the fainting seem to be a thing of the past, I choose the stairs instead of the elevator. Still, I could probably put more activity into my schedule.

Has anyone else faced this issue? How have you handled increased appetite and weight gain? Have you had a jump one month only to return to "normal" gain the next?