Fun developmental things? From what I can gather, Baby has a rapidly developing nervous system, as well as a newly formed vernix caseosa. Within the next few weeks, I should be able to distinguish Baby's heartbeat with my stethoscope. On a somewhat related note, I have a hard time trusting "cutesy" medical information; does anyone know of an HonCode certified pregnancy week by week resource?
Pregnancy Pet Peeve? Pregnancy Paranoia, especially as it relates to diet. I got an email this week from a respected pregnancy/baby source titled "Fourth of July foods to avoid during pregnancy." The list made me laugh, as it included these items
- ready to eat foods- as they could be contaminated with listeria
- hot dogs and luncheon meat- same reason
- soft cheeses- same
- burgers and other grilled meat- risk for E. coli if undercooked
- ice cream- risk for salmonella if containing raw eggs
The risk of listeria (even in pregnancy) is ridiculously small. Also, most packaged lunch meats contain added food-safe antimicrobials to reduce the risk of listeria even further. Soft cheese "risks" are overblown as, per US law since the 1940s, soft cheeses cannot be sold in the United States unless pasteurized, which kills the bacteria. All undercooked meats pose a risk for E. coli; that's just common sense. And ice cream, even with raw eggs, is fine as long as the eggs are pasteurized.
As a pregnant woman, I'm at a MUCH higher risk for issues like gestational diabetes, venous thromboemboli, preeclampsia. Why not send me articles addressing prevention of these issues instead of making me feel bad about eating a turkey sandwich?
Upcoming fun things? Our anatomy scan is next week, so we'll get to confirm Baby's gender and hopefully see that Baby is growing and developing appropriately. Assuming all is well with Baby at that scan, we will register with the pediatrician we've picked out.
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