my guilty/not guilty mum-to-be thread

[Spl0ink]

Hello there!

I'm 24 weeks and think I'm sort of getting the hang of what should be cut out completely (wine; love you; thanks for the good times; bye), what can be dabbled with (oh this appears to be goats cheese in my salad... just this once?? pretty please???) and what activities may set off the bad momma alarm somewhere in the cosmos but frankly, I don't care anymore.

So in the spirit of that, here are a couple of things that I've read I shouldn't do, and goddammit, I'm going to do them.

Go to concerts

Last night I went to see Elbow. It was REALLY LOUD. I spent much of the night sitting with a jumper folded across my stomach and my arms pressed protectively across that. Son-to-be reacted to this tremendous rumpus by leaping about the most I have ever felt him, proper arms and legs pumping on all sides. Part of me was thinking 'eeep, sorry little friend!' but part of me was thinking, 'oh my god, I love this song, and I'm a grown woman and I'm awake and out of the house with other adults at 10pm, yayayayayay!'

Drink caffeine

So I got home at midnight. And now I'm at work. My eyes are the colour of Malteasers packets and my brain has the texture of tepid rice pudding. Today, I will probably drink three cups of tea. My heartbeat will be artificially raised by the caffeine and my blood flow restricted. I shall counter both of these concerns by raising my heartbeat and bloodflow naturally, by going for a walk at lunchtime, BECAUSE I WILL NOT BE ASLEEP WITH MY FACE IN MY SOUP.

Take that cosmos! Would you like to share your guilty/not guilty activities with me?

Absolutely nothing Sue! I got a lecture on giving the baby peanut allergies. Load of rubbish.

With regards to food poisoning risks internationally remember these take into account the legal fridge temperature, factories, best before date systems, prevalent germs, weather etc of the country. It's not as simple as "well its banned in X country so it's not ok" or "it's ok in y country so it is ok".

The detailed foods list from nhs choices (the one where you can click on various foods and get detailed info, with Q&A forum underneath) is the most complete guide for the UK.

There has been too much talk about runny eggs. I thought I'd show everyone my 2nd breakfast

They used to think that eating peanuts in pregnancy would raise the baby's risk of peanut allergies. Now they don't think that's true.

All this talk about runny eggs has made me very hungry :)

I've already done 4 days skiing (at 5 weeks) and have a week booked soon (will be 8 weeks). After the first mornings worry, it was really good fun. I didn't go crazy, stuck to easy runs and no off piste (despite perfect conditions!)

I found the most difficult thing was eating in France - almost everything is cheese I can't eat, raw or cured meat or pate! It was much better once I realised cheese was fine as long as cooked! That and not drinking - hiding it on a group trip was difficult. Was dead pleased that I managed to get away with lots of 'vodka' cokes (ordered by dh) until I realised I'd overdosed on caffeine - whoops.

Keep some food in your pockets to keep you going - you never know when you might need a kitkat and enjoy the fresh mountain air!!

Oh and I'm still looking after and riding my two horses - am I a bad person?

Ok, this is probably a silly question but I am wondering if toxoplasmosis rules apply to lamb the same way they apply to beef? We keep talking about pink steaks here all the time but what about lamb? My common sense tells me it is all the same no matter what kind of meat but wondering if risk is lower in lamb? And a fews day ago I was thinking of cooking the duck breasts I have in the freezer and faced the same dilemma. Any insight?

Going for a bday dinner at a steakhouse tomorrow and rather not eat steak at all if I cant have it medium. So wondering if a medium-well rack of lamb would be any better or if I really have to go for fish?! #firstworldproblems

Lamb is higher risk than beef

Yesterday I ate one cupcake, three cookies and a margarita pizza as well as drinking a 500ml bottle of coke, and actually I feel pretty disgusted with myself.

Today: cereal, berries, salad, stir fries. And a hearty walk around the block. Maybe.

Minijo, at this early stage the baby is tiny and well protected by the pelvis so no need to worry. Plenty of people ride in pregnancy! However I spent 4 years, 4 rounds of IVF, and a lot of money getting to this stage, so I decided it wasn't worth any risk of falling off. My horse is also 5 so not entirely reliable . Also, the early stages for me coincided with the worst of the winter weather, which helped with the decision. I'm bored rigid though. I am also still doing all the care, which includes lifting buckets of poo and lots of water, especially when the troughs all froze. I reckon that's fine, because I do it all the time so am strong enough to continue.

I've not changed anything! I just don't smoke or drink but diet wise I'm ignoring all the advice!

I even sleep on my back

Letmeeatcakecakecake How far along are you? I was sleeping on my back until fairly recently but I actually can't now - not only does it hurt to lie like that but as soon as I get out of bed in the morning I start passing out; I can feel the lack of blood circulating round my system and it is HORRIBLE, like the power is shutting off.

Can I just thank whoever started this thread - it does wonders for my OCD seeing what everyone gets up to and how crazy strict I am in comparison. Really hope I get to be pg again and can enjoy it a bit more!!

Yes, that's disgusting sploink. Definitely go for 4 cheese next time .

i dont have a clue what the situation is with coke? i lovvveee it. switched to diet now pg thinking it makes a difference, anyone know if it does?

i dont drink tea or coffee and am talking one can most days maybe a little more at wkend.

lamb and beef, i havent seen anything about those. is that just if theyre pink? i feel like a really bad mam to be now ha

It's the caffiene in coke and diet coke that's the problem gingerbreadmam. You can get caffiene free diet coke - that's what I've switched to.

oh so if im not going over my caffeine levels i may aswel have been drinking full fat coke? well if i am going to carry this habit on that is good to know

is the green coke the caffeine free one? the gold one used to be didnt it?

It's gold. The green one is Coke Life - I have no idea what that's about.

ginger I'd stick with full fat coke as the diet / coke zero is stuffed full of aspartame. Don't think there's any adverse proven side effects of sugar substitute for pregnancy but there's a lot of backlash about it's impact on health in general

The green one is sweetened with something like agave or stevia

ahh thanks. i just googled and coca cola actually have the info on there

heres link if anyone cares

www.coca-cola.co.uk/health/caffeine-counter.html

normal cokes actually better than diet that has cheered me up!