Midwife extreme or sensible?

[willowwisp]

We had a few surprises during our first midwife appointment and they have been playing on my mind a bit. What do you guys think?

My midwife has banned me from:

1. Gardening because next door have cats. I LOVE gardening and I have veg and what not growing, I will admit that we battle with next doors cats digging up and crapping in our plants, but I have solved the problem with lots of pointy canes in our beds and I always wear gardening gloves.

2. Cycling. After asking whether I cycled and hearing me reply no, (I don't even have a bike) I got a lecture on how dangerous it is to cycle whilst pregnant, even in the early stages. Apparently the same goes for high impact type gym stuff?

3. Eating chocolate or anything with any source of caffeine in it. Baring in mind I'd already told her I don't drink coffee and I'm a vegan, so I have a small amount of raw vegan chocolate, but it's a once a week event not daily. I even have very low blood pressure, so it's not like I'd have a dangerous reaction to a small amount of occasional caffeine.

4. Eating vegan pate, even home made, because it has 'raw' ingredients. Most of what I eat is raw, it's all nuts/seeds/fruit/veg, there are no meats or animal products at all. There isn't anything in it that I don't eat in anything else either?

I'm not sure how much of this is sensible advice and how much of it is rather extreme? Looking at threads on here lots of people seem to go to the gym, eat chocolate and just basically get on with life and are just fine? She came across as pushy and bossy and when I tried to ask questions to clear things up I got the 'I know FAR more about all this than you do' cut off line so I didn't get the answers (specifically to the food questions) that I wanted.

 

[jojo3972]

i woulda thought gardening is fine as long as u wear gloves and wash hands after it be fine and as for cycling i guess its a risk if u fall off but its personal preference and i do love my coffee i admit that and i ahve cut down to 3 max 4 a day but i dont have it strong lol i dont know about the pate sorry xxxx

 

[Jayjay027]

She seems old school lol. All that seems a bit extreme to me.

Although at least she's hands on. My mw is so scatty!! Every time I go for an appt she tells me I look familiar and asks if we've met before lol x

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[Leah04x]

In my opinion, all of that seems very extreme! As for the gardening, I'm sure as long as you wear gloves and don't go near any cat mess, it will be fine. The only danger I can see with cycling is, as Jojo said, falling off.. Other than that, light exercise is good for you and your baby. As for the caffeine intake, obviously there are guidelines which outline how much caffeine you should be consuming on a daily basis. I have been craving chocolate and coca cola most of the way through my pregnancy, I'm now 23 weeks pregnant and my LO is perfectly healthy! xx

 

[kaz1983]

My mw never said anything to me like that. I mean we dont have a garden anyway and cycling isnt me but I would have thought as long as you were careful and took it easy cycling would be ok.

Pate I would kill for right now not sure on the veggie pate what the deal with that is sorry

Not really a big chocolate fan but I have tried to cut my fizzy juice intake down or switched to caffeine free drinks cos i feel i still need a fix every day xx

 

[jmw1664]

Wow seems a bit extreme! I know pate full stop is meant to be avoided can't remember the exact reason why now lol but that's one thing I've avoided from the start and everything else that you eat raw or cooked, as long as it's washed thoroughly and/or cooked thoroughly I can't see any real probs! Have a look online anyhow to see what other Vegans do or how they cope if there really is that much to worry about.
As for the cycling and gardening...what a pile of shit! Excuse my French. Cycling lightly will be excellent for you throughout pregnancy if your up to it and gardening, well we all have some common sense...I doubt you'll be rolling around in the mud or even cat poo if you did come across any lol
We have enough things to worry about during pregnancy I don't see why your MD has scared you with these things that way :S
ps I can't get enough of chocolate and a glass of coke throughout this last month and I'm fine!

 

[willowwisp]

Thanks girls, that's made me feel much better! I make my pate, the ingredients are sun-dried tomatoes, cashew nuts, pinch of sea salt, juice of half a lemon, splash of hemp oil and some fresh basil leaves. I just mix it up and go! It's always fresh.

I think I might try and see another MW next time, I'm under consultant care so with a bit of luck I won't have to see her again!

 

[Karate Kid]

The 'advice' does seem extreem!! I love my veg patch and the only reason I am not tending to it is because my mum and my hubby have grouped together and banned me because they don't want me over doing it!

Light exercise is fine, I agree that intense work outs are not advisable but I have heard of ladies still doing high intensity work outs.... I am a black belt in karate and I was a gym bunny but I backed of big time in Tri 1 because I was worried and I have not returned, I am just sticking to walking and antenatal yoga.

The chocolate thing is surley her version of a joke right? I don't eat chocolate because I am allergic to cocoa but my SIL had massive cravings for it through both her pregnancies and ate quite a bit.... both LO's are perfect (biased aunty!)

Not sure about the Vegan Pate but Pate is a no go because of the high vitamin A content....your Pate sounds yummy.... I may try to make it!!
xx

 

[dyscochick]

seems very extreme to me, I'm still cycling, the risk is me falling off, prob won't in the later stages and it knackers me out but i'm i'll keep going while i can. Gardening is fine you know the risks so just be aware, the pate shouldn't be a problem with those ingredients, its vitA content and risk of bugs but fresh stuff is fine! Exercise is fine too and intact is good for you but the high impact stuff isn't' if you aren't used to it. The main advice i've had is not to start anything you didn't do before which sounds sensible to me, and not to get too tired. I find running pulls at my belly, even at 8 weeks it doesn't like being giggled so i've stopped that and will go for yoga and walking especially when i stop cycling to work.

 

[Naomi D]

To be fair, my midwife mentioned most of what you said, tho she wasnt nearly as bossy! I was told that cycling can be bad because of the vibrations? not sure if that is right or not. I was also told that if I do any gardening to always wear gloves and wash my hands thoroughly afterwards.
I was told not to eat ANY pate, even mushroom/vegetarian which I love. Im not sure why though - I would have thought that as long as its eaten fresh and not left in the fridge for days it would be fine.
As for the caffeine, I was told to give it up or cut down, but she never mentioned chocolate - thats just silly, right!

 

[CARNAT22]

Sounds very extreme to me, my MW said to stay within the guidelines for caffeine and didn't mention cats or cycling at all.

I am a cat owner and I still change her litter tray (I scoop the pooh out everyday and change it twice a week) as long as I don't touch the pooh there is no issue so as long as you use gloves whilst gardening I can't see a problem!

xxxxxx

 

[babyem]

At least shes looking out for you and LO x

 

[Rósa]

LOL Didn't she anything about the nuts you eat?

 

[dyscochick]

I don't think limiting people from exercising or restricting their diet unnecessarily is a good thing though. There are too many old wives tales about what we can and can't do as it is, part of me thinks is irresponsible of a midwife to say stuff like that, largely based on her opinion rather than fact. I know it comes from caring, I don't doubt that, but there is plenty of misguided advice out there dished out by everyone we know. We need sensible advice.

 

[russellmuscle]

I dont do any of the above but i have since been given a leaflet that says how much caffine etc is aloud as i am guilty of drinking coke. The leaflet also says that you shouldnt clean the box due to the amonia or whatever thing thats in their toilet is toxic, I was more than happy to give the litter box duty to david haha.

I still attend my body attack class and thats high cardio workouts u burn 1000s cals but i just do the options if you already exercise and ur healthy its fine, pate i think meaty pate is the only thing ive heard not too touch im sure the veg is fine i think she was maybe being sensible but too forceful about it rather than advising lol, if you dont get on with her best to change, u can that, you dont want a pushy midwife "my way or the highway" lol goodluck! xxxx

love muscle xxx

 

[Hope81]

Pâté vegetable or not has a risk of listeria.
What I do with vegetable pate is to put it on bread and then put it in the microwave for 15 sec. Animal origin pâté should be avoided because of these high vitamin content.

 

[AugustMum]

The cycling ones a bit weird... I was cycling 3 miles to my midwife appointments at 28 weeks! The midwives never said anything about it, just that I need to make sure I drink alot to make up for it.

 

[willowwisp]

LOL Didn't she anything about the nuts you eat?

She tried, she asked what nuts i ate and when i didnt mention peanuts she did, to which i rather tartly replied that peanuts aren't nuts, their legumes! I was suffering a loss of patience at this point!

I can understand listeria re vegetarian (i.e containing egg or dairy) ready made pate, but the home made and
Instantly eaten stuff I do there is no more risk of listeria than if i made a fruit salad!

 

[Noor]

Seems a bit OTT to me....no chocolate? How dare she!! Lol.

 

[Hope81]

Oh you can eat that. She probably thought the same as me the supermarket refrigerated thing.