Big, Beautiful and Pregnant

Okay, I know that everyone has advice for pregnant women (oddly enough, even women who've never been pregnant before, go figure). But the hardest thing to handle is the criticism. I mean, do you honestly think that new expectant mothers aren't already thinking of everything that could potentially go wrong from miscarriage to birth defects to preeclampsia (sp?) to gestational diabetes and more? So my question is, why is it that just because a woman is fat AND pregnant, people assume she's not paying attention to the food she's giving her baby.

Yesterday is the first time in a long time that I sat down and ate some chips. It was a whirlwind lunch with no time to get anything and Doritos looked great. So I had some. Along with a full liter of water and an apple no less, but apparently that doesn't count. A co-worker walked by and told me that the Doritos were terribly unhealthy (what? I didn't pick up the ones that had extra folic acid and vitamin B? No duh, they're not healthy but I don't see you telling SKINNY pregnant women about the nutritional information in their food choices) and she mentioned that she was sure my doctor would be talking to me about that soon. Okay, so talk about jumping to conclusions. I have a co-op mini-fridge here at work. Guess what's in it? CARROTS, GRAPES, APPLES. . . guess what's in my overhead storage? WHOLE GRAIN BREAD, PEANUT BUTTER. . . guess what I drink ALL DAY?? WATER! The fact that I may not have made the greatest eating choices prior to my pregnancy doesn't mean that I am now drinking poison on a daily basis just to see what it'll do. For crying out loud.

I am a little worked up but my thought is this. . . if you don't REALLY know the fat pregnant woman you're about to chastise. . . just walk away. Chances are, we already feel bad/scared/anxious about our weight and being pregnant, we don't need you to add to it.

By the way, I had an egg roll today (there's cabbage in there so just shut up) and am currently having some lovely Chicken Almond Ding (which is nothing but chicken, mushrooms, water chesnuts, kale, and snow peas. . . healthy enough for ya?)