The Preggie Pals
I’m Pregnant, Now What?

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

SUNNY GAULT: Hey Preggie Pals, have you listened to ‘Newbies’ yet? It’s our new podcast for postpartum moms, through babies first year. Each week you’ll her great episodes featuring experts and real moms as they explore the challenges of caring for themselves and their new baby. Subscribe on iTunes and listen on the go through our free apps.

Babies don’t come with instruction manuals. That’s why there’s Newbies, for new moms and new babies.

[Theme Music]

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: You missed you period or had other physical symptoms that had you wondering whether or not you are pregnant. Or maybe you are trying to conceive and the day arrived to take the pregnancy test. Either way the test was positive. Now what?

I’m Dr. Jan Penvose-Yi, Board Certified OB-GYN and today we’re discussing what to expect between your positive pregnancy test and first prenatal appointment. This is the Preggie Pals.

[Intro/theme Music]

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Welcome to Preggie Pals broadcasting from the Birth Education Centre of Santiago. Preggie Pals is your online, on-the-go support group for expecting parents and those hoping to become Pregnant. I’m your host Stephain Glover.

We cover topics for every phase of Pregnancy. Visit the episode guide on our website to scroll through those topics. Listen directly on your computer, through iTunes or download our free Preggie Pals app available on the android, iTunes and windows market places and be sure to check out our network app where you can listen to all your favorite New Mommy Media shows on the go.

Here’s Sunny with more information about how you can get more involved with Preggie Pals.

SUNNY GAULT: Hi, everybody. So, yes, we’ve got some great segments on the show and we would love for you guys to participate in them. So, the first one that’s really popular is our ‘Ask the Experts’ segment, and it’s where you guys can send us your pregnancy related questions and we’ve a whole team of experts that will answer these questions and then we’re going to include your question as well as their response on an upcoming episode.

And we alsohave a fun segment called ‘Pregnancy Oops’, where all the pregnant mamas share their funny pregnancy stories that have happened to them throughout their pregnancy and we all have a good laugh.

So, if you would like to submit to either of those segments, you can go to our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com today, and go to the contact link and send us an email that way. You can also reach out to us through voice mail. If you actually want to tell, you know, ask the questions yourself or tell the story yourself, leave a voice mail. That number is 619-866-4775 and again we’ll play it on an upcoming episode.

And I also want to say for those of you who listen to us on iTunes, we would love to get some more reviews, on iTunes for our podcast. That’s a great way that people find our show through iTunes and if you’ve benefited from this and, and you would like to help us out by reaching out to other pregnant mama’s and telling them about our show that would be great.

But, yeah, if you can leave us a comment on iTunes, real easy to do, we’d really appreciate it.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Awesome. Thank you, Sunny.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: So, let’s go around and introduce the Panelist. I’m going to go ahead and get started. So, again my name is Stephain Glover and I’m your host. I’m also a Chain Childbirth Educator working on my certification. I’m a mom of two. Gretchen is four and she way my ‘C’ section baby and Lydia is two and she was my V-Back. Sunny?

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, so, I have four babies of my own. My oldest just turned five and is now in kindergarten and that’s a boy. And I also have a three year old boy and he’s in preschool and then I have identical twin girls who are almost two. If I did the math about 23 months, I think, by the time this episode comes out. And so, yeah, busy, busy family, big family. Never, never thought I was going to have that many kids. It just kind of happened.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And then also, I think for the first time we have a couple joining us in this studio. And introduce yourselves.

DAVID DEVIGNE: My name is David. I’m a, not yet a parent. Trying to prep for it. We got a few months to go. I’m an insurance agent. My mom’s actually been on this spot a couple of different times and she thought it’d be a god idea for me to put in my two cents even though I, it’s entirely new and I’m really still getting used to the idea that in a couple of months I’m going to have somebody, that I’m even more responsible for than her.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Thanks. My name’s Natalie. 33. This is baby number one. I’m a teacher. We’re not going to find out the gender. So, we’re going to be surprised. Due December 3rd, so, it’ll be like a Christmas present.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Awesome.

SUNNY GAULT: You know, my twins, my twins. The ‘C’ section of my twins was scheduled for Dec 2nd and what would it have been, 2013? And I didn’t make it. Yeah, no they came on their own three weeks before then.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Oh, my goodness.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, But I appreciate the early December date. I was really hoping for December babies, too, but.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Did you beat Thanksgiving then? Did you have them before?

SUNNY GAULT: Oh! I did. They were veteran day babies.

DAVID DEVIGNE: I was two weeks early too.

SUNNY GAULT: Were you?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Yeah, yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Its ok, though, you know, at least they came when they wanted to come.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Exactly.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so, before we begin today’s show we’re going to talk about an app that I found online. It’s called ‘Lily’. Now this is actually an app that you would use before you became pregnant. But, since, our topic today is just finding out you are newly pregnant, I figured there’ll probably be a lot of people out there, that’ll listen to this episode, that may be aren’t pregnant yet. So, this may be an app that would interest you.

So, it’s free. It’s available on iOS, also iPad and iPhone and the idea is, it basically helps you track your cycles and you can track it a couple of different ways, based on general averages. So, what other people experience within the month or you can track based on your own personal symptoms.

Now, as I was setting this up, I decided to try to track it with my own symptoms and they do say that that’s a more reliable way, just because it’s more personalized for you. But it tracks a couple of different things. It tracks cervical fluid, your basal body temperature, whether or not you had intercourse that day, and if you used some sort of contraceptive when you did.

There’s information you can add about your period. So if you are currently on your period, you know, is it a light flow, medium flow, heavy flow that type of thing, what your mood is for the day and also if you took a pregnancy test and what the result of that pregnancy test was. And so, you just basically go through each day and you add in this information and then, it keeps track of it throughout the month and the nice thing is that it provides different types of graphs and things that you can look at to kind of analyze things over the course of the month and then you know over the course of the year.

As I was looking at some of the comments for this app on iTunes, I found that a lot of people have been using his for multiple years. You know it’s got some really good reviews and what I really liked about it is that, you know, in doing something like this, you learn a lot of information just about your own body. You know, because, this is small stuff that you really wouldn’t, you really might not pay attention to otherwise, but, yeah, so a lot of good information on here.

It is free but, if you want to upgrade to be able to print or share the information, or provide different reminders for yourself, all that is locked until you pay a fee and it’s 5$ and 99 cents to unlock and be able to access all of the features on the app.

So, just wanted to throw it out to you guys to see if this is something that you know, you would recommend to potential patients or clients out there or just use for yourself in the future. Stephain what do you think?

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah, actually, when I was trying for my first, we literally just guess and I’m like maybe I not ovulating and we got pregnant. So, I never had to track anything, but the second pregnancy I did, because my cycle length changed and I learned a lot more about my body and so, yeah I think that this sounds great because it can give you a snapshot, particularly if it takes a few months you might get a better idea or maybe, maybe I was missing some signs and it could be really helpful.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Oh, well, I like menstrual tracker apps. It sounds like a good one. It really helps people understand, teach them about ovulation, but this just reinforces, everything that we go over in the office and it’s a nice app that it has the, It sounds like it has multiple tools, that you can use and then the patient could decide, which, which they want to do.

Maybe they want to check their basal body temperature, but don’t want to watch her mucus changes and things like hat. So it’s kind of a neat app and I do really recommend, them a lot for most people. So, sounds good.

SUNNY GAULT: Do you have patients come in with an app and say, “Hey, look what I tracked?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yes, yes. And I love it. I find it very useful and, you know we’re discussing it earlier and it can be useful for other things outside of pregnancy. There’re other things that you can track through that. So, it’s a great tool.

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, now, Natalie, what do you, what do you think?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: It could’ve actually helped me a lot. Because I thought I knew and I, when my ovulation day was and then we ended up pregnant and I was of off on the day. It was a surprise for us. It was a good surprise.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Definitely, but we weren’t like actively trying.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

NATALIE DEVIGNE: We were just not actively preventing.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

NATALIE DEVIGNE: We were just kind of it happens, it happens, then we’ll be happy with that. If it doesn’t like for a while then we’ll start actively tracking.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Sure.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: But, now I think this would have been good, because I was a little off on my math. I was like I thought I knew and no I didn’t.

SUNNY GAULT: So, David do you think that this app could help other fathers out here, other husbands that want to track certain days of the month?

DAVID DEVIGNE: Definitely, although I’m probably the least qualified person, here to comment on a cycle tracking app. I mean, I would say it’s probably going to be more helpful for the moms especially the ones who are trying. There are sometime some small things that if they did it a little bit differently, that’ll increase their chances. And even if you’ve one baby gets more to a mom who wants them because of this app, it’s awesome.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so, we’ll put a link up on our website, if you guys want to download it and check it out.
[Theme Music]

STEPHAIN GLOVER: So, today we’re discussing what to expect between your positive pregnancy test and your first prenatal appointment. Joining us here in the studio with us Dr. Jan Penvose-Yi, Board certified OB-GYN. She practices at Radiance OB-GYN in Ocean Side. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Thanks, so much for having me, today.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: We have had you around before, so it’s great to. . .

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Very nice to be back.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Return always. So first of all you know the first thing we do obviously when we find out we’re pregnant is probably pee on that stick, so.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Absolutely!

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And, when you get that positive you are probably wondering, how accurate is it? Am I really pregnant? So, can you shed some light on the accuracy of a home pregnancy test?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: They are very accurate. They are some rare cases, where they, they could be a false positive, but no, not too many and it is, they say the highest error can be user error. But, honestly I think now a days they make them pretty fool-proof and you know, they recommend the first urine of the day and it doesn’t even have to really be that to work. It’s hard to screw it up. You’d have to be super, super hydrated to have it not pick up, which can happen ofcourse.

But, it is a great tool and I know they advertise them to how it can become positive a week or two, before, which, you know, will, you know, ultimately depend on your ovulation and things like that. But I’d say wait till you miss your period and you know even if it’s negative at that point, because of the variants in ovulation for some people,wait a, wait a week is what’s recommended and repeat it. So, if it’s negative, repeat it in a week.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Sometimes, that’s so hard to.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, I know or repeat it everyday for the next week and call us in a week, once seven of them have been positive.

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly

STEPHAINE GLOVER: That’s when you’re like, oh! Wait I can’t spend the next 13$ for test, if I’m going to test every day.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah.
STEPHAINE GLOVER: And, then you’re going to like dollar, dollars. So, also we’ve touched on this before we started recording. If you have a very faint positive, if there’s a very faint line

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yes

STEPHAINE GLOVER: Does that mean you are positive or is it . . .

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: I mean, for ovulation prediction a kit that’s the killer. But for the actual pregnancy test the line is a line. So, you can feel pretty good about that. If it’s real faint you know you don’t want to get all excited and calling everybody or call a doctor, you know wait, probably in that case, you won’t have to wait the whole week, may be wait three days.

DAVID DEVIGNE: I really wish that was common in all case. Is that a line?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: I’ll tell you what. I’ve peed on a million pregnancy tests, just to make myself feel like, it’s still positive. So, I’ve done. I’ve done it myself, so.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: So, Natalie, what was your experience with taking the home pregnancy test?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: It was the really, really faint second line and we were like, am I? Am I not? Is it real? Is it, did it, is it positive? Does it count? And, yeah, that’s when we like. . . I had a coworker that recommended get digital one that says, ‘Pregnant, Not Pregnant. She’s like “don’t joke around, the lines that crosses”, she’s like, “get the digital, that tells you for sure”. I was like “Ok”. But, yeah, no, we did like the, “We’re going to pee on one stick a day, every day. Like make sure that this actually is the right, like its positive.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And what prompted you to take that test? Did you miss your period or were you having . . .

NATALIE DEVIGNE: No, it was four days before my period. I just felt, I felt different, I felt weird, and I thought, “Oh! I am? Am I not? And I’m like “oh, my grace, not for four more days. And I was like, “it’s a little early anyway. Because I didn’t think it would be positive like that early. And so, I was like, “Oh, I’ll just try it anyway. It’s just peeing on the stick”. Like, and then I did it. It was five in the morning, wouldn’t have even gotten up for work. And I kind of went into him and like in tears. I was just like, [blubbering] like he can’t understand a word that I said. I just kind of shoved the stick at his face.

DAVID DEVIGNE: Most affective alarm ever

STEPHAIN GLOVER: I’m awake now. And, so, does a woman need to confirm her pregnancy with a physician?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, because there are some rare things that can happen. Yeah, we do like itpatients to come to us. I usually say around 9-10 weeks pregnancy. We’ll do a confirmatory test in the office. And if there’s any doubt of the test we can always get a serum test or a blood test.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Ok. And what does the blood test tell you? Is it just like different levels of hormones or?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: So, it is looking specifically at the hCG or pregnancy hormone. So, the most common one we test for is the Beta hCG. So, it looks in and what youcan do is you can send either for a qualitative which says it’s greater than five and it’s positive. Or you can do a quantitative, if there are other things going on where you need to know the number.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And why would you have a patient come in around 9-10 weeks versus right away?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Well, unfortunately because some of us will miss-carry or it could have been a chemical pregnancy that you know. They implanted and they just got the test and soon after, they might miss it, some of those types of pregnancy which you will call the “chemical pregnancy”. But, certainly some people aren’t trying to get pregnant, may not even know, they were even pregnant.

So, it’s, it’s really the people who have checking for it who are going to know it. So, that gives us time. You know and I‘ve had patients come in they did have the home positive pregnancy test and then by the time they get to see us, its negative again. And then we talk about, you know, “Did they want to be pregnant? How can we help them? If they do or if they didn’t, or you want some sort of birth control discussion.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Do, you remember how long you had to wait to be seen?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: To, be seen by your prenatal?

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Prenatal?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: For the prenatal?

DAVID DEVIGNE: Forever.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Yeah, it was long, wasn’t it? Because it was.

DAVID DEVIGNE: Between the 1st test and the actual 1st appointment it was, about a month and a half.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Yeah.
Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Well, you know too, when people call, we can counsel them, you know. Of course, if everything is going fine you come in at the 9-10 weeks.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: If it is not, we give them things to look for bleeding and you now, severe nausea, vomiting, weight loss, pains, pelvic pains. Certain things, you know, of course if there something changes, we want to see you sooner, what we call our emergency OB visit. So, we get you in sooner than that 1st prenatal care visit.

DAVID DEVIGNE: So, I guess it’s a good thing, it took a while.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah

DAVID DEVIGNE: Because, nothing went wrong.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Well, it’s your first baby. You are so excited. You just, you know, want to start everything. But ofcourse then if people come in too early, then you know, everybody wants to hear the heartbeat, you know. Usually around ten weeks we can hear it. Not always. So if you bring in too early, then you, you know, you could leave stressed.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: That’s a good point

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: I mean when, they’re sending you for ultrasound, some of us have in their office. I mean I’m stillnew, so, I’m waiting to get my ultrasound in the office. I miss it very much, because if you can’t get a heartbeat early on which is not uncommon. It stresses the mom, no matter how much you reassure them.

DAVID DEVIGNE: I’m glad that we got that on our first visit. That was like, that was the coolest part of the first visit.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, people really like them, I do too.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah, I remember calling with my first and I said, “Oh! I got a positive pregnancy test. So, can I come in? Like “Oh, well, that’s good enough for us, you now. See you in a month and half. I was like “how is that good enough for me?

SUNNY GAULT: A month and a half?

STEPHAIN GLOVER: They said, “That’s what we use to test you, and I was like, “ok”. Patience, but

SUNNY GAULT: It’s exiting

STEPHAIN GLOVER: It was the longest month ever, you know.And I know one of the first things I would want to do is find out when my baby is due.
Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Absolutely

STEPHAIN GLOVER: So, you take the test and then you are doing the math in your head. So, how is the due date calculated?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: So, basically, it’s adding 280 days or 40 weeks, so, from your last menstrual period.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And you have those, I’ve heard it, turn down, like two, three weeks in the beginning.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Right, that’s actually, you know, because technically, we’re calculating from your last menstrual period. Now, obviously you weren’t pregnant in those two-three weeks, absolutely. But I always like to remind patients to, 41 weeks is really how long it is. So, we get to that 40 weeks, but we, you know, a [inaudible] recommends that we can go up to actually, technically 42 weeks. But, most doctors feel safer with the 41 weeks for any term complications, to avoid them, so.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Ok, Let’s see we actually had that discussion, when we first found out that we were pregnant. I was like, “no, this is the due date”, he’s like“no, no, no, no this is thedue date”. That’s exactly how we were trying to calculate it.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Well, you get that, right? Some people, patients will be like “I know when I ovulated or we ovulated and I’m like I totally believe you and I honor that, but, I’m going to have to tell you, I’m going to date your pregnancy. And what I’ll do is, I’ll use the calculation on the computer now-a-days or he wheel you know, whatever is right at my fingertips and we’ll get the due date and then the next ultrasound, I’ll help us decide whether that’s accurate, that’s a big misconception. People are like “ultrasound said now this, nowthis ultrasound said this.

So I say, “No, no, no, we’re going to assign it early on and when I tell you what it is that is what it is and any ultrasoundthat shows a different date after might be a growth change. So have to follow me or if it’s close enough, then, yeah, it’s the same due date.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Okay. And are there some early physical pregnancy symptoms to expect, especially to people for that first appointment like, what’s your body feel like in that early time?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: So, everybody is different for this, right. So, I always tell people, just coz you don’t feel bad, doesn’t mean it’s not going well. But if somebody is feeling really bad, I’ll say, that means your pregnancy is going well, things are good. I mean with the exception that abnormal when I said where people could be very, very sick with nausea and vomiting.

But that’s one- nausea and vomiting, you know, breast tenderness. Some peoplewill get enlarged, and it’s been ironic for me lately, that’s been a big complaint, women are like, “I had to stop running”, like there’s nothing they can do to have that little discomfort go away. So, you’ll have to just wait for those hCG levels to kind of come back down. And it is normal to feel fatigued, frequent urination, but no signs of pain or anything that would indicate you know, that you have a bladder infection.

Some people absolutely get the food cravings or food aversions. Blood flow’s increasing. Some people get that nasal congestion, and as things go along, you might get bleeding gums when you brush your teeth and certainly there can be some mood changes. I’m sure you guys hadn’t experienced that at all.

DAVID DEVIGNE: Nothing I have noticed.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: And you know, other vascular changes as things progress.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Did you have any early symptoms Natalie?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Nausea, nausea a little bit. Yeah and it, but I noticed it was kind of funny. It’s like, you know everybody’s like “Oh, you don’t want to eat”. It wasn’t nausea when I was around food, but it as nausea when I didn’t eat food.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: The hunger nausea

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Like, I noticed the hunger. Oh, it just. I’ve never been that hungry before and so I just had to snack throughout the day, like. I called my mom and I was like, “what do I do?” and she was like, “just keep a little pack of like wheat things or crackers in your pocket and just snack all day and that’s what I did and I felt so much better.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Sunny, did you have any early pregnancy symptoms?

SUNNY GAULT: I felt, just my guess, this has to do with like, having more and more babies, but I felt like I just got bigger, faster. I don’t know if that mean anything.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: I did, I totally did, with second.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Second time, second time everything been stretched out.

SUNNY GAULT: Right.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, absolutely, you know the first time you’re so excited to pop and you don’t and the second time, you are like trying to hide it.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And turn it in pants six weeks pregnant.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, exactly, what, and my husband thought I was crazy, with my third and final pregnancy, because I said no, this is crazy big, like, I’m getting crazy big and he was looks at me and he’s like, “no, no you are not”. I’m like, “trust me, I know” and like that was my clue that you know, maybe there was more than one baby on their way. But, then also, I guess my third and I was kind of expecting to be bigger, but, yeah.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Right.

SUNNY GAULT: You know, I get a little bit of nausea, but yeah, definitely, the more babies I had the more bigger I got the faster I got, you know.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And I remember too, what I didn’t realize was that, early pregnancy symptoms can almost mimic premenstrual.

SUNNY GAULT: Sometimes.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Absolutely! Absolutely!

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And so, had a little bit of cramping and . . .

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Like the breast.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Cramping’s not abnormal; a little cramping is not abnormal.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Because everything is grown and . . .

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yes.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: But, that was a call to my OB. I hadn’t even met her yet. I was just like, “I’m having cramps”. She’s like “are you having bleeding?” I said, “no”. “Ok, see you in a month.” Done it. Alright, so when we come back we will discuss lifestyle changes that would be important in those first 4 to12 weeks of pregnancy. We’ll be right back.

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[Theme Music]

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Welcome back. Today we’re discussing what to expect between your positive pregnancy test and you first prenatal appointment. Board certified OB-GYN, Jan Penvose-Yi is our expert. So what should a woman be doing differently concerning nutrition when she finds out she’s pregnant?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Well, you know I think, I was thinking, do we need to give a specific calorie count? I don’t think so. I really tailor it towards my patients. Arethey vegetarian, are they vegan, do they now have food aversions, are they now nauseas? Most importantly, you know, we want some on a prenatal vitamin, vitamin before they conceive. There are all sorts out.

Certainly, you know, the prescriptions once do have a little more in them. But if people are more prone to nausea, vomiting, sometimes a little less and that makes you feel better.

But as you were saying here, definitely, those small frequent meals, definitely make a difference and that’s really the way to maintain healthy pregnancy. You’re going to have three kinds of average meals a day, the snacks in between and snacks in the evening often times just to get you through the night.

And you definitely want the omegas, if you can have them, but if you’re really sick then you talk about it and tailor it to each specific patient and we definitely have certain foods and stuffs that we can talk about that you want to make sure you are getting and some that you might want to avoid, you know have some caution about.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And what are some of those foods to avoid when you are like, pregnant?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: So, you know the classic you are not supposed to have, luncheon meat is still true. It’s just about the processing of the luncheon meat and you are trying to avoid listeria infection. So, you want to do that and then cheese that aren’t pasteurized is still classic one. So, when you are eating out you want to avoid cheeses that you just don’t know enough about. But if they are pasteurized, you are fine. It’s how things are prepared.

And there was the other thing I wanted to tell you guys about- the raw vegetables. So, those, they can just have bacteria in them. So, you know, you have to be careful with that and some of them you can’t, like, an sprout those things you can’t wash it out. So you have to be careful with that. And fish is another one. It’s actually good for you to have fish inpregnancy.

You just can’t overdo the fish. Because we can’t always know exactly how much mercury is in the fish and I give people websites to check out to see which have higher levels and we talk about that.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And Shushi?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Sushi? I actually, looked it up again, you know, I’m always looking things up again. Technically a properly prepared sushi, technically you can have. But I usually just recommend to avoid it. But if you’ve had it I’d say don’t panic you are probably fine. If they freeze it and then prepare it, they call it sushi grade Sushi, is okay.

But, I tell my patients no, because it is one of those thingsI don’t know if you can always trust. But and again and I tell patients, “Oh, you had some luncheon meat? You’re fine, you didn’t get infected. It’s okay. So, probably if you sneak a sandwich because you are dying one night, you don’t have a choice, you are probably going to be fine. But you just don’t want to overdo it.

I tell people “get a turkey breast, get some ham, bake it on the weekend. It’s prepared in your house. You don’t have that risk. Make sandwiches with that. If you are a sandwich person, then you can still have your sandwiches. You can have tuna sandwiches, but it’s better to have the light than the white. The white albacore for some reason hold onto a lot more mercury.

And the last one I’ll say is the Toxoplasmosis which is we usually see as thecat litter one, but, which it still is. You do want to avoid changing cat litter if you’re in garden with those cats outside, you want to avoid that. But truly red meat is one of the things you’ve to be careful about. So, you can get Toxo from certain foods as well.

DAVID DEVIGNE: If you really do love sandwiches, is it safe if you’ll have, clean luncheon meat? We’ve read that.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yes, you can heat the luncheon meat. Most people give me that, “Ooh” face. So, I say, alright, get some turkey breast on the weekend, get some ham on the weekend, bake it in your house and slice it yourself. It’s probably better for you anyhow, just nutrient wise.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: I’m going to go home and make a sandwich.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: No

SUNNY GAULT: Everybody’s hungry

NATALIE DEVIGNE: I’ve missed luncheon meat so much

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Absolutely

STEPHAIN GLOVER: And now, did her change in anything she was eating affect you as Dad?

DAVID DEVIGNE: Not really, I got lucky because she doesn’t hate any food that she liked before.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Okay

DAVID DEVIGNE: She just has a few more you know, “on the way home can you pick some ice-cream? The baby wants ice-cream.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: I mean and you loved it. I tried it again.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, and we, and that brings the point you know, we really don’t want to overdo.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: I know.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: The kidney bean in there really doesn’t need an extra two scoops of ice-cream

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: The kidney bean needs, like a lick of ice-cream. So, I always remind, you know, I was a bad first time mom. You know, I thought I was eating for two. But, you know, I remind my patients, “you are not eating for two.

So just small frequent healthy meals, you really don’t need to increase it so much more but you, and you want to have the same healthy thoughts” but, and I would say let your husband gain the extra calories. So make him get the ice-cream. Since you have got the dad here and you have a little bit of it and have him finish it.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Oh, that’s my husband’s dream.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: So, when we think about physical activities, are there certain limitations?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, then and again, that’s very patient tailored. It depends upon how much you are exercising before the pregnancy. Generally if somebody is not really athletic, I’ll say you’ll want to keep your heart rate below, you know, 130 beat per minute. If you are athletic you can probably tolerate a little more because your heart is used to it.

So you are going to increase your blood volume about one and a half times with your pregnancy. So, your heart has to pump that. So, I totally want you to continue your exercise in the pregnancy, you just have to watch your heart rate. That’s, that’s kind of a quick indicator, that your body can handle it.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Did you notice any changes in physical activity for yourself? Did you have to tailor anything, or?

NATALIE DEVIGNE: I was just so tired. I was just so tired all the time. I’ve hypothyroid anyway, so I’m a little heavy, I get fatigued easily anyway. But just this was a whole different kind of tiredness and it was hard to like, I mean he would be really good, he’d like, “alright babe, let’s go for a walk, we have to go for a walk”, and I’m like, “No, we have to sleep” and he’s like, “No, no we are going to for a walk” So, he was, he was really good about that.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Sometimes that will help with fatigue, you just got to get up.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: You just got to get up- that’s the hard part.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: And it is normal that you have that extra fatigue, early in the pregnancy. That kidney bean takes a lot of energy to grow.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah, I always said, you know. I am so busy making a human. I just cannot get up.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Exactly.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Now, Dr. Penvose-Yi, are there recommended resource for pregnancy support before our first appointment that you might recommend?

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, one that I love is, there is a ‘patient up-to-date’ it’s called and that’s a great resource, resource for lots of health problems that’s one you can go ahead and look at. One that I do like is in California is a ‘mother to baby’ website, I’m sure there’s, I think, when I looked again to confirm, there’s some further site.

Like, those are the sites that can tell you, like this is safe to eat, this isn’t safe to eat. Also, call your provider. For example, I’m in New York practice within the past year, and I’m really working to tweek my website. So, I’m going to have some of those common things on my website. So, (a) Check your doctor’s website or (b) call their office and I still love ‘What to Expect when Expecting’ that old book that’s out there. I think they changed the cover finally. I don’t know you guys might know, the lady in a rocking chair on it, but.

SUNNY GAULT: I think it’s still there.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: It’s still there.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Honestly it’s a great book.

SUNNY GAULT: It’s iconic.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: They changed the cover then.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Exactly, but, that’s a great book. So, if you have any questions or you’re looking at a website and something concerns you, call your doctor’s office and say, “hey can you look at this website and tell me if it’s reputable?”

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah, because, I know, I was in some of those pregnancy forums which can be less helpful than awful.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Right, right.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Awful. Because, you just, you got all kinds and, sometimes creates more anxiety

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Creates more anxiety than, absolutely.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: And if you are sitting at home anxious about something, I want my patients to call me. I don’t want you sitting at home thinking some horrible thing or you’ve donesome horrible thing. You just want to call. And caffeine’s another one we talked about. People are freaking out. You know most of the time babies are pretty resilient. So, call, don’t be stressed. That’s reason another reason you could do an emergency OB visit.

Like if you worry that you did something wrong and you are going to stress over 9-10 weeks, see if you can just do a counsel. Some practices just might have mid wives or nurse practitioners or if the doctor doesn’t take it, patient before their visit, may be somebody there can talk to you.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Did you have any go through resources?

DAVID DEVIGNE: Well, parents obviously. Most of our friends have already delivered at least one, sometimes as many as three, I think.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Right, yeah.

DAVID DEVIGNE: I got that book, “what to expect’ almost immediately, but a few of our friends actually warned us against reading it, cover to cover.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Right.

DAVID DEVIGNE: Because it worried to death and every single thing.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah.

DAVID DEVIGNE: So, do you recommend looking at it only if you have a concern or reading it to see what to expect.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: I’d say read it for the trimester you are in. Read from where you’re going and then stop. Yeah.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Okay.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah. Because then you are going to be seeing your doctor. If you read from front to end, you are going to go into your first visit thinking “Oh, my Gosh, worth a few read, it’s going to be appropriate to the next visit you are going to see your doctor for.

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Yeah, You don’t really need to come in with your birth planed.

NATALIE DEVIGNE: Yeah!

DAVID DEVIGNE: I was reading it and I was like, “I don’t want to give this to her, she’ll…

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Yeah, no, you’ll.

DAVID DEVIGNE: She’ll become neurotic.

Dr. JAN PENVOSE-YI: Just need to read where you are at .

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Well, thanks so much for joining us today, Dr. Penvose-Yi. For more information about Dr. Jan Penvose-Yi as well as information about any of our panelist, visit the episode page on our website. This conversation continues for the members of the ‘Preggie Pals’ club members. After the show Dr. Penvose-Yi is going to discuss medications in early pregnancy. To join our club, visit our website www.NewMommyMedia.com .

[Theme Music]

STEPHAIN GLOVER: Hi, Preggie Pals. We’ve got a question for one of ourexperts. Erica from Anchorage, Alaska writes. “I got a phone call from my OB that prenatal testing I did, shows that my baby may have Down’s syndrome. But there a high false positive rate for the test, so, not to worry too much yet. What does that mean?”

RICK O’MALLEY: Hi, Erica, my name is Rick O’Malley and I’m an OB-GYN practicing in Santiago. Thank you for your question. There are number of prenatal screen test for Trisomy 21 or Down Syndrome. Most commonly applied test called the Quad Marker’s screening is ordered between 15 weeks and 20 weeks. This test for four substances in moms blood and gives an assessment of risk factors for Down Syndrome, trisomy 21, also trisomy 18 and neural tube defects.

Positive screen does not always mean that there is a birth defect. In fact most women will have normal follow up test and healthy babies. Usually patient that have positive screen results are offered more comprehensive anatomy ultrasound that looks for abnormalities.

Additionally options for further testing such as amniocentesis are discussed and in amniocentesis a needle is used to take some fluid from the amniotic sac and checks for genetic karyotypes. There are also some newer tests that may be offered that check for the babies DNA in mom’s blood and evaluates that DNA for abnormalities. This is called non-invasive prenatal testing or NIPT.

[Theme Music]

STEPHAIN GLOVER: That wraps up the show for today. Again we appreciate you listening to Preggie Pals.

Don’t forget to check out our sister shows.

• Newbies for newly postpartum moms during baby’s first year
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers and
• Twin Talks, for parents of multiples.
• Boob group for moms who breast feed
•
This is Preggie Pals, your pregnancy, your way

[Disclaimer]

This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though such information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our lineup of shows for new and expecting parents.If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or an organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com.

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