Now With More Baby

So one of the normal things you get to do with as part of the pregnancy shtick is get a glucose and iron screening. The point of the test is to look for indications of gestational diabetes or anemia. I actually thought the taking the test was alright. I got to consume this fantastically sweet drink that reminded me of the orange kool-aid I had as a youngster, and then I was amped up for the rest of the day. And fortunately for me, my glucose levels were just fine. No gestational diabetes for me! yay!

Unfortunately, my iron levels were low. Now, I understand this is pretty normal at my stage of pregnancy but I was asked to try to work on getting more iron in my system anyway, just in case. so, ok.. fine. Except, it really isn't. My pre-natal vitamin already contains 150% of the daily recommended dose (yes, I know its higher for pregnant women), but I'm already eating a luna bar and nutritional protein shake that contain even more iron, and eating oranges every day (vitamin c is supposed to assist in iron absorption).

but whatever, I don't want to be negligent with my health here so I'll get more iron in by eating more stuff. I'll admit, as the nurse was recommending that I try consuming more organ meats (oooh.. chopped liver with bell pepper... wow, that DOES sound good... no wait. no it actually doesn't.. BLECH!) I was pretty happy that I was a vegetarian. but that does limit my options. And that is why, today, I was staring at large glass of dark brown liquid.

It gave me flashbacks to when I was drinking 16 oz of prune juice for breakfast as part of my colon cleansing experiment. but this time, it was 10 oz of hot water mixed with blackstrap molasses. Which, believe it or not, is reputed to be an excellent source of iron.

Now don't go thinking I'm being irresponsible. I already ate five dried apricots and had a spinach sandwich (in addition to the pre-natal vitamins), so I'm doing my work dammit. but I thought the molasses thing would be easier. Its not, but I drank the stuff anyway.

Diets SUCK!