Hi all,

As I am moving into the last 3 weeks, more or less, of my pregnancy,
things are going pretty well. I am plannng a home delivery with a
midwife. She, and her assistants, have been great. We all have the
same general attitude: birth is a natural process, not a medical
procedure, most of the 'standard treatments' can be safely refused,
etc. The only disagreement we are having is the occaisional presence
of ketones in my urine at my pre-natal visits.

I've been doing a fairly strict paleo diet since December and have
actually been off all my allergy medication since January. I haven't
been trying to do low carb, but I sometimes just don't eat enough
fruit to keep myself out of ketosis. Plus, if I eat a big bunch of
carbs, I get gassy and that is my major source of discomfort lately -
there just isn't room for the baby AND gas.

My midwife is fussing at me about the ketones and mentioned that she
would have to IV me during labor if I showed positive for them. I am
sure I could refuse this, but I don't really want to take her out of
her comfort level during labor. I don't want her worried and looking
for problems.  She brought up the whole ketones making the blood
acidic issue and it being bad for the baby. I just can't believe it,
personally. Otherwise, Inuits would never have had a successful birth.

I am going to be more diligent with my diet these last few weeks so as
to avoid the whole ketone issue when I go into labor, hopefully.
However, just in case, does anyone know of any research or articles in
this area? I think my midwife would be open to changing her mind on
the subject if I could bring her some good info.  She is a good
midwife, but she doesn't really know any more about nutrition than
most doctors, and most people for that matter. Well, she is better
than *that*, but no where near as knowledgeable as most of the people
on this list. :)

Any advice and/or references would be greatly appreciated.
Wish me luck,

Camille, 36 weeks & 4days

--
Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!