As a first time to-be-mother, pregnancy was a completely new experience for me. I had a lot of questions and was fondling to understand the changes taking place in my body. I was equally worried about the growth of my baby inside my womb.

With this blog series, “Pregnancy Week By Week”, I hope to extend a helping hand to all expecting parents by telling you about my journey.

There might be some things that you would be able to relate to and would even give you solace to know that someone went through the exact same thing as you. Hope I’m able to help!

Disclaimer – This is entirely my personal experience. The intent of this blog is not to advice but only to share. Any medication, medical examinations, dietary intake or exercise, mentioned in this blog, were prescribed as per my pregnancy and my body. Please do not perform these without consulting your medical adviser.

Pregnancy Symptoms in Week 15

This week onwards I saw an improvement in my symptoms. My nausea started going down and my bouts of vomiting came down as well. I continued to produce and release (oops!) a lot of gas, but that also reduced as compared to the earlier weeks. 

I started feeling hungry and it felt strange in the beginning – after 2 months of not being able to eat, to suddenly wanting to eat. Initially I was a bit scared to eat, particularly because I was worried if I ate too much I wouldn’t be able to digest and would vomit the food out.

But I also realised that healthy eating was important. So to get a sense of what I should be eating, I thought I’d meet a nutritionist. 

Dietary Intake in Pregnancy Week 15 

My nutritionist suggested a diet plan based on my weight and pregnancy symptoms. These included nausea, inability to easily digest food, slight constipation and fatigue. Constipation was a new symptom and this was primarily due to iron tablets that were added to my prescription.

Based on my height and weight, she recommended that I increase my intake of food by 200 Kcal. The main thing to focus on was eating quality food, every two hours. Outside food was strictly advised against. Especially Chinese food and sandwiches which have raw vegetables.

Diet Plan for Pregnancy 

Here is a rough meal plan that my nutritionist advised based on my weight and stage of pregnancy.

Breakfast in Pregnancy 

The inclusions in my diet were dry fruits that were soaked overnight in water. These were to be had first thing in the morning, around 7:30 am.

After this, I was to have milk cornflakes or oats porridge for breakfast. This was over and above the regular breakfast of cottage cheese sandwich or omelette or poha. Breakfast was to be had at 9:30 am. 

Mid-morning Snack in Pregnancy 

A serving of fruits was also included which was to be had before noon around 11:30 am. Options included apple, grapes, pomegranate, cherry, guava or any other vegetable soup. 

The problem in my case was that eating fruits made me very gassy. So for this week I didn’t have fruits. Instead I replaced them with Semolina pudding (sooji ka halwa) or vermicelli pudding (seviyan kheer) or boiled egg. I was also only able to consume egg white. Egg yellow made me extremely nauseous. 

Lunch in Pregnancy 

Lunch was a typical Indian lunch with 2 wheat chapatis, cooked vegetable (sabzi), dal, salad and curd. 

Since I was feeling very gassy, vegetable preparations that were recommended were Spinach and Cottage Cheese (Palak Paneer), Beans, Mushrooms, Capsicum, Mixed Vegetable, Lady finger, soyabean, potato and bitter gourd. The ideal time for having lunch was around 2 pm. 

Evening Snack in Pregnancy 

Then again in the evening around 5pm, I was advised to have some snacks. These included Semolina pudding (sooji ka halwa) or vermicelli pudding (seviyan kheer), roasted foxnuts, sweet potato or vegetable soup.

Dinner in Pregnancy 

Around 7:30-8 pm, an early dinner was advised. This again was the regular Indian meal, but with lighter vegetables like round gourd or apple gourd (tinda), pumpkin (kaddu), bottle gourd (lauki), taro root (arbi), potato curry or pointed gourd (parwal). These were to be supplemented with either 2 chapatis or rice or quinoa, along with dal (pulses curry) and curd. 

The thing to keep in mind about dinner is to try and have it early. If you delay your dinner, you will find it hard to digest.

However, having early dinner might make you hungry before sleeping, so keeping something light to munch on like Threptin biscuits or crackers etc.

I have also included below a picture of my diet plan for your reference. But note that this was advised to me based on my body type and pregnancy symptoms. Please consult your medical adviser before you make any dietary changes in pregnancy