That priest was very irresponsible to suggest to you that you stay away from meat and dairy completely. Sheesh. I would say try to pick days like Mon, Wed, and Fri and not eat meat. I wouldn't give up dairy at all!
anastasios
Fasting
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Anastasios
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Congratulations!
My wife is also pregnant. We have a high-risk pregnancy and she is not fasting at all. Well, she has to take an injection daily and I think I'd rather not eat meat!
You are doing the right thing by talking to your priest. Make sure you keep your doctor up to date with your diet as well. If you can't fast from food, what about television, etc.? How is your prayer life? You could also even volunteer some time helping with single mothers or helping mothers with special problems. Heck, just praying for them is a great step. I'm sure you have a great priest and you should listen to him.
My wife was trying protein supplements, but some of the additives made her ill. She is very understanding and sticks to the fast while I'm about.
You have a lot to think about. You have given up your entire body and a good deal of your life to care for your unborn child. I don't think any fast I could ever keep can equal that.
Again, congratulations!
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Justin Kissel
Tessa,
Sorry I didn't say this earlier, but congratulations! 
This priest basically told me relax the fast with fish and oil, but told me to stay away from meat and cheese and "to drink calcium fortified orange juice"... What would be your advice to me-from both the Fathers and your own personal experience.
That's a toughie. Mary was told that it was ok to relax the fast and use dairy products and some additional meats, but then hers was a pregnancy complicated by other (heart) factors, so she had especial difficulties going into the thing. I wouldn't dare say that it'd be a good thing to disobey a priest... could you perhaps talk to him about the difficulties that you're having? Of course, fasting is suppose to be difficult, but not in that way! Perhaps he would ease things if he knew of your worries/problems?
Congrats
An old archimandrite from Holy Trinity Monastery advised my mother when she was pregnant with my brother to follow doctor's instructions.
The same archimandrite, when my dad came down with mono (mono hits older people much harder, he lost over 30+ pounds in 2 weeks, looked skeletal for pretty much the rest of the year) and needed to eat eggs, meat, & everything, told my parents that, so as not to cause jealousy and conflicting emotions at the dinner table, that the fast be relaxed for us. Dad would have meat, while the rest of us were allowed everything but meat. (Keep in mind that we kids at the time were 14, 12, 10 & 4). When we were not home, at school, and not around Dad, we would do the strict fasting.
He explained that it was worse to be jealous, and think bad thoughts (which can then cause bad actions) about others than to break fast.
My 2 cents.
Toodles,
Ania
Why we fast
Okay, I have another project to do heh, something about morals. There was a whole list of them like: Should I take drugs, Should I smoke, should I eat meat,.....etc. These are supposed to be moral issues and my teacher said that no matter waht, you have to come to the conclusion that whatever you do your projecxt on is bad. Well I wasn't sure what to do and she said I could do the Should I eat meat one and then give reasons why people should fast from meat on Fridays. So I guess in this case, I have to make it seem good and that people should fast. We have to do a presentation with this and aslo a poster that is supposed to be put up in the hallway for like grade 9s to see or something lol. I was wondering though if I should give reasons why we should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and if it should be from meat AND dairy....I'm not really sure about this. She said I can look up in the Catholic scriptures or something but I was wondering if I should do it from an Orthodox perspective. I doubt that anyone would notice the difference. I was also thinking about mentioning a few health benefits from not eating meat/and or dairy.
thanks