Hopefully it will work well for you! If you've not checked it out yet, I really recommend Birthing from Within, for the information on pushing positions that maximize the pelvic opening. (No big surprise the typical lithomy position isn't ideal, huh?) If I'd been coherent enough when it came time to push I'd have insisted on pushing in a squat; it probably would have made things easier on me.

In the latest pregnancy books and issue of Fit Pregnancy that I have read, they say that in your first trimester that you don't need the additional calories yet. What I have read points to eating about 2000-2200 calories a day, which is the standard for most women to maintain an average weight normally. They recommend adding the 300 extra calories a day in the second and third trimesters.

I truly do believe that they are correct in stating that you need more calories a day (around 500) when you are nursing, more than the 300 when you are pregnant. In pregnancy your body is housing another being, but in nursing you are "creating food" yourself-which is a whole different ballgame.