He said, she said, they said, you said....

So many differing opinions on so many different aspects of pregnancy oh my gosh!!!!!
I know that not everything you find on the Internet is true, but different reputable resources contradicting each other is frustrating. I get that everyone has a different system of measuring where you are in your pregnancy and that's fine, I am only concerned with what my nurse midwife says as far as when my appointments will need to be etc. But to have drastically varying lists of what pregnant women should avoid and what they are okay to have is a bit concerning.
And I am not just talking Wikipedia or some other (in my opinion fairly unreliably source) I am talking about the Mayo Clinic's website versus the American Pregnancy Association, versus Parenting Magazine etc...
Doing one search on the safety of certain cheeses, one site said all cheese in the US is safe as long as it is pasteurized, another said that hard cheeses are safe, but only if they are brought to a boil, and the other said that you should avoid all soft cheese and make sure all hard cheeses have been aged at least 60 days..... Okay being a person who has a possibly unnatural, adoration of cheese, this is a BIG deal! What the heck?! Most sites agreed that hard cheese is okay, as it is less likely to contain Listeria (the bacteria which can cause illness which can lead to birth defects and possible miscarriage.) However, what constitutes a hard cheese? Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, are obviously hard cheese but the Mayo Clinic's site only lists 8 cheeses as soft cheeses which should be avoided. (but then the site says if it is clearly labelled as pasteurized then it is okay.) What the heck?! And heaven forbid you want to know which herbs are and aren't safe...the only ones they all agree on are Pennyroyal, and black and blue Cohosh which are basically herbal abortificants. I saw one site that said Ginger root was dangerous for pregnant women...yeah ginger root, the natural way everyone recommends pregnant women fight the nausea of morning sickness...
So what to do? Who to believe? What do I take with a grain of salt (although not too much salt as it increases the risk of gestational hypertension)
Who knows, I am just doing the best I can, not taking ANY herbal supplements, or drinking herbal teas (at least until after the second trimester begins) and will discuss anything I am truly concerned about with my nurse midwife. That simple, until I know it's okay I am not going to risk it, so any of the 8 or so cheeses on the Mayo Clinic list are off my shopping list and can probably remain so until after I am done breast feeding. (not too much of a sacrifice for Bean I think.)
I understand most of the people reading this are probably currently insured and not doing too badly financially, so are probably wondering why I don't just ask my OB. But as someone who lost her job in July and is currently waiting to see what is possible to do for prenatal care (yup I am talking government aid and before anyone DARES bitch about it make sure you know that I have been paying MY hard earned money into that system for over 20 years now!) you should understand that I have yet to even meet my nurse midwife. (but that is for another day's blog...perhaps tomorrow?)