I am not shy when telling people that we had some medical help to get pregnant. It can be such a lonely process that I refuse to be silent about it. Therefore, if anyone else who reads this blog ever has trouble and needs to talk or ask questions, I am always open to it. If it were not for my friends and family, I'm not sure if I would have stayed sane throughout the process of getting pregnant. However, now that I am, I cannot imagine anything better! Even with all of the oh so fun side effects.
First trimester during this pregnancy was not so terrible for me. Luckily, I did not get the traditional morning sickness of running to the toilet every few minutes, but I would get this horrible sense of nausea if I did not keep my tummy full. This proved to be difficult because I was student teaching at the same time. Eating and teaching do not really go together. Furthermore, and contrary to popular belief, I was not eating for two during this stage. Only an extra 300 calories per day needs to be consumed. Thanks to student teaching, I did not gain any weight because I was so stressed with everything. Gaining some weight in that first 14 weeks, yes 1st trimester is 14 weeks, is needed but not too much as the little guy/gal is only around the size of a lemon. It's so weird because you know you are pregnant, but there's nothing to show for it! I mean I felt awful, exhausted, and oh yea, had a superhuman sense of smell. I have to say I could do without that heightened sense of smell as that is what would make me feel nauseous most of the time because I could smell everything...
Among all of those annoying side effects, there are many wonderful aspects too. The first time we saw the baby's heartbeat was at 6 weeks. At that time we did not know he was indeed a he, but it's easier to write out his gender. He looked like that thing hanging down from the back of your throat with his heart no bigger that the tip of a ball point pin just flickering away. Michael teared up. I think I was just in shock that we had actually gotten everything to work! The next ultra sound my mom came with us and the little guy decided to show off by squirming around and waving at us. Mom cried because his hand was up by his head waving and that was how I was born with my hand up by my head waving at the world. I believe we had one or two more ultra sounds before I graduated from my RE to the OBGYN. Usually, pregnant women do not have this many ultra sounds in the beginning. I could be wrong, but since we had some roadblocks during the path of getting pregnant, we had a few more than the typical pregnant lady.
Second trimester, brought a relief of some of the more annoying symptoms. In both trimesters, I could still sleep just fine and would actually feel "rested." I really enjoyed this trimester as this is when I could actually tell there is a little human in me. We heard the heartbeat, found out his gender, and felt him move. This first time I felt him more was around 18 weeks. I was laying down on the couch trying to take a nap. When all of a sudden, I felt something that I originally thought were gas bubbles. However, these "gas bubbles" were much to regular and not really in the right place. So I went to the toilet thinking that was the case, but when I returned to the couch and the bubbles had not stopped, I realized I was feeling the baby move! It was the coolest feeling ever! Only I could feel the little life that I was growing. Pregnancy has so many nasty side effects, but this was something that was all mine for a few weeks and a wonderful feeling. Finally, a few weeks later, Michael felt him move. It was a little pop like a bubble under my skin. In reality, it was my little alien/leech practicing his movements. Little did I realize those alien movements were just the beginning... I've discussed the ultrasound about finding out the gender in the blog post prior to to this one, thus I will not repeat those details.
Third trimester has been interesting thus far. My superhuman sense of smell has returned along with the worst constipation ever. I know that's rather personal information, but I think it needs to be said. Fiber and bananas are a pregnant lady's best friend during this trimester. Everything on the inside is so squished because of the baby that the intestines need as much help as they can to function properly. In my experience thus far, not enough fiber to move everything around has caused many sleepless nights because of the added pressure on my bladder. There just isn't enough space on the inside to be constipated too! So eat your fiber ladies!!!! Other than that, the baby moves all of the time at the moment. 11:00pm is his favorite time to pull out the blue gymnastics mat to start practicing. He's still not big enough to bother me so much that I can't sleep. In fact, I have a hard time sleeping when I do not feel him move. A moving baby means a happy and healthy baby. He has started to do a few more flips though and those are not comfortable. All of a sudden my belly is lurched forward with the wind knocked out of my for a bit. Then he goes back to whatever game he was previously playing.
Overall, I love being pregnant. It is so cool to think that I'm growing an actual human inside of me. Sometimes I do get overwhelmed by the enormity of it all that I am going to responsible for raising a responsible and productive member of society. The best part of it all is that sometime in September, maybe even October, I am going to be the mother to a little baby boy :-)
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