Yay I'm pregnant! Here is my experience.
First Trimester
The title of this post was my thought process up until about 17 weeks. Eating was scary because you have no idea how it was going to come out.
I found out I was pregnant on May 3rd... the same day that a friend of mine dropped off a huge box of maternity clothes since she knew we were trying!
The symptoms were similar to my first pregnancy that ended in miscarriage: tight abs without working out, feeling bloated, and I just had a feeling that something was off. I took the pregnancy test maybe an hour after I received the clothes. I was shocked. It had only been 3 months since the miscarriage so I didn't expect it at all. I really wanted to wait until Mother's Day to tell my parents, but I couldn't hold it in like the first pregnancy.
I called my parents to tell them and of course they were excited that it happened so fast. I FaceTimed my sisters, one at a time, to show them the picture of the pee stick. (They live in different states.) When I told my older sister, since she hadn't had a tour of my house yet, I started the conversation by showing her the downstairs. Then I went to the bathroom, where I took the pregnancy test, and said, "... and this is our downstairs bathroom. Wanna see what I did in here?" She's like "Uhh..." and then I showed her the stick. So funny! She was very surprised and it was hilarious.
I really didn't get sick that many times, thank goodness, but when I did it was awful. For me, the term "morning sickness" was true because it was in the morning 99% of the time.
At 7 and a half weeks pregnant we went camping with my extended family on my mom's side. We've gone camping with them twice a year since before I was born. It was VERY cold that first night and I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep at all. After waking up I felt horrible. We ended up going home after lunch instead of leaving the next day like we had planned on. I did tell my cousin and my aunt that I was pregnant so they knew how to help medication wise (my parents weren't able to make it this time). When we got home we showered and went to bed. I woke up at 5AM and threw up everything I had eaten since I was 13. I still can't eat chicken salad or croissants.
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| 7 weeks |
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| 7 weeks |
At 11 weeks pregnant we had dinner at my brother-in-law's house and 5 minutes later I barfed it all up. That was nice... especially since his bathroom is about 10 feet from the dining room so everyone heard me.
Another incident at 14-15 weeks: I was brushing my teeth before going to work and I barely made it to the toilet. My aim was quite terrible and it actually didn't make it to the toilet very much. The entire toilet area was decorated with my nastiness. I cleaned up as much as I could but my husband had to finish it. Poor guy! I don't think he ate cheerios for awhile. I didn't care. I ate them the next day.
The last time surprised me since I was at 17 weeks. My husband was leaving for a military training for 3 weeks and the morning he had to leave it was his turn to throw up. (He barfs when he's nervous.) Since I had to listen to it, it made me go too, but I had to go in the kitchen sink since he was hogging the toilet. Good bonding right there!
The only food I wanted to eat was fruit, milk, and cereal so that's what I ate. I had a craving for horchata and since I didn't like leaving the house, I just drank tons of milk with vanilla and cinnamon in it. Not the same at all but still good!
Second Trimester
After about 16-17 weeks, I finally started feeling really good! I was looking pregnant instead of fat and continued to eat my fruit and cereal. Oh, and of course this was in the middle of summer so I was a sweaty mess ALL the time! Cold showers felt amazing!
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| 15 weeks |
Insomnia started around this time. Sometimes I wouldn't fall asleep for a few hours, or I would fall asleep fast and then wake up at 2-3 AM and not fall back asleep til after 5.
Stretch marks happened around this time, too. Not too many though. I really don't care if I get any... I'm having a baby!
I fulfilled my craving for horchata! I still craved it after that though but never had another chance :( a big thanks to my friend Amy for going out to Mexican food with me so I could drink horchata!
At 12 weeks I had an ultrasound. The big one that says that we are safely able to tell people we were pregnant. While the baby was moving around, the doctor said, "Oh, I think I see something! It could be a boy!" I've always wanted a boy first so I was excited! My husband just said to me, "That thing needs to fall off soon because I want a girl." For the next month I was looking up boy names and was so excited to raise a little boy! Plus, my sister has two boys so that would be way fun to have a bunch of boys together!
A few weeks later we had the official gender reveal. We went in for an appointment and I was under the impression that we would find out the gender since I was at 17 weeks. Plus, my husband was about to leave for military training for 3 weeks and my next appointment would be while he was away. When we got to the appointment and the doctor didn't have an ultrasound machine out, I asked and then he got it and we checked. He (the OB) couldn't quite read it so he had the ultrasound technician come in and she said, "Definitely a girl!" I was shocked! A girl?! What do I do with a girl? I can't even do my own hair! After the shock wore off I was definitely excited! My husband was very proud of himself for producing a girl like he wanted.
To announce it to my sisters, I texted them a picture of two different pairs of baby girl shoes and said, "Which ones should I buy?" Only one of my sisters could see the picture and she said, "I knew it!" and my other sister, who couldn't see it, said, "Knew what?! I can't see anything!!" I sent it again and she got it. I called my mom to tell her and I said, "You know how they thought it was a boy? Well... it's a girl!" And then she cried. She has 3 girls so she was pretty excited for me, plus this baby will be their first granddaughter! Since my dad was at work, I called his cell phone and left a message. I said, "So we found out the gender today and it's a," and hung up. That was fun. He called me back after a few hours and I told him of course.
We got our puppy the day we found out the gender! In this picture she was 9 and a half weeks old. She learned how to sit that night!
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| 19 weeks. It's still a girl! |
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| 19 weeks |
Heartburn! Holy heartburn! My first experience with it was eating croutons. Yes, I ate them straight out of the bag. Not because I was pregnant and had a weird craving, but because that's how they should be eaten. And besides Tums, the only thing that got rid of heartburn is spicy food. I know it's weird, but I guess this girl likes it as much as I do!
This baby kicks a LOT! I am so grateful she is constantly moving... it reminds me that she is still in there and alive!
The beginning of the second trimester is when I started to use coconut oil on my stomach, hips, boobs, lower back, and anywhere that itched from the growing. I put it on every night. It helped a lot! The one night I didn't put it on was awful. The next day it felt like my body was ripping in half. Never forget the oil.
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| 20 weeks |
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| 27 weeks |
Third Trimester
This is when people started to tell me how big I was. Not that I needed a reminder. When people heard how far along I was they would respond with, "Oh, that's it?" Yes, that's it. Shut up and finish your McDonald's. At least I have a reason to be fat.
"Are you sure you're not having twins?/Are you sure there's only one in there?" Nope! I have never been to a doctor appointment so I have no idea what's going on.
"You're SO big!" Thanks! You too!
"You still haven't had that baby?" Oh I didn't tell you? I had her yesterday. I'm just really fat.
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| 30 weeks |
Soon came the dreaded glucose test. My sister warned me about a nasty sugary drink to test how your pregnant body processes sugar. I asked her if I could not have sugar for a week to help and she explained that it has nothing to do with your choices. It's just how your body processes it. She failed the first test but was fine for the second, so I figured mine might be the same. Nope. I failed both and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The good news was that my blood sugar number was just barely high enough to be diagnosed and it dropped fast. When I saw the specialist for the first time, he explained to me that the placenta produces hormones and sometimes those hormones raise your blood sugar more than other pregnant women and it can cause complications with the baby. (It is something that cannot be prevented, except maybe to be at a healthy weight pre-pregnancy, which I was.) So to accommodate this, I had to adjust my diet. Anything that turns into sugar quickly (carbs, starches, milk, yogurt, beans, fruit, some veggies, and sugary treats of course) needed to be limited at each meal and snack and had to be eaten with tons of protein to keep the number low (under 120). An occasional blood sugar spike was fine but the problem came when the number stayed high for long period of time. I had to check my blood sugar 4 times a day: after waking up and an hour after each meal. That hour of waiting was awful because my meals had to be small so I've basically been hungry since I was diagnosed in October. Oh, and stress can alter the number. And if it's raining. And if the house is dirty. I've even eaten the same food for lunch and dinner and the numbers were drastically different. The unpredictability was horrible and gave me so much anxiety. I ended up not eating any carbs during my meals because even one piece of wheat bread with protein (I'm technically allowed to have two pieces to be under 50 grams of carbs for lunch/dinner) will spike my number. And of course I was diagnosed right before the holidays. I totally "cheated" and ate rolls and pie and all the good food, but my dietitian knew that would happen. I just drank tons of water and my number was fine by morning. It has been a very difficult journey not eating what I want. One of the few perks of being pregnant is eating whatever you want and as much as you want and being diagnosed with this completely shattered that for me. If I went out to eat, it had to be a chicken salad or my number became too high. Not that I don't like chicken salads, I'm just excited for macaroni and cheese with a side of bread, brownies, a huge burrito with rice and beans, and chocolate milk. The only time I really ate carbs (a small amount with protein of course) were during my snacks. I ate a LOT of bananas/apples with peanut butter. Peanut butter was a daily thing since it required no cooking. String cheese and Greek yogurt were also daily snacks.
Because of this diet for gestational diabetes, I lost weight. It was only 2 pounds, but being pregnant, it was more like 4 pounds since I "should've" been gaining weight. I gained the weight back and then lost it again, gained it again and after that it didn't move. So even though my stomach grew bigger, I did not gain weight. Don't worry, the baby has grown properly and did not grow too big (which is one of the fears of gestational diabetes). And I'll lose weight faster after she's out!
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| Monitoring |
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| They gave me food to help her wake up and move |
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| The monitoring machine |
Tips for gestational diabetes:
- Drinking lots of water and peeing it out helps the number go down! That's also probably why I didn't have any contractions until the day I delivered.
- Cinnamon also helps it go down.
- It will not last forever! Just until the placenta comes out. It's very rare that someone will continue to have diabetes after the baby is born.
- Spaghetti squash is a good substitute for rice and pasta.
- You'll get very creative with chicken and vegetables! Pinterest has been a life saver!
- A food processor will help if you want to use cauliflower in place of carbs. Sadly, I didn't have a food processor until Christmas and by then it was kind of late. But now I can grate potatoes and making hash browns will be SO much faster! As soon as the baby's out of course.
- Go on Pinterest and search "low carb meals" and you'll get a ton of ideas. My dietitian didn't say a word about cooking. She only said to look at labels of how many carbs everything has and to look at the "meal plan" she wrote out for me. Sorry, I am not eating the same thing every day. As long as the carbs are low, that's what matters!
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| 33 weeks |
Baby Shower
My shower was held on November 7th at my house. It was awesome! My parents made the delicious food and two friends from my ward did the decorations and ran the whole show. The games weren't those sit-down-and-participate type thank goodness. We had a diaper raffle that my sister-in-law won and the other game was a "The Price is Right" kind of thing with baby items. Ironically, my childless brother-in-law won that one! I am SO glad we did a diaper raffle because now I have tons of diapers! Highly recommended for every baby shower. There was also an activity set up called "Wishes For The Little One" that people got to write advice and hopes for the baby. Reading the answers after the shower ended was so fun! Oh, and near the front door I had a station for everyone to write down their address on an envelope to mail out thank-you notes. So glad I did that! Tons of people came and we got so many things we needed and I am very grateful.
Around 35 weeks is when the pain came. I was sore from my stomach to the middle of my thighs. The best way I can describe the soreness is like having constant period cramps over a larger area of the body. Every time I stood up it's like she was jumping on my crotch (not just my bladder but the whole area) and expanding in every way possible. Sometimes it felt like she was sticking her hand out. Holding a pillow between my legs at night did NOT help at all. We have a tempurpedic mattress so my hips were able to sink into the bed, but it still didn't help the pain go away. The baby had started dropping and there isn't much you can do to help the pain. I had charlie horses during the first and second trimesters but at this point the pain was mainly in my baby area. Being 27 years old, I have had tons of friends have babies and not one warned me about the soreness at the end. Of course they complained about being huge and not being able to move because of it, but no one said anything about pain. Rude. Oh, and icky dry patches started showing up around this time. I know the winter weather could be part of it but I've never had this before. They don't itch or anything, thank goodness, they're just weird and hopefully they will go away after the baby is out.
During the last month of pregnancy I had to see the specialist (for gestational diabetes) and the OB once a week. The OB measured me every week and the specialist did ultrasounds and monitoring (the non-stress test). At about 36 weeks the specialist noticed I had extra fluid during my ultrasound. So I had to go to the specialist twice a week until the end of my pregnancy to be monitored even more. At the second appointment that week I asked how my fluids were doing and they went down so we were able to cancel the second appointments of every week. That only lasted for one week. They found that the chord was wrapped around her neck multiple times and I was back to going there twice a week. (That's going to appointments 3 times a week!) I was finally able to see the specialist doctor instead of just the technicians and he suggested having a scheduled C-section because of the chord, but it unwrapped by the second appointment that week. The following Monday I saw my OB and told him the chord has unwrapped and he asked me to ask the specialist doctor what to do whether it be a c-section or induction but when I got to the specialist for my ultrasound and monitoring, the doctor wasn't at that location. Both doctors feel safer to not have me go to the full 40 weeks because of the diabetes. At 39 weeks exactly (New Years Eve), the specialist technicians found the chord wrapped again and my fluids were slightly high again.
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| 38 weeks |
At 37.5 weeks I was 50% effaced, but not dilated yet. Poo. Christmas Eve (38 weeks exactly) I started eating spicy food and I started taking longer walks with Sophie. At 38 weeks and 4 days I was half a centimeter dilated and 60% effaced. At 39 weeks and 4 days was my last doctor appointment because my OB measured me at 3 1/2 - 4 cm dilated and told me to go straight to labor and delivery! That was easy!
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| 36 weeks 5 days |
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| 36 weeks 5 days |
Helpful things I have learned
- Water fixes everything! Nauseous? Drink water. Contractions too early? (earlier than 30 something weeks) Drink water. Tired? Drink water. And don't stop. Ever. It will solve 99% of your pregnancy woes.
- Walking helped with the insomnia and kept my energy up!
- Maternity clothes are your friend. They look 10x better than your husband's t-shirts and you'll feel better knowing that even though you've gained weight, you look good in clothes that fit properly. I almost feel better wearing maternity clothes than not being pregnant in regular clothes. I found them cheap at Ross and sometimes they are on clearance at Target. Those are the two places I got mine, but I only bought 3 shirts and one pair of pants. I know it's not much but it was enough for me. One-size-fits-all skirts and shirts have been my best friend!
- Take Vitamin C! Along with the prenatal and iron vitamins I needed to take, I made sure it was okay with my doctor that I also take Vitamin C. I worked with kids so of course there were going to be a few kids sick at all times. I was sick in the middle of the third trimester, but I know I probably would've been sick a lot more often if I hadn't been taking Vitamin C.
To end this post, here's a video of her smiling! I love technology!
