So – I’m pregnant.
And - it’s pretty awesome.
Golly – let’s just start with – how afraid was I that this
would never happen?! I was so afraid that I would never find the right guy and
that I would never get to this point – and then all within one year I meet my
guy, get engaged and get preggie! Halleluiah!
The process of being pregnant has been fascinating. At first
I didn’t believe that I was actually pregnant, and now that I’m almost 19 weeks
I’m still in denial that I’m actually showing and that it’s not just a food
baby.
Let’s start from the beginning:
Finding Out
I was officially home in Boston for less than a month and
boom – I got pregnant. 8 pregnancy tests later and I was still thinking, nah…
I was in complete disbelief.
I’ve been wanting this but it was hard to wrap my mind
around the fact that “I, in this moment am pregnant.”
The first few weeks of knowing were bizarre.
First off - I was completely paranoid that I was having an
ectopic pregnancy and that my fallopian tube was going to explode any day. Then
I realized that instead of just feeling crampy, I would probably be in pain and
bleeding – so I decided that I was probably ok.
I didn’t have health insurance at the time so I never got to
validate from a doc that I was pregnant. Every home-pregnancy-test that I took
had a vague and not so clear line – so I just wasn’t sure. Finally, at the 9
week appointment the doc told me that my uterus was the size of a grapefruit
(it’s normally the size of a fist) and that if I were having an ectopic
pregnancy then I would have had surgery by now!
Still – this all seemed so unbelievable. I couldn’t make
excuses for my symptoms, however. Having those is what told me I must be pregnant.
The First Sign - Sore
Mams
When wearing a sports bra becomes more comfortable than a
normal bra – you know something is out of the ordinary. The extra soreness
happened almost immediately. Laying in bed on my stomach felt like a mammogram.
The act of putting on a bra was most similar to someone grating sandpaper over my
nipples. It was not pleasant.
Everything Smells Rotten
There are a few things that I could gag at with just a
passing thought – uncooked ricotta being one of them. I was at swim practice
and the word ‘ricotta’ popped into my mind and I nearly barfed in the pool.
I always hate the smell of all-day-worn cologne, but the
smell was even more repulsive now. Everything in the fridge reeked. The rugs
smell. My car smells. Walking by a restaurant when they’re blowing their nasty
fried food smell out the vents made my head swivel. Cigarette smoke was
pungent. Basically – everything with a smell was horrible.
Queasy
Listen, I’m thankful that the headliner here doesn’t read
“barfing my face off”. I haven’t puked yet, thank god. But queasy, a little
nauseas, feeling a little pukey – yep, I got all of that. Luckily, the yuck
feeling faded away since about 8 weeks.
Tired
I think I’ll just take a little nap.
2 hours later…
That happened about every day until week 9.
I got a boost when my doc said I could exercise all I wanted
as long as I kept a conversational pace. She also upped the heart rate from 140
to 160, noting that I would be able to tell if I was overdoing it because I
would start to feel crampy. That gave me some confidence to stop being a wimp
and to go ahead and swim and not be a total slacker.
Digestion and
Constipation
What’s for desert tonight, Colace or Metamucil? All of a
sudden my metabolism plummeted to that a 90 year-old women. The pregnancy
hormones slow down the way food is processed through your body to send more
nutrition off to the baby, and in turn… everything gets stuck.
This may have been the most frustrating symptom. Even worse,
if I ate something that was bad for me it was now curdling in my system for
days and making me feel like I had food poisoning.
Amazingly though, somewhere in the last couple of weeks this
symptom has let up.
Starting to Show
Some people say that they don’t see a difference for a while
– not for me. I saw my waistline change almost immediately. My body was like an
elastic band stretching in every which way until it found its comfort zone. Now
at 19 weeks I’m definitely showing but still in denial that this isn’t just a
food baby. Generally, it’s more fun now to be showing rather than feeling strangely
bloated and out-of-the-normal yet undetectable that you’re pregnant to other
people.
Gaining Weight
For the first 12 weeks I gained 1-2 pounds and in the last 6
weeks (from 12 to 18 weeks) I gained about 8-9 pounds. The cumulative affect
when I got on the scale was shock and horror. I hadn’t seen that number on the
scale since college. The nurses and doctors assured me that the amount of
weight I’ve gained is normal – but it took some convincing. Some people say
that it comes on at different times in your pregnancy. I’m wondering if that
may be the case for me too. I really do feel like the my body just didn’t know
what end was up for the last couple of months and that its now finding a more
comfortable place. Hopefully the weight gain will even out from here.
Insomnia
I started writing this at about 3:30 am. Nuff said.
Heartburn
I’ve had a couple of heartburn attacks, and they really
suck. And they say it gets worse further into the pregnancy. Crossing my f
ingers now.
Cravings
In hindsight, there were a few things that I definitely
enjoyed eating more than others especially in the first 12 weeks. I craved
lemonade… really anything with a lemon in it – popsicles, juice, whatever. I
ate a ton of fruit (although it’s summer and that’s fairly normal for me
anyway) and I loved grill cheese sandwiches. Veggies were a no-go, fried food
was disgusting (except homemade grill cheese), and my desire for carbs has gone
way up. Coffee, soda and alcohol repulsed me, but now I can drink decaf without
a problem.
At this point the smells and funny feelings have long passed
and I’m able to pretty much eat anything.
“Healthy Mom, Healthy
Baby”
My friend Kris told me early on, “healthy mom, healthy baby”
and to think positively. Those words have been comforting because all anyone
wants is for things to progress well and healthily – but no one can control
what happens in utero.
All in all I’m feeling pretty good!
The process has been wonderful so far and we’re looking
forward to what’s to come!