Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Pregnancy Timeline

I've heard a lot of people say that pregnancy is amazing and magical. I didn't buy it. Parts definitely suck and you don't really feel like you can say so. It's not like I'm saying the baby sucks...just growing her does. I've been sick, had weird eating habits, been SO tired, my focus seems a little off, my body hurts, and I'm developing cankles. Lovely. But, I've recently started to feel the good parts of being pregnant. So I decided to make a little timeline of my pregnancy up until this point.

4 weeks
At four weeks, to the day, I found out I was pregnant. It was a Friday and Adam wasn't home from work yet. I had stopped taking my birth control about 3 months prior but was still pretty shocked to see those 2 lines. I left home and went to the store to find something cute to do for Adam to tell him. Gender neutral "I Love Daddy" onesies don't exist. So I made one. I bought a white onesie and a 3 musketeer bar (because there will be 3 of us now, way clever, I know). When I got home, I started embroidering the onesie to say I {heart} Daddy. Adam got home from work and took a nap...which was good, because I needed the extra time. When I got the onesie done, I wrote him a little note and put everything in an envelope. I set them next to him while he slept and then decided to take another test. Still positive. I came back to the bedroom and found the envelope opened and Adam, back asleep. He was obviously ecstatic.

6 weeks
I started getting sick. Running hurt (I was still training for the Ragnar). I was throwing up on at least a daily basis. From weeks 6 to 15, I really really disliked being pregnant. But I didn't gain any weight, so I guess that's good. This is when I started having food aversions. Either the food didn't sound good or I'd had "negative results" and was officially "off" that food. My sweetest husband totally catered to my limited food choices though. He's the best.

12 weeks
This was my first Dr.'s appointment. Adam came. We got to hear the baby's heart beat. Everything started to feel more real for both of us. Our doctor highly recommended that I find a replacement for the Wasatch Back. Now that it's only 4 weeks away, I'm really glad I'm not doing it. I am really in no shape for that much running. At this point, most people knew about my pregnancy.

14 weeks
I caved and went to Fetal Studios, something I swore I wouldn't do. When we got there, Adam was a little embarrassed. I was too. We always kind of made fun of the ultrasound in the mall idea. It's a little weird, let's be honest. But when the nice Lithuanian man started our ultrasound and we got to see our little baby, the lame music and the fact that we were at an appointment in the mall didn't seem so bad. He told us she was a girl and gave us pictures. It was a great experience actually. I loved seeing her move around and seeing the look on Adam's face when we were told we would be having a girl. The ultrasonographer said something about how it's okay and maybe we'll have a boy next time, kind of consoling us. Which was funny to us because we both really wanted a girl. I felt like she was a girl all along (almost everybody guessed she would be a boy...not me though), but tried to tell myself a boy would be great. But after the ultrasound confirmed we were having a girl, we both just talked about how much we wanted a little girl and how happy we were. Then we went shopping and bought her stuff!

16 weeks
I had a follow up appointment and the sickness had started to subside. I still didn't feel great all the time but was finally not vomiting regularly. This was a very welcome change. At the appointment, I learned that I had gained one pound and got to hear her heartbeat again. It was pretty brief.

20 weeks
We got to have another ultrasound...this time at the doctor's office. I had to drink a bunch of water first and hold it. That was a little rough. The ultrasound was amazing. She was bigger and her facial features were much more prominent. We saw her looking around and opening and closing her mouth. I think I like ultrasounds. The ultrasonographer spend some time looking at her kidneys and a lot of time looking at her heart (because of some congenital birth defects my sibs had). As far as she could tell, everything looked perfect. Relief. Seriously. You have no idea. I know it isn't concrete and she wants us to consider getting an echo (which I doubt we'll do) but it's nice to get to think, for now, that our baby daughter is healthy.

At 20 weeks, I also started feeling some movement. The Saturday before our appointment, I was swimming with Adam. During my breaststroke set, I felt some odd tumbling feeling in my lower abdomen. I ignored it at first. But then it became quite apparent and I stopped Adam and told him. He couldn't feel it, but it was cool. Since then, she has been moving and kicking quite a bit.

22 weeks
This is where I am now. My lower back and hips have started to bug me. The ligaments in my lower abdomen that have relaxed due to my pregnancy sometimes bother me. Especially if I stand too quickly or sneeze really hard. I am gigantic. I've gained 9 pounds total so far. It seems like a little much but I'm not too worried. My belly protrudes about as much as my chest does, maybe a little more. I have started to feel a little bit nauseous again but nothing too bad. My right ribs hurt a lot and my brand new cankles are especially attractive. I've started wearing real shoes (not just flip flops) at the advise of my mother. I'm sure when I'm nasty swollen I'll be right back in those trusty old flops though.

I finished her crib sheets last night. I am really pleased with them. More that I've actually gotten something done. I'm anxious to do more. Work and school and this ridiculous desire to sleep 18 hours a day are really getting in the way though. Hopefully I can get everything sewn in the next couple months!

9 comments:

*Aliese* said...

Sounds...mildly pleasant??...Totally understand the relief of the health issues though. Granted, Jacob's was the only one mom had any warning with so the echo may not be a bad idea?? I wanna see the sheets!

Unknown said...

@Aliese~No sense getting an echo. If they do find a heart problem, they wouldn't do anything about it until she is born anyway. And they'd find it within her first hours of life. So, may is well enjoy a few months of blissful ignorance!

Amy and Mike said...

These are fun memories that you will be glad you wrote down. It's amazing how having a kid changes your ability to remember things, even things you thought you would NEVER forget. Oh the joys of hip and round-ligament pain. I think it was worse for me with the first, probably just because I had no idea what to expect. I'm glad you aren't feeling as sick. Yeah for 2nd trimester!

Hatch said...

Jen, I am so excited for you! I don't think the mall ultrasound is dumb at all, if we had a real mall, I totally would of done it. I never had to throw up, thank goodness, but the aches and pains suck. The only time I enjoyed being prego was with Tia, cause I was home, all the kids in school and I watched Bringing home baby all day and ate spray cheese and licorice,all from the bed I might add, ya, I'm lame and was lazy the whole time! So I enjoyed it for the most part, minus the aches.

Becky said...

I'm so excited for you! Congratulations again. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well.

*Aliese* said...

Where did all the comments go!??

Unknown said...

Drats! My blogger is being glitchy.

*Aliese* said...

@ Jen--
Of course I remember! That trip is actually what inspired this hike because the one they wanted to do was closed and a bunch of the other kid-friendly ones were completely PACKED with people! Then, I remembered this one, so we decided to give it a whirl.

P.S. Apparently your comments reappeared. :)

Leslie said...

Ummmm...9 pounds in 22 weeks is great. Serious. I gained 45 pounds with Kael. Yup. Gotta love the round ligament pain. I had it bad with Kael....made life awesome.