I am ecstatically happy to be writing a recap and moving into the second trimester. When I had spotting again at 11 weeks, I really wasn't sure we would keep progressing, but here we are, and I'm so grateful!
How big is baby? Depending on the app, baby is the size of a lemon, a jalapeño or, in "real size" mode, the curled up baby is just about to outgrow the screen on my iPhone!
Due date: December 2-- but based on my history I'm anticipating a Thanksgiving turkey!
How far along: I'm writing this post at 13 weeks and 3 days.
Gender: We have reason to believe we know, but want to wait until the 20 week ultrasound to confirm! Noah wants a boy and Rosie wants a girl, and part of me just wanted to have boy/girl twins so all the siblings could have special sibling friends. (Not gonna lie, though, the idea of twins is a lot and I was grateful when only one baby showed up on ultrasound). I never had sister and I still feel like I missed out on something special. However, I'm 36 and I can confidently say this is the last baby we are PLANNING to have, so we get what we get. Ross and I are happy either way; it's just sibling dynamics that will have to adjust.
Exercise: Stopped when the nausea started between weeks 5-6, sadly. And I had just started up again after the most sedentary year of my life (thanks 2020). But I've been much more active + out and about in the last week or two and I'm hoping that will continue, along with adding in some Barre3. It does feel good to MOVE when I feel good, if that makes sense. I've also started doing some morning stretching and PT which does help with hip and back pain.
Symptoms: Around 10 weeks, I feel like I got hit with relaxin. I got really clumsy, everything felt loosey goosey, and my pregnancy hip pain came back, and the left-sided tension extended all the way to a few really rough tension headaches. I miss Advil. Starting PT again did help with some of that discomfort, thankfully. But I'm still on the hunt for a pillow that doesn't leave me with a sore neck and pending headache in the morning!
Overall, fatigue is still probably my number one symptom, although it went hand in hand with nausea every minute of the day for a while there. I'm SO GLAD the nausea seemed to peak around week 11 and is on the downhill now. But I still gag when blowing my nose or brushing my teeth, and I still get way nauseated if I go too long without eating. Still working on actually eating enough, frequently enough. Still waking up at night but mostly able to eat a Larabar and go back to sleep.
I've also had shortness of breath for a few weeks, even though baby is still far away from my diaphragm.
Swelling: Not too bad. Breast and pelvic discomfort is significantly less this time around and I'm wondering if it's due to the pro-metabolic lifestyle changes I had implemented for about 9 months prior to getting pregnant.
Maternity clothes: Exclusively lol. Maternity pants since week 5, and maternity shirts since I "popped" around week 8.
Belly button: It's been pretty stretched out since about 9 weeks, but not an outie yet. I was actually able to palpate my fundal height in the mornings starting around 9 weeks which was super exciting and made me feel a little less crazy for embracing the belly with baby 3.
Sleep: It's been a rough 3... 7... 14 years of sleep?! Between night shift and babies and the chaos of 2019, sleep has been pretty hit or miss. But in the first trimester, even before I got a positive test, I was up at night super hungry or super wired most nights. A 2am snack got me back to sleep about half the time, and the other half I spent 1-3 hours reading in bed to avoid laying there panicking about how little sleep I was getting! Tapping with my counselor actually helped me embrace the middle of the night silence instead of panicking about it and it's improved a bit since then. Still taking 1/2 a Unisom at night more for the sleep than the nausea at this point. Hopefully I can get off of it soon.
Food aversions: I had crazy cravings for chocolate in weeks 4 or 5 and then became totally averse to chocolate and coffee per usual for me in pregnancy. Leftovers are the worst. Now that I'm at the end of the first trimester, some cravings, like sushi, Thai food, etc are actually starting to sound NOT good and food like coffee and chocolate are tolerable again.
Food cravings: Similar to my pregnancy with Noah, most food has been subpar but when something is good, it's REALLY good and the first bite will have me sighing "mmmm" out loud. In the first tri, I craved basically all my favorites from KC: Rainbow Thai Noodles or Drunken Noodles from Lulu's, vegan tiramisu from Cafe Gratitude, pineapple curry from Lemongrass Thai, pineapple canadian bacon and jalepeno pizza from Waldo Pizza, no-bake peanut butter bars from SweetTeas Coffee, the Pork Belly Bowl from Urban Table, Mongolian Beef from PF Chang's, lemon bars from Emily Kate's Bakery via Dolce. *Sigh* My stomach is growling after typing this out. Exactly none of those cravings were met, which is a huge bummer. Most things spicy or tangy are my friend and lemon ginger kombucha was a daily Godsend for a few weeks there.
Currently, mashed potatoes or vinegary potato salad seem to be my most consistent craving. Speaking of potato salad, now I'm thinking ALL summer cookout food sounds good: brats on the grill, baked beans, tons of watermelon, potato salad, mmmm..... My entire household is also thrilled that when I'm pregnant and it's summer, I actually think about things like ice cream and popsicles.
Movement: I swear I started feeling it around 9 weeks this time around. I still only feel it once or twice a week though.
What I miss: Honestly, I miss living in KC right about now. The homesickness isn't as acute as it was the first year after moving, but I loved walking on our beautiful street in the mornings every summer and eating at all the delicious restaurants. Cravings aren't NEARLY as fun when you live 30+ minutes away from decent food and there's also a sense of craving familiarity and routine. Like, I have places I go and things I do when I'm pregnant and those are different this time around. Which is good and bad.
What I'm loving: Rosie is so stinking excited about the baby. She hugs my belly in the morning and she says, "I can't WAIT for our baby to get here. Christmas is sooooo far away!" She also REALLY wants a girl and is very insistent that was say "he OR she" when talking about the baby.
What I'm looking forward to: I don't want to skip the next 6 months of life, but I'm honestly really looking forward to meeting this new little face.
Best moment this week: Getting CST at PT this week. It's almost as good as a massage, although not quite the same. I really need to schedule one of those too!
