But I guess that's what happens when you decide to finish your basement and replace your carpet for the entire house while you're pregnant. Think about it: we have to almost pack up our entire house to get the new carpet installed, so consequently we haven't wanted to add even more stuff (even baby stuff) to the growing collection of belongings in the garage. But thankfully, carpet is being installed this coming Thursday so there is a light at the end of the tunnel! How close our basement is to being done and ready to occupy . . . well that's another story. They're in the middle of painting right now. Bathroom isn't even touched. Finish electrical still needs to be done, same with our water softener installation, and bar top and other finish hardware. But I'm trying to tell myself: it is what it is and it'll eventually be done and will be so awesome.
Okay, that was a long introduction to this "state of the pregnancy" post. So here goes.
First Trimester -
These were the days of feeling crummy as I so frequently put it at the time: slightly nauseated very frequently, had to eat every 2 hours religiously to avoid feeling worse, but so little food even appealed to me! Water was no good - I would have none of it which is crazy since that is usually what I drink exclusively when not pregnant! So milk and juice were my saving grace. Sweets were also detestable to me which is wild too! Same with fresh or raw vegetables - I had to either cook them or smother them in salad dressing. The only food kind of ruined for me is quinoa. I made some Mexican Quinoa recipe for the first time during this trimester and I ate it fine for that first night, but after that the look of the leftovers grossed me out terribly. I now shy away from quinoa in any sort of dish; maybe I'll try it again in a different dish when I'm no longer pregnant.
I technically threw up only once and it put me in my grave - I thought I was going to die. And of course it had to be the weekend that Marty was in town to go ice fishing with Mike down at Fish Lake which is two hours away. When Mike got home that night he took me to the instacare because I was sure I had the flu on top of morning sickness. But alas, I didn't. It was just morning sickness. They gave me an IV with fluids since I was so dehydrated and they gave me some zofran to help with the nausea. That's when we learned about the other over-the-counter method of fighting nausea: vitamin B6 and doxylamine. Oh that was a lifesaver for the rest of the trimester and even into my second trimester. And it was a weekend saver since it seemed like I'd feel just well enough during the week to work, collapse in the evenings, and then be super sick on the weekends.
I told Mike several times during this trimester, through tears of frustration at feeling so crummy so frequently, to never let me forget how much I hated this phase of pregnancy.
Second Trimester -
What they say about second trimesters being great is so true! I got my energy back (mostly) and could start doing so much more. The nausea was gone after a month into my second trimester. I did some biking, both road and mountain, and some hiking - albeit very slowly and not for as long as I'm used to since I was pretty low on energy in comparison to not being pregnant and would get out of breath easily. I think I felt the first flutters of movement from our baby girl around week 20. Water and sweets and vegetables started sounding good to me again so I started eating them up. If I remember correctly, I think my only complaints were congestion, the occasional bouts of stretching pains (where my belly and abdominal muscles would stretch) and Braxton Hicks contractions, oh and being "out-of-shape" for all the physical activities I wanted to do.
Third Trimester (so far) -
Oh the third trimester . . . I'm back to an uncomfortable stage, but a different kind with aches and pains that, honestly, I'd rather deal with than the nausea that I felt in the first trimester. My biggest complaint of this trimester is that my dentist discovered five, FIVE cavities at my regular check up!! None of those five cavities were evident at my last check up. And one of them was so big, that he said he wanted to fill it before I had my baby or else it might hit the nerve before I had my baby. So I've had five cavities filled in the last couple of weeks, which stinks when you're not pregnant, but really stinks when you are pregnant. And you know what kills me most about that? My oral hygiene (flossing specifically) has improved dramatically since marrying Mike, so these cavities are totally due to pregnancy changing my body chemistry.
My hips are really sore, really sore. I'm normally a back sleeper so now that I definitely have to sleep on my hips, it's killing my hips. It's a big and painful production to turn over in bed, but I have to or else that one side of my hips will just kill me. But even with all the turning, both hips are done by about 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and so I come out to our one recliner in our family room and sleep the rest of the night in that - cuz at least I'm on my back and off my hips! In the mornings, or after I've been sitting in a chair for a while, I have to stand up slowly and give my hips a minute before I start walking to make sure they aren't going to give out on me when I take that first step. Then they warm up and I'm good to walk. But not too far or for too long. My doctor likes me to be walking for exercise, but I'll tell you what, those 15-20 minute walks kill me for the rest of the day. But the exercise I can still do without the painful short-term effects: my "high-intensity" interval training classes with hand weights. I super modify any of the cardio exercises, but then love to still do the strength training exercises with hand weights.
I count my many blessings that I'm not having too much trouble with the heat of the summer (Mike and I laugh that maybe I'm just at normal human temperature now rather than being cold all the time like I was pre-pregnancy), I don't have any heartburn really (unless you count the little vomit burps that I have on occasion which don't hurt but do gross me out), and nothing is swelling! Not my feet, ankles, hands, anything. And I'm loving ice cream lately, but maybe that's not all that different from when I'm not pregnant.
Overall pregnancy fun -
Congestion and burping. Ha ha! The congestion isn't so fun and has led to some new snoring habits for me, but Mike (and kind of me too, I guess) gets a kick out of all my burping. I've never been a burping person before, but now I am. And in some respects, I welcome it! Every now and then my tummy will start feeling a little queasy and if I can get a burp out then I feel so much better. Just like a baby, right?! Since you have to burp them after feeding them? Ha ha! When carrying a baby, I guess sometimes you turn into one yourself. :)
Here are a few belly pics:
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| 27 weeks |
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| 34 weeks |
And here are a few other baby-related pics: a baby shower that my good friends Janie, Jen, and Ashlee threw for me with my friends and family; a baby shower that my coworkers threw for me and Mike with all my coworkers; the load of a wardrobe that this baby girl already has from the two baby showers and the hand-me-downs from Traci; and a pic that I took at a breastfeeding class and posted on Instagram in order to get a free little bag of goodies.
Speaking of the breastfeeding class, Mike has been awesome by the way. He went with me to a six-hour prenatal class last Saturday, and the two and a half hour breastfeeding class with me yesterday. The prenatal class had other spouses there so he didn't feel too awkward for that one, but he did feel a little awkward at the breastfeeding class since he was the only spouse there. But I told him, I was sure all the other ladies there were jealous of me since I had such an awesome and supportive husband to come with me to the class. He didn't believe me. But then one of the other ladies came up to him and said how cool it was that he was there and how much she wished she had brought her husband to help her remember all the information presented in the class! I admit, I took advantage of that and asked him if I was right or was I right? :)
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| at the friend baby shower, with Teri, Whitney, my mom, and Jill |
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| at the work baby shower, with Denise who made this beautiful quilt for our baby! |
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| our baby girl's massive wardrobe |
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| attending a breastfeeding class |
