Hellobee

On one hand I wonder where the time has gone, and on the other hand I’m dying to hit the official second trimester on Thursday! I originally thought the second trimester started at 13 weeks, so I will admit I was disappointed when I opened my pregnancy apps that morning to discover I still had one more week left.

Thankfully, this pregnancy (which I still can’t believe I’m writing!) has been pretty uneventful. Like I had heard may happen, starting at about 6 weeks I started getting morning sickness. Although in my case it has been late afternoon and evening sickness. I usually feel pretty good when I start the day, which is nice because that’s often the busiest part of the day (swim lessons, gymnastics, play dates, etc.), but by about 4pm I’m feeling pretty awful. Thank goodness Mr. Piñata has been able to get into work a little earlier so he can usually be home by 5pm or so. I try to have dinner ready by then so that when he gets home, I can leave him with the kids for dinner and lie down on the couch for an hour or two. If I don’t take the time to rest, I end up feeling even more nauseated. Since 6 weeks this has changed a bit from nausea, to headache and nausea, to dizziness and headaches, etc. And who knows where it will go from here?

At first I tried to figure out what I was doing something ‘wrong’ to cause some days to be better than others, but I’m trying to face the fact that pregnancy just makes you sick sometimes and I just have to get used to it. I have learned that I really do need to eat protein every couple of hours in the afternoon to make it a little bit better. I have also found that ginger essential oil helps, in addition to some homeopathic remedies recommended to me by my acupuncturist, but that certainly doesn’t mean that I can avoid feeling sick altogether. It’s very strange to me since I’m not the type of person to lie around instead of being productive, but I’ve discovered I need to take it much slower than I used to or pay the price in feeling awful. Last weekend I really overdid it and ended up with an awful migraine, vomiting, and taking about 36 hours to recover. Pregnancy is no joke!

I’m already not really recognizing my body. Due to both the progesterone and my short stature, I was unable to fit in my normal shorts or pants by about 7 weeks! Thank goodness a friend had already given me her hand-me-down maternity clothes so I had things to wear. I’ve also bought a few lightweight maternity dresses that I have been wearing pretty much every day due to comfort, staying cool, and keeping pressure off my belly. I’ve found that I’m more likely to feel sick if I wear anything that puts even a little bit of pressure on my belly – even maternity shorts! So I now have enough comfortable dresses for each day of the week and I just rotate them.

Between the nausea, lying down in the evening, and having to eat every couple of hours in the afternoon and evening, I’m not altogether surprised at the weight I’ve gained. I knew I would be gaining weight, but I didn’t know I would be doing it so quickly, or in every part of my body. For the sake of full disclosure I will tell you all that I already had to buy new panties two sizes larger than my normal size. I was tired of the wedgies! I’m also noticing different things about my body, like my arms rubbing against my sides in a weird way, bras no longer fitting comfortably, and feeling wider when I look in the mirror. I am so grateful to be pregnant, but I’m not quite used to the idea that my body will likely never the be same. I’m not even 14 weeks along and amazed at all the changes already.

Emotionally this pregnancy still seems so unreal. I’ve written this entire blog post about my pregnancy symptoms, but it’s so hard to believe that all these changes going on in my body will result in a baby being born! For years I tried to get my brain used to the fact that I may not experience pregnancy, giving birth, or breastfeeding, and with each passing week it’s looking more and more like a reality! We told our family and close friends the news at the 9.5 week mark, but other than that I haven’t been able to bring it up when talking to people. Mr. Piñata has just about been telling everyone he sees, but to me it still doesn’t seem real yet, even though we’ve seen the little bean 3 times on ultrasound and even heard the heartbeat once! You would think that all these body changes would convince me that a baby is on the way, but it hasn’t truly settled in yet. Hopefully when I start feeling the baby move it will feel more like a ‘real live’ baby growing in me and less like a little nugget stealing all my nutrients and energy.

I’m hoping the second trimester brings more energy and less sickness. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get in more walking and yoga in the second trimester to help me get more active and in shape for the not-so-easy process of labor. It has been strange for me to feel so lethargic, and not wanting to leave the house, especially when it has been so warm and beautiful outside! But, I’m grateful for every day that this little peapod-sized baby is growing inside of me and hope and pray that in 6 months we will be introducing this sweet baby to the world!

How was your first trimester?