I am currently 24 weeks pregnant - so I will have to back track a bit.
Starting early last summer (2010) I realized I had been bitten by the baby bug and was desperate to starting planning my future family. My husband was less than thrilled at first, but after a little nudging and maybe a few tears, he was on board.
Because I am a teacher it made the most sense to shoot for a June baby, so after tracking my cycle for several months we decided to start "trying" in early September. We decided not to tell anyone we were thinking about having a baby because if it didn't take the first time around we thought we would wait another year. Apparently I am some kind of Fertile Myrtle, because one try was all it took.
That didn't appear to be the case at first. By September 26th I had taken 3 pregnancy tests that were all negative. A few days later I took another and...there it was....the brightest pink line I have ever seen! We were thrilled!
My symptoms were faint but felt very similar to pre-period symptoms. I was crampy, tired and bloated with a side of GAS. When I hit 6 weeks I started to experience breast tenderness but the nausea didn't kick in until about 7 weeks. The nausea was nagging, but I never actually had to make a run to the toilet (which was a relief because I was terrified I might have to run out of class). By this time the fatigue had really set in as well. I was going to bed around 8 or 9 every night. To fight the nausea I kept a bag of animal crackers next to my bed. I would eat a handful before getting up and it seemed to help.
My biggest concerns at this stage were to maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine and keep my weight gain to a minimum. I started at about 146 lbs - but in the first few weeks I lost about 4 lbs. At my first doctors appointment I was 142 lbs.
The highlight of the first trimester was our 12 week ultrasound. We went in for our NT scan and got to see a sneak peak of the little one. Here is a picture from our 12 week ultrasound.
As I entered the second trimester I took on some different - and much more severe symptoms. My biggest complaint was heartburn (which caused a ridiculous amount of burping). I hadn't started to show yet, which was terribly frustrating. Not that I wanted to get large and in charge too quickly, but I was so anxious to "look" pregnant. At about 13 1/2 weeks I had gained 4 lbs and was 146 lbs.
Another struggle was sleeping on my side. I am a back sleeper and found it really difficult to get comfortable on my side. My snoogle body pillow helped a little, but it took time to adjust to that.
By New Years I hadn't put on any more weight and I was starting to get nervous. This marked about 18 weeks with only 4 lbs to show for it. I wasn't sure whether to be happy I hadn't gained 20 lbs or scared something might be wrong. The doctor said everything was fine and not to worry. I was finally starting to get a little bump though.....
January brought on some very exciting things. While my heartburn had reached an all time high (the doctor finally suggested Zantac twice a day) and my exercise had pretty much gone to the wayside, it was time to find out the sex of the baby. We went in for the 20 week anatomy scan on January 17th.....its a BOY!! Here are some pictures from that ultrasound.
Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks
The next week I went in for a monthly appointment (21 weeks) and I had put on 3 lbs....now hitting 149.
That brings us to today. I am 24 weeks and feeling pretty good. I have a little lower back pain, but the Zantac has pretty much taken care of the heartburn for now (as long as I remember to take it). I have much more energy these days and am sleeping a little better. I do have to get up to pee several times a night, but I tend to fall right back to sleep.....a big change from earlier in the pregnancy.
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