Sunday, May 6, 2012

the big news

In case you missed the big announcement on Flickr or Facebook last Monday... Steve and I are happy to announce that we're expecting a baby around October 27! That's right, I'm pregnant—about 15 weeks now.

This is the picture I used to break the news to the internets. It's our first ultrasound picture from around 12 1/2 weeks, along with a sheep that I made recently from a Woolbuddy needle felting kit.



Now that I'm officially out of the first trimester, I'm feeling a bit better. I never really got morning sickness in the typical sense; instead, I just felt kind of icky and almost nauseous if I didn't eat often enough. (No puking, though!) All of that hit right around week 7. You may have noticed that my pictures of the day got kind of lame around March, and that—along with cold, rainy weather—had a lot to do with it. I took a long time to get the blog posts done for those weeks too, because just looking at the pictures from that time made me feel kind of gross again. I still get a little of that almost sick feeling when I need food, but I've figured out the signs now. The trick is eat right away, even if nothing sounds good.

Along with the "ick" came the first trimester fatigue. Up until that point, I would have bouts of feeling extra sleepy, but this was more of a constant tiredness. I really didn't feel like doing much of anything, except maybe sitting and staring, whether at my laptop or the television. And unfortunately, all this was going on while the in-laws were visiting. I tried, but I was probably less social than usual.

Remember all that work I did in January and February, getting pictures on the walls and the ceiling medallion in the dining room finished? Yeah, that started before I was pregnant and finished by the time I found out I was pregnant. It may have sounded like nesting at the time, but I was mostly trying to keep myself busy and knock some things off the to-do list, since I knew we would have plenty to do to make our office into a nursery once I got pregnant. But once I did actually get pregnant, I felt too preoccupied (and cautious about counting metaphorical chickens too early) to start more new projects right away, especially ones that were directly related to getting ready for a baby. Then the fatigue hit and took away any remaining energy I had.

The sick feeling and the fatigue got better sometime around mid-April—about week 11 or 12. But my trade-off for avoiding the nausea seems to be heartburn. I actually started to get it subtly here and there as soon as I got pregnant, before I even knew for sure. It was pretty sporadic for the first trimester, but it's gotten worse in the last couple weeks. I'm managing with the occasional Tums and Pepcid, but I seem to have at least a little heartburn every day now.

The frequent peeing has also started, complete with having to get up once every night since week 7. I really disliked that in the beginning, so I would try to debate whether I really needed to get up and pee. Now, I've just accepted it and learned where the worst of the creaks in the floor are. Anyway, it's certainly less of an inconvenience than having to get up and feed a baby! That will come soon enough.

At week 15, I'm only just starting to show, but I feel like it's perhaps a little more noticeable in the last week. (Maybe it's just because I'm letting myself wear tighter shirts again, now that people know I'm pregnant.) In order to document it all, I've started taking the obligatory "belly pictures." I probably should have taken the first one when I found out I was pregnant, but I was hesitant to start that early for a variety of reasons. First, I knew things wouldn't change very fast in the beginning. Second, I wasn't ready to commit to clothing and background choices just yet, and I wanted to be consistent for all of my pictures. Third, I didn't want to take the chance that I would have a miscarriage and be even more cautious about taking pictures the next time around.

I ended up waiting until 9 weeks—after my 8-week OB appointment—to take my first picture, when I was only just starting to notice a little weight gain. I'd say it's a pretty accurate "before" shot. From there, I started taking them every 2 weeks until the beginning of the second trimester. I've moved to every week now, which might be overkill, but it should be fun to look at the progression anyway. You can see the whole set on Flickr.

I have to say, it's pretty strange to be gaining weight. I think I've been around the same size, give or take 5-8 lbs and a little filling out, since high school. (I know. You're rolling your eyes.) But that's all over now; I just bought my first maternity jeans on Friday. Although they're certainly not my favorite fashion, they're more comfortable and probably more flattering at this point than jeans with zippers and buttons.

So I guess that about covers it for the first trimester! Time to get back to catching up on the weekly Project 365 posts now.

3 comments:

  1. Big congratulations to you :) I just checked out your flickr set - you look beautiful!

    PS. Love the little sheep!

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  2. Thanks for sharing! Love your story! Keep the pictures coming...never an overkill with those! BSD

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  3. Congratulations ! Take more pictures now before u'll be busy!

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