Since this is my first entry, I want to briefly describe the previous weeks
of my pregnancy. When I found out I was pregnant, I was already 8 1/2
weeks pregnant. I had started feeling nauseous right around my 7th week,
before I got the positive pregnancy test. Nausea combined with being three
weeks late with your period is pretty much a dead give-away that you're
pregnant. So, I wasn't too surprised by the results. SHOCKED maybe, but I
knew. My boyfriend, Will, knew too. It was just the reality setting in
that shocked us. We were going to be parents, something I didn't think we
would be doing for quite some time. I'm only 23 years old and had no
intentions of having children until my late 20's or even early 30's. But,
now that it's happening, I'm glad that I'm going to be a younger parent. I
think I'll be more in touch with what's going on with my kid. Plus, Will &
I run a non profit youth center, so we'll be constantly surrounded by kids.
That will be a great environment for our kid to be around.
Anyway, I think I was pretty lucky with morning sickness. I never threw up
and I could usually eat a meal. My sickness was more along the lines of
certain foods totally repulsed me and made me dry heave at the thought of
them. Or I would get my mind set on one thing and that's the only thing
that I could stomach that day. Grocery shopping was a chore and a half!
Sights of certain foods would just make me ill and I never knew what would
repulse me tomorrow or the next day. Smells definitely bothered me, and
still do a little bit. It's amazing how the sense of smell is enhanced!
My morning sickness (or all-day nausea as I like to call it) subsided
almost instantly at about 10 weeks. Just like it said it would in all the
books! I get a small bout of sickness here and there, but nothing I can't
deal with. Saltines were my savior and I kept them stocked in my car, my
desk at work, my purse and at home. They really kept the nausea from
getting too bad.
I went in for my first prenatal exam when I was 10 weeks along. I got the
dreaded pelvic exam and the question and answer session. They sent me home
with tons of information, which I was thrilled about. I'm a reader and I
like to read about everything that's going on. The doctor said that
everything seemed to be going just fine and didn't anticipate any
complications judging from my health condition and history. I like my
doctor, but the more I think about the way I want my childbirth experience
to be, the more I'm thinking that a mid-wife may be the way to go. I want
a completely natural birth (my mom thinks I'm nuts) and I don't want to be
pushed into things like Pitocin or an Epidural. I also don't want an
episiotomy. So, I think that a mid-wife would be willing to work with me
on those things, but I'm going to talk to my doctor about all of these
things and see what her reaction is.
I got to hear the heart beat with the Doppler and they brought Will in to
hear it too. We were surprised at how fast it was - 160 beats per minute!
But I guess when you stop to think about how small it is in there, it's
not that surprising. I think that kind of confirmed things for me -
hearing the heartbeat. Even though I got a positive pregnancy test and had
all of the signs of pregnancy, I think somehow I was still in denial. You
can't deny a little heartbeat in your belly though!
After that, I guess I started worrying about a lot of things, particularly
labor. I'm not sure what exactly worries me about labor, but I started
feeling panicky. Maybe it's the pain factor or the not knowing if
everything will be OK. Then I started feeling guilty because all I could
think about was how much sleep I would be losing once the baby is born. I
have always loved to sleep. I can take a five hour nap during the day and
still go to bed at 9:00 PM and sleep through the night until he next afternoon!
I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which means I have an
underactive thyroid. This may be the main reason why I'm so tired all the
time. I started taking Synthroid about a year ago, but I don't like taking
prescription drugs, so I took myself off of it. Now of course since I'm
pregnant, the doctor said that it's very important for me to keep taking
the medicine, so I'm back on it. Of course, anything that you put into
your body also goes into the babies body, so that's what worries me about
taking ANY type of drug. I guess it's a no win situation. I have to take
it to ensure that my body functions properly - for the sake of the babies
health, yet the very drug that I'm taking could be jeopardizing the babies
health. I'm on a very low dosage though, so I'm hoping that it won't
affect the baby at all.
The last few weeks have been pretty uneventful. No more morning sickness,
no more horrible gas pains. The only symptom that I've really had is fatigue. I'm starting to show a little bit. I've already outgrown most of
my work clothes (all of my skirts basically) and I probably have a few more
weeks left before my jeans no longer fit either. I'm buying all elastic
waistlines in my pants and they're mostly all cotton and BAGGY! That way,
they will expand as I do. I'll deal with summer clothes when the time
comes! That's when I'll be at my biggest, so I have no idea what size to
buy now!
So here I am at my 15th week. Only 25 more weeks (give or take) to go!
Seems like an eternity! I haven't even reached the half way point yet.
Well, more next week. I have my second doctor's appointment, so I'll have
something to write about!
|