23 Skidoo

Just thought I’d do some random pregnancy blogging for posterity’s sake. My main thought on pregnancy so far is that everything about it is harder and different than I expected. Trust me, I never thought it would be easy, but I guess it’s one of those things you can’t imagine until you’ve experienced it for yourself.

I started getting morning sickness almost immediately after getting pregnant. By week three I was a little nausea all day, but I could manage it alright by just eating a lot of small meals throughout the day, relying on ginger ale and crackers, and following all the lovely tips that I read about (and heard about from every woman I encountered who had ever been pregnant). At that point I was just so excited that I didn’t even mind being nauseous. Joey and I were lucky in that we only had to try for a couple months before I got pregnant, and at first morning sickness seemed pretty manageable.

Then came July 24th. My birthday. I woke up with a migraine and tried to eat breakfast and ended up sick in the bathroom. Unfortunately, I was out of town and Joey and I had a 2.5 hour drive back to Orlando. I spent the entire day dry-heaving and crying. I never actually threw up that day, but it was really rough. When we finally got home, I got right in bed, Joey brought me some soup and emetrol, and I was able to sleep for a little while, which helped my headache. I thought the worst was over.

The next day I felt less bad and made my way into work, where no one knew I was pregnant and I was faced with a pretty big deadline. I had spent the weekend out of town at a wedding for one of my closest friends (I was a bridesmaid) and I was exhausted. I made it through Monday and then we met a couple friends at a Greek chicken place for a belated birthday dinner, since I cancelled the dinner I had planned the night before due to not being able to see or move. I ate up my dinner and topped it off with Italian ice for dessert and we had a nice night. It was weird to be around my friends without being able to tell everyone I was pregnant yet, but we felt it was too early to start spreading the news. I went to sleep that night feeling weird, but not too bad.

I woke up the next morning and threw up 6 times. I will quite possibly never eat chicken or hummus again (I’m in week 14 now and still cannot even think about either food without gagging, along with vanilla pudding and lentils, among other foods). I got myself together and went to work. For the rest of that week, and the next 4 after it, I barely kept down any food at all. It got to the point where I could not even keep down water without throwing it right back up. I finally called the doctor. They brought me in to test my hydration levels and found that I was dehydrated. They told me I had to go on anti-nausea medicine because it was more harmful for my baby for me to be dehydrated than to be on this prescription.

Over the next couple weeks, I stayed on the medication (if I even skipped one pill I would end up hugging the toilet) and as long as I took it I could eat a small selection of foods each day. My diet mostly consisted of macaroni and cheese, animal crackers, and carnation instant breakfasts. Truthfully, it hasn’t gotten all that much better even all these weeks later.

An incredible moment came when, around week 8, Joey and I got our first ultrasound and we got to see our little Peanut moving around. I started to understand what everyone meant when they said that it would all the worth it in the end. Soon after that we announced the pregnancy to all our family and friends, and that was fun. I was still having trouble enjoying anything too much though, as the nausea and exhaustion kept getting worse. I started prenatal yoga around this time, which has been good for me (especially for my sciatica).

One day around week 10 I decided I needed to stop taking my medication because I just hated (still do) the idea of being on anything while pregnant. I tried only taking it once a day for a couple days and ended up throwing up an upsetting amount of blood one night (as if there is an amount that wouldn’t be upsetting). I went to the doctor the next day and they told me my esophagus had developed tears in it from all the dry heaving and vomiting and that’s where the blood was coming from. So the baby was fine, but there was no way I could be off the medication. A couple days of recovery and I was back to where I was before that, just nauseous all day and all night.

During week 13 we got another round of ultrasound photos which was amazing! This time the baby looked like a baby and not just a peanut. He/she was jumping around in my belly and even started sucking his/her thumb. We got to hear the heartbeat at the appointment too, which is always neat. Still hard to believe there is a little alien-type person growing inside me. Such a strange way for this whole thing to happen if you ask me.

Other than that, week 13 was one of the worst. I started getting more emotional and cranky. My IC (which has not gone into remission like it does for many pregnant women) was awful and the nausea was actually worse than it had been. I was able to get through the days at work without having to go home to take a 15 minute nap on my lunch break and then go back though, so I considered that my positive point of the week.

That brings us to week 14. I am not as cranky or tired as I’ve been, but I am still just as nauseous and very much ready to cry at anything that is too sad or too happy. My mom came to visit me this weekend which was so nice. It was a good reminder of the fact that I’ll be a mama within the next 6 months and then someone will love me as much as I love my mom!

I am very anxious to find out the gender of the baby, which will happen within the next month. I will also start to feel the baby moving pretty soon, which is just plain nuts. I still can’t eat any meat at all (I also can’t have soy and I am allergic to mushrooms so all my protein is coming from dairy and beans). I have gained about 5 lbs. so most of my clothes don’t fit right and it’s pretty obvious that I am pregnant now! I still need lots of naps, especially on the weekends. Then there’s the crazy dreams, the cravings for foods that are not IC friendly, and getting used to sleeping on my side. There is so much more, but I am forgetting a lot of it because I’ve got that pregnancy brain. It’s been quite an experience so far and I know the craziest parts are still yet to come. I just hope the nausea decides to let up soon so I can enjoy the rest of the second trimester and get ready to have this baby!