I'm so glad to be back in this space! So much to share with you, but I'm mostly just thrilled that I get to come back and be in this current place. 21w6d...we've come a long, long way, thank God.
Although I'm still wondering where my bump is exactly? I definitely had one at 18 weeks with Hannah..now, people are still surprised when I tell them I'm pregnant!
Total weight gain/loss: this is interesting: in my previous three pregnancies, I've always gained a lot of weight-it ranged from 40lbs-55lbs in total; first trimester was always a gain of 10lbs! I exercised a lot less with Hannah, which is probably why I gained more than I did with my other pregnancies. There's the idea that how you eat impacts the weight you'll gain, but this pregnancy has made me question if that's really true, or it there's some truth to the theory of you eat what you need and your body gains what it needs...
I gained 20lbs pre-pregnancy over the past year+ with treatments and miscarriages and just life in general! I assumed once I got pregnant either I would buckle down on nutritious eating and exercise and keep the weight gain to a minimum, or, I'd gain the typical 40lbs-50lbs I gain in pregnancy. Of course, I really hoped I could keep it to a minimum because I do plan on losing it all post baby. Here's where it gets interesting, and I am not condoning this at all, but this is just my reality given my personal circumstances these days (moving, previous weight gain, lack of exercise, feeling overwhelmed, lacking the ability to cook my own food, etc) so far, at 21 weeks, with lack of exercise, and no conscience eating what so ever, I am up about 12 lbs. That, is very odd to me...but hey, I'll take it! Has anyone ever had an experience like that?
Maternity Clothes: I have some stretchy skirts and tunic tops I'm living in. My maternity clothes remain by a friend and I was not able to get them before I moved out of town. Either I'll get them soon, or I'll have to buy new. Either way, I figured that after having gone through my pregnancies and her pregnancies, combined with probably being completely out of style, I was digging the idea of doing a capsule maternity wardrobe! I've picked up a few pieces as needed, but I hope for at least my weekday staple wardrobe to be done through the capsule.
Sleep: Sleep has been somewhat challenging. I have become uncomfortable sooner than I remember with the other pregnancies, and I requires pillows at this point. But, I don't always have all the pillows I need and we have a shortage of pillows around here, so that makes things difficult at times. I also seem to have been hit with heartburn all of a sudden! Heartburn was always my classic pregnancy symptom, beginning around the time of a pregnancy test! This time, it wasn't until 20 weeks I experienced heart burn AND I already experienced that dreaded choking on your acid reflux in the middle of the night! That hasn't happened to me until the third trimester, oh boy!!!
Best moment this month: Our anatomy scan confirmed we have a seemingly healthy baby on our hands, thank God. We weren't so fortunate with Hannah, but this baby is not presenting with the same issues!!! We will follow up with another scan in a few weeks, and I have requested a fetal echocardiogram. This is not being recommended to me, rather in NY, these were standard for pregnancies conceived via IVF. That ultrasound gives me a lot of piece of mind, so I asked for it, and the doctor happily obliged! That is coming up in the next couple of weeks!
Movement: I have been feeling movement since 10 weeks, as crazy as that sounds! I have heard from other women that the more pregnancies you have, the earlier you feel movement. So, while I will never be 100% sure that what I felt was the baby, I know what it wasn't. But, what made that difficult is that having felt movement, makes it harder to not feel movement. Not only is it not common to feel movement so early, even when fetal movement is normal, around 14-16 weeks, it's not consistent. So that was challenging for me-that lack of fetal movement didn't mean fetal demise. Now, just after 20 weeks, I was able to feel movement from the outside!!
Exercise: For so many reasons, I haven't been exercising. I know that I can't jump back into the routine I was doing pre-pregnancy, but I do plan on securing a trainer for 2-3 times a week (she recommended 30 minute sessions) and then doing some other form of exercise 1-2 times per week. A friend invited me to barre, so I'll look into that! Although exercise and dieting hasn't been an issue for me when I needed it to work, pregnancy is an easy excuse to be lax, and I don't want to end up in as out of shape as I was after Hannah, but I know unless I make exercise an appointment, like everything else in my life now, I won't willingly take myself away from my crazy, unpacked, upside down house!
Gender: For the first time, I succeeded in not finding out the gender of this baby! I really, truly, don't want to know and I am so enjoying just finally bonding over the baby.
Labor signs: No, thankfully! And at the anatomy scan they offered me a cervical check, and thankfully mine was measuring solidly above their requirement, at 3.4.
Belly button in or out: IN! Due to my pre-pregnancy weight gain, my stomach is still looking flabby and not necessarily pregnancy, so it has that concave shape a little...almost 22 weeks and still in an awkward pregnancy stage! #help #wheresthebump
What I miss: besides my clothes (specifically having enough underwear) and my house not being upside down-nothing!
What I'm looking forward to: every week is a step in the right direction! Next Friday I have my requested fetal echocardiogram.
Poll: Boy or Girl???
Bubby has lots of extra pillows in SB
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