The First 4 and a Half Months…
Welcome back! Thank you for sharing this journey with me 🙂 Here’s a little run-down of how my pregnancy has been going so far, I’m sure many of you mommies-to-be can relate to these stories!
Peeing on Sticks
Finding out you are pregnant is a bit of a process through a fertility clinic. They want you to have a blood test to confirm that your HCG levels are high and therefore confirm your pregnancy. Then they want another blood test 2 days later to see if the HCG hormones are rising which indicates the pregnancy is viable. So even though I peed on a stick on a Friday, I had to wait until the Tuesday after Labour day weekend to take the first blood test. Then I had to wait for those results… then take another blood test…then more waiting. So finally, we had our confirmation that the pregnancy was viable a full week after we found out. : )
I peed on the stick just a few days before a 2 week long cottage vacation with my family this August. So by the time we had confirmation that the pregnancy was good to go, I was already at the cottage with my family. I had already been eating healthier and not drinking because I was trying to conceive which they were aware of, so it didn’t come as any surprise when I passed on the hotdogs. Although I did have a weakness for chips, sorry baby matthew!
Then came the whole 3 months of waiting for something bad to happen. And of course, it had to be the summer where every celebrity decided to come out in the open about their miscarriages. I believe it’s fantastic to open up the conversation about this unreasonably taboo topic, but talk about bad timing to be in your first trimester! Every second day on Facebook there was another miscarriage story. BUT luckily we made it though : ) We told our families when we reached the 12 week mark and had the all clear on any major issues.
Baby Matthew, 11weeks+4days
See his little fingers by his eye? And his foot at the top?
Morning Sickness and all that jazz
I have to say that I’m pretty lucky. Yes, I was nauseous, but I never actually threw up. The thought of eating certain foods, like smoothies or meat, really turned me off and I was really only able to eat fruit, cooked veggies, and plain carbs like bread and pasta for the first few months. So there was a lot of toast with cashew butter and a side of cantaloupe happening. Or tomato soup with crackers. And I discovered that unfortunately there really is no substitute for plain old soda crackers. I would keep them beside my bed and eat half a dozen when I woke up starving and nauseous at 3 in the morning.
Unfortunately the thought of taking a prenatal vitamin made me REALLY nauseous by month 2. I was militant about the prenatal vitamin for the first month and a half but in the second and third months I just couldn’t stomach it. So I just tried to take a folic acid supplement when I could, and tried to eat as much folic acid fortified foods as possible, which wasn’t hard since I was basically living off bread. If you’re worried about getting enough folic acid try eating some lentils, here’s a recipe for a delicious Hearty Fall Lentil Stew
Then magically, at about 10 weeks, the nausea disappeared and I was able to start eating normally again. I still have a hard time eating some meats, but overall I’m back on track with my diet except for the occasional pig-out on chips and dip.
Check out my recipe for anti-nausea cookies HERE They are really delicious, packed with ginger to help with nausea, full of calcium, and full of protein, healthy fat and good carbs for long lasting energy.
Don’t Bring a Stinky Dog Around Me!
My nose is like a cruise missile. I can smell the prenatal vitamins in the kitchen cupboard from the living room. I can’t stand the smell of my dogs feet (which I don’t actually sniff, I can just tell when she’s in the room and has dusty paws). I couldn’t stand the smell of my house for about a month! And the smell of cologne actually makes me physically angry. I’m not talking about being irritated by the scent, I’m talking about being angry for no reason at all, then realizing it’s because it’s being caused by smelling perfume. It’s hard to explain in writing. Suffice it to say that my sense of smell is in overdrive right now.
Gimmi Pickles!
Yes, I’m that girl who craves pickles. Thankfully not pickles with anything gross like ice cream, but I definitely want to eat them more that usual. So cliche! For example, I just ate a pickle while chopping a pickle to put in an egg salad sandwich. I then had a pickle on the side, and caught myself thinking that the sandwich it’s pickle-ly enough and that I should add PICKLE JUICE to the eggs next time! Ew!
I also craved a root beer float one night, and would eat it again! And please, keep chips away from me! I realize this is a nutritionist talking, but hey, I’m human too. Besides those little cravings, I’m just very easily influenced when it comes to meal suggestions.
Oh the Fatigue!!
The fatigue was what really surprised me. I must have had an afternoon nap every second day during the second and third months. I felt extremely guilty about taking this time, but I figured I might as well nap in honour of all the women who work in an office and couldn’t nap! I’m lucky to work from home and have the luxury of the occasional nap but I was really happy when I got back in control. Now I’d say my energy is pretty good, and as long as I don’t try to schedule myself too many things to do in one day : )
Bloated like a beached whale!
Oh god, the bloating! I lived off fennel tea for a full month. I had to really cut down on the amount of bread I was eating, but luckily I was able to tolerate yogurt really well which helped with finding something to eat for breakfast. You’ll see that I wrote a whole blog post about gas and bloating during pregnancy when I was in the thick of it. If you need some guidance right now, check out the post HERE
Weight Gain & Fitness
So far I’m just doing Aquafit at the local pool on Tuesday, and plan to start going on Thursdays as well. I also walk the dog a couple of times per day for about 20 minutes each time. I reallllly need to start going to a prenatal yoga class because my muscle tone is disappearing, and I’m getting stiffer and stiffer as the months progress. So my goal is to find a good class locally in the next week or so. I’m really missing the hot yoga I was doing before I got pregnant and can’t wait to get back into it once the baby arrives.
I didn’t actually weight myself at the start of the pregnancy, and had gained a few pounds from the fertility treatments, so I’m not 100% sure of my starting weight. But so far I think I’ve gained about 10lbs which is pretty much right on schedule for 4.5 months. I’ve gained it all over but with a concentration on my belly and love handles. Oh the love handles! But this isn’t surprising since I’m prone to gaining weight around the middle anyway. I’m still able to fit into a few pairs of pre-pregnancy jeans (formally known as my ‘fat jeans’, you know what I’m talking about). I have to use an elastic band to extend the button and it’s kind of uncomfortable so I bought some maternity clothes on the weekend and I’m feeling much more comfortable. I think I might just wear maternity jeans for the rest of my life!
Wondering about weight gain and calorie intake during pregnancy, check out my post on Eating for Two
Where do we go from here?
Well, next week Tuesday is the big 20 week anatomy scan so Derek and I are very excited about that! I’ll be sure to post a picture of the baby and an update at that time. And next Tuesday evening is my talk on Demystifying Breastfeeding with Lactation Consultant Taya Griffin! Check out the details HERE
Thanks for reading and joining me on this exciting journey!!
XO,
Kate & Baby Matthew