We started trying to get pregnant in August, but were unsuccessful until February. I had actually started tracking my ovulation, because the guesswork was driving me crazy. It wasn't hard--you have to take your temperature every morning upon wake-up and enter the data into a tracking program (I used Fertility Friend). A rise in progesterone after ovulation causing your temperature to rise, so a sustained temperature increase means you've ovulated. I also used ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) to track the surge in luetinizing hormone (LH) that happens right before ovulation. We were finally successful!
The next part is basically just notes I made for each week of pregnancy. It helped to keep me from feeling too overwhelmed when I was ready to tell everyone!
Week by week:
Week 4: + HPT on Wednesday, March 5; didn't really believe it until Friday, March 7. Symptoms: very upset stomach/intestines (probably the hormones--I'm hungry, but pay for it when I eat), insomnia (excitement). Made doctor's appointment for April!
Week 5: Symptoms: still very upset intestines, exhaustion that hits around Gabby's bedtime, sore boobs. Lines on HPT got darker.
Week 6: Still upset intestines, and now some nausea. No vomiting, thank goodness! Boobs sore and definitely getting bigger, very tired, lots of allergies (but that has nothing to do with baby).
Week 7: More of the same symptoms. Met with prenatal nurse this week, up 3 lbs; got all literature and made first OB appointment!
Week 8: Terrible nausea one day--like had to go back to bed and rest. Thank goodness it was a Sunday. Sore boobs still--Gabby seems to always find them with her elbow nowadays. First OB appointment. Saw the heartbeat! And little one is measuring right on time for a due date of November 15. That's what Fertility Friend predicted by my ovulation date, so that was pretty cool. Got a referral for the non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) and set appointment for May 1. Nausea subsided later in week.
Week 9: Nausea seems to be gone, now I'm eating everything in sight. Otherwise, boobs are still sore, and I still have a rumbly tummy (but at least now it doesn't hurt anymore). Spring break this week, and Brian took Thursday off so we could eat lunch at Bouchon (fancy French place) and shop in Napa! I do miss wine.
Week 10: Nausea is back, and it's affecting my whole GI. Boobs are sore; allergies are terrible. Starting to be very uncomfortable in all of my jeans (especially in the evenings), which means bump is growing. Got my summer hours down to labs only, so I'm much happier about that (I was doing lab-lecture-lab like last summer, but that would have been 6 straight hours on my feet. I don't think so.). We have the NIPT on Thursday, and I can't wait to see the baby again!
Week 11: Great appointment for ultrasound! The nasal bone was definitely there, and the nuchal fold measured 1.45 mm (anything under 3.00 mm is good). Both are markers for trisomies if absent/too big, so great news. This one moved a little more than Gabby did during her NT scan! Got my blood drawn for the NIPT (Harmony is the brand they use), and should have results in a couple of weeks. That's when I go public, although my family, friends here in Sac, and work already know. Symptoms, still gurgles in the intestines and sore boobs. Otherwise, all is well.
Week 12: Still waiting on Harmony results. Boobs still sore, appetite is back, though. Entering the magical second trimester, when all is right with the world.
Week 13: Harmony results back, no Trisomy 13, 18 or 21! And it's a boy!! What do I do with a boy? We're both really excited to have one of each, but would have been equally excited to have 2 girls. It's really bothering me that people assume we were "trying" for one of each, or when they look at Brian and say "I bet you're happy" when they find out it's a boy. We were only ever going to have 2, and the sex of this one wasn't going to affect that decision one way or the other! It makes me wonder what they would say if this one were a girl--"better luck next time" "so sorry"???
Week
14: Trip to Arizona! I way overdid it and often had cramps and a
backache at night. They disappeared by the morning and were never terrible (and no bleeding at all), but I wasn't a pleasant person during them! Congestion pretty bad (I realized it was a cold when
Brian started the same thing), which made sleeping impossible (especially since
Brian was up coughing a lot). Gabby was not sleeping well either.
At any rate, I'm exhausted! Second trimester seems to be smoother
overall, though. At least the nausea is gone, and my boobs are less sore.
I think he's having a growth spurt, though, since I'm now an eating machine. Best of all, I've felt him move! It's only when I'm sitting still (mostly in the evenings), and it feels like popcorn popping in there. Very cool!
I looked back at Gabby's first trimester, and it's pretty obvious that these are very different pregnancies! With Gabby I had some GI discomfort, but never any nausea, and even the discomfort went away fairly quickly. Artoo gave me some days of really wicked nausea that nothing but rest helped. Gabby also decided fairly quickly that I wasn't going to eat some of my favorite things (lamb and ranch dressing come to mind), but Artoo not only doesn't seem to care what I eat, he demands that I add more types of food! I've been really into meat, particularly salted meats (like bacon and salami), which I would never touch before getting pregnant. I'm also eating more fatty foods than before (but trying to keep a handle on it, since I don't want to gain too much weight). At the airport, I even finished off Gabby's macaroni and cheese with ham in it (if you know me, you know I hate all mac and cheese except Kraft, so this is big news)! With Gabby, I was more into spicy foods and berries. Berries don't even sound good to me at all now! I am still the same emotional basket case that I was when I was pregnant with Gabby.
I looked back at Gabby's first trimester, and it's pretty obvious that these are very different pregnancies! With Gabby I had some GI discomfort, but never any nausea, and even the discomfort went away fairly quickly. Artoo gave me some days of really wicked nausea that nothing but rest helped. Gabby also decided fairly quickly that I wasn't going to eat some of my favorite things (lamb and ranch dressing come to mind), but Artoo not only doesn't seem to care what I eat, he demands that I add more types of food! I've been really into meat, particularly salted meats (like bacon and salami), which I would never touch before getting pregnant. I'm also eating more fatty foods than before (but trying to keep a handle on it, since I don't want to gain too much weight). At the airport, I even finished off Gabby's macaroni and cheese with ham in it (if you know me, you know I hate all mac and cheese except Kraft, so this is big news)! With Gabby, I was more into spicy foods and berries. Berries don't even sound good to me at all now! I am still the same emotional basket case that I was when I was pregnant with Gabby.
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