Not content with taking over the globe with one minion, hubs and I decided we should add another human to our team. Or maybe it was something more normal. I'll let you decide.
I am 12 weeks today, and it is a great feeling. This pregnancy is so different from my first. But before I delve into that, some FAQs:
When are you due?
As my cycles continue to plague me with their randomness, this is always somewhat difficult to ascertain. After a dating ultrasound, we have an approximate window. April 21-24, 2017. But babies are notorious for doing whatever they please, so this little kidlet will show whenever he or she decides.
Will Josh be home?
YES! Or at least he should be barring unforeseen disaster.
How are you feeling?
Now, I only feel tired. Weeks 5-11, I had nausea that lasted most of the day. I still have extreme food aversions, but as long as I avoid them I don't get nauseous anymore.
What is the gender?
We don't know yet, but we will soon!
Back to the pregnancy. This pregnancy is very different from my pregnancy with my daughter. They started out almost identical, though. For one, I knew I was pregnant almost immediately. This is some magic power I have. Hubs also developed suspicions about a week after conception. I also got a positive pregnancy test way earlier than should have been possible.
So why did I test early? Like I said, I already knew. I started having symptoms I only get while pregnant. One of the frustrating aspects of early pregnancy is it is almost identical to PMS. Moody, crampy, bloated, HOORAY. However, some early pregnancy symptoms are rarely anything else. For me, I have three things I look for: bleeding gums, constant peeing that wakes me in the night, and a metal taste in my mouth when I eat.
I had been peeing more than usual and I had noticed the bleeding gums when brushing my teeth. However, I chalked those to other things because it is very hard to get hopeful when dealing with fertility issues. When trying to conceive my daughter, hubs and I went through a lot of testing to figure out why we couldn't get pregnant. Everything came back normal. However, I wasn't ovulating regularly. I found that out by charting my cycles. I was told that once I successfully conceived and carried a child to term that I wouldn't keep having these issues. That was unfortunately not the case. But I digress.
It was nearing the end of August and temperatures were absurdly high. As a result, I drank a lot more water on a regular basis. I reasoned that more water consumption meant more peeing. I had also been slacking on wearing my retainer. I started wearing it again and it was a bit tight. I figured that accounted for the more sensitive and thus bleeding gums.
However, one night I was making dinner and I went to taste it. I almost spat it out as it tasted like I had just sipped on a spoonful of pennies. The next day, I went out to Walmart and bought myself a cheap $0.88 test. I knew I was still early and didn't want to waste money peeing on the Gucci pee sticks that cost $10. It popped up as positive immediately. Cue insane laughter.
I set up a little scavenger hunt for hubs because I couldn't be a normal person and just tell him with words. I left a sticky note on the front door telling him I had something for him in the fridge, The fridge had a sticky note that said something like, "Haha just kidding. Go look on your pillow." The pillow had a super sweet note that read along the lines of, "I got tired waiting for you to find this, so I needed some coffee." The back of the coffee pot had a sticky note informing my husband that all that coffee made me need to pee, so he should go check our daughter's little training potty.
He later told me he thought our daughter had gone pee pee in the potty which explains why he stared inside the potty with a blank expression for a few seconds before bending down to pull out the pregnancy test.
Hubs is notoriously bad at reading pregnancy tests. I blame this on ovulation predictor tests (OPKs). For an OPK to be positive, the test line has to be as dark or darker than the control line, With a pregnancy test, it just needs two lines period. However, this test was a clear positive. His face split into a grin and he declared, "I can DEFINITELY see that!" I then went out and bought a Gucci pee stick that came with a digital test because I needed to see the words.
I saw a midwife when I was a little over six weeks. Since my first pregnancy was an ectopic, my risk is higher to have another one. As a result, I get a very early ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy is in the correct location. We saw the heartbeat and it was 104 bpm. They had me come back a week later as they like to follow the heartbeat to 120 bpm. At 7+3, the heart beat was 144. My last appointment was at 10+2 and the heartbeat was 168 bpm. I have another appointment around 14 weeks.
On to the differences of this pregnancy. With my daughter, I had hellacious heartburn right off the bat and zero nausea. I craved all things tomato products. With this pregnancy, heartburn didn't kick in until around nine weeks and nausea showed up at five weeks. I also crave sugar like there is no tomorrow. Tart sugar in particular. Think Laffy taffy and chewy sweet tarts. Also, I only want chewy sweet stuff. So odd. I also have intense food aversions. I hate the texture of meat. I don't mind the smell or taste, but the texture makes me want to gag. Even thinking about it too much can make me feel queasy, so enough about that.
Even so, hubs and I both have our predictions for gender. We both think it's another girl. My dad also thinks it is another girl. While my reasoning is based on mother's intuitions, my father's is based on a dream he had of me holding hands with two little girls that look like me. We are all wearing the same type of dress in the dream as well.
Time for fun comparison pictures. I didn't get a front picture of eight weeks and my side view is half cut off by a vanity. Ohhhhhhh well. I'm eight weeks pregnant with my daughter on the left and eight weeks into this pregnancy on the right.
Below is the most recent comparison. On the left, I was 12 weeks with my daughter. I also had a glorious tan as it was high summer. The right is today. Pale McPalerson. Don't mind my face and hair. I was freshly bathed, so neither were fully done. #WetHairDontCare
I feel like I look ever so slightly smaller this time around. My waist hasn't disappeared yet. With my daughter's pregnancy, I turned into a tree trunk almost immediately. I didn't show in the traditional sense until forever, though. My lower back is also way less curved. I did a lot of physical therapy and had a couple of chiropractic adjustments when I was pregnant with my daughter as I have scoliosis and sway back. Maybe I won't have as much back pain this time around? So far, that has not been the case.
I'll be interested to see how this pregnancy compares as time goes on. I hear it is common to show faster with subsequent children, so we shall see!
