As I'm sure you all know by now, Mathew and I are going to be welcoming our first little one on May 1 and we could not be more excited! I figured I would just share a few thoughts and experiences that I have had thus far.
You may remember a post a few months ago where I was commenting on how tired I was and how I needed to stop doing my intense workout. I thought all of those feelings were due to my thyroid and made an appointment with a special doctor to see if I could get things figured out. Three days before my appointment, I found out the real reason for my symptoms...there was a little baby taking away all of my energy!
The next couple of months were filled with so much fear and worry about miscarrying. I thought for sure I was going to have a miscarriage due to my family's history. I didn't want anyone to know I was pregnant. We told immediate family and made it very clear to keep it quiet! While I waited for my first appointment to finally arrive, I tried my hardest to keep my stress levels down and have faith that whatever was supposed to happen would. I could hardly contain my excitement when the day finally arrived and my doctor brought up the ultrasound image of our little baby. Its face definitely looked like a monkey but I'm hoping it has grown out of that by now. Also, I found it very adorable that it kept putting its hand up on its forehead, which is how I sleep every night.
As excited as we were to finally see our baby, I still had a major fear of miscarrying. I kept reading horror stories about women seeing the baby then two weeks later, having the miscarriage. I had another appointment this week and it was the most comforting appointment of all. The doctor put his little heartbeat hearer thing on my belly and there was the strong heartbeat of our baby. His words to me were: "no miscarriages for you!" I felt so relieved. I know there are still other risks but at least I can put one behind me.
Luckily, I haven't had too many terrible symptoms. My biggest one was exhaustion! I had to start going to bed at 9 because I could barely function throughout the day. I only had about two or three weeks where I was kind of nauseous. I lucked out on that one for sure! The worst bit of nausea came when we got a Little Ceasar's pizza. Very bad decision. I was having some major headaches. They still come and go but man pregnancy headaches are the WORST! Especially when my job is working on a computer all day. I did start getting tons of sugar cravings! All I wanted to eat was candy and donuts. Unfortunately there was a giant jar of delicious taffy at work and I couldn't keep my hands out of it for a while.
On that note, I have been a little disappointed in myself when it comes to eating. Once I found out I was pregnant, I seriously lost all self-control. For once in my life I wanted to be able to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. I loved not worrying about my body. I completely regret making that decision. I was horrified when I went to my first appointment and saw the number on the scale. I was still horrified but less so when I saw it jump again at my second appointment. I can only imagine what will happen at my next appointment after Thanksgiving! The last couple of days, I have tried really hard to get myself back under control and treat this baby right. It deserves good nutrition and I haven't been providing that. Mathew and I made a commitment with my sister to only eat out ONE time in the month of November. Utah has too many amazing restaurants that are far too tempting. We have some major consequences if we fail. Rewards just weren't working with the other goals we had tried to make previously. I feel confident that this restriction will help me gain more control of my eating.
Another thing we have discovered is that picking out names is HARD! I had a few that I kind of liked, but I can't help but associate each name with someone and whether I like the person or not...the name has a different meaning to me. However, we finally found the perfect girl name! We are still working on a name for a boy. A few weeks ago it was just the opposite. I was set on a boy name and could not come up with any girl names I liked.
Finally, I would just like to say that maternity pants rock. Yes I am already wearing them at 15 weeks. Don't judge. :)
