Category Archives: 1st trimester

5 Things You’ll Love About Pregnancy

1. It’s acceptable to wear stretchy pants on a daily basis. Who doesn’t love the enveloping comfort of an elastic waistband?

2. You’ll be showered with gifts. If you’ve been married, you might recall the joy of a gift registry. You get to do that all over again – except this time you get to pick out all kinds of cute little clothes and accessories.

3. People will compliment you. Yeah, of course there’s always the nay-sayers who say things like, “WOW, you’re huge!” But for every one of those, there is at least one person to tell you that you’re glowing.

4. You’ll get preferential treatment. Need to sit in a busy place? Someone will look at your belly and then make room for you to sit down. Going somewhere? Someone might open that big, heavy door for you. Granted, I remember being outraged that no one made room for me to sit while we were waiting at a restaurant once. But I was also feeling exceptionally large, tired and angry at the world in that moment.

5. Your husband/fiance/boyfriend/significant other/random person on the street will do things for you. Like bring you food. Or paint your toenails. Okay, so random person on the street may not submit to the latter…but you get the idea.

5 Things You’ll Never Miss About Pregnancy

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1. The incessant need to pee. Seriously, there were some days that I could have camped out in my bathroom. But our bed didn’t fit.

2. Not being able to see your feet. I don’t normally look down when I walk, but the ability to see your feet is sometimes very helpful in preventing stubbed toes…or when scaling a flight of stairs.

3. The inability to tie your shoes. I gave up on normal-person shoes and wore slip-ons for my entire 3rd trimester. It’s like trying to bend over a ginormous bowling ball that kicks. Screw that.

4. The pregnant woman shuffle. By the late 3rd trimester, your normal walk morphs into that of a penguin. Sexy.

5. Feeling like a washed-up whale. When you’re ready to deliver any day, you can barely move, and the world no longer creates a shirt large enough to cover your belly…well, that’s a feeling you simply won’t miss.

On tap for tomorrow: 5 things to love about pregnancy.

Pregnant Ladies – Read Warning Labels on All Prescriptions!

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This evening, I had to pick up a prescription for a UTI. Since these infections are very common during pregnancy, I wanted to share my cautionary tale with you.

I read the warning label when I got home and noticed that this particular drug is not recommended for use in pregnant women who are at term (38-42 weeks). While my OBGYN obviously knows that I’m at term, I called the pharmacist because the warning made me uncomfortable. He looked it up to double check and told me not to take it. He said he’s never seen it prescribed in women after 36 weeks, even though it is a common drug for use in early pregnancy. He told me to call my doctor in the morning and see if there’s a specific reason she prescribed this drug and if there is something else she could have me take.

Read your warning labels!!! I’m not sure what the danger might be, but I’m so glad that I double-checked!

**(Update – called the doctor the following morning. Turns out this particular drug is only dangerous at full term if you have a certain deficiency in your pregnancy. I got the all-clear to take it, but I’m so glad to have checked it out!)**

Pregnancy Does WHAT?! No Way!

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When we announced we were expecting, there were some things that people described to me that I simply didn’t believe would happen…until I went through them. Here’s my list of things that sound too weird to be true. Feel free to add additional ones by commenting on this post!

“There will come a point when you will pull a muscle if you turn over too quickly in bed.” Ha, yeah right! That’s just silly. Enter week 30, I roll over and – OUCH! Pulled a muscle in my groin. Beware, ladies.
The previous statement should have been followed up with, “Then there will come a point when you’re so big that you’ll either need help to turn over in bed or it will take you a good 3 minutes and a bunch of pain.” Week 36-37 is when this joy started, and it just gets worse!
“No matter what maternity clothes you buy, you’ll practically need a mumu in the end because that will be the only thing that will cover you.” Pssshhh, yeah, okay! Um, this one is unfortunately SO true. Again, week 36-37 arrived and I found that the bottom of my belly was peeking out under most of my maternity shirts (granted, I am carrying VERY low). So THIS is why they invented full-panel maternity pants!
“You’ll feel like a beached whale at the end.” No way, everybody says that but I’m sure it’s not a big deal. Last night, ladies, I almost swore off clothes until I pop out this kid. I’m just so uncomfortable in anything. But then I realized that the world probably wasn’t ready for a large, naked pregnant lady. You’re welcome.
“Shaving your legs will be nearly impossible.” I’m sure if you bend a certain way, it would be fine… Now that I’m in Week 38, this statement is true – especially if the baby’s feet are taking up residence in my rib cage. There’s no bending around THAT. Yet, I find myself shaving my legs with more frequency than at any other point in my pregnancy. (Hey, don’t judge – I was pregnant in the winter!) I don’t want to risk being a hairy beast when I go into labor.
“Two words: lightning crotch.” That just sounds weird. It first started happening to me in the third trimester – hopefully you’ll never experience it. Imagine shooting pains deep inside parts of your body you never wanted to experience pain in. Yup, that’s lightning crotch.
“You’ll probably pee your pants.” Um, I have WAY more self-control than that. Yeah, I do have control of my bladder…but I had also never had a 6-8 pound baby lying directly on top of it.
This isn’t really something that anyone warned me about, but it is something I’d like to comment on: the books all tell you exactly how much weight you should gain; but in reality, if you’re eating healthy and not totally being out of control, your body is going to gain what it will gain and there’s nothing you can do. Going into my third trimester, I had only gained 8 pounds. I was pretty proud of myself. Then the third trimester arrived and my belly burgeoned – I’ve gained almost 20 pounds this trimester. I know that some of it is water weight, because I have sausage fingers and cankles. Regardless, I’m trying not to get too down about it because I know that I’ve tried to eat well and I have not given in to every craving. So don’t worry yourself too much over weight gain. Here’s a helpful chart of how much weight typically goes where.

So, that’s it, ladies! Don’t laugh too hard at things people tell you, because months later – much to your chagrin – you may find that they’re true. ;)

Vindicated

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So I guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t enjoy being pregnant… The Bump published an article that was included in their latest email, entitled, “Pregnant and Miserable.” If you agreed with me and are, well…Pregnant and Miserable…there are some tips to get you through. :)

Taboo

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There are some things that are just not politically correct. I’m usually someone who tries to be PC, but there are times when it just gets in the way. I think the biggest non-PC thing that you can say about pregnancy is that you don’t enjoy being pregnant.

In the interest of honesty, I think that people should be able to say how they really feel – even if that means saying something that’s taboo.

Well friends, I don’t enjoy being pregnant. *Gasp!* You don’t??!!

No, I don’t.

My pregnancy started with 24/7 nausea and dry heaving from weeks 5 through 14. During that time, I was barely able to eat or drink anything, which caused a 5-lb weight loss. While I normally don’t complain about weight loss, I could have lost more by eating healthy, working out and not heaving into my toilet for weeks on end (not to mention I would have been a heck of a lot less miserable).

While family, friends and acquaintances meant well, it did not help to field their “can’t-fail” suggestions for nausea relief (all of which I had already tried), that they never knew anyone whose nausea lasted all day, or that so-and-so was just going to suck it up and deal instead of taking a prescription for their morning sickness. My morning sickness was so constant and all-consuming that I was forced to withdraw from my graduate classes and, therefore, leave my job as a graduate assistant. Clearly if I could just suck it up and deal with it, I would have. After all of the natural nausea remedies failed, my doctor tried a few different anti-nausea prescriptions for me. We didn’t find one that worked until my misery was nearly over as I entered my second trimester.

My second trimester was a welcome change to the misery of my first trimester; but things aren’t always peachy. I get back pain, butt cramps if I sit too long, swollen calves and ankles, Braxton Hicks contractions, vertigo, nosebleeds, a leaky bladder if my son kicks at it (which he seems to enjoy doing), and general aches and pains. I’m generally more energetic, but there are days like today when I am struck with such exhaustion that I end up being a couch potato all day.

I’m a little scared about what the third trimester will bring in just a few short weeks.

So, no, I don’t enjoy being pregnant. But that is not to say, by any means, that I am not grateful for our little blessing. That is a completely different story!

As someone who was told just a month before conception that she would have a difficult time conceiving, I am eternally grateful and thankful. I just can’t wait for the little guy to get here so I can reclaim my body. And have an intense workout at the gym! Oh how I miss the gym…

Women should be able to say how they really feel about pregnancy. If you don’t like being pregnant, it doesn’t make you less motherly. Sometimes pregnancy is difficult. It’s okay to admit it.

Bra Shopping

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I had no choice any longer. I was down to one bra that fit without hurting. I just can’t keep these suckers contained anymore! Off I went…to the lingerie department. Looking around to make sure no one I knew was in sight, I made my way over to the super ultra large cup section. The kind of bras you might remember hanging in your grandmother’s shower. I was horrified.

I was even more horrified when one of them fit. It was gloriously comfortable, and I had to purchase it. Then, of course, I chose the line where the lady in front of me took FOREVER to check out. No lie – six people managed to get through the line next to me while I was standing there with this hideously large bra in my hand, waiting for this woman to finish her transaction. For the love of all that is holy, just let me get through this line!!!

When it was finally my turn, the lady lets my ginormously, shamefully huge bra sit on the counter while she has me scratch off a discount ticket, scans my credit card, checks the signature…basically for an eternity. And the person in line behind me was a man. I have never walked out of a store so quickly as I did when she was done helping me check out!

Then I remembered – they’ll only get bigger!!! I think I’ll be purchasing my future bras online.