18 Weeks

18 Weeks, 1 Day

Continuing to try to make a trend out of my monochromatic outfits.

This week I am starting to feel less "JV pregnant" and I definitely have noticed a change from 17 weeks. Have I popped? Not sure, but this morning Will said "you're pushing it out!" Definitely not. Funnily enough, I used to be self-conscious wearing this grey sweater because it clung to my tummy. Now I like it because it clings.

There are definitely days when my changing body is a little surreal and I do feel ungainly. But so far I've had a very positive body image during pregnancy. I've been fairly active, weight training twice a week, and going to pre-natal yoga, as well as for long walks around the neighborhood most days. That said, I don't love it when people say "Just you wait, you are going to get huge!" I kind of prefer to take it one day at a time.

On Monday I have a regular check up and need to remind myself to take a list of questions. I usually get so flustered worrying if we will find the baby's heartbeat that when we do, everything else in my brain sort of vanishes. But I'd like to start talking about childbirth education options, doulas, and my weight gain (or lack thereof.) I've heard that if you start out with a higher BMI, as I did, you don't need to have gained anything at this point but I'd love to know what to expect in the weeks and months to come.

Weight gain thus far: I am about breaking even now (the couple of pounds I dropped very early on in the first trimester are back, but I am still at my pre-pregnancy weight.) Which is weird because I'm certainly growing.

Cravings: Water, Fresh mango, rice and beans, guacamole, grapefruit, blood orange, yellow peppers, green grapes, ground beef, sunshine (and Diet Coke, oddly, though I'm steering clear of that one.) Fortunately the cravings for all things Haribo seem to have mostly subsided.

Aversions: Still not so excited by the thought of spinach, Brussels sprouts, or fresh salads. That sort of iron-y aftertaste seems off-putting. I have gotten over my aversion to coffee and am now having a medium latte made with skim most days (or tea.) Trying to keep the caffeine to one hit a day.

Symptoms: Well, I think I'm getting flutters on an almost daily basis. But I second guess myself a lot. I've also stopped the daily naps and now feel like I have the energy to stay up until a normal-ish hour. But this has been going on for almost a month now.

Sleep: Mastering sleeping on my left a bit better thanks to a pillow between my knees and a firmer pillow for my head.

17 Weeks

16 Weeks

15 Weeks

14 Weeks

First Trimester

Cultural cramming at The British Museum, January 2012

Depending upon which pregnancy manual I am obsessively reading at the moment, I am either in the beginning of my second trimester or it begins this Thursday.

Either way, it seems about time for a catalog of the strange and not-so-strange symptoms I've been experiencing.

1) I haven't been able to find much about this online, so I am uncertain if it's a pregnancy symptom at all or just another weird "thing" I attribute to this odd journey that is reproduction. The week before I took a positive pregnancy test, my bottom teeth were incredibly sensitive, and all I wanted to eat was potato and leek soup.

2) Weight gained thus far: -2 lbs. Although I had a great deal of patience for anything pasta or bread-and-butter-based in these last few months, overall my appetite was really off. One evening I attempted to make lasagne but was hit with a giant wave of exhaustion mid-way through and went to bed at approximately 8:30 p.m. after eating a Fuji apple for dinner.

Impossible to say no... Nevis, December 2011

3) It wasn't at all difficult to give up alcohol. Though I had a Red Stripe in the Caribbean at around 5 weeks pregnant, and a mimosa on Christmas Day at around 8 weeks, I have really lost my taste for alcohol. The few sips I've stolen here and there from Will along the way have tasted really acidic to me, the way I remember wine tasting when I was about 14 and I couldn't fathom why adults liked the stuff.

4) I've been extremely winded. I noticed it first around Thanksgiving, before I knew I was pregnant, when we were out on a 4 mile walk and every hill seemed like K2. I'm relatively fit, but the huffing and puffing has been noticeable any time I hike up stairs or get my heart rate going at all.

5) My dreams have been spectacularly vivid, and spectacularly weird. I've never done acid, but I imagine it feels like this. Mostly they've been benign, occasionally sexual, and always very very detailed. In one a platypus tried to mate with me. I wake up nearly every day bemused and perplexed.

6) I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I have a hugely unhealthy obsession with reading the birth month club message boards on sites like Babycenter and The Bump. Half the time this is reassuring, as in, "Okay, that stitch in my groin is most likely round ligament pain and not a fatal blood clot." The other half of the time, the posts send me into a tailspin. "This woman just found out her baby has a club foot. I must look up horrible pictures of club feet on Web MD immediately."

7) I have a strong urge to do as many cultural, vaguely improving things as I can (hence the picture, above, of the British Museum, which I went to solo in January.) It's not that I imagine these places will be shut to me come August. It's just that I'm conscious of taking advantage of my freedom and not spending it all watching absurd episodes of Kathie Lee and Hoda.

8) In pursuit of #7, Will and I went to see Richard III at BAM this past weekend. It was over 3 hours long, and I spent much of the second act convinced I was getting deep vein thrombosis for sitting still for so long (see #6.)

9) I've been eating fairly well, working out with my trainer twice a week, and going to pre-natal yoga at Kula Yoga, drinking a very virtuous beet, ginger, and apple juice after class. I am also craving plenty of things with absolutely no nutritional value whatsoever: sour patch kids, wine gums, Haribo anything.

10) "Bump" pictures to come. I swear. In the mornings I can't tell the difference at all. By 8 p.m., I am convinced I am expecting triplets.