I’ll be doing monthly pregnancy recaps to document the progress of this pregnancy and hopefully relate to some of you who are pregnant as well or interested in becoming pregnant! in this week’s recap, I’ll be recapping week 13, 14, 15, and 16.
overall
the first 15 weeks of my pregnancy were “easy” – no morning sickness, just some fatigue and rapidly ballooning breasts (which, for someone who was already a 34DD+, isn’t a welcomed change, trust me!)
however, what did stress me out was waiting to hear back on results of genetic testing. Lu and I opted to get genetic testing of the baby. we decided that in the event that our baby had a high likelihood of being born with a chromosomal abnormality, we would want to be prepared for that and have the entire pregnancy to read, learn, and educate ourselves on how to be best equipped to raise a child in that way.
anyway. the biggest bummer about genetic testing is WAITING. I won’t get into the specifics, but we had a few “uh oh” moments and we had to wait on more and more testing. I was a bag of stress. other things in my life were stressing me out too (like apartment searching, some work projects), and this was just the hair that broke the camel’s back. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and worrying. I stopped sleeping (see symptoms below) through the nights, I was just a mess.
finally, on friday, march 31st, I got the call from my doctor saying everything was alright and we were going to have a healthy baby. huge sigh of relief, just because of all the pent up anxiety and stress. we would’ve welcomed our baby into this world in the most comforting, loving way, but we wanted to just KNOW.
aside from that, the past few weeks have been great, especially because I finally started having a little bump by week 15, which made me feel truly pregnant and then on my birthday, we found out the sex of the baby (a baby boy!) and that really made it feel REAL. it was one of the most exciting moments of my life, probably second to getting proposed to!
symptoms
- skin cleared up. as I type this now, all of the earlier skin issues I had in previous weeks have disappeared! my skin is finally back to its normal, clear state. I attribute this to subsiding pregnancy hormones. my hormones were revved and the aforementioned stress didn’t help! I’m so happy to have my skin back and looking forward to getting facials and more preggo pampering.
- cravings stopped. in the beginning of my pregnancy, I just wanted to eat everything that was made with flour. bread, pizza, all of it. and I wanted chocolate every night. It was definitely noticeable, since I’m someone who doesn’t eat that way normally (I have chocolate maybe once to twice a week if that). I was able to stop over-eating and I even noticed my hips and arms slimmed a little (which made me worried – I didn’t want to LOSE weight), but it was mostly water weight anyway.
- harder to sleep through the night. I’ve been waking up anytime between 2 and 4:30am every night, so it’s been hard to get a good night’s sleep. it’s not because I’m uncomfortable, I think perhaps my brain is just in over-drive. and I also pee in the middle of the night, which I never did before.
- craziest dreams. preggo dreams are real – and so random! and very life-like.
- no more fatigue! I feel back to my regular self. I’m even able to do some post-5pm workouts, because I don’t crash at 3pm.
- bloody gums. so weird, but every time I brush my teeth (and I use soft bristles), my gums bleed, but I’ve heard this is normal.
- growing belly. this is my favorite symptom, of course! I still mostly look like I ate a Thanksgiving feast every night, but I know myself it’s a pregnancy bump. I’ve been rubbing my belly more, too. it’s almost like a reflex!
highlight of the month
definitely finding out the gender! now Lu and I talk to the baby and whenever we reference the baby we call him our boy, which is just so exciting. they say the baby can start to hear your voices around 16 weeks, so we’ve been talking to him! and I’ve definitely noticed myself rubbing my belly more.
the second highlight is that I’m pretty sure I felt the baby move!! for the past week, I’ve felt little bubble-like sensations right below my belly button. these are feelings that I’ve never felt before and it’s definitely not gas, because I know that feeling very well 😉 it’s absolutely surreal, but it is really subtle and only happens for 30 seconds or so. I can’t wait to really feel the baby kick in the next coming weeks!
favorites, etc
- I bought my first pair of maternity jeans by GAP. I’m juuuust big enough to fill out the full panel, but I can definitely see how helpful they will be one I truly pop!
- these active bottoms from Old Navy are so affordable and perfect for my growing bump! I got them in three colors. and they’re currently on sale!
- this BeBand by Ingrid & Isabel has helped me continue to wear my regular jeans, it’s awesome! I wear it almost every day (when I put on jeans.)
bumpie progression:
