Round Two!

Hiya friends! As of today, I am 14 weeks along, and baby is scheduled to make their appearance in early February. These last few months have been a bit of a roller coaster, so without further delay, lets get into this pregnancy update!

The first trimester of this pregnancy was nothing like my first pregnancy. I barely noticed a difference the first time around. Around 7 weeks, I started getting tired and would have the occasional headache. This time around, beginning around 5.5 weeks, I felt bloated, nauseous, generally crappy, so tired I could barely keep my head up all day, and had spotting that scared the heck out of me. Then at about 8.5 weeks I started getting really bad nausea and headaches. I had several days of just being completely confined to the couch or the bed, when even the simplest tasks, like getting up to get a glass of water or empty the dishwasher were just too much. Laundry sat in baskets unfolded in the middle of the living room. So, its been different. I started reading Expecting Better, which hadn't come out yet in 2014. I'm really enjoying it. My sister told me about it when she was pregnant in 2016, but I forgot what it was called until someone mentioned it on the Birth Hour, and I immediately downloaded it onto my Kindle.

Here's the typical pregnancy stuff:

Cravings: I'm fresh out of the first trimester. I wouldn't say I have cravings. I would say I have "let's have X for dinner because it is the only thing I think I could tolerate right now" Usually, this means some kind of crunchy food - like hard shell tacos or big crunchy salad.

Aversions: Coffee. My usual morning latte just sounds repulsive at the moment. I was having iced chai in the mornings, mostly enjoying the flavor, but feeling yucky once it hits my stomach. So, I stopped having those. Most animal protein sounds disgusting. I've had a really hard time eating chicken and steak. I have to kind of disguise meat in other things - like (see above) big salads, burrito bowls, soups, etc. Around 10 weeks, my husband made his own parmesan chips. It stunk up the whole house and made me so sick.

Nausea: This comes and goes.Now that I'm clear of the first trimester, I'm *hoping* that means no more (or at least minimal) nausea. For a while there, I was nauseous and had some kind of headache every single day. I didn't throw up much - only once, I think, but we did have to stop the car a few times so I can get my land legs. The excess saliva is no joke. I just feel generally crappy and exhausted basically all the time. And bloated. So so bloated.

Gender: Don't know yet. Won't for a little while. We are going to find out though, so I'll post when we do.

Energy: What's that? I miss my workouts. I'm trying to workout more often, but I'm living my life with pretty much the bare minimum to get by.

Missing: I'd really like some sushi and eggs over easy on toast, and a freaking Jimmy Johns turkey sandwich. I feel like I could eat those things without getting sick.  I have been going a bit easy on myself with the restrictions, as Expecting Better helped lay out the medical evidence for all the things we avoid, but I still haven't taken the plunge on those most missed.

Sleep: Not terrible, but not great either. Falling asleep to begin with is the hard part, and even though the internet says Melatonin is OK to take, I'm not about to go and F with anybody's hormones.

Maternity clothes? Mostly no. I did put on one of my sisters big cozy maternity tops last week, but it didn't look very maternity-ish. I'm still wearing my pants, but I have resorted to the old rubber band trick until I'm ready to go full fledged maternity pants. Sundresses are a huge win at the moment.

Exercise? At the moment, I've been managing to get in about 2 workouts a week -  a steep drop from my usual 6-7, but I am hopeful that I'll work my way back up. I have had a couple of weeks when I managed 4 workouts, so I know that I can do it. I just hope it doesn't totally knock me back into feeling terrible.

I think that's it for now.