Five Things I Have Learned Since Finding Out I Am Pregnant
6 Comments posted by Kristi on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 at 1:07 PM
I've only known about my pregnancy (it still feels so weird to type these words. Me. Pregnant. Huh?) for about three weeks, and I'm been very lucky to be pretty much symptomless so far. However, there are a few lessons I've learned in just this short amount of time. My body is not the same as it was even a month ago. Neither is my mind. So, I present to you my findings:
1. Eating meals consisting of foods I haven't eaten either A) Since I was a toddler and not choosing my own food or B) Ever can wreck digestion havoc on one's intestines (or intestine if you're like me and only have one). I have radically changed my eating habits in order to provide the baby with proper nutrition. My eating habits and food choices prior to becoming pregnant were pretty pathetic, and vegetable-free. Now, I'm attempting to eat some vegetables with every meal. However, pregnancy apparently slows down the digestive process because of the presence of progesterone and relaxin (yes, that's an actual hormone). I've found out this little nugget of truth several times over the past few weeks. On New Year's Eve, it took my husband and I four hours to watch a two-hour movie on DVD. And last night, I probably got about three hours of sleep. Why, you ask? I was constantly running to the bathroom. Enough said.
2. I need to get used to the "chesty look." I've always had a pretty large chest. However, in the past year, I lost some weight, and therefore went down a few sizes. I was much enjoying not resembling Pamela Anderson. However, almost immediately upon becoming pregnant, my chest grew...and grew. It's pretty incredible, actually, how quickly this happened. Good thing I kept some of my old bras.
3. I also need to relax. I consider myself a magnificent example of a Type A personality. I am tightly wound, always on the move, and I do not know how to let my body rest. Prior to starting my injectible IVF meds, I came home from work and ran five miles a day, six days a week. Now when I come home from work, I run to the couch. I am wiped out. If I let myself, I could fall asleep for the night at 5pm. I'm hoping these feelings of exhaustion go away soon, because I feel lazy simpy doing nothing.
4. While I did see the proof on the monitor yesterday, I am still having a hard time believing I'm pregnant. I know this is an infertile thing, but I know I'm not infertile anymore. This baby was made 100 times more real to me yesterday, but I literally cannot believe that after all this time, it's actually happened. What's wrong with me? I think I'll still be shaking my head over this until the kid goes to college.
5. Science is cool. I was a Humanities girl in high school and college. I loved English and History, and was absolutely terrified of Math and Science. Formulas, theories, and numbers scared the sh*t out of me. Give me a novel any day. Until we started to try and have a baby, and it became painfully obvious how little I knew about my own body and its cycles. Throw in two years of infertility treatments, procedures, and drugs, and then finally sprinkle with a handful of embryos, extracted from my ovaries, fertilized in a lab, and then stuck into my uterus, and now I have a whole new appreciation for science. Math, however, is still my arch enemy.
1. Eating meals consisting of foods I haven't eaten either A) Since I was a toddler and not choosing my own food or B) Ever can wreck digestion havoc on one's intestines (or intestine if you're like me and only have one). I have radically changed my eating habits in order to provide the baby with proper nutrition. My eating habits and food choices prior to becoming pregnant were pretty pathetic, and vegetable-free. Now, I'm attempting to eat some vegetables with every meal. However, pregnancy apparently slows down the digestive process because of the presence of progesterone and relaxin (yes, that's an actual hormone). I've found out this little nugget of truth several times over the past few weeks. On New Year's Eve, it took my husband and I four hours to watch a two-hour movie on DVD. And last night, I probably got about three hours of sleep. Why, you ask? I was constantly running to the bathroom. Enough said.
2. I need to get used to the "chesty look." I've always had a pretty large chest. However, in the past year, I lost some weight, and therefore went down a few sizes. I was much enjoying not resembling Pamela Anderson. However, almost immediately upon becoming pregnant, my chest grew...and grew. It's pretty incredible, actually, how quickly this happened. Good thing I kept some of my old bras.
3. I also need to relax. I consider myself a magnificent example of a Type A personality. I am tightly wound, always on the move, and I do not know how to let my body rest. Prior to starting my injectible IVF meds, I came home from work and ran five miles a day, six days a week. Now when I come home from work, I run to the couch. I am wiped out. If I let myself, I could fall asleep for the night at 5pm. I'm hoping these feelings of exhaustion go away soon, because I feel lazy simpy doing nothing.
4. While I did see the proof on the monitor yesterday, I am still having a hard time believing I'm pregnant. I know this is an infertile thing, but I know I'm not infertile anymore. This baby was made 100 times more real to me yesterday, but I literally cannot believe that after all this time, it's actually happened. What's wrong with me? I think I'll still be shaking my head over this until the kid goes to college.
5. Science is cool. I was a Humanities girl in high school and college. I loved English and History, and was absolutely terrified of Math and Science. Formulas, theories, and numbers scared the sh*t out of me. Give me a novel any day. Until we started to try and have a baby, and it became painfully obvious how little I knew about my own body and its cycles. Throw in two years of infertility treatments, procedures, and drugs, and then finally sprinkle with a handful of embryos, extracted from my ovaries, fertilized in a lab, and then stuck into my uterus, and now I have a whole new appreciation for science. Math, however, is still my arch enemy.
Yay, vegetables! Remember, even if there's cheese on it, it's still broccoli! I know what you mean about the chesty look. I was more than happy with my Bs...and they've never gone back! (My husband doesn't complain, however!) I was constantly exhausted when I was pregnant, but the only thing I remember wishing was that I had gotten more sleep before the baby came. After he came, sleep was a hot commodity!
Can you see me grinning from ear to ear? That's what I'm doing...
You say you feel lazy doing nothing. Well, your body IS doing something! Hey man, there's big work going on in there!! No wonder you're wiped out!!
You probably know that a lot of women notice a big change in the exhaustion (& nausea) after the 1st trimester -- that was true in my case. Maybe will be for you too!
I'm so glad you saw the heart beating yesterday... I'm betting it'll gradually sink in for you, that this pregnancy is real.
I still can't believe that I'm K's Mom sometimes -- and he's almost 2! The whole thing still blows my mind!
Tee hee -- math is the arch enemy! Watch, your child will end up going for a PhD in applied math or something!
Yep you definately need your vegetables! You should be having at least 5 serves a day *clare waggles here finger at you* :)
I am sure once you are HUGE you will feel pregnant ;)
HEY: FIRST OFF, HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR DUE TO MY COMPUTER PROBLEMS. A friend of mine and I hadn't seen each other in a few weeks and she pulled up her sweatshirt and said "Look!Four months pregnant and I was told I'd never be able to have a baby". Well, she has a cutie baby and is back to her skinny self. Don't worry! lol! And CONGRATULATIONS. VERY COOL!
Sounds like you are doing everything right to make this baby stick!
Dawn-Yes, that's true. Bring on the cheese. That's one food I can't eat enough of. I'm making sure to stock up on my sleep. Last night I got 11 hours!
Marie-Hee-hee. Thanks. I have heard that once the 1st tri is over, the energy returns. I certainly hope so.
Clare-I know. I'm trying! lol. It's just so hard.
Alisha-aww... thanks. Yeah, not exercising is very hard. When I'm walking, my body wants to run! Supposedly you can exercise, even jog, while pregnant, but I'm too scared to jog again.
Cara-I'm glad your daughters turned out perfect, even with the french fries. Hopefully my kid will turn out fine, even with the pizza! And thank you for the other lessons. Luckily, my husband has been great at helping me out with things.
Michael-Happy New Year too! I don't mind the weight gain, but I do wish I had more energy. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm not exercising like I used to. That, and the whole "growing another human being" thing. LOL.
Ramona-I sure hope so!