One Down, Two to Go

Tomorrow I will be 14 weeks pregnant, so I’m now starting my second trimester, and so far so good. I have to say, after all of this dramatic lead-up and thinking that pregnancy is this huge crazy thing and wondering what kind of pregnant lady I will be, this pregnancy has so far been a piece of cake.

My belly’s starting to expand a bit. Where I previously had a mushy sort of pot belly, it’s now firm and I can’t suck it in. I am tired a lot, but it’s usually due to something I ate or being in a social situation (parties wipe me out unless I take a nap first). I am having some troubles sleeping at night, because my sleep cycle seems to lighten at around 3 or 4 a.m. and I invariably wake up from hubby’s snoring. His snoring’s not terrible – the neighbors can’t hear it or anything – but when you’re wide awake in the dark at 3 a.m. it’s pretty tough to ignore. I guess I am a bit more emotional than usual but I can’t say that I am a wreck or anything, aside from a handful of really down days. I don’t have any weird food cravings, haven’t really had any nausea, don’t miss drinking booze at all, and I have only gained about 2-3 lbs so far.

Challenges have included: getting dressed in the mornings, as I previously mentioned. My options are limited daily – I never know in advance what’s going to fit unless I stick with maternity clothes. And if normal clothes fit in the morning they often feel terrible by 2 p.m. as I seem to expand throughout the day. The biggest challenge this week is that I’m finding breathing more difficult than normal. I am asthmatic, but it doesn’t really feel like asthma; it just feels like I can’t take in enough air. It’s made me a bit lazier if that is even possible.

I am really trying to eat right. All bread-type products I eat are whole wheat (well, 80% I would say), and I try to eat as many fruits and veggies as possible. As snacks, I indulge in the occasional chips or chocolate, but usually it’s yoghurt or fruit juice or something, or triscuits which are my new top cracker. I drink a lot of water. The other day I got to work and had to go pee 5 times before lunch, from one large cup of tea.

Pottery classes are helping me get through the weeks; I’m on week four of an 8-week course that my friend is teaching, and since it feels like those are passing me by quickly, it means that the weeks are falling away. I am working on a set of plates. I’ve made three so far, all different sizes with different edges, not on purpose. Oh well, I imagine they will hold food even if they are tough to stack. By the time I finish this pottery course I’m hoping I can throw all of my effort into trying to feel this baby move around. It’s apparently the size of a medium-large shrimp right now (they always compare them to food – usually fruit, so I guess it's a lime this week or something) so I wouldn’t feel the force of its kicks just yet. Those legs are too noodley still, but hopefully by nearly 18 weeks it’ll be knocking on my belly, saying howdy-doo.

I have started to indulge myself in researching baby equipment. We seem to have chosen a stroller that we like, and I am looking at car seats that fit it. Our stroller needs to be tough, with good wheels for dirt roads and other rough terrain, lightweight for hauling up and down deck stairs, and fold compactly into the back of our car for shopping trips etc. We like the BOB Revolution stroller, which is a pretty sweet ride – it turns on a dime. I like the orange and brown version and hope to find a sale on it somewhere. It fits different brands of infant carriers/carseats so we’ll have to pick one of those out too. I already know which crib I like and what the baby’s room is gonna look like so all we still need large-things-wise is a smallish change table for our bedroom, a crib mattress, and a new t.v. – a flat-screen, not large, so it can unobtrusively go in the living room.

Future time markers include: next doctor’s appointment Feb. 23rd. I will be in meetings solidly from March 18th to 23rd, and my next ultrasound is March 24th, with another doctor’s appointment sometime around there as well. My second trimester goes until mid-May. The Austrians arrive August 5th, the Germans August 14th (my due date – don’t worry nobody’s staying at our place) and hopefully the baby will arrive sometime in there as well. I’m sure more time markers will pop up in that span, which will help me get through this waiting game.

I made the mistake of watching childbirth videos the other day – they were eye-opening, to say the least, but I don’t think I’m scared. I don’t think. I had to rewind the part where the baby came out about 5 times to fully absorb what my eyes were seeing. The head struggled to come out, all messy and squished-like, and then BLUP the rest of the body sort of barfed out of her hoo-ha in one fell swoop. Like I said, eye-opening.

Waiting makes me write more in this here blog, so expect to hear more from me in the coming months I’m sure…