In the beginning, there was the pregnancy...and it was a rough pregnancy, marked by all-day-sickness through the fifteenth week. And more occasional vomiting after that.
There was implantation bleeding on day forty-nine, which was mistaken for a period. Then there was a scare in the eighth week, which turned out to be nothing of consequence.
In the eleventh week, there was a banner day of barfing -- seven sessions in all. But I never went twenty-four hours without being able to hold something down, so there was no hospitalization for that at least.
By the end of the first trimester I had lost sixteen pounds. I stopped getting bigger at thirty weeks, when I was admitted to the hospital for PROM, premature rupture of the membranes (water broke), so I never ended up actually net gaining any weight.
I worked part-time as a Nanny for two two-year-old girls for most of the pregnancy. One of the highlights was when I was retching into the sink (dry heaving) and one of the little girls ran up to me (the one who liked to follow rules) with the TV remote, saying, "here Victoria!" and then running off, not noticing that anything was amiss.
I was easily tired throughout the pregnancy -- Little Man was quite the dude already, sapping me of my energy and clear skin -- so I napped at least once a day. I kept waiting for that moment when I would feel FABULOUS!! like everyone/thing said I would during that "magical" second trimester. "Your energy will return and you'll feel like shopping for the layette at the end of your day." Um, yeah...not so much for me.
I had one fleeting moment on one day when I thought, "this is it! This is the energy returning! Sweet! This is gonna be great!" And then an hour later, it was gone. I never got that other, um, "urge" they talk about either. Oh well.
On the inside, Little Man was known as Little Bunny or #5. Shortly after I hit week sixteen, he made his presence felt. I was surprised at first because I had read that with your initial pregnancy it is more likely that you will feel the baby's movement at week twenty or later. Not Little Man. He was ready to start rockin' and rollin' in there.
From flutters to kicks, I loved every minute of his movements. It helped that Little Man was large for his gestational age (LGA) from at least the nineteenth week, when we had our ultrasound to find out that our Little Bunny was going to be our Little Man. I'm guessing a bigger baby means feeling the motions sooner.
According to babycenter, at nineteen weeks your baby should be about eight and a half ounces. At nineteen weeks, Little Man was already thirteen ounces!! What a big boy! And he looked exactly the same then in a profile shot as he does now. We envisioned our little cutie before he was even born.
Being the little cabotin (French word for ham or monkey, comedian) that he is, he even let the technician get the money shot -- we were having *GASP* a boy! (We both did audibly gasp when she told us. It was a pretty funny moment. We still couldn't tell anything until they printed out the picture for us.)
Before being hospitalized, the worst part of my pregnancy was when we went back east for Thanksgiving at GranCracker's house. We flew JetBlue. Our flight out was delayed. Six+ hours. In the airport. Six+ months pregnant. Fun stuff.
After a very long and uncomfortable flight, we arrived at GranCracker's at 2am Thanksgiving morning, when we had left our house around 6am the day before. Because we are TOTAL Crackers, we scheduled our flight home for the Monday after Thanksgiving, AT SIX A-FREAKIN'-M.
Since GranCracker's is roughly a two hour drive from the airport, we elected to stay in a hotel across from the airport on Sunday night. Guess how little sleep you get when you can't control the heat that's blasting into your room because it's freezing outside, there are a bazillion planes flying overhead BECAUSE YOU'RE ACROSS FROM THE AIRPORT, and you are six months pregnant? Yeah, NOT VERY MUCH.
Guess how many times you barf ON THE PLANE (WHICH YOU'VE NEVER DONE BEFORE) under these conditions? Twice. At least I got to experience the miracle that is the air-sick bag. HA!
I felt like crap for a week after that trip. When I told my OB about this, she said, "oh, that's when I tell most of my patients TO travel." I don't recommend it, sister. But maybe I'm just a big wussy. A big, barfing-prone wussy.
This takes us up to right before my Birthday and hospitalization (which occurred the next day), so stay tuned for Part Two!
There was implantation bleeding on day forty-nine, which was mistaken for a period. Then there was a scare in the eighth week, which turned out to be nothing of consequence.
In the eleventh week, there was a banner day of barfing -- seven sessions in all. But I never went twenty-four hours without being able to hold something down, so there was no hospitalization for that at least.
By the end of the first trimester I had lost sixteen pounds. I stopped getting bigger at thirty weeks, when I was admitted to the hospital for PROM, premature rupture of the membranes (water broke), so I never ended up actually net gaining any weight.
I worked part-time as a Nanny for two two-year-old girls for most of the pregnancy. One of the highlights was when I was retching into the sink (dry heaving) and one of the little girls ran up to me (the one who liked to follow rules) with the TV remote, saying, "here Victoria!" and then running off, not noticing that anything was amiss.
I was easily tired throughout the pregnancy -- Little Man was quite the dude already, sapping me of my energy and clear skin -- so I napped at least once a day. I kept waiting for that moment when I would feel FABULOUS!! like everyone/thing said I would during that "magical" second trimester. "Your energy will return and you'll feel like shopping for the layette at the end of your day." Um, yeah...not so much for me.
I had one fleeting moment on one day when I thought, "this is it! This is the energy returning! Sweet! This is gonna be great!" And then an hour later, it was gone. I never got that other, um, "urge" they talk about either. Oh well.
On the inside, Little Man was known as Little Bunny or #5. Shortly after I hit week sixteen, he made his presence felt. I was surprised at first because I had read that with your initial pregnancy it is more likely that you will feel the baby's movement at week twenty or later. Not Little Man. He was ready to start rockin' and rollin' in there.
From flutters to kicks, I loved every minute of his movements. It helped that Little Man was large for his gestational age (LGA) from at least the nineteenth week, when we had our ultrasound to find out that our Little Bunny was going to be our Little Man. I'm guessing a bigger baby means feeling the motions sooner.
According to babycenter, at nineteen weeks your baby should be about eight and a half ounces. At nineteen weeks, Little Man was already thirteen ounces!! What a big boy! And he looked exactly the same then in a profile shot as he does now. We envisioned our little cutie before he was even born.
Being the little cabotin (French word for ham or monkey, comedian) that he is, he even let the technician get the money shot -- we were having *GASP* a boy! (We both did audibly gasp when she told us. It was a pretty funny moment. We still couldn't tell anything until they printed out the picture for us.)
Before being hospitalized, the worst part of my pregnancy was when we went back east for Thanksgiving at GranCracker's house. We flew JetBlue. Our flight out was delayed. Six+ hours. In the airport. Six+ months pregnant. Fun stuff.
After a very long and uncomfortable flight, we arrived at GranCracker's at 2am Thanksgiving morning, when we had left our house around 6am the day before. Because we are TOTAL Crackers, we scheduled our flight home for the Monday after Thanksgiving, AT SIX A-FREAKIN'-M.
Since GranCracker's is roughly a two hour drive from the airport, we elected to stay in a hotel across from the airport on Sunday night. Guess how little sleep you get when you can't control the heat that's blasting into your room because it's freezing outside, there are a bazillion planes flying overhead BECAUSE YOU'RE ACROSS FROM THE AIRPORT, and you are six months pregnant? Yeah, NOT VERY MUCH.
Guess how many times you barf ON THE PLANE (WHICH YOU'VE NEVER DONE BEFORE) under these conditions? Twice. At least I got to experience the miracle that is the air-sick bag. HA!
I felt like crap for a week after that trip. When I told my OB about this, she said, "oh, that's when I tell most of my patients TO travel." I don't recommend it, sister. But maybe I'm just a big wussy. A big, barfing-prone wussy.
This takes us up to right before my Birthday and hospitalization (which occurred the next day), so stay tuned for Part Two!
9 comments:
Well written! I'm anxious to read more. Luckily I know it ends well (eventually.)
I've been looking forward to hearing this story!
I didn't have a magical second trimester either. I was pooped beginning to end, both pregnancies.
kickass. I'm glad you are telling this.
And the other urge? OMG, what a laugh. I won't even publicly admit how dry the dry spell was....
What an interesting story...looking forward to Part 2... :)
Bradley
The Egel Nest
Hey, there...great story...I look forward to reading all of your archives and getting to know you..I came by your blog via our mutual friend, Bradley, from the Egel Nest..and based upon his recommendation, I have a little award for you..come on over and see me and claim your prize!
Even though I know most (but not all) of this story, it's a great read to have it all put together... I am eagerly awaiting part 2 - as I obsessively check your blog instead of studying. Ha!
UGH. I hear you. I was miserable from start to finish. I even get nauseous just thinking about things that remind me of pregnancy. I posted about it not too long ago.
Im really enjoying reading this story, i felt the same way my first pregnancy and always wondered when i would start to enjoy it and feel good
I knew a decent amount of this, but certainly not all...well told, for sure. Daunting and scary, too... I know Little Man is awesome and more than worth it, but wow.
I cannot currently imagine being a parent. I know you wanted to be a mom for a long time and I am so glad that you have such a darling little cabotin.
I think 6am flights probably need to be on the "never again" list...or maybe the up-all-night list, for me. ;p
XOXO
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