I feel like this will be the most boring pregnancy recap that will ever grace the internet. I’m very fortunate that so far, my pregnancy has been very uneventful. As I’m entering my 30th week (!) in a few days, I decided to post a recap of all the things that I experienced as a first time mom-to-be.
First Trimester
I found out I was pregnant when I was about 5-6 weeks along. It was actually very difficult to find an OB/GYN during the pandemic since most doctors were limiting the number of new patients, and we ended up with a private women’s health clinic that was taking in new clients at the time. One thing I think people don’t talk about in pregnancy is the amount of doctors visit and lab work you need to get done. I naively assumed pregnancy was fun ultrasounds and eating whatever you wanted. As it turns out, first trimester was just a lot of routine tests, blood work, and scans for fetal abnormalities. The very sweet things that happened during the first trimester included hearing the baby’s heartbeat for the first time, and seeing the little bean on the ultrasound for the very first time.
I’ve heard several people tell me that your pregnancy might mirror that of your mom’s. For me, this has been 100% true. My mom had really easy pregnancies for me and my brothers, and the same has been for me. During the first trimester, I never had a bout of morning sickness. Instead, I had food aversions and certain foods would make me have the gag reflex, but it was never so bad that I threw up. Funnily enough, the foods that turned me off the most was fresh vegetables, namely, salads. Prior to getting pregnant, we’d have a hearty salad for lunch every day. During the first trimester, that all went out the window since I’d pick at my salad and want to gag at the sight of it. The one symptom I had that was notable was extreme lethargy. As someone who never took naps, I had to take a nap every. single. day. I also developed an extreme sweet tooth during the first trimester. I was never someone who needed desserts, but during the first trimester, I needed a dessert with every meal, or else something just felt … missing.
Second Trimester
I didn’t have much of an appetite during the first trimester, and as a result, I lost about 3 lbs. By the 14th week, my appetite came back and I was ready to eat. During the second trimester, I gained about 10 lbs. My salad aversion also went away, and I happily was eating a more balanced diet. The big milestone in the second trimester is undoubtedly the anatomy scan around the 20th week mark. I also found out during the anatomy scan that we were having a little girl.
I realized pretty quickly that there were so many different clinical aspects about being pregnant that I never thought about. Like during the second trimester, you have to get the dreaded glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. My hospital has a pretty low threshold, so I actually ended up failing the 1-hr one by 1 point, and ended up having to take the 3-hr one before being cleared. The worst thing that happened during the second trimester probably was the routine check-up that happened around the 24th week. When the nurse at my OB practice was using the doppler on my belly, the baby kept moving so the doppler kept picking up her heartbeat, following by mine. Since the nurse couldn’t get a steady heartbeat from the baby, out of an abundance of caution, she sent me to L&D at the hospital to get a non-stress test for the baby to monitor baby’s heartbeat. What was supposed to be a routine, 15-min appointment turned into a 4 hour saga at the triage in the hospital. Myself and the baby were monitored for over an hour. And as a routine, the hospital also drew blood samples and urine samples to make sure everything was good. Safe to say, after that experience, I was just praying everyday that I do not have to go back to the hospital until it’s actually time for the baby to come out.
It’s kind of hard to believe that I just have ~10 weeks left! I’m in full nesting mode. Last week, I propagated and planted over two dozen plants. Ian says I’m channeling my maternal energy into my plant babies and making friends for our human baby. We also built and assembled the nursery closet over the weekend, so we will be able to organize the baby’s clothes soon!
spoonfulofwonderful.com 