We had decided to let nature run its course and it decided to come a bit more quickly than we were anticipating. The best response was from my OB/GYN who when I first told her replied "Well that didn't take long!" We realize truly what a miracle this is, especially since my mother struggled for years before she was pregnant with me and I know so many others for whom this process is extremely difficult.
We found out Saturday, April 9th that we were expecting. William actually knew it before the test results came back. At this time, I was two weeks into teaching my class and working 40 hours. I was praying that I would follow the same course as my mother did during her pregnancies that she never got sick- she was just super hungry all the time. I was somewhat similar in that I was fine as long as I ate- when I didn't eat, that is when I started to feel ill and nauseous. There were several occasions during the first trimester when I would wake up at 4 am and would have to eat. This also meant this I had to carry around food- Wheat Thins were my snack of choice- at all times. We ended up telling our families quite early on because my dad came out to visit for several days and he would have known by my shift in eating habits (and the crackers) that I was pregnant. Since it was so early, my parents were not quite as excited as we had hoped- they were just making sure that things would progress with the pregnancy.
In addition to eating all of the time, my cravings COMPLETELY shifted. My whole life, I have LOVED and CRAVED sweets of all kinds. However, there was nearly a month where I did not want to eat sweets AT ALL. Instead, I wanted only fruit, yogurt, vegetables, and main dishes/salty foods. This was so unusual for me that one of my co-workers, Ashley, when she saw my change in eating patterns, she pulled me aside and asked if I was pregnant and I did know at the time and I didn't want to lie and so I told her that I was but not very far along and so she would have to keep it a secret. And she was a great friend and did. I was still impressed that she was able to detect that though as none of my other co-workers said anything about it. Apparently they noticed but just thought that I was getting "healthy" (not very likely if you are at all familiar with myself and William). Happily, the non-sweets stage was short lived and I could eat sweets again, though I still didn't crave them as much at first as before pregnancy. The sweets cravings are definitely back though now- particularly gummy candies.
Also miraculous was that I never had to eat during my lectures- something that I was concerned about because it is somewhat unconventional for the teacher to eat while lecturing, though it was very entertaining when Ms. Harrison would do that in high school with her yogurt and licorice while teaching us about literature. I would generally eat during my office hours afterwards, but never had to chow down in front of the class. All of this eating though meant that I was inhaling A LOT more calories than before my pregnancy. Thus, from our first visit at week 9 where it was confirmed that we were having "cyte" to the 13 week visit for the heartbeat check, I gained 3 pounds. I didn't think that it was all that much, but my OB/GYN said that was fine but when I saw her again AT THE END OF AUGUST that I should only gain 4 more pounds. 4 pounds!!! Wow- that kind of panicked me and so I have been exercising 30 minutes on the elliptical, 6 days a week since then and while my eating has slowed down, I still definitely have more of an appetite than before pregnancy and cyte does get hungry and lets me know so I have NOT DARED to get on the scale to find out where I am at. I'm over the stressing part and I am just letting my body and my baby tell me what they need and I'll work out the rest after the pregnancy. Breastfeeding is supposed to help with weight loss right???
However, even though I have been gaining weight, it has only been in the last 3 weeks that I have even started to "pop"- aka get a belly. Thus, and even still, though you can judge for yourself with the photo below (but I am sure that you all will just be nice), I still really look like "I'm just getting fat" rather than "I'm pregnant."
I am luckily still able to wear many of my pre-pregnancy clothes, thanks to the Bella Band (what a marvelous creation) but as of a couple of weeks ago, coinciding with when my tummy started to protrude, I can no longer button up my pants and so the Bella Band has been a lifesaver. There are some shirts that I can no longer wear because they are too short but I still have enough to wear to work. I am holding off buying maternity clothes for as long as I can so that way I don't get sick of them before the end of the pregnancy. I did buy one dress from Forever 21 that is empire waist and makes me look very pregnant, so I'm holding off until I'm farther along to wear it.I'm lucky again that I am doing pretty well for the second trimester- I don't have the crazy 4 am have-to-eat times and I don't sleep quite as much as the first trimester (though I am still sleeping more than I was before pregnancy), but my acne has definitely flared up again. But all in all, I am very relieved that things have gone pretty well so far because I know many friends who have had a much more of a roller coaster during their pregnancies!
