Today, BabyHTP and I officially enter double digits. I am thrilled, to say the least! Time seems to move impossibly slow in the first trimester and, truthfully, I felt like 10 weeks would never come.
But here I am! Ten weeks and feeling pretty good. Minus that whole running to the bathroom in the middle of the night to dry heave into the toilet thing. One of my pregnancy realizations so far: Morning sickness is a misnomer. Morning sickness should be renamed Whenever I Feel Like It Sickness.
Some facts on BabyHTP this week (source): The baby is the size of a small strawberry. Nearly a quarter of a million new neurons are produced in the baby’s brain every minute. Ears and nose can now be clearly seen. Hair follicles are beginning to form. All of the organs, muscles, and nerves are in place and beginning to function. The touch pads on the fingers already have fingerprints. (Awww!)
Over five weeks ago, when we were in Puerto Rico, the Husband took a few ‘before’ shots. Here’s my 4 Weeks, 5 Days pictures compared to today’s.
Also known as – pretty much no significant difference. It floors me to know that so much is going on inside of me and yet it’s virtually invisible to the outside world. Honestly, the biggest difference in my body is my bust size. When I lost weight and began to run, I went down a cup size. I had the foresight to keep all my old bras just for pregnancy, but they’re already too tight. Some people might consider this a good thing, but trust me – to me, it’s not. It’s painful for exercise, is generally uncomfortable, and makes me feel self-conscious (I know – I know. Off to read some Operation Beautiful).
Another thing no one ever told me about pregnancy? Pregnancy bloat. It is real, it sucks, and the worst part about it is that it tricks you into thinking you’re finally bumping. Even though I’d have no real weight gain yet, there are days that I cannot button even my looser pants and resort to using a hair fubby (hair tie) to secure the button and loop.
But you know what? All in all – despite the dry-heaving, lady lumps, and bloat (just trying to keep it real), this has been the most wonderful experience of my life. I’m not a hugely spiritual person, but pregnancy is making me re-think all my old theories about life and love and the grander purpose. Sounds corny, but it’s true. So much of this is just biology but I can’t help but think there’s more to it. It’s so strange to know that someone’s heart is beating inside of me. I can’t believe the Husband and I did the horizontal polka and THIS happened. Amazing!
Here’s what I’ve read through Week 10 of Pregnancy:
What to Expect When You’re Expecting: The classic. For good reason. It covers pretty much everything you’d want to know, from conception to post-birth. However, I (like many others) found this book to be incredibly stressful. Because it cover so much, there’s a lot of “this could go wrong!†I don’t what to know what could go wrong unless it’s actually happening.
The Green Pregnancy Diet: This book promotes a vegetarian diet for pregnancy. I would only recommend this to people who are very new to ‘clean eating’ or vegetarian concepts. As an author, I hate to give books bad reviews, but I didn’t learn much from this book and was a bit disappointed by the simple content. It would, however, be good for very new vegetarians.
How to Exercise When You’re Expecting: I really enjoyed this book, although I would not recommend the Kindle version, as the workouts are hard to follow. Tons of great advice on exercise (organized by trimester), including sample moves. Although I’m not specifically following the workouts, this book did motivate me to do more strength training.
The Panic-Free Pregnancy: Readers recommended this book, and although I’ve only given it a quick read-through, I love it. The author backs up his assertions with statistical evidence and compares American attitudes to those in other countries. Generally, this book did made me feel less panicky, especially about air travel. I was worried that I was radiating my baby to death, but once I saw the statistical risk broken down numerically, I felt loads better. Although I don’t agree with all the information in the book, I do think it provides a healthy, balance viewpoint on pregnancy. Side note: In Norway, women get 44 weeks of paid maternity leave! In most European countries, they get 12 – 20 weeks with at least 60 – 100% pay. In America, we are legally entitled to 12 weeks, unpaid. That’s screwed up!
In conclusion, here’s Week 10, in neat summary form.
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Weight gained: 0.5 pounds.
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Number of pumpkin pies consumed: One. All my myself. In two days.
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Workouts: Two. A 4.0 mile run and a 1,000 meter swim. Really want to improve this for 11 Weeks.
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Food Aversions: Zero.
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Suspicions on Gender: I’ve been leaning towards boy this whole time and calling BabyHTP “little guy†or “he,†but in the last few days, I’ve realized HE could be a SHE! Trying to be more gender neutral in my thoughts.
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Potential Names: One for a girl (definite and not up for debate) and three potential names for a boy. Any suggestions on boy names?
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Baby Items Purchased: Zero. Despite having maternity insurance, I’m sitting on over $550 in medical bills from two ultrasounds. Cute baby items will have to wait.
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Meltdowns: One. No one ever told me that spotting can be totally normal during early pregnancy (my doctor said that 1 in 3 experience it with no further problems). I’ve had two spotting episodes (at 5 weeks and 9 weeks, 4 days) that sent me into an emotional tizzy. Hence, the ultrasound bills.
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Deep Thought: When you love something so much, you open yourself up to the potential for an equal amount of pain. But you can’t have one without the other. No sweet without the sour. It’s worth it.
Large, swollen breasts suck. And it has nothing to do with appearance, they just feel puffy and painful.