This week has been wonderful for me, as it's my school's half-term break. I spent the first half of it in Switzerland visiting many of my old friends there for one last calm trip down memory lane. It was fun traveling with my little bump, which is finally showing enough so that others might suspect I'm pregnant too. When I look down, I think I look quite pregnant, while in the mirror I still just look a bit more round than usual. I know soon it will be unmistakable!
My friends were (as usual) incredibly lovely, sweet, kind and generous. Everyone bought me dinner, treated me to spa days, and even gave me thoughtful gifts! My favorite gift is a belly chime necklace, that hangs right on the bump and makes beautiful sounds for my baby. I absolutely adore it! During the entire trip, I could feel all the love towards my tiny Wriggles, and am already getting so excited to bring my sweet baby back to Switzerland to meet everyone.
The plane flight, I'll admit, was a bit uncomfortable - especially on the way back when I was stuck in a middle seat. I'm only a little nervous for our babymoon (to Majorca!) and my girl's weekend trip to Denmark, but both flights are tolerably short and I'm sure I'll be fine even though I'll be 7 months pregnant.
I'm really writing today to remember this exciting moment, the day I felt the baby's kicks on the outside! They say you can start to feel them anywhere between 20-30 weeks on the outside, and I felt Wriggles just kicking away in there. I put my hand on my tummy just in case (plus it's kind of a habit now!) and there it was clear as day, little kicks! My dear husband isn't home at the moment, so it's just me getting excited about every little thing. Before I know it, everyone will be able to feel the kicks and then in 18 short weeks, baby will be here too!
Time seems to be just racing by now, and I cannot believe I am at the end of month 4 of this pregnancy. At the beginning, just getting through each day felt like a triumph and every moment shuffled by at an extremely, slow, agonizing rate.
Now suddenly someone has pushed fast-forward and I can't figure out where the time has gone. I know my job keeps me busy, and also I am less worried about our little wriggles. I definitely feel better and I'm back to almost-normal eating.
This past week was filled with even more fruit, with each day generally including... a banana, apple, orange, kiwi, mango, nectarine, plum, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and grapes. I also fit in vegies - carrots, celery, green beans, baby corn, tomatoes, red pepper, and broccoli. No wonder I'm having trouble squeezing in protein! I try to remember to bring hummus to school as well as a hard-boiled egg and some cheese. And finally, FINALLY, I've gained some weight (and kept it on!). I'm just at the bottom of recommended weight gain for Week 17, but at least I'm back up from the negatives.
Because today has been so spectacularly, wonderfully calm and easy I took the time to do a collage of the first 4 months of being pregnant with Wriggles. I actually really enjoyed it! We skipped a few weeks here and there (oops!) and the colors were really difficult to balance, but overall I am very happy. I can tell such a difference between even 11 and 17 weeks - there really is a baby there now! I'll keep up with the weekly bump pictures and make the next collage after the next 9 or 10 weeks. Then I'm excited to see the end product when I have all 40ish weeks together + one with baby! I blame Pinterest for encouraging things like this.
This week has been rather uneventful, but nonetheless I want to document everything. My bump is growing and almost looks like I'm pregnant now (and not just a bit tubby around the middle). I had a fantastic workout last Sunday at gymnastics (don't worry, I'm not doing anything remotely dangerous), but my calf workout led to muscle soreness for the entire week. I'm not kidding here, this has never happened to me before. Day after soreness? Yep! Two or three days? Sometimes. All week? Never! I looked this up and it seems that if you push yourself too hard you might experience prolonged muscle fatigue and pain. Whoops! Lesson learned and tonight's session will be even calmer. Also, I've managed to lose weight again and I can't quite understand how that's happened. I'm using MyFitnessPal to track what I eat, now time I'm checking to see I'm eating enough of the right nutrients, not using it to lose weight. It seems I'm under my required calorie amount almost every day, and this is most likely due to my sudden and constant extreme need for fruit!
I want everything, all of it, all the time. Strawberries, grapes, kiwi, pineapple, oranges, passionfruit, bananas, mangoes, apples, raspberries, cherries... the list seems never ending (and writing it is making me hungry again!). I'm also loving lots of veggies - carrots, avocado, cucumber, celery, green beans, broccoli, edamame... anything fresh and crisp and nutritious! It seems since I crave fruits and veggies to eat all day, I am less hungry for the calorie packed things, such as meats, dairy, and grains. Fruits and veggies just don't give you enough calories, and with my ever shrinking stomach I just can't fit very much in at a time. I'm still working on balancing my days and meals so I get enough of everything, but I guess as far as cravings go, it could be worse!
And now the fatigue has really receded and I didn't even need a nap today even though I was baking up a storm - banana peanut butter oat muffins, egg muffins (easy quick breakfast and snacks, anyone?), and zucchini & sweet potato soup! I also went shopping, cleaned the house, did my taxes, and now I'm blogging. Amazingly, I don't feel completely wiped out like I normally would! This is the perfect trimester - not too big, not too nauseous but ready to get things done!
Well, surprisingly enough to me I still appear to be pregnant. I certainly have all the symptoms!
- Exhaustion: in the past few days I have been falling asleep at about 7pm and waking up at 6 for work!
- Nausea: thinking about most food makes me sick, smelling most food makes me sick too and I can't brush any further than the tip of my tongue. I'm still eating and not throwing up... yet.
- Tender breasts: OUCH. I bought a maternity bra already to help alleviate the pain in the evenings, but every time I find myself sleeping on my stomach it's like knives stabbing my nipples!
- Emotional - I cry about most things now, and I was already a crier to begin with. I'm also more road-ragey than usual, "GET BACK ON YOUR SIDE OF THE ROAD YOU @$$#0!&!!"
- Super sense of smell: I can smell everyone around me, from their morning coffee to their cigarette before they got on the bus. This has also changed how I taste things!
- Frequent need to pee (and very thirsty to replace all that water!): I've only gotten up a few times at night so far, but I do find myself making detours to the toilet a lot more at work, which can be challenging as a teacher.
I'm booked in for my appointment with the midwife on Tuesday this week, and then for an ultrasound next Wednesday. It's all becoming very (thankfully) real, and all I want is to see a heartbeat on the first scan to calm my fears a bit. I know there is really no "safe" point in pregnancy until the baby is literally in your arms, but the chances of survival are so much higher after you've seen a scan with a heartbeat. Then I'll have another scan a month later, so I'll be very reassured! I am trying to enjoy every moment that I have being pregnant, as I know I am so lucky.
