Baby 3: Growing Growing Strong

We found out we were expecting very early on in this pregnancy.  Baby was barely even a whisper in the womb.

They say (who is “they” by the way?) that a female body will “forget” what it’s like to be pregnant 7 years after her last baby was born.  For my first pregnancy, I so desperately yearned to show!  I was wearing maternity clothes wayyyyy before I ever showed.  In fact, maternity pants would just fall down for weeks and weeks.  I think by the beginning of the second trimester, I was finally showing a tiny bit.  It still took me several weeks into the second trimester before I even could wear maternity clothes.  Michael and Noah are 16 and a half months apart, so my body totally knew what to do for my second pregnancy and, by 7 weeks, people were asking me if I was pregnant.  This time around, since it’s been three years since my last pregnancy, I thought perhaps I wouldn’t show so soon.  I was even kind of hoping that I could make it through most of my first trimester without showing.  Part of this is because I am trying (well, Burger King and Valentine’s chocolate is making this hard!) to keep my weight gain to a minimum, and another part is because I’ve lost all of my maternity pants sometime in the last two years.  I think I packed them up somewhere smart when we moved, and I have absolutely no idea where they might be.  I found a few shirts, and a couple pairs of capri pants, and my maternity bathing suit, but that doesn’t help me with the January and February weather! 

By our seventh week, Baby 3 was the size of a tic tac or a blueberry.  So teeny tiny and still cute!  Even though Baby 3 was still so tiny inside of me, I was already showing. 

On week eight, Baby progressed to the size of a kidney bean.  At this point, I had to break down and buy a Belly Band from Motherhood Maternity.  My sister-in-law told me that she wore her regular pants for her whole pregnancy and she just kept them hoisted up with the help of the Belly Band, so I bought one.  It’s the only way I’ve been able to wear pants with a zipper. I cannot zip up pants anymore, so I use the Belly Band to keep everything in place.

During week nine, Baby became the size of a grape.  During weeks 8 through 10, I had very very nauseous days.  Eating dinner was very difficult, because what would sound good for dinner would suddenly sound and smell awful within an hour after eating.  I felt much sicker during these weeks than I did with either prior pregnancy.

Baby grew to the size of a kumquat or Brazil nut during week ten.  My nausea slowly began to disappear during this week. 

On week 11, Baby grew to fig-size.  During this week, I had my second OB appointment.  At this point in pregnancies, the baby is still too tiny for his or her heartbeat to be heard on a Doppler, so I was prepared to go to what I’ve deemed the most boring OB appointment to be weighed, tee-tee, and that’s it.  The doctor spent a good amount of time with me talking about any questions I had.  I did have some sleeping questions since that has been difficult so soon in this pregnancy.  I also had food questions this time around.  At the end of the appointment (which was in the late afternoon), I asked how they could tell everything was fine with pregnancies between weeks 11 and 15—when I’d go back and could hear Baby’s heartbeat on the Doppler.  I was really just curious as to how they decided things were fine during this time frame.  I asked if they checked the HcG levels in the urine samples.  He said no, and that the only way to tell was to do an ultrasound.  I said “Ok” and kept walking toward the check-out desk.  He said “So, come in here and get an ultrasound.”  I said “Really?” because I so did not want to be a bother.  He said “Yeah!  I like to sneak them in when I can!”  So, the ultrasound tech did a quick ultrasound and we could see a full profile of Baby 3, and saw him or her kicking their little legs, and turning over in the womb, with his or her hands right up by the face.  The heartbeat was 164.  I thanked them so much for the special treat of this unexpected ultrasound!

Today, we hit Week 12, and baby is the size of a lime!  I am feeling much more myself this week—well, aside from a pesky headache that’s been hanging around for several days.  I was on a headache medicine for most of 2016, and while on that medicine, the only OTC thing I could take to help when the medicine didn’t help my headaches was Tylenol.  Even though I pulled myself off the headache medicine months before I became pregnant, in pregnancy, I am only allowed to take Tylenol for pain—no Motrin, no Aleve.  In 2016, I got to a point where Tylenol would not even relieve the headaches, and neither would the headache medicine.  Therefore, I hesitate to treat my headaches with Tylenol now since I’m not sure my body has decided it’s no longer immune to the effects of it.  I try to relieve my headaches in non-medicinal ways—ie, naps when I can, small amounts of caffeine, etc. 

I am SO HAPPY to be at week 12 of this pregnancy!  At this point, I feel like pregnancy flies by!  My first trimester will be officially over in the next week or so, and second trimester is probably my favorite one.  Second trimester comes with extra blood in the body, which can give a boost of energy, and it also comes with the most fun ultrasound—the gender reveal!  I am 80% sure that I want this gender ultrasound to be like my other two pregnancies—where Aaron & I go to the ultrasound together and then tell our family the gender that night.   However, 20% of me wants to have a gender reveal party where we find out the gender at the same time as everyone else.  Decisions, decisions. 

On Friday this week, my boys and I are going with my mom on a 7-hour road trip to visit my grandparents and I’m really excited!  My boys have never been to my grandparents’ house and I love visiting there!  I’m a little apprehensive about the long car ride, but hopefully my mom and I can handle my little preschoolers in the backseat for 7 hours!  I’ll miss Aaron like crazy, though, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?  After the boys and I return home next week, I’m taking the following day off of work for us to just put ourselves back together again (read: do laundry and grocery shop). 

Thanks for catching up with us!

Until Next Time!

Much love, Reba