I have 5.5 months of pregnancy left.
As I mentioned, my first tri kind of sucked. To be clear, it didn’t suck in any special way; I didn’t require hospitalization for fluids and didn’t vomit 723 times/day, and most importantly the baby is still alive inside me (though not yet kicking; still waiting to clearly feel her move!).
However run-of-the-mill my experience was as first tris go, it was still not pleasant. Luckily, around the beginning of June (13 weeks) I started to feel some relief, and my nausea really didn’t bother me on our big vacation at all, though my energy was still quite low. I’m 16.5 weeks now* and things have shifted again, for the better!
I essentially feel normal again.
– I can wake up early
– I feel excited to exercise
– My energy doesn’t suck
– I actually WANT to eat healthy foods
– I can floss without gagging!
– I can take my prenatal vitamins (yep, too late for the folate, but I am sure that I am anemic so I’m glad to be getting in the extra iron).
This is a huge relief and I am sooooo glad to be ‘back’.
I occasionally went for run/walks during the first tri, but . . . emphasis on occasionally. I ate like total crap. I slept a lot. I am not beating myself up, because my body was very clear that it was NOT up for my regular habits/routine. However, there have been some repercussions: As of my appointment last week, I had already gained 10 lbs at 16 weeks! This is more than recommended and I feel it.
Josh reminded me that I have had the same panic with the other pregnancies (gaining a lot early, then leveling off and having a very reasonable total in the end) but I think this one is probably the most pronounced. Plus, I was active (even through the first tri) with both of the other pregnancies (in NC, not in FL yet until 2nd trip with Cameron, so I’m sure it was much more pleasant to run outside!) and don’t remember eating quite so terribly with the other two.
Anyway, all that is to say that I feel committed to a healthier lifestyle for hopefully the next 5.5 months and am so happy to be feeling normal again. I ran/walked yesterday (on the treadmill; I can’t stand the 80 degrees/80% humidity outside at 6am) and felt great; after I finish this post I’m going to do a barre3 routine + maybe some run/walking again inside.
I have more energy for the kids, too. I had been allowing them more TV than usual and generally struggling through my parenting routine. Things are much better now. I managed to wean Annabel off of her ‘5 minute video at bedtime’ habit, something that started at least 2 years ago as a bribery tactic to get her to lie down (note to self: be careful with future bribery tactics!). I bought several books (Kipling’s Just So Stories, some Laura Ingalls Wilder, and my childhood fave Mrs. Piggle Wiggle) and to my delight she has really enjoyed the shift to her own private chapter book read-aloud time after Cameron goes to sleep.
I am on call this week (worked last weekend) and have been shockingly cheerful about it, though this is probably because I have been lucky enough to sleep through the night the past 4 nights.
Anyway, I am off to barre3 (at home!) but hopefully you will see more from the more energetic Second Tri Version of me.
Few pix:
* I have heard that some people lose count in their pregnancies the third time around. This is not my style; I have never really enjoyed being pregnant so it’s like a countdown every time!
6 Comments
Yay! So glad you are feeling better. The banh mi looks delish, I’ll have to look into that cookbook.
So glad you’re feeling better!
Woohoo! Glad you’re feeling better. The idea of looking after little ones with fatigue and morning sickness reinforces my one and done stance.
I’m at 36 weeks now so feeling like I’m in the home stretch, although morning sickness seems to have returned. I have to submit my PhD on Friday and then have one more week of work and hopefully (baby cooperating) at least a few days / weeks of mat leave pre-baby. I’m optimistically booking a haircut, dentist appointment, and massage for 38 weeks which I think might be jinxing myself but oh well.
That’s great that you are feeling better and able to enjoy the pregnancy again 🙂 If it makes you feel better … I gained 14 pounds by 23 weeks, and got a little talking to from the midwife for it. Then my weight gain slowed and by 35 weeks I’d only gained 18 pounds … and got more grief from the midwife! Now at 37 I think my total weight gain has been 20. It doesn’t help that baby and I have been consistently measuring 2 weeks behind so I feel guilty about it. And I was sooooo stressed about it early on, but in the end our bodies do what they need.
Does A like books about animals? We recently read a series of two books by Henry Cole called "Brambleheart" and they were really sweet. And G is really into the Princess in Black, Hardy Boys mysteries (newer books where the boys are 7 and 8), and Boxcar Children. We started reading the Little House books as they were a favorite of mine growing up, but the descriptions of frontier life (butchering a pig) were a little too intense for G, so I had to skim over a lot of the first chapter of Little House in the Big Woods.
She does! She even likes the Just So Stories even though I thought they’d be over her head (the language is quite interesting) – she really really likes them.
I totally forgot about the gorier parts of Little House 🙂 My dad read me many of the books in the series when I was growing up. Another huge fave of mine was A Little Princess and maybe that’s a little gendered, but A Secret Garden I bet Griffin might like too!
Your weight gain story makes me feel so much better, because I know you are active and try to be healthy like me! Honestly Josh keeps reminding me that I tend to NOT gain much later in pregnancy (like this is a typical pattern each time for me) but I still feel so big and it does’ help to have people telling me all day "You look so much more than 17 weeks!)". I’m like . . .thanks!?!? But now all the sudden I’m thrilled to run again (SO HAPPY to have this energy back!) and am no longer nauseated and craving carbs all day so maybe that will help everything too!!
I never forgot how many weeks/days I was. Ever. All time passes, but I swear those 40 (41, 39, 39) weeks went slowly.