Precursor: This is in no way trying to be ungrateful for being pregnant and bearing children. I am just keeping record of my own experience, for myself. You can read along if you like, but if I come off as whiny, but I'm just writing my own realities and experiences, with the knowledge and hope that this baby and the joy of long term motherhood is going to be worth all of it.
First trimester really wasn't bad. Everyone warned me about morning sickness and fatigue but I never had either of those and felt fine. One of the first symptoms I remember having was extreme, insatiable, demonic hunger. Although my intense hunger was frustrating because nothing sounded good. I had no cravings, nothing in the whole world made me excited to eat. So eating was more of a chore to ward off any impending nausea (because I would get pretty nauseous if I waited too long to eat). I always always had to bring a purse full of food anywhere I went for fear of a hunger, nausea emergency when its too late and I can't get food in fast enough. So carting all that food around in my purse made my purse smell bad even though everything was in ziplocks or wrappers. -___- I also thought I was in the clear for my nausea after 12-14 weeks because that's when everyone says general morning sickness stops.
But second trimester, boyyy was I wrong. The day after Christmas (20 weeks) I got super nauseous (even after eating breakfast and lunch!) and had dry heaves over the toilet. It only lasted a few minutes but I felt nauseous and overheated, and just 'off' a little for the rest of the day. This pattern continued for the next couple weeks, of eating as soon as I woke up, but still getting nauseous and dry heaves (no vomiting tho, I hate vomiting so much, I just have a strong reflex to automatically swallow my saliva that's coming up). So that was miserable and I hated getting ready for work in the early morning when my nausea would be worse. It seemed to not be as bad on days I could sleep in later.
The rest of second trimester was way worse than first trimester unlike what everyone says. I feel so whiny because I'd always have several things bothering me about my body and it would change everyday, some days I couldn't even put a finger on it specifically, which was frustrating. I'll just make a list of things that have come and gone or come and stayed:
-severe sacrum ache after lying flat on back (this happened even before pregnancy and into first trimester before I gained any weight, but pregnancy has made it worse)
- stuffed up nose, which makes me sneeze a bunch, which makes me pee my pants a little #14pairsofpantsaday
-feeling so tired at 7:30pm, you swear the clock is off and its 2:30am
-constipation
-diarrhea
-hemorrhoids
-sore abs, especially upper. Some mornings I wake up feeling like I did 4738954358 sit ups all night long (I'm worried about diastasis recti as well, so trying not to use my ab muscles much)
-food still never sounds good, not really any cravings
-sleep is hard some nights, I wake up for no reason (not even to go pee, my body just likes being awake at 4am)
-some scary, painful lower abdomen menstrual-like cramping (I told my doctor and he said nothing to worry about if they don't get closer together, so I guess its okay)
-shortness of breath. I breathe heavy when sitting, laying down, doing nothing, watching tv. I also tried to jog to the mailbox (about 100 yards) and back. Nope, never doing that again. Felt like I had a bowling ball ripping out of my belly, and my lungs couldn't take a full deep breath in and felt like I was breathing through a coffee straw.
-stomach skin itchiness, red bumps, hairyness. (No bare bump pictures for me!)
-acne. joy.
-heartburn. all the heartburn. Acid-y esophagus is not my jam.
-lightheaded and dizziness even when just chillin on the couch.
-so much overheating. I can't make it through church without getting SO HOT and nauseous. I haven't worn a coat all winter and love the cold air. I haven't been able to wear any of my sweaters all winter, which makes me sad cuz I got cute ones for Christmas. But I just get too overheated. I wish I could live in an igloo. I miss being freezing and having numb toes and snow (that's a whole 'nother story) and taking a hot bath and snuggling into a warm bed with a large comforter and fuzzy socks and still being freezing and shivering for the first bit while falling asleep. Miss it so much. I sleep with the window wide open, despite how cold Derek is (that's why we have extra blankets!) and am still wearing hardly any clothes and no blankets.
-hip pain at night from sleeping on my side and not much relief from a pillow between my legs. (I read it's because of the hormone Relaxin, which loosens all your ligaments to prepare for birth. I understand why, but still painful) I wake up feeling like a 90 year old lady. I wonder if that's what arthritis feels like.
-Derek has said I snore a lot in my sleep. Oops.
-tightness in stomach skin, I feel like I shouldn't stand up straight all the way some days for fear of ripping my stomach skin in half!
-just a general feeling of fatigue/malaise. It usually goes away in a few hours, so it doesn't justify staying home from work all day or anything, but I can hardly focus at work because I feel so not good/hungry/nauseous/stomachache/sore/tired etc etc. So I feel like I sound like a crazy person, especially to Derek (who I tell all my symptoms to) going back and forth during the day of "I feel so sick right now" to "I feel fine now" to "nope, stomach ache is back" to "life's good now"
But I haven't noticed (and Derek says he hasn't noticed either) any mood swings! Which is great! Yay!
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