Pregnancy Update: 1st Trimester

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I’m here today to bring you my first pregnancy update that brings me through the last week of my first trimester. I have been a terrible blogger and literally have only taken one bump picture for the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy which is a crappy mirror selfie. I nearby promise to be better and snap good pictures from here on out!

When is the baby due:

I’m currently 13 weeks and am due September 10th (a whole 8 days before Liam’s 2nd birthday!) however, given Liam’s extremely large size at birth, my doctor plans to induce at 39 weeks to prevent another large baby provided he/she doesn’t come sooner than that! So this baby will likely be here right after Labor Day. And no, two September babies were not intentional. Just turns out that’s what God had in store for us.

When we found out:

We actually found out before I was technically 4 weeks along so super early! The week after Christmas to be exact. I had been feeling light-headed and dizzy and also was having some shortness of breath randomly so I thought I would take a test just to be sure and rule that out. The test showed up negative so I told Tyler we could scratch that off the list. Curiosity got to me later that night though and I went back and checked the test again and there was a very faint line that had appeared. I remembered something my sister-in-law told me a while go about pregnancy tests not being accurate after 30 minutes or so so I figured it was a false alarm but that thought stayed in the back of my head and I kept wondering, “What if?” Needless to say, I took another one that resulted in yet another very faint line but faster this time….5 tests later and we figured it was really real this time!Was this planned:

Yes! It took us 6 months to get pregnant with Liam so when we decided to start trying, we assumed it would take a little while. Turns out God had other plans and wanted us to have babies almost 2 years on the dot apart and we couldn’t be happier. Oddly enough, my Dad is one of 5 and he and 2 of his other siblings and my grandma all of birthdays in September so it seems like we’re definitely carrying on that tradition!

How I’m feeling:

I have been extremely blessed with two fairly easy first trimesters with both of my pregnancies. Although, I do have to say I was significantly more nauseous from about weeks 5-9 with this pregnancy and had to eat every hour or two or else I started to feel like I would get sick. The extreme fatigue has also started to subside which is wonderful and so welcomed. However, at the end of a long day I’m still exhausted and out like a light once I settle in bed but I think that’s just pregnancy in general.

Telling Liam:

While we’ve told Liam there is a baby in Mommy’s belly, he still has no clue that his world is going to be rocked before he turns 2.  Hopefully a big belly and being able to feel baby kicks will help it sink in for him but I still think it may be a complete surprise to him when he comes to the hospital to meet his new sibling.

Are we going to find out the gender:

That is a resounding yes! If I could have had the test tell me when I took it that I was in fact pregnant and what the gender was I would totally do it. We did a blood test at my 12 week appointment that tests for genetic abnormalities and also tells the gender so we should know soon.

Fun fact: We did the same test with Liam at 13 weeks and thought we were having a girl for a good month or so. Turns out it was an error on LabCorp’s part and someone basically checked the girl box instead of the boy box but everything else was fine. It certainly made for an interesting surprise!

Physical Changes:

Quite frankly, not a ton. I very quickly got bloated and my pants, namely my work pants, became super snug but within the last week I feel like I’m starting to have a noticeable bump. That or people just think I need to lay off the pizza. Not to be TMI but I also have had little to no breast tenderness this go round. It was almost concerning at first but my doctor assured me it was all good. Apparently if you’ve breastfed once you have less tenderness the next go round? Who knew. I also felt like with Liam my boobs grew an entire cup size seemingly overnight at around 5 weeks but that didn’t happen this time either. It’s only within the last 2 weeks I noticed some slight swelling/growth and just generally felt heavier.

Food Cravings and Aversions:

Lemonade. Alllllll the lemonade. I have finished 3 containers of lemonade and 1 container of limeade in the past 2 weeks. It’s just so freaking good right now! I also want all the carbs which has proven to be a little problematic since my doctor wants me to watch my carbs in my 2nd trimester to, again, try to prevent another giant baby.  Similar to my pregnancy with Liam, I also can’t get enough fruit. Strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, apples. I’m equal opportunity I just want it all!

For whatever reason coffee just hasn’t sounded good for weeks. Hot coffee turns my stomach. I’ve been able to stomach iced coffee but I’m still only drinking it a few times a week. Occasionally certain things sound terrible (ie – I packed a salad for lunch and come lunchtime the thought of eating it makes me want to gag) but then passes and I’m good with salads again the next day. It’s just weird how your body can hate something one day and totally love it the next.

Names:

When we thought Liam was a girl we named him Elizabeth “Ellie” Grace. Then we found out he was a boy so that was that. And then our neighbors named their dog Ellie sooo we’re iffy on that one now but it’s not totally out of the running. Particularly because we already have things monogrammed with those initials. We also have a few others for girls names but haven’t settled on one. As for boys names, we’ve pretty much got squat and can’t agree on anything so we need to get working on that one. Tyler keeps telling me we have time but I’m a planner and I would have preferred to have definite names for either gender prior to my first appointment just so we’re prepared.

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