What A Long, Strange Trip It Has Been

As I move along the weeks of pregnancy (35 weeks this past Friday), I can’t help but look back at the long, strange trip it has been.  The baby will be here in approximately 5 weeks.  Looking forward to the weeks ahead is thrilling, like the feeling of anticipation you have before a long awaited trip.  The husband and I wonder what the next 5 weeks will bring.  And of course we wonder what happens after the baby arrives, and we are faced caring for a small precious being who is solely dependent on us for survival (no pressure at all).  Looking back at the weeks behind us, it’s interesting for me to recount the milestones of my pregnancy and what it has done to my body.   Follow me back on the long, strange trip my body has been through so far:

Week 2 (approximately) – Began to wake up feeling a little sick to my stomach.  I described it in my head as my stomach feeling “raw” and in desperate need of food.  Or was I just getting a cold or the flu?  It was the end of January.

Week 4 (approximately) – Stomach not feeling so hot.  In fact, entire body not feeling so hot.  I began to wonder if in fact I was pregnant.  We had only just started casually trying the previous month.  Could we in fact be the gold medalists of fertility?

Week 5 (approximately) – One pregnancy test and two pink lines later, pregnancy is confirmed!  We are the gold medalists of fertility!  But just to make sure those two pink lines were in fact two pink lines, my husband immediately scoured the Internet for pictures of positive pregnancy tests and testimonials of pregnant couples.  It didn’t take much time Googling these images to realize we had one positive test on our hands.  We decided on making an appointment with the OB/GYN my regular doctor recommended.

Week 6 – First appointment.  We met with the OB/GYN coordinator who asked us about our health history and any awareness of genetic disease.  Then she whipped out her calender and based on my responses to her questions, determined that we were about six weeks along and that the baby was due October 9th.

Week 9 – Second appointment, first ultrasound.  By this time, I was still wrapping my head around the fact that I was pregnant.  I would look at my stomach in the mirror and wonder if it looked any bigger (it did not at that point).  I felt a little bigger, but that is probably due to bloating and a craving for salty foods.  I had didn’t have morning sickness, but rather a constant feeling of nausea.

At the appointment, the doctor told me to lay back and he switched on the flat screen monitor hanging on the wall in front of me.  Suddenly that familiar black-and-white image appear on the screen.  A small sac appeared containing what appeared to be a peanut or over-sized misshapen jelly bean.  Our baby.  Tears welled up in my eyes.  They spilled over when the doctor turned on the speakers and we heard the heartbeat.  Our peanut had a heartbeat at just nine weeks!  Amazing!  Upon closer inspection (and with some help from the doctor), we could see it’s tiny bug-like legs and arms twitching about.  We could see the tiny spec of the heartbeat pumping feaverishly.  It was truly the most amazing sight I had every seen, and it was growing right inside of me.

Week 13 – Oh, Week 13.  How I loved and hated you.  After a long day at work, I came home on a Friday an felt pretty sick to my stomach and very tired.  It was my husband’s birthday, and we decided to order take-out Chinese for dinner.  After eating a normal serving, I immediately did not feel good.  My plans to make my husband’s orange brownies (in lieu of a birthday cake) were gone.  I felt terrible, and extremely tired.  I went to bed early and did not sleep a wink.  My stomach cramped the entire night.  I woke up the next morning and promptly threw up the contents of the birthday dinner (fortunately making it to the bathroom in time).  Poor Sydney sat on the bed looking very worried.  I hobbled downstairs and informed my husband about getting sick.  I laid on the couch all day.  I continued to feel horrible.  I got sick a couple more times.  I developed a fever, and my husband developed a sense of dread that something was wrong.  We phoned the on-call doctor who told us it was OK to take a Tylenol to get the fever down.  I took two and went to bed.  The next morning the fever had gone down and I felt better, but still pretty lethargic.  I continued to alternate between the couch and the bed.  My husband took care of me.  My dogs followed me around.  By Monday morning I felt pretty good and even went to work early to handle a program.  It seemed as though I had suffered a 24 hour stomach bug of some sort.  I was relieved to feel better….so much better than how I felt over the weekend…wait, why am I feeling better?…

Week 14 – I never thought feeling better could make me feel so worried.  Gone was the constant feeling of nausea.  Gone were the stomach cramps.  Gone was some of the tiredness.  This could only mean one thing – something was wrong with the baby.  I knew that I was closing in on the first trimester, and all my books said that is when most women start to feel dramatically better.  But I had just waded through a pretty nasty stomach bug thing, and I was worried that this had affected the baby.  I quickly called the doctor and asked if our Week 17 appointment could be moved up.  They kept the appointment the same date, but scheduled me for an impromptu visit a few days later.  Our fears were put to rest – we heard the baby’s heart beat at our appointment and the doctor said our baby sounded “fabulous.”

Week 17 – Fourth doctor’s appointment.  We listened to the baby’s heartbeat again and the doctor said it sounded great.  What wasn’t so great to hear was an audible “Whoa” when she compared my weight gain from the previous appointment.  “You’ve put on some weight, ” she said about my eight pound jump in one month.  “Well, I guess it’s that ice cream!” I joked and smiled towards my husband.  “Oh, ice cream is bad,” the doctor said.  “It makes for big babies.  They just feed off all those calories, fat and sugar.  Don’t eat ice cream.”  “Oh…” I said quietly.  I kept to myself that I had only days before purchased five half-gallons of ice cream at the grocery store (hey, it was buy 2 get 3 FREE!  What was I suppose to do?  Let a good deal go to waste?  Come on!).  On the ride home, my husband and I decided that once the five varieties of ice cream were consumed, we were done.  Famous last words.

Week 20 – I finally begin to pop!  My belly was developing that distinctive rotund look, and I was wearing maternity pants and loose fitting tops.  I felt great.  The second trimester is markedly better than the first.  The only issue was that I was starting to experience interrupted sleep.  And not necessarily because I had to get up and go to the bathroom at 3am.  I would just wake up for no reason.  I would toss and turn.  I knew I was keeping my husband up too, which made me feel even worse.  But God bless the man he still to this day will not blame, or even admit, that I keep him up at night with my constant flipping.

This is the week we also found out the sex – it’s a boy!

Week 22 – Although the baby has been kicking the entire time, I finally begin to feel the baby kicking me.  Very exciting!  It’s nice to know the baby is moving and growing inside of you.

Week 28 – Baby growth spurt.  My belly really popped and I began to start feeling very pregnant.

Week 32 – You know how pregnant women have to go to the bathroom all the time?  This side affect of pregnancy really started to kick in this week.  Up and down during the day, and even worse, but and down during the night.  My poor husband – I know I keep him up at night.

And now we arrive to Week 35.  What has happened this week?  Swelling of the feet!  Fun stuff!  I knew it was bound to happen.  I’ m just glad it didn’t start any earlier than this week.  My feet aren’t too bad yet, but they are definitely swollen (and my right foot seems to be bigger than the left foot.  I can handle the swollen feet, I would just prefer that they are evenly swollen so I don’t look like too much of a freak).

Looking back over the weeks, it’s amazing to see, literally, how pregnancy symptoms and side affects crop up over night or within the span of day.  One day you don’t look pregnant, the next day you’re wearing stretchy maternity clothes.  One morning you can hardly get out of bed because you’re so nausated, the next day you bounce out of bed to take the dogs for a walk.

We’ll see what these last five or so weeks bring.  But over all, the journy of pregnancy has been pretty smooth and I can’t complain.  I know some women have it bad during pregnancy.  Here’s hoping the last few weeks go just as smoothly.

Tags: pregnancy