22 Weeks Pregnant!

My weeks start on Sunday, so it’s pretty easy to remember. Anyway, yesterday I hit 22 weeks in my pregnancy! I’m getting so excited!

So I haven’t really had the chance to write about my pregnancy yet, so I figured I would take the time to do that now!

So…. here’s a list of FAQ. How/When did I find out? Was it planned? How have you been feeling? Any symptoms? Whats the gender?! Have you picked out a name? When’s the shower? How are you planning to deliver? Breastfeeding? There are a million questions, and these are just a few of them. So, let’s get started.

Finding out I was pregnant is a fun, short, story, but some I’m going to give some background info too. Let’s set the scene (hehe)… It was July 2nd. My husband and I are sitting at home enjoying some homemade Cheladas (unfortunately). Out of no where, and I can’t quite remember who brought it up, the question gets asked about when my last period was. A little back story, I have been SO irregular since I got my first period, which was 2008-2009 ish. Soooo, I have never really kept track. I have tried, but it’s so inconsistent that I just stopped caring, to be honest. My husband and I typically would use condoms, but normally he would just pull-out because we all know it feels so much better. Anyway, head back a few months to April-May time frame (this is when we PCS’d to our current base) he, uh, didn’t pull out, and we kinda didn’t stop doing it for awhile. Anyway, TMI sorry, we got Plan-B quite a few times. (That can be a controversial subject, but let’s steer clear of that, please.) Anyway fast-forward to July 2nd. When the question was asked, I couldn’t really give a good answer. I had just graduated ALS and tried to think if I had experienced one the entire time I was in class, which ran from mid-May, I think, until the end of June. The conclusion was I don’t think I did, but I though I’d had one since we moved… Anyway, as the conversation went on we just agreed that I should get a pregnancy test. Okay, so July 3rd (my grandma Jackie’s birthday!!) I take the test and faintttttly pop positive (the pic). So, I waited until morning, when they suggest you take it, and that sucker was BRIGHT red. (idk why I didn’t get a pic of that one).

First, of only two, pregnancy tests.

So, Victor’s reaction was “lame”, but I understood because he said had a good idea way before I did. He was like “yep, called that” and I said “well, why didn’t you say something sooner”. He said “I don’t know, I was just waiting to see if you’d start and we took Plan B, so I just didn’t think about it really, just had an idea.”. So yeah…. don’t take this the wrong way, he was excited, scared, but excited for sure.

Quick overview from July 3rd until today, Oct 21. I have been to the doctor only a handful of times. The first appointment with my OBGYN was right around 12-ish weeks on August 12th. But before that we went to see an ultrasound technician, on the 7th, to confirm we had a little pumpkin in there.

The reason they got me in so “fast” was because of how little I knew about my period and conception. They wanted to get as much information as they could, so we knew how far along we were in the process. It ended up working out perfectly because they traditionally do the first ultrasound at 12 weeks anyway!

Okay so, after the first appointment was just normal life. I use to vape, eh here and there throughout the day, more so if I was driving, sitting at home, or out with friends, but I still constituted it as “low”.  I quit cold turkey knowing how far along I was, and it wasn’t that difficult because I was using 3mg nicotine so my “addiction” wasn’t really too bad. I fight cravings here and there still to this day, but I just shake it off pretty easy. I don’t even miss drinking really… I do however just miss a few drinks. 1. Angry Orchard and 2. Cheladas. They’re both pretty “easy” drinks and I don’t drink them to get drunk, it’s just because they taste SO good. But yeah, I don’t really miss drinking ever.

I have had TERRIBLE symptoms, to be honest with you. The first trimester (Weeks 0- Week 12-ish) is basically a blur because I wasn’t paying attention, because I didn’t even know haha. So, second trimester is majority of any documentation I have. Here’s a list of my symptoms so far, and what I did to alleviate the issues.

• Headaches – usually I just suffered. The approved medicine is acetaminophen, or Tylenol if you’re into name brand things. So, up until, basically, last week….. I took it religiously. Every 6 hours on the nose, I would take 2 pills (the recommendation for the milligrams). Unfortunately, at the 4 hour mark of ever dose, my severe headache would come back. Overtime though, I learned how to manage. At home, I would close my eyes, lay down, and drink as much water as I could handle. Some times, depending on the time of day, I would hop in the shower and the heat would help. At work, I suffered. It’s so bright and loud (for a headache) that I just couldn’t do anything else. The great thing about my office is they have been SO understanding, and usually just let me go or stay home.
• Nausea – LET ME TELL YOU. The nausea was the worst thing. It kept me home for practically a month, not back to back 30 days straight, but over the span of time it was probably 30 days in total. I tried saltines.. I tried baths.. I tried OJ.. It seemed like I tried everything. My doctor prescribed Zofran – a dissolvable tablet, but it didn’t really seem to do anything for me. My appetite was bizarre, as is the case for majority of women I hear. So, I couldn’t really do the whole “eat this thing”, “only eat this much”, “small meals throughout the day”, etc. I ate when I could and what I could, which was my doctor’s recommendation too. I never found a solution. At about, let’s say, 19 or 20 weeks it went away. Not completely, but it has definitely subsided and only comes up a couple of times a week now, and it’s no where near as severe.
• Round ligament pain – so, if you’re unaware, this is the cramping, stretching, tightness you feel in your stomach from your uterus expanding. There’s not really a lot you can do. You can’t do ice or heat packs, or shouldn’t anyway, because your womb can’t really regulate temperatures and it could affect your baby negatively (or so I’m told by my Dr. and Dr. Google). The thing that worked for me, so far, is just holding my stomach up to relieve some tension. I also kinda squeeze my belly for just a few seconds.
• Legs – Just in the last week or so, week 20 or 21-ish, my legs have just started feeling… different. Almost crampy, but also not crampy. Almost feels as though they’re going to swell, but not… at the same time. It’s weird, and I’m definitely in limbo with something, but I’m not sure. There’s not really pain and there is no signs of actual swelling yet, but I’m just trying to be aware of when things are starting to show for me, so I can let others know the normalcy of things.

That’s pretty much it. Headaches, nausea, and a weird ass appetite.

I started my pregnancy around 140 lbs (63.5 kg). My weight is something that I have NO idea on. I’ve pretty much weighed the same since 2009. I lost alot of inches on my recent deployment, but still stayed in the 30s. My last PT test was Feb 26 and I weighed in at 134 lbs (60.7 kg).  So, I give myself a few pounds of wiggle room. At my last appointment, which was Oct. 5…. I weighed… one hundred and sixty five freaaakking pounds (seventy four point freaking nine kilograms). W H A T. I don’t even feel remotely close to that… and… and!!!… I’m only half way! WTF. When I ask my family, when they see a pic, they all guess like “10-12 lbs” or “maybe 15 lbs, but that would be pushing it”. NOPE FREAKING TWENTY FIVE. It’s pretty frustrating to me, to be honest. Butttt, I know I’m still in the healthy weight gain window and my doctor hasn’t even brought it up. I think when I see him again, I’m going to ask just to make sure everything is okay.

Oh yeah… those FAQ… here they are!!

1. Was it planned? – Definitely not, but not like the biggest world-stopping shock. We had discussed having children and we were in agreement to having them, but we were DEFINITELY okay with waiting. We both had a lot of career goals that would be… just harder with children. We had come to sort of agree that we would start trying when we were 27.
2. Whats the gender?! I’m not telling on here, until I announce on Thanksgiving!!
3. Have you picked out a name? We have!
4. When’s the shower? I’m having my shower over Christmas. I know it seems kinda poopy, but this is the best time for me and Victor to be able to get to take holiday time with my family. We went to California, his home, in September and his family threw us a last minute shower!! We got some neutral clothes and a “bunch” of money, just because we had no idea of the gender and they just wanted to do something in person.
5. How are you planning to deliver? I’m hoping I’m brave enough to go through the process without an epidural.
6. Breastfeeding? If baby cooperates and everything goes according to plan, yes I want to breastfeed. I will have to pump majority of it because I’ll be going back to work, but I don’t want to use formula if possible.

Okay… I think that’s a pretty good summary of my pregnancy up to this point.  I’ll probably stick to writing a new post each time I visit the doctor, if its worth it. There’s really not a lot to share. (And at this time, I don’t even have anyone reading this so it’s more for journaling. So…. if it’s something worth journaling, then expect a post!)

I’ll end this one with my most recent bump picture. 22 WEEKS! Also, the difference still astounds me! Here’s my side by side. The first pic is on July 2nd when we found out!