Q&A about pregnancy and me!
First of all, I’ve been meaning to write this for a while, but I keep putting it off. I finally have a little time! I’m writing this at 29 weeks 3 days.
Popular questions about me being pregnant:
Do you have any cravings?
Yes. For the first four months I really wanted gummy things. Sour gummy things were nice, but I especially liked gummy coke bottles. They were awesome. For the entire pregnancy, I’ve been eating a lot of oranges as well. I also developed a strong love for grape juice, which I didn’t really care for before. That came about 2 months ago, and is still strong. I also have started NEEDING to have donuts. I used to eat donuts like maybe twice a year. Now twice a week doesn’t seem like enough. Donut craving started in mid March. I also stopped liking soft tacos, which I loved, and started loving hard tacos, which I didn’t really like much before. I also eat a lot of almonds and apple sauce, but those aren’t cravings - those are just easy healthy things to eat.
How do you feel?
Meh. Up and down. I was awful in the first trimester, awesome through the second, and not feeling so great thus far in the third. I’ve had a lot of headaches, but can’t take Advil, so I’m stuck with Tylenol. I get Charlie horses every now and then, but muscle cramps in my calves almost every night. I need to get up to use the bathroom at about 4-5am every night, but luckily, only once, as opposed to many other pregnant women. The weight I’m carrying is the same as the weight I’ve had when I was heavier - before I lost weight, but it feels different because it’s all in front in one place, and not distributed evenly. I don’t have great balance anymore, and I tend to forget things more easily, which is super frustrating. However, overall, I’m feeling pretty great! The third trimester has just brought me more fatigue, which is annoying because I want to get things done to prepare for the baby. Oh, also, it’s really annoying to not be able to lift things. And another thing - pregnant women have an awesome sense of smell - it’s like a super power.
Do you feel morning sickness?
Not now - at least not often. Not at all in the second trimester, but a bit in the third (and that was true morning sickness). In the first trimester - actually, the first 15 weeks, I felt awful. I couldn’t eat anything really except bread, crackers, cereal, and gummy things. I couldn’t eat for the first few hours of the day, and drinking water in the morning would make me throw up immediately. (Actually, I got to the point where I drank water on purpose because I always felt better after that.) And the super sense of smelling didn’t help, since Greg was still eating normal food, and I work at an international ESL school, where students eat all sorts of cool things and sometimes offer me food to try - but for the first 3 months, I didn’t tell anyone I was pregnant. Oh, and morning sickness being in the morning? Totally not true for everyone. I had it ALL DAY. Just stronger in the morning. I tried everything. Ginger candies helped a bit, and so did the Preggie Pops you buy online, though they taste the same as Jolly Ranchers, and Jolly Ranchers would’ve been a whole lot cheaper. I also bought a sea sickness band, which pushes on pressure points on your wrists - this helped me tremendously, though it may have just been the placebo effect. (By the way, there are two kinds of those bands - one’s all plastic with holes to adjust the size, and one is elastic - the elastic ones don’t work at all; the plastic ones do.) However, after 15 weeks - all gone! (Except I got the flu just after that, so I felt awful and was very confused - then I found out several people at Mike and Erin’s wedding had gotten sick.)
How do you sleep?
On one side or the other. I can’t sleep on my stomach (for obvious reasons), and sleeping on my back is painful and causes poor blood circulation. The spine of pregnant woman actually curves more to accommodate the growing uterus, so my back isn’t as flat as it was before, which makes it terribly uncomfortable to sleep on. Turning over is also a real issue with my stomach - I have to heave myself in like 3-4 stages to switch sides, so I rarely turn over when sleeping. I actually move less now than I did before I was pregnant.
Can you feel the baby moving?
Constantly. She is very, very active. When I first started feeling her moving (around 18 weeks), it was very similar to how you feel when you’re really hungry and your stomach growls at you - only the sensation was much lower. Later, when she started getting more power, it felt different. It feels like someone poking you, sometimes gently or hard, but from the inside. Sometimes it feels like someone rolling a ball along you, or one of those massage things with the multiple balls, only from the inside. Sometimes it feels like a pancake flipping over. Around 24 weeks, she felt like a fish swimming inside me at times. And sometimes it feels like a spasm. Oh, and one thing I didn’t know - they don’t just kick - sometimes they lodge. Scarlett likes to sick one foot in my ribs and a hand in my hips and push - and just stay that way. It’s very painful. Kicking doesn’t bother me - it’s just surprising.
A few cool things: first, she knows Greg’s voice. I know that babies can hear, but I didn’t know they could distinguish voices. She doesn’t pay much attention when guys are talking, but the second Greg starts, she starts kicking and moving around. Sometimes I’m asleep in the morning, or lying down, and she isn’t moving - then Greg says good morning, and she starts moving like mad. It’s also worked in reverse, where she’s been moving like crazy, then she hears Greg, and she stops moving to listen to him better. Second, she knows when Greg puts his hand on my belly. When she was a bit smaller, she’d swim over to where his hand was and start kicking at it. Now that she’s bigger, she just moves the focus of her kicking and directs it at his hand - this is a lifesaver when she’s lodged in my hips/ribs/side. We’re not sure if it’s because Greg is so much warmer than me, or because or his pulse. Third, she loves/hates base music. She moves around to a lot of music, but heavy base always gets her moving A LOT. She also enjoys church/Bible study/worship songs, and dances around when I’m trying to focus. Finally, she loves/hates the sound of running water. Every time I turn on the shower, brush my teeth, wash my hands, or do dishes, she freaks out. If I turn on the bath water, she freaks out, but if I turn off the water and sit down in the full tub, she calms down - so it’s just the sound. So when she’s born, I predict a strong reaction to water, and I’m interested to learn if it’s good or bad.
Do you talk to your baby?
Not a lot since my job involves talking all day and she already listens to me all the time. I only really talk to her in three situations: First, when she’s kicking me for no reason, and I ask her to stop. (“Please stop kicking Mommy. Ow, ow, ow…”) Second, when I know she’s hungry because I haven’t eaten in a while and I know she’s not happy because she’s moving a lot. (“I know you’re hungry. Ow! We’re .. ow! .. going to get food in just a little bit. So just hang on, okay?”) And third, when I’m going to pick up Greg at the station. (“We’re going to pick up Daddy now, and you can hear him talk instead of Mommy. Won’t that be nice?”)
Do you play music for your baby?
Only when I’m in the car and driving. And no, I don’t play classical music. I play a lot of Broadway, some country, some classic rock, and some worship songs. She likes music. Also, I’ve taken to putting my cell phone on speaker whenever I’m talking to someone important so that Scarlett can also hear his/her voice and be more familiar with that person when she’s born. (My mom gets a lot of phone time with the baby.)
Ahhh! You’re drinking coffee/soda! You can’t DO that!
Yes. Yes I can. And I will because I am so freaking exhausted sometimes I need the caffeine boost. I am limited (by scientific research) to 200 mg of caffeine a day, which is totally safe for a baby. I don’t drink regular coffee anymore, and decaf coffee has 5 mg per 8oz. Soda has around 35 mg per can. Dark chocolate (my other issue) has 20 mg per 1oz. So if I’m consuming caffeine, it’s fine, because I’m keeping track of the caffeine content, and sometimes I need it to keep me awake or help get rid of my headaches.
If you have any questions about your friend/family member/teacher being pregnant/pregnancy in general, please feel free to ask. I love answering all these questions, and most of this stuff I certainly didn’t know before I was pregnant! So ask away! Anything’s fine! :)