WOW! I cannot believe it's already half over, it feels like I have been pregnant for years and years now!
As I write this I am heading into week 21 and despite most people believing/being told pregnancy is 9 months, it is actually 40 weeks! And sorry if this is TMI, but I want to remember my experience raw and real. So heads up and maybe apologies in advanced!
Joel and I found out when I was 2/3 weeks pregnant. Joel was convinced I was and I was not thinking I was at all. He was very right! I felt pretty normal with some usual aches and pains until about week 8. Besides being really tired, I would finish classes and take a nap in the afternoon and then go to bed super early in the evening. From weeks 8-17 I had all sorts of things going on. Nausea, heart burn, vomiting, struggling to choke down my huge prenatal vitamin, loss of appetite, aversion to any kind of healthy food. I went through different phases but ate lots of McDonalds for a few weeks as it was the only protein I could eat, fish sticks, pizza, pasta, saltine crackers, granola bars, cereal and milk. Every food had it's phase with the exception of the saltine crackers, my ride or die. Those saved me. Like most pregnant ladies in the first trimester, if I didn't get saltine crackers down before getting out of bed, the stomach acid was sure to come up. Oh and the look of an egg yolk almost made me throw up! I ordered a pasta one time and I was served with a raw egg on top and I nearly lost it right on top of my fresh food. That was the longest period it ever took us to eat a dozen eggs. There were also a few weeks in the very beginning where I could not smell anything! Luckily that went away. I somehow managed to only throw up during class once, and still earned 5 apples for that class.. :P But I had several close calls. I was also imagining that I would get comments that my energy and enthusiasm was lower than normal because it definitely felt like it, but I guess I did a good job with "fake it til ya make it" during that time.
(Continued writing 1/19/2020, 27 weeks preggers)
I did slow down my teaching schedule and took more breaks during the day than I had pre pregnancy. I used to teach 12 classes a day with 30 minute break for lunch, but started taking a break every 3 classes/ 90 minutes or so to stay sane, and most importantly stalk up on snacks/ fuel. I was soo tired of eating! Eating every 60-90 mins gets really old, especially because I had to eat at a slower rate to not start heartburn. In addition to those symptoms, I was also losing a ton of hair. I shed a lot as it is, but this amount of hair could clog a city. :P hahah I brought this up with my OB and my endocrinologist, who said it was actually normal because cells are regenerating themselves so quickly during pregnancy that it could happen.
During weeks 8-17, I think I only was able to get myself to do about one workout a week. Between having to constantly eat, having nausea, exhaustion, etc, it was really the last thing on my mind. Looking back maybe it would have helped some of my symptoms to just push through. I didn't gain any weight during the first trimester which the OB said was normal with the vomiting and nausea I was experiencing. Oh and beginning in about week 4 I felt constantly bloated! No matter if it was first thing in the morning or last thing at night, I never dared to wear clothes that were snug fit because I felt like a water cow. Looking back, I am sure I wasn't just the feeling. A little tiny tiny bump began to appear around 12 weeks which could easily be confused with eating way too much ice cream!
I am 27 weeks today and I still can squeeze into some of my stretchy jeans and some of my shirts, but a few friends have loaned me maternity clothes and those are getting more and more comfortable every day. I hope I can stay warm enough through the winter without zipping up my winter coat without having to buy a new one for only a few months. We had a few weeks of very cold weather so I was thankful to squeeze into my jacket still.
From 20 weeks until today, I have very few complaints! :) YAY, mostly just small aches and pains. I have a lot of energy again and have returned to regular workouts (with pregnancy modifications of course!) and have no major cravings or food aversions now. I don't have to eat all the time, down to 3 main meals a day and snacks in between meals. I can survive not eating for a little bit in the morning as well. My main symptom now is occasional heart burn at night. Once in a while I get swollen ankles/feet or cankles but that is to be expected at this point. Fingers crossed the stretch marks continue to stay away but I know you can't really control that! People often comment that I do not look pregnant from behind and my bump continues to grow out and out!
Ooo kicks! How can I forget! I think around week 17 I started to think I was feeling them, and a few weeks later confirmed, that it was definitely them. At week 17 and in my first pregnancy it is hard to know what you are feeling but now days the kicks are really intense, especially when laying on my side. Joel started feeling them around week 22 or so. Sometimes you can even see a limb or something move across my full stomach. Our previous OB appointment we saw that the baby already had his head down, which is great as there is a very low chance he would flip back over. So he is already in the correct position for his journey later on. Oh and we always get a kick out of the pregnancy app where it compares baby size to a fruit or vegetable, this week it is a head of romaine lettuce!
I had the misfortune of catching the flu this week, and have been struggling to recover. Coughing hurts a lot, and my biggest complaint is pressure in the ears/ clogged ears and then really painful swallowing. Poor Joel has to play the whisper or guessing game to figure out what I am saying. Then the only medication you can take is tylenol. We made chicken noodle soup two days in a row and I have never drank so much tea with honey in my life! Soo tired of it, but I hope it is better for my classes tomorrow.
As far as baby preparation, we have done very little. :O We bought a stroller/car seat combo last weekend which was huge, we had spent so much time researching and went to several stores to try and see what we liked. It is so hard to know if what we got will even be a perfect fit for how often we use it. It was also funny that we went in to this discount baby store with one idea, and the owner of the store completely lead us to another brand and stroller. It is a nicer brand and I hope it works out the best for us. But crazy after we had done so much research to come out of there with something we only knew what the owner told us about! But after doing post purchase research, it seems like it was a good choice, especially for the money! We never imagined buying these things could cost so much money! The rest of the big items, we plan to buy second hand to reduce the baby's environmental impact and the fact that most baby things are used for such short time, it only makes sense to me! Oh and save some $$. I have been trying to create a baby registry on amazon spain, and walmart in the US for my parents to bring during their next visit but it is quite tricky trying to choose all of the items and coordinate! We received some items already during Christmas time from Joels family, mostly very cute clothing items and blankets. And I met another expat mommy here in Aveiro who gave us a box of clothes. When she gave it to me, I was of course really appreciative but after going through everything I think we have PLENTY of clothes to last us from 0-6 months at least! :O That is such a life saver and so sweet of her to let us borrow them.
Hope you enjoy the little bump update pics below and fingers crossed the rest of the pregnancy continues smoothly!
Love the FOUR of us! :)
Nicole, Joel, Mel, and Baby boy!
As I write this I am heading into week 21 and despite most people believing/being told pregnancy is 9 months, it is actually 40 weeks! And sorry if this is TMI, but I want to remember my experience raw and real. So heads up and maybe apologies in advanced!
Joel and I found out when I was 2/3 weeks pregnant. Joel was convinced I was and I was not thinking I was at all. He was very right! I felt pretty normal with some usual aches and pains until about week 8. Besides being really tired, I would finish classes and take a nap in the afternoon and then go to bed super early in the evening. From weeks 8-17 I had all sorts of things going on. Nausea, heart burn, vomiting, struggling to choke down my huge prenatal vitamin, loss of appetite, aversion to any kind of healthy food. I went through different phases but ate lots of McDonalds for a few weeks as it was the only protein I could eat, fish sticks, pizza, pasta, saltine crackers, granola bars, cereal and milk. Every food had it's phase with the exception of the saltine crackers, my ride or die. Those saved me. Like most pregnant ladies in the first trimester, if I didn't get saltine crackers down before getting out of bed, the stomach acid was sure to come up. Oh and the look of an egg yolk almost made me throw up! I ordered a pasta one time and I was served with a raw egg on top and I nearly lost it right on top of my fresh food. That was the longest period it ever took us to eat a dozen eggs. There were also a few weeks in the very beginning where I could not smell anything! Luckily that went away. I somehow managed to only throw up during class once, and still earned 5 apples for that class.. :P But I had several close calls. I was also imagining that I would get comments that my energy and enthusiasm was lower than normal because it definitely felt like it, but I guess I did a good job with "fake it til ya make it" during that time.
(Continued writing 1/19/2020, 27 weeks preggers)
I did slow down my teaching schedule and took more breaks during the day than I had pre pregnancy. I used to teach 12 classes a day with 30 minute break for lunch, but started taking a break every 3 classes/ 90 minutes or so to stay sane, and most importantly stalk up on snacks/ fuel. I was soo tired of eating! Eating every 60-90 mins gets really old, especially because I had to eat at a slower rate to not start heartburn. In addition to those symptoms, I was also losing a ton of hair. I shed a lot as it is, but this amount of hair could clog a city. :P hahah I brought this up with my OB and my endocrinologist, who said it was actually normal because cells are regenerating themselves so quickly during pregnancy that it could happen.
During weeks 8-17, I think I only was able to get myself to do about one workout a week. Between having to constantly eat, having nausea, exhaustion, etc, it was really the last thing on my mind. Looking back maybe it would have helped some of my symptoms to just push through. I didn't gain any weight during the first trimester which the OB said was normal with the vomiting and nausea I was experiencing. Oh and beginning in about week 4 I felt constantly bloated! No matter if it was first thing in the morning or last thing at night, I never dared to wear clothes that were snug fit because I felt like a water cow. Looking back, I am sure I wasn't just the feeling. A little tiny tiny bump began to appear around 12 weeks which could easily be confused with eating way too much ice cream!
I am 27 weeks today and I still can squeeze into some of my stretchy jeans and some of my shirts, but a few friends have loaned me maternity clothes and those are getting more and more comfortable every day. I hope I can stay warm enough through the winter without zipping up my winter coat without having to buy a new one for only a few months. We had a few weeks of very cold weather so I was thankful to squeeze into my jacket still.
From 20 weeks until today, I have very few complaints! :) YAY, mostly just small aches and pains. I have a lot of energy again and have returned to regular workouts (with pregnancy modifications of course!) and have no major cravings or food aversions now. I don't have to eat all the time, down to 3 main meals a day and snacks in between meals. I can survive not eating for a little bit in the morning as well. My main symptom now is occasional heart burn at night. Once in a while I get swollen ankles/feet or cankles but that is to be expected at this point. Fingers crossed the stretch marks continue to stay away but I know you can't really control that! People often comment that I do not look pregnant from behind and my bump continues to grow out and out!
Ooo kicks! How can I forget! I think around week 17 I started to think I was feeling them, and a few weeks later confirmed, that it was definitely them. At week 17 and in my first pregnancy it is hard to know what you are feeling but now days the kicks are really intense, especially when laying on my side. Joel started feeling them around week 22 or so. Sometimes you can even see a limb or something move across my full stomach. Our previous OB appointment we saw that the baby already had his head down, which is great as there is a very low chance he would flip back over. So he is already in the correct position for his journey later on. Oh and we always get a kick out of the pregnancy app where it compares baby size to a fruit or vegetable, this week it is a head of romaine lettuce!
I had the misfortune of catching the flu this week, and have been struggling to recover. Coughing hurts a lot, and my biggest complaint is pressure in the ears/ clogged ears and then really painful swallowing. Poor Joel has to play the whisper or guessing game to figure out what I am saying. Then the only medication you can take is tylenol. We made chicken noodle soup two days in a row and I have never drank so much tea with honey in my life! Soo tired of it, but I hope it is better for my classes tomorrow.
As far as baby preparation, we have done very little. :O We bought a stroller/car seat combo last weekend which was huge, we had spent so much time researching and went to several stores to try and see what we liked. It is so hard to know if what we got will even be a perfect fit for how often we use it. It was also funny that we went in to this discount baby store with one idea, and the owner of the store completely lead us to another brand and stroller. It is a nicer brand and I hope it works out the best for us. But crazy after we had done so much research to come out of there with something we only knew what the owner told us about! But after doing post purchase research, it seems like it was a good choice, especially for the money! We never imagined buying these things could cost so much money! The rest of the big items, we plan to buy second hand to reduce the baby's environmental impact and the fact that most baby things are used for such short time, it only makes sense to me! Oh and save some $$. I have been trying to create a baby registry on amazon spain, and walmart in the US for my parents to bring during their next visit but it is quite tricky trying to choose all of the items and coordinate! We received some items already during Christmas time from Joels family, mostly very cute clothing items and blankets. And I met another expat mommy here in Aveiro who gave us a box of clothes. When she gave it to me, I was of course really appreciative but after going through everything I think we have PLENTY of clothes to last us from 0-6 months at least! :O That is such a life saver and so sweet of her to let us borrow them.
Hope you enjoy the little bump update pics below and fingers crossed the rest of the pregnancy continues smoothly!
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| Mel keeping me company on the toilet |
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| Gifts from my SPEAK students during our last class, 20 weeks |
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| Before Joel's Christmas Gala at Bosch, 20 weeks |
Love the FOUR of us! :)
Nicole, Joel, Mel, and Baby boy!
♥️♥️♥️♥️
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