Weight Gain: +1lb
Stretch Marks: Nothing new
Maternity Clothes: Totally, with the exception of a few non-maternity tops that are empire-waisted
Symptoms: Sleepy, stuffy nose, joint pains, sciatic pain. Also, my pelvic floor muscles are killing me.
Sleep: Better lately, my joints haven't been hurting as bad. I've had to get up 3-4 times to go pee lately though, so I'm wondering if I have a UTI.
Best Moment of the Week: Hearing the heartbeat
Movement: More and more, and unmistakable at this point, probably because they're getting stronger. It makes me wonder how I couldn't feel Elijah until 19 weeks, because even for a 1st-timer it would be unmistakable. Maybe I had an anterior placenta with him??
Food cravings: Milk, chocolate werthers, cucumber with cheese, french fries, caesar salad.
Gender: I think it's a girl, even though everything points towards boy.
What I Miss: Nothing comes to mind.
What I’m Looking Forward To: Finding out the gender on Tuesday!
Milestones: 18 weeks feels like a milestone for some reason. Maybe because I have my anatomy ultrasound at 18w6d? Who knows!
Emotions: Excited, curious about this baby and who they are.
So I didn't do this yesterday when I turned 18 weeks pregnant because Elijah and I were both sick. I had a sore throat, headache, and was so tired, while Elijah was just awful. He puked a few times, barely ate anything, was sluggish, quiet, didn't want to be put down, and, worst of all, had a fever of 38-39.1C all day. We couldn't even pump him with fluids because they'd come up, so we brought him to the walk-in clinic and the doctor said he has an ear infection. He's on antibiotics now, and seems a lot better today, though still sick. The biggest improvement is that today (like, right now) he's sitting on the floor by himself and playing and talking. Yesterday he was so dizzy that he wouldn't even walk, it was so sad.
At this point in May I can't help but think of where I was 2 years ago. Today is May 5th, and on May 5th of 2009 I was at my good friend Farrah's baby shower. It was a great shower and I was happy there and happy for her, but I couldn't help but feel bitter when I got home, mostly that I felt it'd never be me. We were planning on adopting, and I knew I'd have a toy, book and clothing shower or something like it when we adopted, but at that point I was so deeply sad that I didn't get to talk at my shower about going to the hospital, feeling the baby kick, hearing the heartbeat, etc. My heart was heavy with all of the losses surrounding not conceiving, and I was struggling a lot with that.
The next day (May 6th) I had a massive meltdown while traveling in the car with Matt, and I felt I would just never ever be pregnant. It was pretty epic.
And then...on May 7th I took a test, and lo and behold, I was pregnant. The meltdowns and raging hormones which I connected with an impending period were actually (ironically) the result of being pregnant. And so I like to look back on where I was at this point because, although I was so very sad, joy came in the morning, and that joy was all the greater because of the intense sadness.
I also have been looking forward to this milestone for another (completely silly) reason. See, with Elijah, I was pregnant (or, aware of being pregnant) from May 7th to January 27th. This time, I thought, "Hmm, I've never been pregnant in March before!" I found out this time that I'm pregnant on January 25th, so 2 days of overlap before Elijah's birthday. Today and tomorrow are the only days left where I'm experiencing pregnancy for the first time. Every other day I'll be able to look back and say, "When I was pregnant in summer before..." much like how, on January 25th and 26th of this year, I was thinking, "Just a year ago I was so extremely overdue with Elijah, having a stretch and sweep, trying to induce labour, etc, and now I'm 4 weeks pregnant again!" I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's fun to me, that I can look to any month of the year, and recall being pregnant at some point. It seems strange to me, knowing I had hoped but not expected to ever be pregnant.
(**as an aside, I apologize if this post is disjointed. I've been writing it one-handed while holding Elijah, watching Backyardigans, and grabbing the barf-bucket whenever he starts retching. Lovely, I know, but my point is that I've been a little distracted, and my thoughts aren't flowing together very well.**)
I should probably wrap this up anyway. Elijah is so tired that he's getting floppy, and just now sprawled out across the floor, watching the show while laying down and hugging his sippy cup. Sad!! I hope he feels better soon.
**Post edit-I was messing around with some photos and doing comparison shots from this pregnancy to my pregnancy with Elijah, and realized my 18-week belly now is comparable in size to my 26-week belly with Eli...that's quite a difference! It's not entirely comparable though, because he was already so big and high by 26 weeks that it looks like I'm carrying really low this time, which might not be the case. And so, instead, here is a comparison of 18-weeks with Elijah (aka - the day we did a "photoshoot" because I felt huge) and 18w2d now:
No comments:
Post a Comment