So the buzz is out on facebook and we have told people in real life too, but I figured I should still post about it. After all the first child is BIG news right? Yes, you read that right, our first child. God willing, at the end of April, Ben and I will be proud new parents of a baby (boy or girl? Don't know yet, we are waiting until the delivery to find out!).
Currently this is the beginning of Week 16, meaning we have 4 months down and only 5sh to go! So what has this mean in our lives during the last several months? Well, we found out about 6 weeks in that we are pregnant and at first there were little side effects of the pregnancy... then the sheer exhaustion kicked in. Ok, I know some of you (like all the seasoned parents) are thinking, this is just the beginning, you think you're tired now, just wait till that little bundle of joy shows his or her face, then you'll REALLY be tired! Well, my understanding is that the baby will no longer be taking my energy from my body to use for growing, so that means the tiredness will at that point come from a lack of sleep. I also won't be working full time right after the baby is born, so certain other pressures will be relieved as well (though I must say, I really do enjoy my job a lot). This tiredness is unlike anything I have encountered before. I simply did not have the energy needed to get through the day though I was napping and sleeping longer at night... Which made it really hard for me to get through my duties and responsibilities of the day. This is where changes definitely happened for Ben, he has been so great about helping out when I didn't have the energy to do ANYTHING!
Ok, that was still just first trimester and as that trimester ended so did the severe exhaustion. Now I just notice that I might tire a little quicker than I did before, but I at least feel like I have energy. Oh yes, I was a little nauseous too during the first tri, but honestly compared to many stories I've heard, my nausea was nothing, which I am thankful for. I always imagined me spending hours in the bathroom when I got pregnant and am happy to find out that that hasn't been the case (though I frequent the restroom a little more frequently these days...).
Other fun tidbits would include the fact that my regular pants have not fit in over a month and my bump is showing itself a little more each week! So that is fun! No, I did not dread the awkward "fat" stage where it wasn't clearly a bump... Let's just say I slept through that portion, so even if I normally would have been concerned, I was too tired to care!
Starting in December and January we will start getting our basement organized better so we can more some furniture out of the guest bedroom in order to make room for a nursery. We won't probably take out all the furniture, but a lot of the stuff inside definitely needs to go. We probably won't have the baby sleep in our room, just because there isn't room in there to put a bassinet and the baby's room is just steps away from our room.
Anyways, that is a more thorough update on Baby Venteicher and we hope to have more and more updates as time goes on. We will probably have an ultrasound in December/January so we are really pumped about that. We also got to hear the baby's heartbeat last month which was pretty awesome (especially with my light symptoms it was good to hear our baby is doing fine inside there!).
Your pregnancy sounds a lot like mine, so far. :) Although I wouldn't really say I was nauseous at all, just lost most of my appetite.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the difference in tiredness. After the baby is born, you know Exactly why you are tired...although it'll be a tired you never knew you could experience. But first trimester tiredness is ridiculous because you're like, how in the world can I be this tired from just staying up 4 hours in a row???
Yeah, I lost my appetite at times, but as long as I ate the right kinds of food at the right times of day in the right intervals, I wasn't nauseous. Also taking the prenatal at night instead of in the morning made a HUGE difference too. I can't believe that I am already a third of the way through the second tri! Time has sure flown with pregnancy and a new job!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations again! I am very excited for you and so happy to hear that you're not too sick. I was more or less queasy the entire time Evelyn was in me so I'm glad that you're not going through that, even though the baby is totally worth it and I'd do it all again in no time. I had the tired business too and it is unlike any kind of tired there is. I was even too tired to put my contacts in! When it didn't clear up by about 1/2 way through the doctor suggested taking extra iron and that helped.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I was totally unprepared for was the extreme emotional impact giving birth had on me - I go over Evelyn's birth over and over and over in my head. Thank God it was a mostly positive experience! Learn all you can and make sure you have a health care provider and birth team that you are comfortable with. We hired a doula and I'm really glad we did.
And don't forget that you can say no to ANYTHING you don't feel comfortable about, no matter what the doctor says. It's your baby and your body, so you're the boss. ;-) I ended up with a one-page birth plan that hit all the main points and the hospital staff stuck to it! So that was great.
I think its cool you're not finding out the sex until birth. That's what we did with Emelyn and almost everyone thought we were crazy, but its pretty neat to do it that way. I'm rather surprised at how few people wait these days.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I must go as the 8 month old in my lap is insisting on NOT staying there... and she also requires a change, from the smell of things.
Yeah, I am reading as much as I can so that we can make the most informed decisions that are right for us when it comes to the delivery. I am really thankful that I haven't been sick like some, I always imagined I would be!
ReplyDeleteYeah Nate, we decided it would be more fun to wait. Why rush into knowing the gender? Besides you hear stories where they found out the gender then it was wrong and SURPRISE they gave birth to the other sex... :-) Our baby is going to be what it is going to be and we are going to love him or her just the same! No amount of "prepping" for one or the other is going to change that. :-)