My Tenth Week

Hey guys!  I'm eleven weeks pregnant now!  I thought I'd do a recap on the past week.

I touched a little bit on my other posts about not having a lot of pregnancy symptoms, but when I think about them cumulatively, I guess I do have a bunch.  Some of the ones I have are:

• Acne.  I usually rarely get acne, but ever since getting pregnant I have had at least one or more zits at a time, usually on my chin.  This also might be related to the summer weather and excess oil.  I switched to a moisturizer for sensitive skin and I'm hoping this will help some.
• Cravings.  Potato chips are a regular one for me, but in the 10th week I also had cravings for milkshakes, cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, and fruit (thank god, they're not all unhealthy cravings!).  I don't really have any major aversions, but CARBS pretty much always sound fantastic and veggies are kind of just ok.  I really just eat them because I know they're good for the baby (and myself), not because I want them.
• Tiredness.  I kind of power through my days during the week, but on the weekends I usually take an afternoon nap.  If you know me, I'm NOT a napper at all, so this is unusual for me.
• Crankiness.  Probably related to tiredness.  I tend to get irritable and cranky, especially closer to bedtime.
• Nausea.  I tend to think I don't really have this one because I have heard of so many women being SO SICK all day, which I am not.  I'd say usually about once a day I do get some nausea though.  For me it happens more after a meal, then before.  I have actually gotten sick a handful of times.  Brushing my teeth is another thing that often can make me gag or throw up.
• Mucus.  I have general allergies anyway, so I'm kind of a chronic nose-blower, but pregnancy has taken it to another level.  I often wake up with tons of mucus clogging my nose and throat (sorry, gross, I know).  This is actually the reason I have gagged/gotten sick a couple of times- trying to clear that out.

I have what I would describe as a "beer gut" right now.  A few pairs of shorts and jeans are too tight now, but I would say for the most part I can still fit in to most of my clothes, and it's not obvious I'm pregnant to anyone yet.  I actually haven't gained any weight yet, despite feeling like a blob, so I guess my body is effectively using what I'm eating!  I have said from the beginning I have a feeling I will show kind of early though, so we'll see if I'm right.

The "beer" gut

In terms of exercise, I'm really just walking and not really doing much else at this point.  I don't think I'm going to be a pregnant runner.  It just doesn't feel that comfortable to me, and I'm still pretty paranoid about everything so I worry about getting my heart rate up too high.  I do want to get back into lifting weights though.  I'm in a wedding next month and I'd like my arms to look a little more toned.  I'd also like to do some prenatal yoga at some point.

To cap off the week I had my first appointment back with my OBGYN practice yesterday.  I basically had to have the full workup of blood work and STD tests (pelvic exam), which is just their policy, even though I've had it twice already in the past year.  The midwife surprised me by suggesting we get the doppler and try to listen to the heartbeat.  I was actually kind of scared to try, because I worried she'd have trouble finding it and then I'd be in a panic.  It took a minute, but she found it!  So cool!  The heartbeat was about 177 Beats Per Minute, which she said sounded good for where I am.  I've got another ultrasound scheduled for next week- the NT scan.

Now that things are really progressing so well and I'm starting to really believe we are going to have an actual baby, I'm starting to think we need to figure out childcare/maternity leave.  That'll be on the agenda soon.  I feel like I'm really starting to gain some confidence now that I've had so many good appointments in a row.  I'm still appropriately nervous, but I think I'm doing a lot better than I was a few weeks ago.  The end of the first tri is just around the corner.  Crazy!