I'm pregnant! :)

Hello my darlings! Long time no write, eh? I've been a bit busy, growing a baby and such... which you probably already know, if you follow me on Instagram (I've been flooding it with baby-related pictures). :) I'm currently 13 weeks along and have finally entered the (supposedly heavenly) second trimester. The pregnancy itself was and still is progressing perfectly, so that wasn't the cause for my long absence... it was more me and my body adjusting to the pregnancy. And let me tell you... growing a little human being is hard work! :)

For some fun and perhaps even a bit of educational reading, I thought I'd write down a few things about pregnancy that really caught me off guard or I simply wasn't expecting. :)

The morning sickness

Which is not reserved exclusively for mornings, let me tell you that. I was kind of prepared to be sick at some point of my pregnancy (even though I hopped I would take after my mom and not experience it at all), but when it finally hit me... it was bad, like really bad. I didn't vomit a lot (only once), thankfully, but the nausea was omnipresent. And because I never get sick normally, it was quite a challenge for me. It felt like I was on a boat with a horrible case of sea-sickness... that's the best way I know to describe it. And the worst part is that you need to eat or you get even sicker, but you don't want to eat - just thinking about food or smelling it makes you want to puke. Thankfully that lasted for a good 2 weeks or so (between my 7th and 9th week) and then is stated to wear off. It can still hit me at some days, but it's not nearly as bad as it was.

The cramping, the pain, the stretching of ligaments

At the very beginning of my pregnancy I experienced some truly unpleasant and quite strong cramping, which is perfectly normal, but very unpleasant. When the cramping subsided, the pain in my lower back and abdomen stepped forward. Some days my back would hurt so much, only certain positions (mostly laying on my side with a pillow between the knees/legs) would help. I also bought a heat pad, which really helped when the pain was too bad. And after the back pain went away (for a bit), a new pain showed up - ligament pain. As your body produces a hormone called relaxin, your body starts... well, relaxing and not in a 'oh, I'm so relaxed' kind of way, but more in a 'oh, I think my hip joint is going to fall apart' kind of way. :) Seriously... your ligaments start to loosen and so do the joints in the whole pelvis area and that can hurt... like a bi*ch. :D But it does get better or at least you get accustomed to it.

The metamorfosis

Yes, I did expect my breasts and belly to grow, I'm not that delusional... plus I am a nurse and know the human anatomy quite well, but still... it's kind of shocking at how much and how fast your body can grow/change. At first I was loosing weight and actually loosing centimeters around my waist (due to the nausea and lack of appetite), but then suddenly, a few days into my 12th week, my belly just popped out over night - I kid you not! I woke up and felt my tummy and it was sticking out and feeling harder, not just chubby due to extra fat. :) My breasts started to change quite quickly into my pregnancy, but I haven't notice them grow until a week or so ago. I can still wear my old bras, but I'm not sure for how long...

The constant hunger

Now that my nausea has truly subsided and my appetite has somewhat returned, I've entered a phase when I am hungry ALL THE TIME! It's actually quite annoying to be honest... I wake up and have to eat something right away and no matter what I have for breakfast, I end up being famished an hour or so later. If I try to 'snack' and eat a fruit when I'm feeling hungry, it 'lasts' me for about a minute and then I need to eat something else, something more than just fruit. I'm trying to eat better now that I actually can eat, but it's quite a struggle, because my 'real' appetite has yet to make an appearance and most of the time I eat because I have to, not because I want to or crave something. Hopefully that will change soon...

But... regardless how you experience pregnancy, when you see your baby on that ultrasound and hear his or her heartbeat, you truly just melt into a puddle of love and could care less about nausea, pain, aching breast or any other fun symptom pregnancy brings with it. :)