Since I'm up at 5:44 am unable to sleep I thought maybe I would do a quick blog about what it feels like to be pregnant. I'm 23 years old and I am 31 weeks expecting my first. Well I should say our first because it is a new experience for Justin too. It was a surprise! BUT we are in love and love does tend to create little babies so in retrospect I am not really surprised after all. I guess that 23 and 24 are not a bad age to become first time parents! Anyway this is what being pregnant is like in a nutshell:
1. The first trimester is easy. At least it was for me. Maybe it was because I didn't really even believe I was pregnant until 10 weeks along. I had horrible food aversions and couldn't stand the taste or smell of meat. But aside from having to be a vegetarian for a little while being pregnant was no different from not being pregnant.
2. You will need to drink more water than you are accustomed to drinking. I usually drink a lot of water normally so I thought I was good. But one day I was just busy and forgot to carry around my water bottle and ended up fainting at work. It was scary and I didn't know what going on because I've never fainted before. Everything just went gray and white and was spinning and then I collapsed. But in the hospital we saw that the baby was fine and active and he even had a ton of amniotic fluid in there. But I on the other hand needed several bags of IV fluid to rehydrate. I learned from the doctor that day that a pregnant woman's body will always meet the baby's needs first so be sure to up your intake of water to meet both of your needs. The amniotic fluid is constantly refreshing itself and this takes a lot of water from you. Take water with you WHENEVER you leave the house even if its just for shopping. When we did our Target registry I forgot my water instead and kept getting dizzy and lightheaded and the Starbucks lady took pity on me and gave me a cup of ice water lol. And when I did my babies r us registry they give you a water bottle right along with the scanner. They know the deal! If you are not a water drinker like my cousin for example you might just eat ice chips constantly like she did, but your body will need extra fluid somehow or another.
3. The second trimester is also easy. I enjoyed the second trimester even more than the first! You get your appetite back!! And you aren't very big yet so you still have a full range of motion. This is also the time where you have usually heard your baby's heartbeat several times and are secure in knowing the baby is safe and ok.
4. The best feeling is when the baby moves! OMG!!! I thought this would hurt! I have always thought this would hurt. I imagined painful kicks to my internal organs and broken/bruised ribs. Let me tell you, my baby kicks me in the ribs on my right all the time, it does not hurt at all. It feels cute. And not just in an everything-your-baby-does-is-cute kind of way either. It actually does not hurt and feels like bubbles or lumps. When he is turning his whole body that can feel like pressure but the kicks/punches are totally harmless. At least so far at 31 weeks. And the moment your partner is first able to feel movement by placing his hands on your belly you might want to cry. It is so mind blowing. Once you start feeling the baby move consistently you will feel so comforted and reassured by the baby moving.
5. The third trimester is the only one that is even a little tough. I know that I am so far having a textbook pregnancy with no real problems but jeeeeez I definitely finally feel the effects of being pregnant. My belly has "popped" meaning it protrudes enough to get in the way now. I can't bend certain ways anymore and I get out of breath often. With the added weight of your boobs it's like carrying around a backpack on your front instead of your back. My upper back tended to get really sore from the extra work but now I think my muscles are adjusted to carrying around the extra weight. Back rubs are like heaven on earth in your third trimester. I get tired and exhausted and it is a struggle to shave or tie my shoes but surprisingly I can still do both with a little extra effort.
Well hopefully that is not too long of a blog. I tried to condense everything into a few bullet points. Also keep in mind that this is my experience so you may not have the same experience but this is the best insight I can offer based on my experience so far. I will be back to update this topic when I am 36+ weeks!
