Baby Update: Weeks 6-11

I’m really behind on tracking the progress of this pregnancy, especially now that I’m just a week and a half away from the second trimester! Thankfully, there’s no time like the present to catch up. Here’s what’s been happening during my first trimester:

Clothes: I’m still wearing all of my regular clothes! My jeans have started to feel a little more snug over the past week or so (especially when they’re fresh out of the dryer), which gives me a yucky muffin top appearance that I definitely don’t love. By the end of the day, I’m usually very excited to change into comfy pajama pants. The hair tie trick has also been a lifesaver for me! I’m looking forward to buying some maternity clothes soon, but for now, I still don’t need them.

Baby Bump: Being able to wear all of my regular clothes does have a downside… I am not showing at ALL! I am dying to see that cute little baby bump make its appearance soon. I feel like most women are at least showing a little bit by 11.5 weeks, but I have been reassured that this is still very normal and that everybody is different. My tummy is definitely sticking out more than usual, but it’s in that bloated / "she’s just packed on a few extra pounds” kind of way, not in the cute, hard baby bump kind of way. Patience is the key. I know I’ll start to see that reassuring bump sometime within the next few weeks or so.

Symptoms:
Nausea - By this point, my nausea has almost completely dissipated! Thankfully, I didn't have terrible morning sickness with this pregnancy. The nausea was actually by far the worst BEFORE I knew I was pregnant (weeks 4-6). It was one of the major things that clued me into the fact that something was off. Miraculously, things got so much better after I found out. I still have passing waves of nausea every once in a while, and my sense of smell and my gag reflex are definitely heightened. (Hmmm… that will prove to be tricky for a nurse who deals with many interesting sights and smells in her line of work…) There was even a period of a couple of weeks where I couldn't brush my teeth in the morning without gagging or throwing up. SO relieved that that lovely symptom has improved!

Heartburn – Fun fact: Even pregnant women in the first trimester can get severe heartburn, thanks to all that lovely progesterone wreaking havoc on my digestive system. I carry a bottle of TUMS around with me everywhere. Some days are fine, other days I feel like I am popping TUMS every 15 minutes trying to get rid of the burning in my chest. I can only image how fun it will be when I’m in my third trimester and Baby Goss is pushing on my esophagus…

Fatigue – Much better now than it was at the beginning of the pregnancy, although my husband still makes fun of me for going to bed ridiculously early some nights. Depending on the activity level of my day, I usually get random bursts of energy combined with moments where just standing up feels like a giant undertaking.

Acne – Ummm, where is this pregnancy glow everyone keeps talking about? My skin looks like it could be on a hormonal 16-year old boy and no one would know the difference. And not just on my face, it’s everywhere. So NOT cute.

Food Cravings: Fruit. Any and all kinds. My current favorites are watermelon and tangelos. I’m also craving sweet foods and treats (like candy and desserts), but I’m trying really hard to keep my junk food eating in check. All in all, I find that I am so much HUNGRIER than I've ever been in my life! If I go more than about 3-4 hours without eating, I feel like I’m going to fall over. Eating small, protein-packed meals throughout the day is definitely helpful.

Food Aversions: I have not eaten a single egg since I became pregnant, and at this point, I would be okay if I never had to eat or look at another egg ever again. I am also grossed out by the smell and taste of coffee. At the very beginning of my pregnancy, I had a serious aversion to all kinds of meat except chicken. That is a lot better now that we are back home in the States where meat is readily available and generally less sketchy.

Gender: Most of the people in my family, including my husband, are 100% convinced that we are having a boy. I have actually had 3 vivid, distinct dreams about my baby now, and in all of them, our little one was a boy! On the other hand, I have taken lots of silly, old wives tale gender prediction quizzes, and the results of those always come up as a definite girl (even though they are clearly just for fun and not based on any kind of science.) For those who know me, I have always imagined that my first baby would be a girl. But now that I’m actually pregnant, if someone made me submit a formal guess today, I would guess that we’re having a boy. I am definitely warming up to the idea of a sweet baby boy too! I know that God will give us the exact baby that he has designed for us, and we will be SO in love either way. Meanwhile, I will still hold out hope for pink frilly dresses and bows until I’m proven wrong...

Baby: At 11.5 weeks, Baby Goss is a little larger than a fig and is growing more and more every day. I can’t wait to start feeling him/her move and kick! At 10 weeks, I had an ultrasound where I heard the baby’s heartbeat and got to watch on the screen as our baby kicked his/her legs and waved his/her arms all around. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Because I’m not showing yet and because it's too early for me to feel the baby, it’s easy for me to forget that I have an actual human LIFE inside of me, with his/her own heartbeat and movements and personality. Wow. God is so good!

What’s New: Ummm, where to begin. For starters, we moved back home to the States at 9.5 weeks pregnant. It was an incredible challenge for us to leave our life in Uganda and prepare to start over here. We definitely miss African living and our work with Sixty Feet, but we are also so excited for the new chapter that we are starting here at home. This time of transition has been surprisingly smooth for us. Austin begins his job with a marketing firm tomorrow, and I head back to my new/old job as a PICU nurse at Phoenix Children’s Hospital next week! God is providing for our growing family and everything is falling into place. We could not be more excited.