First Trimester Updates

As of today, I've been carrying our little baby for 13 weeks and 2 days. It seems like it was just yesterday that we learned we are finally having a baby. Its been an interesting past three months... some days are rougher than others. Nonetheless, everything that Carl and I have experienced these first couple of months of pregnancy assured us that we are actually becoming parents.

When we first learned I was pregnant, I had no pregnancy symptoms other than the missed period. Even after our first appointment with the doctor, I was feeling AMAZING! Until I woke up one morning when the smell of spam being fried made me puke... and then I ate dried fish with tomatoes and 2 cups of rice for lunch, but instead of going down to my stomach - all that went down the drain. And then I suddenly realized all I have been eating all week was Pancit Canton (similar to yakisoba). The days and nights of lost appetite and feeling hungry has begun. I didn't have a lot of cravings - but I had a lot of aversions. I did not even like RICE! I fed myself with crackers, fruits, and soups.

And so on our second meeting with the doctor, My weight was down from 154 to 144. If I wasn't pregnant, I would be elated that I've lost 10 lbs. Afterall, at 154 lbs I was 2 points over my ideal BMI. I wasn't obese but I was overweight which could be a problem down the road. But because I was pregnant, losing 10 lbs in a month wasn't a very good news - like I said in my previous post, it appears that I was sicker than the average pregnant woman. So my doctor gave me medication to help with the nausea which helps me keep my food down. We also heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time during our second appointment. It was an amazing sound to hear. It sounded like a train approaching the station. We were so excited we forgot to record it. The baby's heart was beating at 166 bpm - which was a very good number.

The weeks following that appointment, I did all I can to gain weight. The medicine helped, but not always. Some days I would still feel really sick, it came to a point I was extremely dehydrated I needed to get replenished through an IV. I spent 2 1/2 hours at the health center being fed intravenously. Two nurses had to help each other find a vein "needle worthy." My veins are thin to begin with, and being dehydrated made the vein search worse. I felt a lot better for a couple of days after that. That day I also weighed in and I lost another two and a half pounds. My weight has gone down to 141.5 lbs. It could be that I was just dehydrated that day, or I wasn't really making progress with my weight gain efforts.

My appetite has somehow returned, I guess. I've been able to eat rice. I've been eating donuts and cookies and other sweet stuff and I'm liking them. I've also started liking the sour gummy/chewy candies. This past week, all I wanted for dinner was pork adobo. I was hoping this would help me gain weight. Some nights were still rough, especially when I feel exhausted and/or I smell something I don't like.

Today, we went in for our third doctor's appointment. I'm officially past the first trimester. I weighed in at 142 lbs - a meager half lb heavier than last week. Still it wasn't a good sign. I've lost a total of 12 lbs during the course of 3 months. We are hopeful though that I would start feeling better since the first trimester is now behind us. Personally, I feel a lot better - except on those days when my guts wrenches in the bathroom. We heard the baby's heart beat again. It is beating at 155 bpm - and it was a lot stronger than the last. We could definitely hear it. It was like listening to horses stomping. We got to record it this time!

This pregnancy is getting more and more real. I can't believe that in a couple of weeks, we might be able to learn if baby cakes is a boy or a girl. The doctor said that based on the baby's heart tones, baby is VERY HEALTHY. Mommy is still a little sick, although she assured us that my condition is not a threat to the baby. Its something that we need to give attention to, though - because we still want both mommy and baby to be healthy.

That's it for now! Looking forward to more appetite and energy this coming weeks! And once the baby bump becomes more apparent and I don't like I'm just a fat lady (which I have been haha), we'll proudly show it to all of you!