Now that I’ve explained the very beginning of things, lets move on to the next two weeks of waiting for my first sonogram. Like I said before, September 2, 2009 is when I officially found out I was pregnant with baby. On that day, my first sonogram was set up for 1:15pm on September 15, 2009. It seems like almost immediately after discovering I was pregnant, morning sickness began. I had been noticing a few times before I found out, I would be on the bus or train to or from work and I would start to feel nauseous. But I never thought anything of it, because it would often come at a time when I was reading a book or magazine, so I figured it was just motion sickness. It never lasted long and wasn’t that strong. But it seems as if September 3, 2009 I woke up with extreme morning sickness. Every day for about two weeks not only would I wake up feeling sick, but around 10pm every night, the symptoms would return. I hated it so much! I think, pregnant or not, one of the worst feelings in the world is to feel you have to throw up. Because of the nature and hours of both of my jobs, it seemed to make things worse. My morning job requires me to get up at 4:30am every day to travel to a group home and help some clients to begin their day. Getting up this early, I was never hungry right away, so I would often leave the house with just a bottle of water in hand. My afternoon job requires me to work on a ship, serving drinks and entertaining guests. It is often eight or so grueling hours of being on your feet constantly, dealing with the rocking and all the different smells of the different food that is served at dinnertime. Often the cruise would end at 10pm, right when my sickness would return, but then we would have to spend an hour and a half resetting and cleaning the ship. It was awful. I hated not getting home until 1:30 in the morning only to fall to sleep for three hours and get right back up for work again. I don’t know if my body really could tell the difference, or if it was more psychological, but everything was bothering me more and more. My body and joints hurt more than ever. Smells were bothering me so much more. And not eating, even when I wasn’t hungry, was leaving me wrecked. The more I googled information on the early weeks of pregnancy, the more I was able to recognize was true in my own body. I discovered that one of the most effective ways to beat morning sickness was to eat a small, low fat meal before bed, and to eat small meals throughout the day. It worked best to never be too full or too hungry. So I began drinking a glass of soymilk before bed, and making a bagel with peanut butter in the morning to take to work with me, so I could munch on it throughout my morning. It began to help. There were definitely nights I fell asleep with the crackers next to me on the bed. There were mornings where I took a cab to work, even though I hated spending the $10 it took to get there, only because I didn’t want to risk throwing up on the bus or the train. Thank goodness, to this day, I have yet to actually throw up due to morning sickness. But let me assure you, there were days I was just begging to throw up so I could get rid of the feeling. But then again, I wasn’t sure if even that would help. This wasn’t the same as a hangover. =)
Over the course of the two weeks after finding out I was pregnant, I bought my prenatal vitamins along with a pregnancy journal that has day-to-day information about baby and mommy’s growth. It also has little facts about food and random feel better tips. After reading that so many women would experience an increase in morning sickness after taking the prenatal vitamin, I never even risked taking it in the morning. From day one, I’ve always taken them at night, right before I go to bed. The only problem I’ve had from the prenatal vitamins has been the gas they create in my tummy! =( Kinda gross, I know, but then again, I’m sure things will get grosser as this blog and my pregnancy continue! Haha! =) Thank goodness, Melly doesn’t mind when I let the wind blow… ;) She understands, better out than in! My nails and hair are growing stronger by the day, I can tell already, and it hasn’t even been a full month that I’ve been taking them yet. I was thinking about cutting my hair short because there wouldn’t be a more opportune time than now, seeing that it would grow back longer and stronger than ever right now. But I’m still not sure I can do that. I am, as you probably know if you know me at all, a chronic hair twister. I twist when I am tired, bored, upset, watching television, going to sleep etc. You can almost always catch me twisting my long hair. If I cut it off now, especially with my hormones all in a twist, I might cry more than I expect. (I know, it’s just hair! But my hair to me is my security blanket. You had your favorite blankie or stuffed animal as a kid. I had my hair.)
Along with the prenatal vitamins, I began reading all the little food tips in my pregnancy journal and switched my eating habits as much as possible. I eat more fruit and vegetables. I stopped eating candy. I never drank soda to begin with, but I did drink a lot of Kool-Aid =) I stopped drinking that as much. I pretty much stick to orange juice and water now. Before I was pregnant, I could not stand plain water. I hardly ever drank water unless I was at a restaurant and got it with lemon. Now I can’t get enough. I crave it all the time. I have a whole bunch of Little Debbie snacks in the house that I don’t even want to eat anymore. (Melly doesn’t mind at all though! More for her.) I guess because I know it’s time to create a whole other human being inside of me, my body is naturally craving the good things for me. I always want fruits and vegetables. I’ve been eating more cereal than ever, since the folic acid is great for mom and baby, and it’s also a great remedy for morning sickness (dry cereal, that is. Milk doesn’t seem to help me feel any better once I’m feeling crappy.) I’ve switched from organic milk to soymilk. And I constantly carry a snack with me. It’s been difficult because some days I want to eat everything, and other days, I’m not hungry at all. But no matter how I feel, I have to monitor how much I eat, regardless, to make sure that I keep a little full at all times to prevent that sick feeling again. It’s been strange also that no matter how hungry I am, I can never eat as much in one sitting as I used to. I get full very quickly now. My cravings thus far have consisted of McDonald’s french fries, the Meatball Marinara sub from Subway, dark leaf salad with chickpeas, corn, and kidney beans, lasagna, and ice pops. I am so sick of peanut butter that I never want to eat it again (since that’s all I was eating in the beginning because all the stuff I read said that it helps morning sickness the most.) I’ve stopped drinking my morning cup of green tea. Too many studies conflict as to whether it is good or harmful for the baby. I miss it though.
Numerous smells have been added to my distaste. The smell of my incense, which I used to burn every day, makes me sick to my stomach. The smell of brewing coffee is awful. All the random unidentifiable smells on city busses and subways are terrible. Men’s cologne has been a big enemy. Slowly, I am able to tolerate the smell of the incense again, but it really depends on the day and my mood. Mostly, I just try and sit as close to a window with fresh air as much as possible. I’ve stopped using any and all of my perfumes and body sprays. I bought unscented lotion to begin with, but I’ve switched to Palmer’s cocoa butter, which smells like chocolate and maple syrup mixed together, which does not bother my nose one bit! =) Oddly, my nose is highly attracted to the smell of bacon! No matter how sick I felt, the smell of bacon and eggs made me instantly hungry. And even though I’m not drinking it, the smell of soda is oh so yummy (I have had the occasional can of ginger ale, in hopes it would calm my upset tummy outside of the house.)
By the time I reached the date for my first sonogram, I was getting used to pretty much all the changes my body was beginning to go through. It became easier to “deal with it.” I went to my sonogram alone. Akeem and Melly were both at school. My mom wanted to come down, but I refused to let her, because I knew it would only be a five minute thing and I didn’t want her to have to travel three hours for that. I was a little sad that I was alone, but I didn’t let it bother me too much. I know there will be more, longer and more interesting than this one. Once I managed to find the office for my appointment, I went in and signed in. As usual for the city, it was packed. Two men started fighting in the waiting room. They were screaming and swearing at one another, all because one apparently looked at the other the wrong way, typical city nonsense. See why I can’t wit to move out of such a hostile environment? Eventually I was called in. A short, sweet looking man called me into the room. He introduced me to this beautiful woman and explained that she would be doing the sonogram for me. She was really sweet and warm. I got up on the table, they dimmed the lights, she asked me up unzip and roll down the top of my pants. She smiled at me and began to ask me questions about the pregnancy and myself, like was I excited, what did I go to school for etc. I told her where I was working and my plans to move out of the city for a healthier pregnancy. She told me I was going to be such a cute mom. She said I sounded like I had a great head on my shoulders, as that big smile flashed across her face again. Everything felt so right. All of a sudden, there it was. My uterus and womb showed up on the screen and she exclaimed, “Awww you have a little bean for a baby! It’s so tiny!” She then pointed it out to me, but I already saw it. I knew exactly what I was looking at. It seemed that the moment it showed on the screen, that was exactly where my eyes were locked. My baby was tiny indeed, just a little smudge of a thing. She began to measure it, and as the guy was asking me about what health care I would be going with, I heard the most amazing sound I’ve ever heard, my baby’s heartbeat. I stopped listening to him mid sentence. It seemed as if everything else in the room never existed. It was just my baby and I. The heartbeat was loud. The woman smiled big again and said that the heartbeat was strong and healthy; 172 beats per minute. I must have looked like a kid on Christmas morning. After a few seconds, the heartbeat was gone, and I apologized to the man for not responding or paying attention to his question. He laughed and said that was ok, and repeated the question. The woman finished up the exam and printed out two copies for me. She told me I was 7 weeks 6 days along. This was a shock though, because on September 2, 2009 when I had found out I was pregnant, I was told I was 7 weeks 3 days along. Just an honest miscalculation. The woman doing my sonogram told me my due date based on how far the sonogram said I was would be April 28, 2010. My step-mom’s birthday!! =) I was then sent on my way back home. I called Akeem, Mom, and Melly on my way home to tell them about the appointment. I then called my step-mom to tell her that maybe she would have to share her birthday next year! Haha
So, there goes the next bit of my journey! Don’t worry, still much more to come. I just want to try my best to categorize things into similar categories and time frames. =) Still to come, more body changes… some you care to know about, some you may not care to know about. I will keep it G-rated… well, try to at least! Haha And still, these nightmares. Oy. I do hope you are enjoying my stories and that they are easy to follow along with!
Not only will I be giving you updates based on what’s going on physically with me and baby, but there will be entries of my personal thoughts, fears, trials and tribulations as well. Not only will I use this blog to keep everyone updated but I will use this as my personal diary to some extent as well. I know with these hormones kicking in, I will need to write now more than ever to keep it all out of body and to not worry about it so much. So, I ask that you please, read with care and understanding, and no matter what I’ve got to share, please keep an open mind. Know that I welcome any and every insight from you, my reader. Until next post, all my love.
