This is a post I wrote about my pregnancy when I was 8 weeks pregnant before I had announced it here.
And no photo this week. We took photos and then had some technical difficulties with my camera where I couldn’t retrieve any of the photos. Luckily, a friend was able to pull most of the photos off, but week eight was never recovered.
***
Finally! I made it to eight weeks!
In my mind, I was seven weeks pregnant for two weeks. We (the doctor and I included) thought I was a week further along than I thought and I found out I was *almost* seven weeks at my last doctor’s appointment.
I’m sure many of you are thinking that a week isn’t a big deal, and you’re right. It’s not. But when you’re marking milestones by weeks and getting that much closer every week to being able to FINALLY tell the world that you’re pregnant, a week feels a bit longer than normal. It’s kind of like when you’re a kid and and you think you’re only five weeks away from summer break, then you realize you have miscounted and you’re actually six weeks away. And yes, I have the patience of a nine year old.
Symptoms:
My eighth week has been great. Even though smaller meals are recommended, I’ve learned that eating a normal sized breakfast actually helps me to not get nauseous later on in the morning.
Brad has been very attentive and last night asked me how I was feeling. I told him that sometimes I feel weird, like way more tired than usual and just different. But overall, I feel good. I’ve been very happy since getting pregnant, even the day I felt like the walking dead because I had gotten only three hours of sleep the night before. I was tired, but not in a bad mood. It’s like, no matter what happens, I’m pregnant, and that overrules everything.
Despite being exhausted most nights, I’ve been good about keeping plans, even at night. It’s those nights that we don’t have plans, that I feel like bunkering down with a blanket, a glass of milk (really), and TV or a baby book. Last Friday night, Brad and I threw around the idea of going out for Charlotte’s Restaurant Week (3 courses for $30 at a ton of restaurants!) and somehow I talked myself into putting it off until the next night. When I’m too tired to go out to eat, you know I’m feeling off.
Cravings:
While beef was a theme the past few weeks, this week I’m all about bread and butter. I’m talking good fluffy bread from a bakery or whole wheat toast, smeared with butter and/or honey. I’ve also done Van’s Whole Wheat waffles with butter and maple syrup to mix things up. In reality, I’ve only eaten about 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter every day but it’s definitely more than I usually eat on a daily basis.
Also, I’m really into milk right now. I drink a cup of organic skim milk usually once or twice a day. I’ve liked drinking milk for a long time, but it’s usually something I only crave with baked good. Now I want a glass in the morning when I wake up and sometimes one at night.
I’ve also been eating a lot of grapes (my favorite fruit at the moment) and am still snacking on a lot of Greek yogurt with honey.
Honey. Dairy. Bread. That pretty much sums up the week eight cravings.
The Bump:
I don’t know if it’s appropriate to act like I have a bump just yet, because I really don’t. I feel a bit thicker around the middle and I feel like I can’t suck in my pooch as much as I usually can. I’m guessing it’s my uterus starting to protrude because I haven’t gained any weight (according to my scale) since I lost weight over Christmas. My doctor said I had gained two pounds fully clothed and after a big lunch of Thai food at my last appointment, but my home scale shows no movement.
Fun Stuff:
Maternity clothes shopping has been the fun part of pregnancy this week. I’m afraid that I’m going to wake up one day and realize that I have nothing that fits, so I thought it best to go ahead and buy some things. I stuck to just purchasing tops and dresses because those are the things I typically buy online. I never buy pants online so I’ll be trying them on in stores. Plus I’m sure I can get by with a belly band for a while before delving into full-on maternity pants. So far, I’ve bought only really great deals on clothes that can be used in the summer. Here in Charlotte, it gets warm fast so I can wear anything I bought as soon as late March with or without a cardigan. I’m not buying maternity cardigans since I don’t care if they button over my belly or not — as long as they keep my arms warm. I bought items from Destination Maternity, Old Navy, and a new-to-me boutique that I’m so glad I found, Shade Clothing. They had a few basic and cute short sleeved dresses $20 and under and v-neck fitted t-shirts as cheap as four and five dollar. Score.