Pregnancy 1: Week 13

13 Weeks: Baby is the size of a Peach!!

Friend/Family Time: Tomek and I setup some friend time this week! Yes, it has to be setup. Between their schedules and then Tomek and I working as well but it is so great when we are able to work something out. We went out shopping to a couple of baby stores with our friends Gabe and Mere (their cute little daughter), and my friend Sarah. Honestly, it was so fun watching Tomek and Gabe looking at baby stuff and Tomek testing out strollers, car seats, etc. The best was going into Once Upon a Child and Tomek actually picking out his first baby item that he liked: Super cute Carhartt baby overalls!

Seriously look at these! They will be perfect for a boy or a girl! :)

2nd OB Appointment: This week we had our 2nd obstetrics appointment. I was a little worried since I couldn’t get the appointment until 9am and I also had to do a blood draw about how much of Tomek’s work time I would be stealing. Tomek so far plans on coming to all of my appointments, so we do our best to schedule them for the earliest possible appointment. When we went in I had the standard evaluations done: my blood pressure (ideal range), weigh in (loss of about 4 lbs since last appointment), supposed to pee in a cup (I didn’t know you did this every time --I had peed before so I started drinking water through the entire appointment), discussion with my doctor (just standard check in, everything normal plus scheduling my blood draw for genetic testing), then she used a fetal doppler and checked my baby’s heart rate (156bpm!). So everything went well. I wasn’t able to pee but of course as soon as I went down to the labs (same building) I actually had to pee. So after getting my blood drawn I went back upstairs and peed in the required cup. The reason there is such a push for this is to test for issues such as gestational diabetes. So from now on I will do my best to hold it until I get there. heehee

BloodDraws: I forgot to mention before at my 8 week appointment I had my first blood draw where we were testing for the likelihood of me passing on a genetic condition to my baby and the results came back during week 10 all normal, no genetic anomalies for me to pass. The reason I got the blood draw this week was to test my baby for any genetic issues such as down’s syndrome. In running these tests the lab will also be able to tell us whether we are having a boy or girl (though we will be saying witch or wizard, always HP references!). However, we both decided that we didn’t want to know from a random phone call or piece of paper. So, I asked the doctor to still have them check but I didn’t want to know. This is because we both want to find out at our 20 week ultrasound, but after talking to enough people, I know there is a chance that the baby won’t necessarily cooperate with us during the ultrasound so as a backup plan we will have the paper to tell us if we have to so we can still have our baby reveal party with our immediate family just days after.

SYMPTOMS REVIEW:

List of symptoms and the weeks I experienced them…. (This will be the main catch up, I realized I left out some that I didn’t consider before...I blame pregnancy brain).

Breast Soreness (Weeks 4 to 13, except first half of 10)

Pregnancy Brain (Weeks 10-13)

Nausea (Weeks 6 to 13, except beginning of 10)

Fatigue/Tiredness (Weeks 6 to 13, briefly subsided week 12, but back stronger with dizziness during week 13)

Bleeding (None yet, but know it isn’t uncommon)

Vaginal Discharge (I don’t count this for me because I had naturally had a higher level of this regularly, but know it is common for women to experience this during their pregnancy)

Heartburn (Currently still only at night after dinner from weeks 11-13)

Cramping (Some weeks 8-12 only when laughing, sneezing, coughing BUT week 13 still not very often but more random)

Food Aversions (Garlic, Onion, Peppers, ANY strong intense smells; most smells were so bad weeks 9-11 I couldn’t even walk in my kitchen without puking, week 12 lessened enough to clean my kitchen but was still hard!)

Food Cravings (Weeks 8-13 Mexican food -burritos!, reoccurring craving, gummy bears-only once, KFC mashed potatoes -a few times)

Headaches (New during week 13 just began randomly. We are totally unmedicated (vitamins, tums, and allergy pills only) so treatment is cold compress, ice pack, rest, and exercise.

Constipation (This didn’t happen to me at all during the 1st trimester, which is when it is said to occur along with the 3rd trimester)

Mood Swings (Hard to say when we have our own mood swings unless they are severe. Only twice severe, but Tomek says I am a little more on edge these days at times randomly)

Dizziness (New during week 13 as well though slightly occurred nearing the end of 12. I am still getting a grasp on this one, it is making it hard to do too much in a day)

Constant Peeing (Started about week 6 or 7. The daytime peeing isn’t that bad since I am already awake but the nighttime I am forced to wake up 2-3 times to pee and sometimes struggle to get back to sleep).

Bloating (Bloating started week 10. I still just feel bloated and not like I am “BUMP’ing” even though clothes are a little more snug.