Pregnancy 1: Week 17 (Easter)

17 Weeks:

Craving of the week: Other than my continued standard mashed potatoes I have been beyond craving bread! I love Hawaiian rolls and so those have been my go to but it is convenient I want bread since this is Easter week and part of our Polish tradition includes me making a Babka for the family, more on that below...including the epic picture.

Symptoms: My breasts have been quite sore, usually 1 at a time, I have headaches, and my body is really picky about how I sit and lay down to be comfy and not in pain. I also still definitely deal with pregnancy brain frequently and get really frustrated from it. Unfortunately I still have been feeling sick. Now I will tell you it has occurred less often than previous weeks but when it happens days are still rough. I would say this week it has happened 2-3 days rather than the majority of the weeks like before. This does bring me to an important note...just because a woman isn’t in her 1st trimester anymore does NOT mean that she suddenly stopped getting sick. Many women still experience some level of sickness during their pregnancy, so please respect that they are having a rough time randomly and be understanding if they have to flake on you or things just don’t work out as planned. Interestingly, though I feel sick most of the time I also feel very hungry at the same time.

Easter: Easter Saturday we always spend with the family. We had a great time celebrating and I started making the Polish traditional chocolate and rum bread which is the dessert called babka (polish for grandma as the bread is shaped like a grandma’s skirt). Making one takes about 6-8 hours though so I made it the day before.

We went over to Tomek’s parent’s house and celebrated the holiday. We had dinner and then hung out until mass. I was definitely tired and didn’t feel well before I left the house but I thought I could try and make it through. I went with my pregnancy go bag in tow, and unfortunately only managed 45 minutes of the 2 hour long mass before desperately having to leave because I felt so sick. I felt really guilty about this honestly. Especially because I got home, my husband catered to my every need to make me feel better and get to sleep, and I ended up not getting sick anymore than I already had. Not that I wanted to be sick but I guess in my mind it would have justified that I left instead of staying through the entire service. I am trying not to beat myself up about it anymore but, if you can’t tell, it is still getting under my skin a bit.

Since Easter this week I have spent most of my time taking care of class prep, making a 2nd babka for Tomek to take to work, and really that is it other than trying to write here while stranded on a couch, because getting off of it seems to lead to puking, nausea, or headaches. My only other potential wow moment was that I am pretty sure I felt the baby for the first time. I talked to my doctor at the last visit and she said the baby really isn’t big enough to be felt until close to 20 weeks, and that most mistake gas, digestion, etc. for the baby in those early weeks around 12-14 that they claim to feel said baby. Therefore, I don’t know if 17 weeks is close or it was all in my head but either way I do have some enjoyable fun moments in this pregnancy, I promise!

14 days: So that about wraps up this week. We are getting super excited for our witch or wizard party with our family and have some fun little additions we are going to throw in (no spoilers sorry). We will both be so happy with a boy or girl, we are definitely team healthy baby, and have beautiful names picked out for both….but I guess you will just have to wait for those too! :) Until next time.