Warning: this is going to be a long post!
One of the advantages of having a blog is that I can also document my pregnancy journey! So bear with me whenever there’s a post on “pregnancy update”. I promise future updates won’t be this long since I’ll be doing them more frequently. I’m combining all first trimester updates here since we didn’t share the news until the “safe” period. I’ve been drafting each week since I found out I was pregnant. I think it’s important to jot down your thoughts and document your pregnancy journey, plus, it’ll be fun re-reading it later. And if our kids are not embarrassed by us when they get older (highly unlikely), they may want to take a trip down the memory lane to when they were in my belly! Steve is also taking pictures of my growing belly each week to see the bump progress! Look at that belly grow!!!!
Maternity Dress – ASOS (Unfortunately, the one I bought is no longer available, but found a similiar one)
4 Weeks
Baby’s size: A poppy-seed
Baby’s movement: Nothing yet!
Total weight gain: 0 lbs, I’m sure this won’t last too long. I’m trying really hard to be healthy and exercise as much as I can, so I don’t gain more than what’s healthy for the baby.
Pregnancy symptoms: A whole lot! Mild cramping, constipation, indigestion, sore/tender breasts, exhaustion, and nausea at times.
Food love: Nothing particularly unusual at the moment, just trying to eat healthier for the baby.
Food hate: Nothing, but there are times when I lose my appetite after a few bite of something.
Sleep: I’ve been going to bed super early, earlier than my usual granny bedtime.
Currently living in: Normal non-maternity clothes, but I did purchase a maternity dress from ASOS for my bump pictures.
3 pros of this week: [1] Positive home pregnancy tests (I took 4, yes I know..neurotic. I just had to be sure!). [2] Surprising Steve that he’s going to be a dad. [3] Taking the first (nonexistent) bump picture.
3 cons of this week: [1] Overwhelming thoughts of all the bad things that can happen in early pregnancy stage [2] Worrying about if I’m going to be a good mother. [3] Not being able to tell the whole world we are pregnant like I so wish I can!
Looking forward to: Our first prenatal doctor’s appointment and ultrasound in three weeks! Super excited to meet our little one for the very first time. 🙂
5 Weeks – 7 Weeks
Baby’s size: A blueberry at 7 weeks
Baby’s movement: Nonexistent, except I sometimes get sharp pains on either side of lower abdomen when I stand up from sitting. I read that it’s due to your uterus stretching to make room for the growing baby.. neat, huh?
Total weight gain: 1-2 lbs, I’m not sure if it’s from my body retaining everything I drink and eat, because I definitely have a small bulge – not from the baby, but from bloating.
Pregnancy symptoms: Nausea is kicking in harder each week, I definitely feel more nauseous when I wake up and throughout the day. Indigestion and constipation have disappeared, but I’m still super bloated and gassy! So attractive, I know. And sore/tender breasts are making a bigger presence.
Food love: Nothing really at the moment.
Food hate: Nothing major, except I can’t stand the thought of eating eggs right now. I used to eat hard-boiled eggs every day as a snack, but thinking of eating a hard-boiled egg makes me gag.
Sleep: Super tired and sleepy starting like 3 pm.. I try my best to keep myself awake at work by drinking cold water, but I’m in bed by 9 PM lately getting in solid 9 hours of sleep every night.
Currently living in: My pencil skirts and skinny jeans zipped and buttoned until I reached my 6 weeks mark. I’m so very bloated that it’s super uncomfortable to button my pants/zip my work skirts. Starting 7th week, I’ve been doing the hair-tie-trick.
3 pros of this week: [1] Steve is extra sweet. He’s generally a sweet guy, but he’s extra loving lately and I’m not complaining! [2] Realizing that I have a great life with a roof over my head, a great job I love, a husband who will go to the end of the world for me and the baby, supportive family and friends and now our little sweet pea cooking in my oven. I think emotional pregnancy hormone is kicking in already. [3] My best friends telling me I look super skinny in my “bump” photos. I think they are just being nice.
3 cons of this week: [1] I’m really craving all things I can’t have like sushi(!), especially craving Korean sashimi rice bowl, 회덮밥. [2] Stressing out about a couple of things in the beginning of this week. [3] Getting super anxious about our first prenatal appointment, it can’t come soon enough!
Looking forward to: Valentine’s day!!
8 Weeks
Baby’s size: A raspberry
Baby’s movement: Although our little Jelly Belly (we found a nickname) is supposedly moving around a lot (based on what I read), I can’t feel anything since it’s still too tiny.
Total weight gain: 3 lbs. I feel like that’s a lot so early on, but hey, this is one time I don’t need to stress out about gaining weight 🙂
Pregnancy symptoms: Sore nipples, nausea, exhaustion, acne!!!
Food love: This week, I had the weirdest craving – jelly beans! Steve and I went to Costco for our usual grocery run, and I saw a giant container of jelly beans and I just had to have it. I usually NEVER eat them. I’ve been having a handful of them every day.
Food hate: Unfortunately, all things I used to eat on a regular basis, I’ve become indifferent about. For example, I don’t want salads, I used to eat salads for lunch at least 3 times a week.
Sleep: Oh my lord, I cannot sleep!! Don’t get me wrong, I’m exhausted by the time 9 o’clock rolls around. But once I fall asleep, I wake up multiple times at night, and I feel like I never go into a deep sleep mode. I end up waking up exhausted! Not to mention, I’ve been having some weird, crazy, random dreams!
Currently living in: No maternity clothes just yet! I have been wearing long tank tops under my shirt to cover the hair-tie keeping my pants together. I’m still bloated, so I have to keep my pants together by using a hair-tie. I have not invested in a belly band yet, but that may be my next option.
3 pros of this week: I’m going to combine my pros of this week into just one, because it’s the best one!! We saw our little Jelly Belly this week!! We have been DYING for our first ultrasound appointment, and the day finally came on Monday! I think we were both nervous to see our Jelly Belly for the first time and to confirm he/she was growing and healthy. It was definitely THE most amazing moment of my entire life. As soon as we saw the little one on the monitor, all my fears and reservations subsided. Jelly Belly was measuring accordingly, and the heartbeat was right on target at 175 bpm! Steve whispered, “we made that” and my heart just melted from the thought of having little bit of both of us in a tiny human being. It was so surreal, and I don’t think anything can ever replace the amazement of the moment you first see your baby. I also had my blood work done, and we met with a doctor later this week to make sure everything looked fine. My blood work came back great, and we have another ultrasound and doctor’s appointments scheduled at the 12 week mark. Can’t wait to see our Jelly Belly again! Oh, so how the nickname, Jelly Belly came about – we ate tons of jelly beans the night before our ultrasound appointment from my weird jelly bean craving, and as soon as we saw the baby on the monitor, we both said it looks like a jelly bean we ate the night before! The brand of jelly beans we ate is called Jelly Belly, so Jelly Belly it is 🙂
3 cons of this week: I seriously cannot think of anything this week, because we are both so overjoyed at seeing our healthy Jelly Belly for the first time!
Looking forward to: Telling our last immediate family member, my brother-in-law about Jelly Belly! He is visiting this weekend, so we decided to wait to tell him in person! Can’t wait to see his reaction 🙂
9 Weeks – 11 Weeks
Baby’s size: A lime at 11 weeks
Baby’s movement: Still can’t feel anything, but I’m sure Jelly Belly is swimming around in the uterus.
Total weight gain: Still at 3 lbs!
Pregnancy symptoms: A lot of my symptoms have subsided. Nausea is pretty much nonexistent at 11 weeks, pizza face and chest are starting to settle down a bit, and energy level is slowly going up. I think I’m gearing up for the smooth ride of 2nd trimester. 🙂 My nipples are still sore, and I still dream about the most random things every single night.
Food love: At one point in week 9 of pregnancy, I ate a bagel with cream cheese TWICE in one day and had alfredo pasta for breakfast. Safe to say, my carb cravings have been under control now. I’ve been loving fruits! Strawberries are my best friend at the moment,but I’ve been eating any fruits I can get my hands on – blueberries, grapes, apples, nectarines.
Food hate: Still not really into veggies, I wish I can say I’m craving a huge bowl of salad, but that’s not happening right now. Oh and still not eating eggs.
Sleep: Other than my bladder disturbing me from sleep and crazy random dreams haunting me, my sleep has gotten a lot better! I still wake up tired though.
Currently living in: Okay, so I was definitely bloated from like week 5 to week 9. Now at 11 weeks, my bloating has vanished! I think my tiny bump in the lower stomach is the actual uterus and Jelly Belly! I’m still surviving on non-maternity clothes doing the hair-tie trick to button my pants. Other than that, I bought two pairs of yoga pants to lounge in comfortably.
3 pros of this week: [1] Bloating is gone and my bowel system is back to normal. [2] I think I felt my uterus right under the belly button when laying down which means it’s now out of the pelvic cavity, and I’m supporting a real tiny baby bump. [3] I worked out four times this week – went to the gym twice for some cardio and did strength training at home.
3 cons of this week: Nada. I’m sure there were, but it must be my pregnancy brain, because I don’t remember.
Looking forward to: First trimester screening which means we get to see our Jelly Belly for the second time!! Can’t wait to see how big she/he is!!
12 & 13 Weeks
[I am at the end of my first trimester!!!]
Baby’s size: A peach at 13 weeks
Baby’s movement: It was absolutely amazing to see our Jelly Belly moving around and playing in my uterus through our 12 weeks ultrasound. Jelly Belly definitely was not cooperating and having too much fun bouncing off of my uterine wall, doing jumping jacks and all sorts of movements for the ultrasound tech to get the measurements. I read that you can start feeling flutters of these movements, and Steve swears he feels it. I think I feel it too, but I’m not 100% sure of what I’m feeling. But we are super glad that Jelly Belly is doing well and having a blast in there!
Total weight gain: 4 lbs! I read that starting 2nd trimester, you will gain anywhere from 1 to 2 lbs per week. Whoa!
Pregnancy symptoms: It’s true that 2nd semester will be the most peaceful time of pregnancy. At 13 weeks, I don’t feel pregnant at all except seeing the growing belly! I don’t have much aversions to food anymore, and I’m feeling great!
Food love: Still love fruits, eating it every day. Back on that bagel kick again, but I’m limiting myself to half a bagel a day. Oh! My veggie hate has turned into veggie tolerance. I now eat salads for lunch like I used to during my pre-pregnancy days. Thank god!!
Food hate: I’m still not eating eggs.. I haven’t even attempted to try like I did with veggies.
Sleep: Sleeping okay, still dreaming every single day, still very random dreams. I try really hard to not take naps during the day, because naps turn out to be like sleeping 4 to 5 hours which ends up messing up my sleeping schedule.
Currently living in: Still normal clothes doing the hair-tie-trick with my pants/jeans with buttons. On the weekends, I’m in my leggings and yoga pants because let’s face it, it’s way more comfortable. I can proudly say that I have now POPPED! Before 13 weeks, I wasn’t sure if my protruding lower belly was due to bloating or the baby, but now I can safely say, it’s our Jelly Belly. I can feel the uterus now when standing, it’s crazy!
3 pros of this week: [1] We saw our Jelly Belly moving about and growing big! Measuring way bigger than average, which by measurement, pushes up the due date to September 29th. [2] Hearing the heartbeat on the doppler for the first time! It was the most beautiful sound ever!! [3] First trimester screening test results were all normal and no sign of genetic diseases.
3 cons of this week: [1] Huge pimple on my chin. [2] Didn’t go to the gym once this week, let alone work out at home. [3] It’s still cold here in Maryland.
Looking forward to: WARMER WEATHER and entering 2nd trimester!!
Overall, my first trimester wasn’t as bad as what I read and heard from other women. Sure, I had constant nausea for the first 5 weeks or so, but I never vomited. Other than the usual pregnancy bloating, initial constipation, and acne, I think my first trimester was pretty smooth. In my experience, the worst thing about first trimester is the constant worry about the tiny human forming inside me. And you guys know me, I am the biggest worrywart. I read everything I could find online about miscarriages and potential risk of first trimester. Of course, reading them didn’t make me feel any better, but I just had to know. It also doesn’t help that if you are not flagged as high-risk pregnancy, the doctor won’t see you until you are 8 weeks along. So for an entire month, I was doing my best to take care of my body, taking prenatal vitamins, and praying that Jelly Belly is developing accordingly. Now that first trimester is officially over, I’m more at ease. I understand that constant worry and fear about your child never stops even when they are grown and old, but at this stage, I’m super glad that our Jelly Belly is doing well, and I’m having a healthy pregnancy thus far. So, bring on the second trimester. I’m ready!
-m
linta lin says
Hey sweetie.. this is such a sweet documentary.. happy mommy/baby time.. can’t wait to read everythjng with u..
luv, mama
stevemaddieandco says
Aww thank you!! ♡
Renee says
I love this! Thank you for being you and keeping me updated. <3 you!! Renee
stevemaddieandco says
Thank YOU for taking your time to stop by to read my blog!! Love you & miss you!! ♡♡