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Offspring: Pregnancy Update

By Dawn Sailors In Offspring (Baby things)

For the most part, I think that pregnancy updates are usually a bit of an over-share at most and annoying at least. That said, I’ve taken great care over the past 6 months to not be that woman who is completely obsessed with babies and birth. For the past week or so though, I’ve thought that maybe an update or two would be a good way to document some of what’s going on, both for my daughter to know about one day, and for me to be able to look back on fondly, or not so fondly. So here goes- a brief pregnancy update at 25 weeks. (15 to go!!)

For the most part, I’d say I’ve had a pretty easy pregnancy, once I got over the shock. I was feeling sick for several weeks in my first trimester, but was never really physically sick. This boiled down to being miserable, but tolerable, as I could still work and no one was the wiser. This is especially good, since I found out very quickly via an inquiry to HR that my employer doesn’t offer paid maternity leave. In other words, I need all the vacation days I can save up before the big day!

So despite being nauseous for about two months, oh and as tired as I’ve ever felt- we’re talking NO energy, I quickly recovered around week 18 and have felt great since then. Probably a little too great actually, since my latest ailment has been an unbelievably sore back. Probably time to cut back a little on the heavy lifting/remodeling. Luckily, despite no maternity pay, my work is a dream job which includes a free massage once a month, so that was heavenly today.

Some things I’ve been surprised by are how quickly I seem to be getting big! It is a very strange thing to be essentially the same weight for all of my adult life, and then suddenly flip a switch and be cool with gaining at least a pound a week. I’m not a girl with body issues, but I can definitely see how easy it is for women to develop confidence problems during pregnancy. I feel very lucky to have such a great support system in my husband, sister and friends. They love to tell me how cute I look and sometimes I even believe them. :)

Speaking of looking cute, I’ve been finding it kind of fun to get dressed for my new shape. My goal so far has been to avoid buying maternity clothing and just move to larger sizes. I did invest in two pairs of maternity jeans (since I have a casual office, I can wear them all the time) but overall, it has made spending money on new clothes feel like less of a waste when I can rationalize that I could wear them again post-preg. So over-sized shirts and leggings inter-dispersed with my jeans and I’ve been pretty set.

I’ve also been surprised by how hungry I am all the time! I’ve never been a food fanatic, and sometimes even find it a chore (I have to cook again?? Didn’t I eat yesterday?), but nowadays I have to constantly have food on the brain. I pack snacks every day and plan supper before I get home so I don’t get sick while waiting for water to boil or biscuits to bake.

There are lots of physical changes that you hear a lot about and more or less expect, but there are some that you don’t as well. For example, I fully expected to feel my baby kicking or moving around- in the front that is. For some reason, I was completely unprepared for the backwards and downwards kicking. Feeling a little person move inside of you is exactly as weird as you would imagine it being.

So that’s an update on how this thing has been going so far. At least the cliff-notes version. Hopefully it continues to go as smoothly!