I’m officially 6 weeks pregnant! I’m still feeling pretty good so far. I have some nausea here and there, but nothing major. My chest is still very tender. I’m definitely peeing more, too! That could have something to do with my increased water intake. I read that pregnant women need on average 8-10 glasses of water a day, so bottoms up! I haven’t had any weird cravings or food aversions yet. I do feel like I can smell things others don’t notice, though. Luckily, my skin hasn’t broken out yet – knock on wood.
I went to the doctor back at home in Pennsylvania. At my first appointment, they just weighed me, took my blood pressure, checked my temperature, took a urine sample, and swabbed for a few cultures. Nothing too exciting really. I did tell the nurse about how when I do feel something, it seems to be on the right side. She felt around and reassured me that there were no signs of an ectopic pregnancy. I was so relieved! She told me to take a calcium supplement, definitely keep taking prenatal vitamins, and to watch my diet. While she wasn’t overly concerned with my current weight, I was (and still am). I know that I’m heavier than I should be.
This past year has been kinda rough for me. I went from working two jobs, going to school, working out for the wedding, the arrival of my sweet nephew, marrying Kyle….to having a miscarriage, moving across the country away from our families, and dealing with an intense deployment workup. I have gained a lot more than I thought I did. I know it’s from depression and stress. I went from being a fairly active, happy person to someone who hardly left the couch and cried all the time. I missed being pregnant, I missed my family, I missed my husband (that workup kept him away for up to a full month at a time). Things are better now. We’ve already tackled the first month of this deployment. I’m back at home, surrounded by my family. I cautiously excited for this pregnancy and the arrival of this baby. I know I have a lot of work to do. I need to be more active. I’ve been making an effort to walk Milo every evening for 30-45 minutes. At least that’s a start! I’m hoping to go to the gym with my sister from time to time, as well.
I’ve been thinking about making my own chalkboard so I can do bump updates later on in my pregnancy. With Kyle overseas for the majority of it, I want to be able to document the changes and so I can share it with him. I do think I’m going to wait until I see a heartbeat, though. I’m so hesitant to get my hopes up. I go for blood work soon to check my hCG levels. If they’re high enough, then I’ll go in for an ultrasound towards the end of my seventh week.
Our baby is the size of a sweet pea. His* primitive little heart is already beating, too! By the time I go in for the ultrasound, he’ll be the size of a blueberry. Hang in there, baby!
*Obviously there is no way we could know the gender at this time. Rather than saying ‘it’ or ‘the baby’ every single time, I’ll probably switch back and forth between ‘his’ and ‘hers’. Once we find out the gender, we’ll let everyone know!
Amanda Douet 