Monday, March 26, 2012

Hormone free, that's me!

Today is my first official day sans IVF hormones. Now I get what you’re thinking… but what about all of the pregnancy hormones? And they’re still there, trust me the nausea and mood swings I had this morning confirmed it for me. Still yet, it feels good to wake up each morning without having to take an estrogen pill and progesterone vaginal insert (that’s right folks!) It’s also one step further toward a normal pregnancy!

Cheers to me, I’m  (IVF) hormone free!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

The first trimester (part #1)

I’m happily 10 weeks pregnant today and eager to finish the first trimester. I’m writing this post for two reasons: 1) to chronicle my experiences so that I will not forget and 2) to let you in on what life has been like these past 6 weeks. I had a clear shift in the way that I was feeling at week #5 and again at week #7; however, other than being extremely hungry, tired and moody I’ve had a pleasant journey thus far.
We found out the good news at week #4, and as you can see I’m glowing and trying to stick out my gut in the photo below. I felt great throughout week #4 riding on the excitment and anticipation of being a momma-to-be!

Week #5 was the beginning of “pregnancy” for me. I began to feel nauseous in the morning (upon waking up) and in the evening. I spent a few days living on SeaBands and Saltine Crackers but willed myself not to get sick. I then started to correlate my upset stomach with being hungry. Pregnancy has created a ravenous hunger in me that I’ve never felt before and when I’m hungry, you must feed me!

Week #6 continued with nausea and fatigue; however, I shifted my eating from 3 square meals per day to eating 6-7 times per day in smaller portions at 2-hour intervals. This helped to stave off the ravenous hunger and prevent the onset of nausea.


In this picture I had only gained 1lb. although the size of my stomach would change drastically throughout the day depending upon digestion and the amount of water I had drank. In post #2 I’ll talk a bit more about weight gain and the eating marathon that was our weekend-jaunt to Mexico. Stay tuned and stay hungry!
Weird food cravings:
-          Ice Cream, which I gave up for lent because during week #4 I ate it every night and for the health of my butt size and baby I thought it best!
-          Pineapple
-          Arby’s Roastbeef Sandwich (no kidding!)
Food aversions:
-          Chicken (a texture thing)
-          Salmon (again a texture thing)
-          Bacon, the smell of it cooking in our house sent me into quite a sickness one evening during week #5
Things I miss the most:
-          Working out
-          An Italian Sub (yummo deli meat)
-          Caffeine free Diet Coke (trying my best to limit NutraSweet)