The first 11 weeks...

The main reason I want to blog about my pregnancy is because 1) I would love to have this to look back on after the baby is born when a lot of things are forgotten, and 2) for other people that maybe have just found out they are pregnant or are planning on getting pregnant. I know if you are anything like me, I was always wanting to know if something was "normal" and was constantly on the Internet trying to see if other people had the same symptoms as me.

While being pregnant is super exciting, there are a lot of not so pleasant things that have come along with the first trimester. However, let me first say, before anyone gets the wrong idea, that EVERY bad experience of pregnancy is TOTALLY worth it. I know that there are many people out there struggling to have children so I in no way take for granted how lucky and blessed I am to have been able to get pregnant in the first place. Pregnancy is exciting but scary at the same time. In the months leading up to us planning on trying to start a family all I could think about was "What if I can't get pregnant?" As silly as it sounds, mainly because I had no reason to believe I couldn't, it's was still a huge fear for me. Then, once I actually found out that I was pregnant, I was almost too scared of losing the baby to be excited about it. BUT, let me just tell you, even though you want to stay a little guarded so that you can be prepared if the worst does happen, it's IMPOSSIBLE to not get excited! You don't want people to know until you are in the semi "safe zone" but it is sooo hard not to tell people when it's some of the most exciting news you've ever had! I ended up telling just a few close friends and family members until the doctor gave me to OK to tell work and everyone else. I had always heard that you shouldn't tell people until 12 weeks but I learned otherwise at the doctor on Tuesday. Apparently the risk of miscarriage is 20% before 12 weeks unless you hear a really strong heartbeat. At our first ultrasound when I was 7 1/2 weeks the baby had a heart rate of 160 which was a great thing. Then, at my 10 1/2 week appointment on Tuesday, we were able to hear the heartbeat with the little fetal dopler thingy, which apparently doesn't happen a lot. The doctor said most of the time they can't find the heartbeat with that thing until about 14 weeks. So, needless to say, I was thrilled that they found the baby's heart beat at 10 1/2 weeks AND it was a strong heartbeat. That is when the doctor assured me that it was OK to go ahead and tell people. I can't wait until my next appointment on June 21st!

As far as my symptoms go, it has been pretty rough some days. Starting at about 6 weeks I begin to get really sick. I threw up multiple times a day and pretty much lived off of baked potatoes. For some reason, that was the only thing that didn't make me nauseous to think about. Finally, starting at about 9 weeks, things started to ease up a bit and I would only throw up every 3 or 4 days. I have gotten some of my appetite back but still can't eat a huge variety of things. I eat a lot of carbs, which I hope will go away soon and I can start eating more healthy. Right now my doctor said that she would rather me be getting down and keeping down french fries rather than throwing something healthy up. Also, I have had the WORST acid reflux at times, which is something I have never had before. Then, there's the terrible taste in my mouth that rarely goes away. There is little to nothing that will make that taste go away. From what I've read that's pretty normal and will hopefully go away in the next few weeks, along with every other bad symptom I hope!