Category Archives: pregnancy

40 Weeks of Pregnancy – Week 7

Good morning! Welcome to Week 7 of the Pregnancy Series… If you want to read any of the previous weeks, scroll to the bottom and feel free to browse.
Week 7
Not a whole lot is changing as far as you are concerned. Your baby, however, is making huge strides. Your bean sprout is starting to look vaguely like a see monkey. You may be getting an ultra sound right around now. No, you won’t know the gender, but you will see your wee one, and think it is adorable. And if you are like me, you will post your ultrasound picture on facebook, and everyone will oohh and aww… but no one, including yourself, will actually know what you are looking at. That is okay. The next one will be better.
You are not showing yet. That bump is probably from being bloated. Some women actually lose weight during these weeks. This is perfectly normal. You are still experiencing the first trimester sickness, sleepiness, and all that fun stuff. For most women, you only have a few more weeks to go and then it will get better.
The one change you may be noticing is your skin. For the majority of women, pregnancy clears up your face due to all the hormones, and you may look better than ever. Even if you are not glowing yet (because you look a little green with nausea), your acne, if you have any, is slowly disappearing. I did have this kind of luck, and for me, pregnancy actually made my remotely okay face totally break out. But I assure you, I am in the minority. For some, this never reverts back, and you get nice skin courtesy of your little one.
Speaking of your skin, this is a perfect time to start using Cocoa butter on your belly and breasts. Even though you are not showing yet, and hardly growing, it is never too early. I used the stuff on my belly every morning and every night and now I have no stretch marks after two kids. Remember, stretch marks are not visible so much during the pregnancy. It is not until after you give birth that they become noticeable. So just because you don’t see them, don’t stop lotioning up. These are not things you want sneaking up on you.
If you haven’t started already, you will start having cravings around this time. Indulging a little here and there is not bad, even if a lot of it is junk food. Just don’t over do it, and you won’t have to worry about weight, or baby’s health. Most cravings are pretty harmless in themselves. Unless you are having pica cravings, don’t worry about them.
I hope you pregnancy is going well, and is as mild as possible. This wraps up our Week 7 edition. Check back next Monday for my newest pregnancy update.
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40 Weeks of Pregnancy – Week 6

Another Monday, and another installment of the pregnancy edition. If you are new, every week I am posting another week’s information on pregnancy. If you want to catch up, scroll to the bottom and click on previous articles. Otherwise, here is…
Week 6
The baby is growing! And pressing down on your bladder making you want to pee every five minutes or less. Really, it is not that bad. It is not going to go away until after birth, but you will get used to it.
If you haven’t started already, you will start getting emotional. I was pretty emotional to begin with, so this was just me in over-hyper-super drive. I liked to think of it as a purging. I got to cry out twenty five years worth of everything. Every chance I got. And Hubby got to pretend I was PMSing for nine months straight. Win win. No?
At this point you want to start assessing your diet, and make sure you are eating healthy. Also make sure you are not eating for two. Because, really, the little bean sprout growing inside of you only requires an extra 150 calories per day. Which is less than most granola bars. You can look into some light exercise. If you were pretty active before, you can continue being pretty active now. If you were a couch potato, now is not the time to start training for a marathon. Do some light walking for twenty to thirty minutes a day. You can also look into some yoga. I heard it is great. I didn’t get into yoga until recently, so I have no idea what yoga while pregnant feels like. But I am sure it is fine.
Your hormone levels are spiking so morning sickness may increase right about now. It should go back down in a couple of weeks.
In other news, it is super early, but if you are a planner like me, you want to start considering different types of birthing plans. Do your research, talk to you doctor, and see what is best for you. You may already know, and have done your homework before you even got pregnant. Now would be a good time to look into it to make sure it is still the path you want to follow.
 With that, I leave you for this week’s installment.
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40 Weeks of Pregnancy – Week 5

Moving forward with our Monday pregnancy updates, we left off with Week 4 last time, so…
Week 5
The first thing you may start noticing at this stage is your breasts. They will start getting bigger. Which for some, is one of the perks of pregnancy. But unfortunately they may also start to feel sore. By the way, this is absolutely the worst time to check for breast cancer, as your breasts will start developing all sorts of bumps that will most likely last until after you are done breast feeding. This is assuming you will breast feed. If not, then the bumps will go away shortly after you give birth. Again, every pregnancy is different. I did not experience the same magnitude of bumps or discomfort with Ducky. Either my body was used to being pregnant, or my hormones were different. Or both. Either way, I wasn’t in as much pain. But unfortunately my breasts didn’t increase in size as much either.
This is the week when a home pregnancy test works best, so if you take enough of them you will be sure without a doubt. Unless you have been pregnant before, in which case, you don’t need a test to tell you what you already know. If you haven’t already, schedule a doctor’s appointment.
During the next few weeks miscarriagebecomes a scary thought for a lot of women. And yes, a quarter of pregnancies end in miscarriage, but I urge you to look into the subject, and speak with your doctor, because those numbers are very skewed. There are circumstances which lead to miscarriage, and you may not have anything to worry about.
Right about now your doctor is going to start with the blood tests. If this is your first pregnancy, it is going to seem like you are a pin cushion. If this is not your first pregnancy, you will be more used to it, and also they will be able to use some of the tests from the first one, so it makes things a little easier. I loved the blood tests because they let me know what is going on with my baby and my body. Through blood tests they found I had mild pre-eclampsia with Munchie (and we were able to make the adjustments necessary to carry full term), and it was through blood tests that I found Ducky drained me of all my nutrients and I had become anemic. Again, good to know so I can take some preventive measures.
At this point, your body is constantly changing (and it will for the next 35 weeks), so just enjoy the feeling the best you can. It may be wonderful and you want to relish. It may be horrible, and in that case, I say this again, it is temporary. It will end, so just focus on the good and think of your bundle of joy/prize at the end.
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