Week 4

~~Amanda

End of Week 4 Status:

Weight: 136lbs

Estimated Baby Size: Sesame Seed

Well, it's officially week five today, so I thought I would recap the first week of expectant parenthood, Week 4:

A majority of new parents decide not to tell their family and friends until they are past the first trimester. While I can understand the reasoning behind it--the greater risk for miscarriage in the first three months--it's not my style. If I were to have a miscarriage I would be devastated, and would want the support and understanding of my close friends and family. I also don't like the idea of giving into that kind of fear. Expect the best unless you have reason not to. As for those unfortunate ones of us who get morning sickness, hiding the real cause for our condition may simply worry everyone if they don't know what's happening.

So, once the initial fun of telling family and friends was over, by day 2 of week 4 ( Jan. 23rd, 2009) I became very anxious and overwhelmed. I began to analyze my every action and how it may impact the baby. I went out and bought a book "What to Expect When You're Expecting," which really only seemed to perpetuate my fears. I started to worry about the baby, whether or not my diet was sufficient, whether exercising would effect the pregnancy, and so on. After a day or two of nerves, some good advice from friends, and embracing the reality of the situation, I managed to relax

Around 6pm on day 2 the nausea hit me. I felt gruesomely ill, hot flashes, accompanied by a chill sweat and dry heaving. I won't go into all the grisly details, but lets just say I ended up sitting on the toilet not leaning over it. This particular side effect seemed only to affect me for that one evening, thank goodness! However, the nausea continued for day 3 and less severely on day 4. It generally felt like my body was rebooting its digestive system to adapt to the many hormone changes and new hardware being installed. Digestive problems, whether accompanied by full out nausea or not, are very common in the first trimester. By day 5 I reclaimed some normalcy, and didn't feel apparently pregnant at all. I would have been concerned by this, but I had checked out a video blog of a girl who had actually delivered her healthy baby a few months ago, and she had almost the exact same experience. She had nausea around week 5 for a couple of days and then she was fortunate enough to have it dwindle away.

Days 6 and 7 were the same as day 5, with everything seeming normal except for some fatigue which I had been experiencing since day 1. Andy and I spent these last few days searching for new places to live. We contacted our friend's mother who is a realtor, and she is going to start showing us places starting this Saturday! We know all will be well in that category of our lives, some way or another. Well that's pretty much it for Week 4!