13 Weeks: How's Mommy Doin'?

I don't have any ultrasound pictures or amazing baby videos to share this week, so I thought you may like to know how I'm doing. This blog, afterall, used to be about me. (Yes, I know. Few things in life will be about me ever again.)

Well, I happen to be doing great. This pregnany has been very kind to me. I'm one week away from the second trimester, and it just couldn't be going any better. I haven't had many pregnancy symptoms. Not one stitch of nausea. I know what you might be thinking because I heard it all the time with my other two pregnancies. It's good to be sick when you're pregnant. First of all, I can't help it that I'm not sick. Second of all, you don't have to be sick to have a healthy baby. Sensitivity to hormones is what causes morning sickness, but I didn't lose my other two babies because of hormone deficiencies. So, in a nutshell, I'm never nauseous. I haven't thrown up. All I ever want to do is eat. Thus, I've gained more weight than I should have up to this point. We can talk about that later, though (or not). I do exercise to try to combat that, from twice a week ( I know, that's pathetic) up to five times a week. That includes swimming, walking my dog, or exercise DVDs (Walk Away the Pounds).

Nausea and vomiting are not the only pregnancy symptoms, of course.

• breast tenderness - check!
• constipation - check! check!
• fatigue - check!
• thinking I should get whatever I want whenever I want it - check!
• peeing every 30 minutes and two or three times a night - check! check! check!
• pregnancy glow - check! (or so I've been told)
• the sense of smell of a blood hound - check!

I'm still taking two Heparin injections a day and one 81mg aspirin a day to prevent a miscarriage related to Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome. Up to this posting, I have given myself 149 injections in the belly since conception. I will continue this regime until I am 36 weeks pregnant. During the first few weeks, my belly was very bruised and sore. So sore, in fact, that I wondered how I would be able to continue, despite my iron will, throughout the entire pregnancy. After about six or eight weeks, however, the bruising diminished and the soreness subsided. When I rub my fingers across my belly, I can feel several knots at the injection sites, and it is still a little sore. No big deal, though. It's nothing I can't handle. Every shot has been more than worth it.

Emotionally? I'm good there, too. I'm not worried about the baby anymore. I do think I overestimated myself when I decided I could go four weeks between appointments, though. It's only been 1 week 2 days since my last appointment, and I already feel like I really need to go in for a heart beat check. I am going to a regular doctor to get my ear checked (swimmer's ear, I think) on April 12th. I'm thinking he will probably have a doppler so we can check for a heartbeat. That should make me feel better. I just keep telling myself that normal people only get their baby's heartrate checked every four weeks. For me, though, that just seems nuts!

Thanks for reading!