17 + 18 Weeks Pregnant

Last week, I had to take my computer with a very-dead battery to the Apple store, so I skipped posting and figured I’d catch up this week. The last couple weeks have been similar and also I had doctor appointments during the 18th week, so it made sense. Let’s get to it.

Previous Updates

I’m Pregnant! + The First Trimester

14 Weeks Pregnant

15 Weeks Pregnant

16 Weeks Pregnant

At 17 weeks pregnant, baby girl is supposedly the length of a sweet potato and at 18 weeks pregnant, a mango.

Symptoms

Every time I tell someone the nausea is getting better, I seem to jinx myself and then have a really blah day (or three) after that. So, I’m not going to tell you it’s getting better because I’d like to feel good tomorrow morning.

Constipation is still very much a thing. At the moment, it seems that if I take aloe water, senna, and a stupid amount of magnesium, I’m good. But again, not going to jinx it.

I have to pee all the freaking time.

I can’t stand the smell of my hands. Every time I take a drink or do anything else that puts my hands within six inches of my nose, I am briefly disgusted. I made Jack smell them and he thinks I’m crazy (in the most loving way). I have frantically scrubbed my hands with grapefruit- and lavender-scented soaps. Nothing helps.

The pregnancy brain thing is still happening. It’s most noticeable to me, I think, though Jack or my parents notice it sometimes.

I’m still sleeping a lot, with naps whenever I can get them, but the last couple weeks extra sleep has mostly looked like passing out shortly after dinner because I keep myself busy till then. My energy level is pretty good until I sit down.

I am up about 6-8 pounds from my pre-baby weight and have a little bump.

Like, the pants that normally fit my waist don’t fit my waist (comfortably), but the one pair of shorts I have that’s usually a couple inches too big in my waist still has an inch or so of room. When those shorts were in the wash this weekend, I ran an errand in maternity shorts and they were so big I had to keep pulling them up and couldn’t put my phone in my pocket because they’d fall down. The limiting factor on shirts is still my chest, not my stomach.

Some day I’ll get Jack to take another decent bump pic, but that day didn’t happen this week.

Food

My diet is still pretty much my normal. In addition to a few meals out, dinners looked like:

• Dan dan noodles (plus zucchini)
• Sheet pan chicken pitas (plus broccoli) with homemade naan
• Spicy basil chicken curry (plus green beans)
• Salmon fajitas (plus chips and guac)
• Tomato pie (plus asparagus)
• BLTs
• One-pot chicken cabbage bowls with sesame ginger broth

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My grandparents gave me a ton of delicious produce from their garden two weekends ago, so I’ve added extra veggies to most of those. I love having the extra produce and can’t wait till we establish our gardens in the next few years.

When I’m feeling extra sick in the morning, I graze on blueberries or watermelon, and I occasionally need a spoonful of peanut butter or some avocado toast to tide me over till lunch. And I usually have some pre-dinner skyr or fruit or some of my grandma’s zucchini bread (she gave me more!).

Exercise

I’m continuing to follow the Expecting and Empowered pregnancy guide, so that covers three of my workouts a week. I also squeezed in a shorter, more intense lift over the weekend and a few runs and walks with the dogs..

It’s been gross and rainy a few days, and I tend to skip walking with the boys on those days, but we’ve walked or walked and ran a little every other day lately. I got a glimpse of fall a few days ago when the morning was almost chilly, and we wandered around the park for just over an hour because the boys were having fun and it was so nice out. Most of last week it was a million degrees and humid and I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Does pregnancy make you more appealing to mosquitoes?

Stories

I cried about something or multiple somethings more days than not the last couple weeks. Usually the reasons are incredibly unimportant. I’ve been impossible and Jack is a saint for putting up with me.

We had a long and good ultrasound at a little over 18 weeks pregnant, where we confirmed that baby girl is a girl and checked out all her organs. She likes having her hands up around her face and is super active. The doctor said he was specifically looking for things to be wrong, but couldn’t find anything. That was pretty reassuring, and we’ll get her checked out again in about a month.