Second trimester brings relief
For all of you women suffering through the first trimester of your pregnancy, hang in there. It gets better. A lot better.
I suppose I should warn you. Every woman’s different and I have heard stories of women who don’t feel well throughout their entire pregnancies. Usually, however, relief comes after those first 12 weeks.
My first trimester was filled with ups and downs. The excitement was overwhelming. But so was the fatigue. I daydreamed about taking naps, and did so whenever possible. After work, I headed right for the couch, where I remained for many nights. Bed time kept getting earlier and earlier.
And the hunger — it came on so suddenly and urgently. And if you don’t do something about it, that’s when “morning sickness” strikes. Let’s just say I’m glad Arby’s serves lunch by 10:30 a.m.
By the second trimester, though, things began to look up. My energy was back. I suddenly wanted to cook again after work and even run the vacuum occasionally.
And although eating is still never far from my mind, the intensity of my hunger has subsided, and so have the trips to Arby’s.
For me, this also was about the time I decided to share my secret with the rest of the world. Our families knew, but we had not yet told a lot of our friends or coworkers. This has to be one of the highlights of pregnancy. It really brings out something special in people. Especially other parents. Almost always they share some story they have about the birth of their child or parenthood in general, and sometimes you see a side of people you’ve never seen before.
Here are just a few of the comments I have heard lately:
Sally Rowe, our KPC librarian, shared with me that her adopted daughter was born six weeks early, leaving her and her husband to come up with her name in one night! Once they got her, Sally was so nervous about giving her a bath that she asked her friend to come over and do it for her. What a good friend.
Our Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly Publisher Rob Kaiser says that while living in Chicago, the city’s marathon was planned the week his wife was due. So, being the prepared expectant parents they were, they had an alternate route to the hospital mapped out. Luckily, Rob’s wife ended up going into labor before the marathon, so it wasn’t an issue. Unfortunately though, their gas tank was empty that day and they had to stop for a fill-up on the way to the hospital!
A word of wisdom that our Family editor, Grace Housholder, shared with me recently was something her mom told her. She said that Dr. Spock, known for writing the immensely popular baby care book “Baby and Child Care,” once said that “You have a pretty tough baby. … He can care for himself pretty well for a person who can’t say a word and knows nothing about the world.” With so much information out there on keeping your baby out of harm — and some of it contradictory — that sentence is very comforting.
So ladies, I hope that your second trimester is as good as mine. And for now, remember, Arby’s serves lunch by 10:30 a.m.
The excitement of expecting
“Pregnant.”
The word was so clear on the pregnancy test, even though I was so sure I wasn’t. There were no ambiguous plus or minus signs. Nope. The tests are digital now, so it was clear. It said pregnant.
I was stunned. Although it’s exactly what we wanted and had even been plotting for the last several months, I just couldn’t believe it. I’m nearly 30, have a great marriage, a career, did everything I wanted to do before settling down for good, so why couldn’t I believe it?
After letting it sink in for a second, I started to think about how I could tell my husband. I’d always thought that would be even more fun than finding out myself. Maybe I would wait until we were out to dinner and then we’d celebrate, I thought. But two seconds later I decided I couldn’t keep this secret any longer.
Meanwhile, my husband was sitting on the couch playing PlayStation. OK, if you’re thinking this doesn’t sound like a mature father-to-be, know that he works very hard at his day job, often does freelance work at night, and is a great husband in every way. So sometimes he finds a little R&R in NFL 2006, or whatever it’s called.
At this point I was shaking, and a little teary-eyed. So, instead of trying to talk I held the stick directly in front of his eyes.
I stared at him, waiting for his moment of shock, but after a long pause, he finally spoke. “Uh, what exactly am I looking at here?” I say, “Read what it says,” pointing to the screen.
And then I don’t even remember what we said next. I know he stopped his game. And we didn’t really know what to say. I think our mouths were hanging open and we just kinda stared at each other. Then we started to think about what kind of timing this all would mean. March, we figured, would be when the baby was due.
The following month was filled with all kinds of exciting moments that I had always looked forward to. We sprung it on my parents by nonchalantly showing them a book I recently bought, entitled “I’m Pregnant!” We had his parents each open up their own bib, reading “I Love Grandma” and “I Love Grandpa.” We even bought a crib and changing table that we fell in love with.
But somehow I couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t real or maybe I was getting my hopes up for something that wouldn’t work out. We thought maybe once we go to the doctor, she’ll confirm it and then we would really believe it. However, one of the many new things I had learned was that a doctor doesn’t see you until you’re 12 weeks along. 12 weeks! That’s three months!
Eight long weeks later we finally were at our doctor’s appointment. After all the routine medical history questions and checkup, the doctor held something called a Doppler to my abdomen. By the time I turned to my husband, she had already found the heartbeat. It was beating so fast and sounded so clear. one hundred seventy beats per minute. Normal, she said. It was really amazing. The first real sign of life. I was so glad my husband was there to hear it with me.
So, maybe it took us awhile, but now we’ve finally come to believe it. We’re having a baby!
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