Bigger heart

Week 7, Day 1

So my baby has caught up and is now running the race at 133 bpm, and is 10.1 mm long (crown to rump length)! We are so happy! My ob-gyne seems very happy with the results, too, and has proceeded to issue me the following:

• A baby book to track my check-ups
• Novena to St. Raymond Nonnatus, Patron Saint of Childbirth, Expectant Mothers, and Babies
• Prescription for pre-natal vitamins (Omega +3, folic acid, pre-natal vitamins and pre-natal milk) 
• Referral for lab work-ups

 I was lucky, too, as St. Luke's Medical Center just launched a Pre-Natal care package - a lump sum fee which includes 10 lab tests (those usually required for expectant mothers), and discount vouchers from Chicco - that same day, and I was the first to avail of it.

I will be going back to the doctor in a week to show her my lab results. Looks like everything is full steam ahead! Praying for the continuous health of the baby growing inside of me, and for a safe pregnancy.

I'm so excited! I'm going to be a mama!

That's not yet the baby bump

Week 6, Day 5

This is crazy. I'm barely halfway through my first trimester and I feel like I'm already puffed up beyond my ideal pregnancy weight. Judging from the below symptoms, I think it's safe to expect that I will be unrecognizable after a few months:

• I'm sluggish all the time, snoozing for more than 10 hours a day; 
• My ob-gyne has advised against any exercise (even yoga) for now, since we are still monitoring the pregnancy's viability; 
• Thus, my only exercise is walking from the bed to the toilet, and that's barely 2 meters apart;
• As for my food intake, after avoiding complex carbs for the past few years, I now have a never-ending love for white rice and anything fried, which is bad because. . .
• . . .whenever I feel nauseous, I try to cover it up by stuffing my face with food, which is REALLY bad because. . .
• . . .I feel nauseous ALL. THE. TIME.
• I don't necessarily puke everything out, but after having a hearty lunch, that's when I am usually hit by a wave of "afternoon sickness," and I proceed to hug the toilet like it's my best friend;
• After puking, I sleep some more (which is better than eating some more, I guess); 
• And did I mention that I want to eat white rice all the frickin' time?

I'm getting a bit softer around the edges: my jawline is disappearing, my belly is protruding (Sadly, it's the fat from all the food I've been eating. I'm barely 2 months in, I'm not supposed to be showing yet!), my boobs are ginormous (They were already big enough to begin with! That's not a good thing!), and I have fat feet!!! Huhuhu. My changing body shape means that I'm having a hard time choosing what to wear in the mornings, since I can barely fit into my jeans and shirts anymore (I think this encourages me to further burrow into my bed covers, in my comfortable pajamas).

I feel a bit sorry for my husband, too, since he is taking the brunt of my mood swings and bouts of laziness. Aside from slowly adjusting to the fact that I am alternately happy-sad-angry-forlorn-irritable-giddy at any given time, he has now learned to wash the dishes (that used to be my task), he takes out the garbage EVERYDAY (I can't stand the smell), and he gives me frequent hugs, kisses, and assurance that "You're not fat, you're beautiful!" while I loll around the bed at 1 in the afternoon.

Aside from the paternal pleasure he gets from the idea that he is about to become a first-time dad, I think he is also secretly pleased that he can go out at night while I am passed out on the bed (conked out the moment I come home from work, which is usually 6 or 7 p.m.). At this point, we haven't told our friends yet that we are expecting, so he has to field questions on my whereabouts with answers like: "She's tired from work," or "She has an early work-thing tomorrow morning," or simply "She's not feeling well." Since I'm the introvert in the group, I don't think anyone's all that surprised that I'm not present in gatherings. Hahaha.

We have only told my parents, my husband's mom, my siblings, and my grand-uncle (lolo) and grand-aunt (lola), who are both doctors. Lola Norma has proceeded to advise me to EAT: now is not the time to worry about getting fat; I should just eat whenever I feel like it, for my sake and for the baby's sake (see bullet #5 above). So when the time comes that we decide to announce it to our close friends and family, I will make sure that I am wearing something loose, and prohibit any curious belly-touching. I don't think I can stand saying to well-wishers that "Sorry, that's not yet the baby bump, that's just belly FAT."

Little heart

Week 6, Day 2

It's official! I'm preggers. 

My period has been delayed for more than 2 weeks now. I knew I was pregnant even before taking the one-step pregnancy test (i.e. before peeing on a stick), since my period is very regular, and I can count on its punctuality as easily as counting 1 through 28. The pregnancy test was more of a formality really, since I could also feel my body changing with the usual pregnancy symptoms: breast tenderness, fatigue and nausea.

I had my first Ob-Gyne visit yesterday - a doctor recommended to me by my dermatologist, who is also a young mother - just so I could get a pre-natal check-up, make sure everything is ok, and to get advice on what to do next and what vitamins to take.

She confirmed how far along I was (6 weeks, 1 day), prescribed some folic acid, and sent me off to the Women's Health Center for a TVS (transvaginal ultrasound). The Ob-Gyne Sonologist assured me that a TVS is still allowable in the first trimester - I always thought that you get those external ultrasounds on the belly, when you're pregnant.


The Ultrasound

She pointed out the baby to me: a little sesame seed-sized bugger in my uterus. ♥ Everything seems normal, she said:

• The crown rump length was 0.35 centimeters, equivalent to 6 weeks
• Normal ovaries
• No sub-chorionic hemorrhage 

But she pointed out that the heart rate (the little sesame seed has a heart already! Awww!) is slow at 95 beats per minute. :(  Then she assured me by saying that it's normal to have a heart rate below 100 at this stage. But I wasn't assured at all.

I proceeded to scour to internet for any information regarding "normal fetal heart rate - weekly"  and found the following:

• Week 5 starts at 80 and ends at 103 bpm
  
• Week 6 starts at 103 and ends at 126 bpm
  
• Week 7 starts at 126 and ends at 149 bpm
  
• Week 8 starts at 149 and ends at 172 bpm
  

My baby's bpm was 8 beats slower than normal. :( And when I went to the Ob-Gyne the next day to show her the results, she confirmed that she would have liked the heart rate to be at least 110 bpm. She didn't want to give me false hope, or give me negative vibes altogether, so she prescribed for me to take progesterone (nutrients for the baby), and instructed me to think positive.

Maybe my baby is just like me: slow at the start, but becomes a veritable powerhouse once warmed up. :) Hoping for the baby to have a faster heart rate (126 bpm and above, please) when I go back for another TVS next week. ♥