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Baby is a: Naval Orange
Weight gained: 0 lb
Total Weight gained: 4 lbs
15 Weeks Pregnant Symptoms: With my growing belly, comes just the weird aches and pains. I had a lot of hip pain throughout my first pregnancy and it is just starting with this one. Hopefully it won’t be as bad. I’m also having to pee all the time!
Cravings: Sugar J I absolutely had to have an Hot Fudge Ice Cream Sundae. With my increased sugar cravings, I am making a conscious effort to try to up protein. My favorites are eggs in the morning, yogurt at lunch and Mexican style dinners because, well, Mexican food can definitely be classified as a craving this week. I have also been trying to pick healthier sugar options like fruit instead of ice cream, most of the time…
Aversions: No meat. No fish. And still not super excited about cooked veggies.
Sleep: I had a lot of catching up to do on work because during the first part of the week, everyone in our house was sick with the stomach bug. I have been falling asleep when putting L down for her naps and also when I put her down for her bedtime at 6:30pm. I usually wake up at like 9:30 pm not realizing what had happened and then finally figuring out that I fell asleep. I then get my work done until 11:30 pm and head back to bed.
Excited for: Being one week further along. I am really glad that I’m out of the first trimester, but there is always this worry in the back of my mind that something could go wrong. Now that we have told the world, I just always feel more secure as I get further along. Every week has its challenges and every week brings me one week closer to meeting baby, so I am always excited that I have accomplished another week.
Missing: Easy naps, L is going through the 18 month sleep regression. If this is your first pregnancy, you might not realize how important it is to learn about infant sleep. Sleep is going to become such a big part of your life once baby arrives. If you are planning on getting started on decorating and prepping that nursery soon like I am (because it is so fun), make sure you consider their sleep environment, the very first step to promoting good sleep.
Movement: Not yet but hoping it is soon! Feeling L move was seriously my favorite part of pregnancy and can’t wait to feel baby kicks again!
Dr. Update: Had a check-up. Nothing too terribly exciting at 15 weeks pregnant. No blood draw this week, yay! We talked about the upcoming 20-week ultrasound and scheduled that. We also discussed an optional screening that we could do to check for spina bifida called an alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test. Basically, it looks for a hormone that is raised which indicates an increased risk of the baby having spina bifida. If this test comes back positive then the type of 20 week ultrasound would be different. I would go for a level-2 ultrasound and it would be conducted by a high risk doctor. Most spina bifida cases are caused by not having enough folic acid in those first weeks of pregnancy. Like with L, I began taking prenatals months before getting pregnant to ensure I was getting adequate levels of folic acid, calcium, and DHA, among other nutrients and vitamins. Due to the low risk, and the rather high rate of false positives (5%) which would lead to unnecessary anxiety, we decided against this optional test.
L, like usual, was not a fan of the doctor’s office. I think she is convinced that they are giving me shots when they take my blood pressure, she just falls apart every time.
Exercise: Not with being sick this week.
Stretch Marks: No
Swelling: No
Maternity Clothing: Still only wearing my (all-time favorite) maternity jeans from Stitch Fix and my bigger, long tank tops under my shirts. I also have had to phase out my “smaller” shirts just because they don’t sit right. I think I have about another month before I am switching to maternity shirts. My go-to shirts have been my new ones from Stitch Fix, which my stylist picked out with my growing belly in mind. I love them because they aren’t maternity shirts and are super flattering.
Labor Signs: No
Wedding Rings On: Yes
Belly Button In or Out: In
How I’m Preparing: Now that we know the gender, we only have to pick one name, so we have started the process of trying to find one. This week we did not have much luck at all. The longest we liked a name was less than 24 hours. We would be like “oh yes, that one is perfect.” And by the end of the day, we would both hate it. At only 15 weeks pregnant, I know we will have time to find one but it is always worrisome when you have absolutely no leads. We have found a few where we like the name but it is too close to L’s name, or we like the name but hate the nicknames. Such a struggle.
We also decided that like with L, we won’t share the name until she is born. I think it makes it that much more exciting to announce the birth of your child with a name. Also then, it is all positive and people don’t share their negative thoughts about the name you picked. You already named the baby and they are just so excited to meet the new little one.
Best Moment of the Week: We shared with family the gender of baby. It was fun because L can only say girl, and not boy, so she would reply to the question of “boy or girl?” with “girl”. We also sent out a picture of L with her “It’s a baby girl” stuffed animal bear and her new big sister shirt. We also asked everyone what they thought we are having because it was more fun to hear their guesses. Kind of funny but most of the men have guessed girl and most of the women have guessed boy.
"High five I'm getting a little sister!"
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