My Pregnancy Story

Month 1 – After going through IVF, Shane and I found out we
were pregnant on Valentine’s Day at 3.5 weeks.
I felt pretty normal during this time, or as normal as you feel while taking
progesterone and other injectibles that make you cramp and feel bloated.) Good
thing I got used to these 2 feelings, because they never really went away
throughout most of my pregnancy. My IVF story recaps up through 12 weeks, and
you can read more about the first few months here.

Month 2 – I could barely stay awake the second month. I was
so tired all the time. I would get home from work at 6:00 and fall asleep on
the couch in my work clothes by about 6:30. I literally felt like I could sleep
all the time. I’m glad to know that I used to get sleep at some point (says the
sleep deprived new mom.) = )

Month 3 – Just when I was told that it looked like I was in
the clear and probably wouldn’t have any morning sickness since I was already
11 weeks along, boom, morning sickness hit! About a week into it, a friend at
work gave me a tip to try a unisom and half a vitamin B6 at night. Oh my
goodness, it worked like a dream. They are both on the list of approved
medications that can be taken while pregnant. I took them both every night
until after week 15. I am not going to lie, I was scared to stop taking them to
learn that I still might have morning sickness, and then I would have to drag my butt
into work that morning feeling like a sick zombie. Thank goodness, the morning
sickness was gone when I stopped taking them! The unisom made me just a little groggy in the morning, but
it was much better than the morning sickness in my opinion. The morning
sickness made it hard to get out of bed, get a shower and even brush my teeth.
I felt nauseas constantly. These weeks are also when my appetite picked up.
Until then, I hadn’t had much of an appetite at all, but the morning sickness
made me feel like if I didn’t eat constantly I would get sick. I was also so
thirsty my entire pregnancy. I kept bottled water by my bed with me every night
and would usually go through 2. I also kept them with me all day long. During
these weeks, I would keep an apple by my bed too because I would usually get
hungry in the middle of the night, in the morning, in the afternoon and then
again at night. Basically I was hungry most all the time. I ate paleo before I
was pregnant so I was not used to eating breakfast or all the time – basically
I just ate when I was hungry and didn’t when I wasn’t. I was not used to being
famished all the time. I craved fruit my entire pregnancy and ate lots of it,
but around this time it got to where I could not survive on a snack of fruit
like I normally could. It just wasn’t doing anything for me. I was still
starving as I was eating it lol. It got to where I basically just ate whatever
I wanted or whatever was convenient. It got to where I would have to pack snacks with me if I knew I would be in long meetings most of the day or traveling.  I even packed snacks in my purse for when I was waiting at the doctor’s office for hours.  I wanted to continue to eat paleo, but
that just didn’t happen. I did still eat fairly healthy for the most part. Like
I said, I constantly craved fruit, but I have always been a big fruit lover.
There wasn’t really anything else that I craved. I can tell you that I did not
care for Mexican food while pregnant for some reason. This about killed Shane
since he could have eaten Mexican food every night lol. = )

Month 4 – I was feeling great this month, and it was
probably my favorite month.   I started to fell Leighton kick, and it was so exciting.  I still wore all my normal clothing and just sized up in
a couple of things. I had a lot of energy, and the morning sickness was gone. I
was on top of the world. I was finally cleared to start working out since they
are pretty cautious with IVF patients. But after not working out for the month
of injectibles and then first 3 months of my pregnancy, you can imagine how
motivated I was to workout when I hadn’t done anything very active in about 4
months. I just could not find the motivation to do much working out. I did go
for a few runs. My doctor said it was fine since I was such an avid runner
previously, but Shane was worried about it, so I cut that out too. And I have
never been much of a walker or one to do much in the gym. I like to be outdoors
– running or on my bike. Near the end of my pregnancy, I was honestly missing
running like crazy! I wish I would have worked out more when I could, but hey,
live and learn!

Month 5 – This is when I started to feel like I was finally
starting to show more. I still wore normal clothing. I bought my first pair of
maternity jeans at 5 months, but I didn’t wear them until 6 months. I tried to
just wear my normal clothing as long as I could. I obviously love fashion so I loved
getting to wear whatever I wanted, I wanted to feel like my normal self, and
buying all new clothing is just too expensive (especially to only wear it for a
few months.) At this point, I had only gained 6lbs and was pretty proud of
myself! I still felt pretty normal and great though!

Month 6 – This is when we decided to go to the beach to
celebrate my graduation with my masters. Not the best idea to go while 6 months
pregnant, but I can honestly say it was better than going at 8 or 9 months
pregnant. = ) I still had pretty good energy, but I could only stay outside in
the heat for a couple hours at a time and then had to go inside to take a
break. My stomach definitely started to pop a little more. I started wearing my
pair of maternity jeans, and I even bought a couple maternity dresses too. They
were definitely a good buy. I bought one pair of maternity skinny jeans, a
black maternity dress and a navy maternity dress, and they almost completely
carried me through my pregnancy. Jeans for casual Friday, and during the week I
would wear one of the dresses and mix and match them with a different jacket,
kimono, cardigan, accessory, etc.  This is also the month when Leighton flipped head down.  = )

Month 7 – Yep, this is where I really started gaining
weight. Since I hadn’t gained much yet, I expected it to still just climb
slowly, but I was wrong. It’s like I was making up for not gaining much the
past 6 months. As for smells, I wasn’t ever really sensitive to them, and
nothing seemed to really bother me. Leighton kicked a ton around this time, and
the kicks actually hurt sometimes. I would be at work, and they would startle
me. They weren’t those little butterfly flutters anymore. = ) I got used to
them though, and I was glad to know she was active and moving around in there.

Month 8 – Just when I boasted that I hadn’t had any
swelling, well hello feet and ankles (or should I say I was actually ankle less??)
My feet started swelling pretty badly one Friday and lasted for about a week.
After that, I didn’t have much swelling, so I can’t really complain with only a
week or two of swelling. I could tell my feet were a little bigger, but to
everyone else they looked pretty normal. They never really hurt though which
was nice. My hands started swelling a little too, and I freaked out when I
couldn’t get my wedding rings off one day. I tried over and over again that day
at work, went home and took a shower and finally got them off with the help of a
bar of soap. I was seriously worrying I would have to get them cut off lol.
This is the month when I felt like I got really huge. I was starting to get a
little uncomfortable, and it was getting a little harder to get around.

Month 9 – Since I obviously didn’t learn from the swelling,
I joked again how I hadn’t had any heartburn. Maybe I’ll learn next time. I had
actually never had heartburn before so I wasn’t quite sure if that was what I
was having at first. The first time, it was pretty bad and painful. I was up
all night and couldn’t fall asleep. The next time it hit a few days later, I
had learned that I could take tums. What a lifesaver! I was popping them like
candy at the first sign of heartburn, and it kept me from ever really getting
it again. I only had to do this a handful of times, so again, not too bad. As
uncomfortable as I thought I was the month before, it got worse. I was big. I
was uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable in the bed at night, on the couch, in
most any chair and even driving or riding in my own vehicle. Leighton did move
down a little bit though so I could breathe better, but my ribs and sides were
really starting to hurt. I had back pain basically the entire 9 months of my
pregnancy. Before I went in for my induction, I was dilated only 1cm (and the
doctor had to do that himself at one of my appointments.) Let’s just say it was
VERY painful. I was 50% effaced and very thinned out. He said without being
induced, I would not dilate on my own, so we were very hopeful that once I
started pitocin things would start to progress. All in alll, I gained 38lbs.  Much more than I wanted to gain, but there came a point where I said I was just going to do what I wanted and not stress about it so much, and I would be ready to workout afterwards.  = ) There you go – 9 months in just
9 paragraphs. I can’t believe how quickly it all flew by. I can definitely say
that I am SO happy that she is here now. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It
really seems like a dream. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and I can’t
believe this little miracle was in my belly for all those months. I will also
be posting my birth story within a few weeks. Until then, you can check out my
maternity pictures post here and more Leighton pictures on Instagram. = )