We've officially reached the second trimester with Trap baby #2, so I thought I'd write a post about the first trimester. I'm so glad I'll get to record more about this baby than with Brady because I was limited to Facebook back then. Who says the first baby gets everything? Not us! We plan to record the same type of things (3d/4d ultrasounds and belly pics) that we did with Brady for all of our kids. I'm an avid scrapbooker, so it would literally kill me not to have any pictures to put in them, so there will certainly be just as many pictures of this baby as there was with Brady. Especially, when they change so much every day in the beginning.
There is some debate on when the first trimester ends, with some sources saying 12, 13, or even 14 weeks being the end. I figure if you break each trimester equally, they'd be a little over 13 weeks apiece, so I feel the first trimester ends at 13 weeks. Most say the first trimester is the roughest because most suffer from morning sickness, plus the risk of miscarriage is at its highest. I was very fortunate to never be sick with Brady, and the only difference this time is that I had no appetite. That turned out to be a double edged sword, because I am normally oversensitive to an empty stomach. That meant every time my stomach got very empty, I started to feel pretty yucky. The moment I ate something, I was back to normal. Fortunately, my appetite has returned, so it's not a hardship to eat something to keep from feeling yucky. There are times when I go too long without eating, like when I'm out shopping or running errands, and I have to stop what I'm doing and find something to eat.
The lack of appetite has been helpful in terms of weight control. With Brady, I gained a total of 52lbs and have no intention of coming anywhere close to that this time. My goal is 30lbs (recommended is between 25-35lbs), which would keep me under 200lbs. With Brady, I gained 4lbs in the first trimester and this time have only gained 2lbs. I get weighed again at the end of the month at my next appointment. I had planned on starting this pregnancy about 15lbs lighter than where I started with Brady, but living in Germany killed that, so I started 5lbs heavier, which is why it's all the more important I don't gain as much weight (it took me 16 months to drop all of Brady's baby weight).
An exciting thing is that second time moms tend to feel their babies move sooner than their first because they know what to look out for. Last night, I felt this baby move for the first time. From the ultrasound, I could tell it's just as wiggly and energetic as Brady was (and still is). I was 14.5 weeks last night when I felt it and with Brady, I was exactly 16 weeks (although not consistently until 19 weeks).
One of the things I did while pregnant with Brady was take belly shots throughout. I think it will be fun to compare this pregnancy's belly with Brady's. They say you show sooner with second, third, fourth, etc pregnancies and I feel like that's true with me. Most women show by the end of their first trimester and with Brady I didn't really show until 24 weeks, and even after that people wouldn't recognize I was pregnant. I have had to start wearing a few items of maternity clothes (which has been difficult since most are still in storage). I'm in that "in-between" stage of showing and not showing. I call it the "fat" stage. It's a hump I am very eager to get over. I definitely look more pregnant than fat when wearing maternity clothes, so that helps.
Most people choose not to bare their bellies when they take belly shots. I feel that you get a more accurate progression without clothes in the way since you'd have to wear skin-tight shirts to get a good bump. Below are the belly pics from the first trimester.
9 weeks
13 weeks
(compared to Brady, I looked this big between 14 and 20 weeks, so definitely getting bigger faster this time)
A progression picture from 9 to 13 weeks
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