Months Three and Four of Pregnancy – The Silver Lining

After an excruciating month two of pregnancy, months three and four were like a walk in the park.

There were times that I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life two months pregnant in the fetal position. I spent days on top of days laying in bed or on the couch watching cartoons with Moanna because I could do nothing else. Every now and then we would get dressed and venture out into the world in search of food and other humans to look at. Finally the clouds parted.

I knew things were looking up when I started having cravings. Of course I wasn’t craving anything remotely healthy , but I was craving something, and anything was an improvement over hating food. Unfortunately, I was still having aversions to my kitchen. I would walk into my kitchen hungry, and immediately have to leave because just looking at my kitchen fired up my gag reflexes. Instead, I craved things from restaurants, things that cost more money and require no prep or clean up. I wanted things like pizza, soup, fried things, sandwiches. I would kill a man for a good turkey sandwich right now. Why does something delicious, healthy and  basic have to be off limits to pregnant women?

Since we’re on the topic of nutrition, I have a few things to say. All the books, doctors, forums etc say that pregnant women need to eat this, this and this and need to avoid this, this and this. If you do not follow these rules, your child will not be an honor student and you are on your way to winning “Worst Parent of the Year.” Who in their first weeks and months of pregnancy (which is the most crucial time for growing a prodigal child) wants to eat green leafy vegetables, six cups of fruit, and lentils? And who can get down those huge prenatal vitamins? And if you can get them down, can you keep them down? I’m sure that it is ideal to eat a healthy balanced diet and to swallow the biggest vitamins on the market, but let’s be honest. Is your child really going to suffer if you don’t follow the pregnant woman’s food pyramid? Are all of these rules really worth scaring the crap out of expectant mothers? I think if you are eating something, anything in your first few months of pregnancy, then you’re baby is going to be just fine. When you can choke down a salad, it’s a bonus, but if chicken tenders, baked potatoes and greasy pizza spark your appetite, then go with it. There are a million things for mothers to feel guilty about, what you’re eating when everything you look at makes you want to gag shouldn’t be one of them.

With that being said, during my third month of pregnancy, I ate what I wanted. If it was pizza (again), I ate it. If it was a chicken salad sandwich (again), I ate it. If it was ice cream and candy (again), I ate it. I was just thankful that I wanted to eat period.

After my appetite improved so did my energy level. By no means was  I scrubbing the floors, dusting the book shelves or organizing the bathroom cabinets (ahem, those things are still on my to-do list from January). I was able to get out of bed in a timely fashion, do laundry, make some type of food, pick up the clutter and I even started to shower on a more regular basis. After a few hours of activity, I was in desperate need of a nap. I would put Moanna on the bed or couch with me, and she would watch movies while I slept off and on. Then we would venture into the kitchen and attempt to cook dinner. Most nights Moanna would look at me after several minutes of staring at the pantry and go, “We should just go out to eat. It’s so much easier on you.” Sometimes I would agree and we’d go out for dinner, and other times we’d suffer together waiting on the water to boil or the microwave to ding.

Once I started feeling better, I would find myself forgetting that I was pregnant. That probably makes me sound like a terrible mother, so let me explain. With Moanna, I knew I was pregnant every second of every day. It was on mind all of  the time. I talked to Moanna all the time. Nearly ever decision I made was directly based on the fact that I was pregnant. This time, my pregnancy has not been on my mind quite as much. Perhaps it’s more second nature to me this time around. My pregnancy isn’t on my mind all the time because I intuitively know what decisions I need to make for my growing baby. Perhaps it’s the beginning of the phenomenon where second, third, forth and so on children do not have their picture taken every five seconds, and they do not have every move and milestone recorded. Poor subsequent children. Maybe I’m not able to focus all of my attention on Deuce because I have a Moanna and home to take care of. Enter the guilt and fears of raising more than one child.

I’m sure my pregnancy amnesia also has to do with the fact that I started forgetting everything, not just pregnancy. I go through phases where my short term memory is worse than a 98 year old, or a fish. Let’s go with a fish so that I don’t get nasty emails about me bashing the old folks. Most old folks can give me a serious run for my money; I marvel at their energy level and wisdom. Sometimes my memory gets really bad, and when you add the hormones that turn your brain off during pregnancy (I think they’re the same hormones that are responsible for making sure you don’t remember the bad things of pregnancy and labor too clearly – if you buy into that), poor sleep and the fact that I’m not eating the foods to raise a genius, it is bad. A lot of people talk about how they walk into the kitchen for something and forget why. I would already be in the kitchen and think, “I need to get milk out of the fridge” and before I even had the door open I would forget and start unloading the dishwasher. After a few minutes I would hear Moanna go, “Hello! Weren’t you going to get me more milk.” If only she could remind me of the five million other things that I have forgotten in recent weeks.

Everyone, let’s have a moment of silence for the first trimester being over… Moment complete. Now, let’s have a victory dance that the first trimester is over… keep dancing… keep going… a little more wiggle and shake… OK dance complete.

This Wednesday, I will be 16 weeks pregnant. I can’t believe it’s going by so fast (although some days lasted an eternity). Now that I’m holding my jeans closed with Silly Bandz, it’s time to start documenting Deuce’s progress and how often I pee a little when I sneeze on a more regular basis. Brace yourself for play-by-plays of pregnancy; my writer’s urge to document every embarrassing detail is kicking in.

PS. This picture of Moanna has zero to do with this post, but I still haven’t started photographing the bump (it will come soon). Plus, look how cute she is pretending to sleep on the table. That’s the real reason for the picture.

Month 2
Month 1
We’re Having a Baby!

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