What happened when during your pregnancy?
November 10, 2004 10:37 AM   Subscribe

Pregnancy timelines. MeFi Moms: I'd love if you could give me a detailed timeline of your first pregnancy: when/how you knew you were pregnant before a test told you you were; when you started to show; when your behaviour changed (eating habits, sleeping habits, sexual appetite, whatever); when morning sickness came; what things shocked you about being pregnant; what did you expect to happen that didn't; what were your fears and when did they arrive; what quelled them; anything whatsoever you can tell me about your mental and physical self during those nine months. The more detailed or specific the better. Caveat: this is research for a personal, fiction piece. If it's something embarrassing, feel free to email me. Googling, all I can find is timeline for phoetus growth/development.
posted by dobbs to Health & Fitness (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
http://www.alittlepregnant.com/alittlepregnant/blogs.html

A whole lotta blogs with a whole lotta links with way too much info.


As for me, my first symptom was having to pee a lot. And I was very surprised to find out that one of the first things that started happening was an increase in my breast size.

Also one gets hypersensitive to smells.
posted by konolia at 10:58 AM on November 10, 2004


Pregnancy Magazine
posted by matteo at 11:37 AM on November 10, 2004


My first pregnancy (I'm in my second now), I would wake up feeling like I'd been drinking heavily - mildly queasy, really tired. I found out at 7 weeks after several mornings of this. I also got really tender breasts, sore enough that I couldn't sleep on my stomach. To combat the nausea I would have a big glass of chocolate milk before bed, and some dry toast as soon as I woke up - having something in my stomach at all times helped. I was never bothered by smells; I was constantly hungry. Ate a lot of salt and vinegar chips and drank a lot of milk.

I think I was pretty average: the queasiness went away at about 12 weeks. I was pretty fit so I didn't start showing (to others) until about 28-30 weeks, but I had a bump that my husband and I could feel from about 13 weeks. About then I also started having weird dreams - one that someone kidnapped my newborn baby, another that my husband left me for another woman and had babies with her that he liked better than mine, that sort of thing.

I was really excited and wanted to jump into maternity clothes pretty early just because I wanted people to notice that I was pregnant - one classmate told me that she thought I'd just gained weight and lost my taste in clothes, because I wore a lot of loose t-shirts and couldn't find any decent maternity clothes - I was about 33 weeks then. It was a really good experience for me (once the queasiness was gone) and I felt positive all the way through, even when the chronic indigestion kicked in at about 25 weeks and I was popping Tums five times a day.

The most exciting part was feeling the baby move. It started at about 18-20 weeks as tiny twitches, like when a muscle jumps, in my stomach. As the baby grew and took up all available space I could actually make out his foot, tucked up under my ribs on the left, and when I was relaxing at night he'd stretch or move and push against my ribs. It was uncomfortable but wonderful to know he was alive, and active.

Of course, by about 35 weeks I was desperate to give birth, not because I hated being pregnant but because I so wanted to meet my baby. But I went two weeks over my due date, so I was getting very frustrated and irritable by the end of it. I could only sit straight upright because of my huge baby pushing up against my diaphragm, and although I was still relatively small, my entire stomach was baby and he felt like he was all knees, elbows and feet. I could only sleep lying on my side, because obviously I was too big to sleep on my stomach, and it was too uncomfortable lying on my back. Relaxing completely was next to impossible. But I'd lie in bed with my stomach against my husband's back and we'd laugh whenever the baby kicked him.

One thing that surprised me was how I knew, absolutely, that he was a boy. I started referring to him as "he" at about 25 weeks and had to constantly remind myself that I didn't know for sure. Luckily I was right.
posted by tracicle at 11:40 AM on November 10, 2004


when/how you knew you were pregnant before a test told you you were

I didn't know I was pregnant. I'm so irregular, my period couldn't be used as a sign. At the time I was working in a grade school and most of the staff was suffering from colds, flu, and the almost spring break blahs. So I thought that was what was wrong.

But people kept coming up and asking if I was pregnant, which freaked me out. Then my aunt who hadn't seen me in five years asked the same thing upon seeing me again. So mostly to reassure myself that I wasn't, I used one of those EPT tests, and it came up positive. Later tests by the doctor confirmed that not only was I pregnant, but I was three months along.

when you started to show

At the end of my fourth month, into my fifth. I woke up one morning and couldn't button my jeans.

when your behaviour changed (eating habits, sleeping habits, sexual appetite, whatever)

Almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant, it felt like I was hit with African Sleeping Sickness. I could not stay awake for anything. Went to bed early, slept late, took naps, conked out on every car ride, and general found time to snore if I wasn't moving. My eating habits didn't really change at first, except I ate bigger portions. About the six month I developed a huge craving for potato salad. It wasn't the MUST HAVE THIS NOW AT 3AM type craving. But any chance to eat it or offer to have it was taken up on. Later brought the same craving for peanut butter which I would eat for three meals a day, and milk. I could drink a gallon of milk in three days. Dreams became very vivid. Extremely vivid. However, my memory went. I could not remember much of anything, and constantly lost my keys and passwords.

when morning sickness came

I was never sick with it. Which is another reason why I didn't know I was pregnant at first. In the second trimester the scent of coffee made me nauseous, but I was never sick.

what things shocked you about being pregnant

How rude people were about telling you what you should eat, describing horror stories, and asking very personal questions. Also? People were constrantly trying to touch me.

what did you expect to happen that didn't

A big baby. My family is known to have babies nine pounds and up. I went into labor a month and a half earlier though, and my son was only 5lbs 1oz. Since everyone was expecting a big baby, I had no clothing for a newborn that tiny.

what were your fears and when did they arrive

As soon as I found out, I was scared. Some fears were founded, and some were stupid from the get go. For a while I thought it wasn't a baby and just a big tumor and labor meant it would explode and kill me. I'm an intelligent person, but you get that many hormones going at once, and you lose your mind.

what quelled them

They never really go. They just morph. I may not be scared of giving birth, but every day I worry that a choice I make might impact negatively on my son. It's just part of being a parent.

anything whatsoever you can tell me about your mental and physical self during those nine months.

You're hot when everyone is cold, you're cold when everyone is hot. You'll itch for no reason, you'll feel like you have PMS. The house will never be clean enough, the people around you will sound stupid compared to the experts in the books you read. Also? You will notice babies. Everywhere you go, the first thing you'll do is look around for strollers and high chairs.

My pregnancy journal

My regular journal at the time. You can follow along hitting next day, and watch as my mom and sister update on the early birth (up to the end of July)

My current blog, which is a mommy blog.

Hope that helps some.
posted by FunkyHelix at 3:19 PM on November 10, 2004


mine is still happening so i can't give you the same 'now that it's finished' info as some of the great ones above. but i wanted to point you towards dooce whose baby is now 9 months old. she has some detailed and funny entries under "pregnancy" that you might like.

i knew i was pregnant the day after my period was due. so by the time i found out, i was only 4 weeks pregnant (they calculate the pregnancy from the first day of your last period and not the day you actually concieved, which is why it's 40 weeks)

as for the symptoms, etc., it differs a LOT from person to person. my morning sickness started somewhere around 8 weeks and went all the way to the fifth month. i know some people who never even threw up and others who threw up the entire nine months. i had some severe sneezing problems that kept me up at night and am now in the heart burn phase (about 7 months pregnant). i have written up some of the stuff on my site and you are welcome to email me with any specific questions. oh and the peeing is definitely a big part. i now get up an average of 5 to 7 times a night to pee. another big one is moodiness. as i said, the symptoms vary drastically from person to person.

good luck :)
posted by karen at 5:29 PM on November 10, 2004


Mrs. Plinth knew the morning after. She got pretty nauseous, which was the only time she had morning sickness. Her doctor pooh-poohed her intuition, but going by the delivery date and last date of menstruation, she was exactly right. She had a fabulous craving for grapefruit. We were in a car accident before the first scheduled ultrasound so that got bumped up. They spotted a "kyphosis" (hunching) in her neck that was not explainable. Turns out that this was an indication that the baby had Down syndrome, which we didn't know until birth.
posted by plinth at 5:51 PM on November 10, 2004


Response by poster: Thanks, all. Excellent answers all around.
posted by dobbs at 11:39 PM on November 10, 2004


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