Ask the Chick Who's One Month Pregnant

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

What would you like to know? I’m definitely not shy or squeamish - ask me anything.

Every pregnancy is different, of course. I can’t tell you about all of them, or even most of them, but I can tell you about this one. My intent is to post a new thread each month, to give a more accurate sense of things as they happen, rather than trying to remember four months from now how bad my morning sickness was or how my boobs felt. And of course, I’m really hoping that one of those threads doesn’t turn out to be “Ask the Chick Who Just Had a Miscarriage”, or “Ask Me About My Anencephalic Fetus”, but those are the risks.

Also, I know there are a lot of Dopers here who are or once were pregnant and are happy to talk about it. Anyone who wants to share their experiences is more than welcome to - again, every pregnancy is different.

Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling:

  • How far along are you, really?

Well, it depends on how you count it. As I understand it, OBs typically count from the date of the start of your last period, assuming that you’re ovulating about 2 weeks after that. So if a woman misses her period, she’s considered weeks 4 “pregnant”, even though she actually conceived just 2 weeks ago. By that measure I’d be almost 9 weeks.

However, as far as I can tell, I ovulated really late - roughly when my next period was supposed to start (more about that below). So if we go by that date, then I’m only 5 weeks.

But since pregnancies typically include an “extra” two weeks, my doctor is calling it 6 1/2 to 7 weeks. I have an appointment next week and we’ll get a better idea and a due date estimate then.

  • Long-awaited dream come true or happy accident?

It’s a planned pregnancy, but also rather unexpected. We tried for five months, using fertility monitors and such, and discovered that I seemed to be ovulating up to a week late. In December, we talked to a fertility doctor who agreed that I probably wouldn’t get pregnant on my own, and that we should come back in the new year when our new insurance started. When I didn’t ovulate until my period was due, I figured it was certainly not going to happen that month, anyway. Go figure.

  • What does it feel like?

Nothing in particular, right now. I get occasional abdominal cramps (like extremely light menstrual cramps). I have nausea that comes and goes (and is not limited to the morning), but I haven’t vomited at all, and it hasn’t put me off food. I had a wicked bout of constipation a few days ago. The most noticeable thing is the pain in my breasts. I’d heard they can feel sore and swollen; what I did not know is that I’d be just sitting here at work and feel stabs of pain. Fun. And they’re not really sore or swollen, per se. That brings to mind something surface-y, like a burn or a beesting. They’re most definitely tender, and seem bigger or fuller some days, but it’s a more internal feeling. They feel hard inside from time to time, almost like I’d imagine implants feel. And it really varies from day to day. Except for the nipples. Ow, the nipples. *Those *are constantly, incredibly sore and sensitive. Don’t even look at them the wrong way, seriously.

…

So, anything else? “What’s ovulation?” “Are you offended by the term ‘knocked up’?” “Can I touch your stomach?” “How is babby formed?” Ask away.

2

Congratulations!

I’m just ahead of you, at a little over 10 weeks - the boobs will get better, and the intense nipple pain is starting to fade. Other fun things will happen, of course.

Also, IMHO, “knocked up” is miles better than “preggers”.

ETA: I’m also a late ovulater, usually at least a week past what is considered average.

3

Will y’all be finding out the sex of the baby as soon as possible?

And congratulations to you both!

4

Oh, so you want to race? It is so on! (Congrats to you too.)

And I’m with you: “knocked up” is fine, while “preggers” makes me feel all stabby. Personally, I’m partial to “PG” if you must euphemize.

Actually, I kind of want to be surprised. My husband is fine with that, but pointed out that then, we’d have to come up with two names. So it may be better for everyone’s sanity to just know in advance. We’ll see.

5

Oh, you wanna race? <<wills fetus to grow faster>>

“Preggers” is too cutesy, like the person using it is actually embarrased by the word “pregnant”.

We’ll be finding out the sex. We talked about not finding out, but my husband and I are both too impatient for that. Then, we talked about not telling other people the sex, but I think if we do that, we’ll end up blurting it out anyway, so when we do find out, we’re just going to tell anyone who wants to know.

Are you exhausted yet?

6

Congratulations. :wink:

Are you doing anything to prevent stretch marks? Oils, lotions etc. That may be an urban myth. My Aunt credits cocoa butter for her mark free stomach.

7

So what if you miss some pills, get pregnant without knowing it, then come to the part in your pill pack where you have a “period”?

Can the bleeding be indistinguishable from usual bleeding while on the pill?

8

is it yours?

9

Depends on the person. The majority of people won’t bleed at all, or will spot lightly enough that they realize something is off. Spotting during pregnancy is pretty common though, and it could definitely be mistaken for the light periods most women get when they’re on the pill.

I’ve had some spotting, which is very scary, but in my case, it was for non-scary reasons - a sensitive cervix. I bleed if you look at it wrong (which is difficult, considering the location). My doctor said that will likely let up as I get towards the second trimester, which I’ve found to be true.

10

I’m just over 10 weeks pregnant too! I’m hoping this nausea (for me - morning and night!) goes away soon! Still deciding if we’ll find out the gender. For no particular reason I feel like it’s a boy.

11

PS I’m jealous. My husband and I need to move house and sell our current one before we start trying.

I had a course of antibiotics a month ago, and have been feeling tired and sniffly ever since. Yesterday I got my hopes up that maybe there had been a happy accident because of the antibiotics (I’m on the pill). EPT says “no such luck” though.

12

If it’s a boy, will you call it Arnold?

If it is a boy, have you thought about circumcision? My wife and I struggled with that one.

Would you be totally averse seeing movies like Rosemary’s Baby or Alien, or would you watch them without qualms?

13

Not yet, although I guess it’s never too early to start. My stomach won’t be growing for a while, but I noticed a red mark on one of my breasts that may be a stretch mark starting. I think cocoa butter is one of those things whose effectiveness is hard to assess: if you don’t get stretch marks, it “worked”, and even if you do, you can argue they would have been worse without it. But I like the way it smells, and it certainly can’t hurt, so whatever. I’m picking up a tub of it tonight. Thanks for the reminder.

IANAD, IAAPC (I am a pregnant chick). That said, my understanding is the same as badbadrubberpiggy’s: you may spot, and it typically isn’t as heavy as a period, but it depends on the person. I haven’t spotted at all (yet).

As far as I know. It’s almost guaranteed not to look like mine, though. That will be fun, forever.

Yay pregnant! Boo nausea. We should start a Doper Babython.

I feel you. I went back to school shortly after we got married, so we waited for me to finish and find a new job first. Out of curiosity, though, do you have to move first, or is it just that you’d like more room for the baby or whatever? I’m just thinking you may want to revisit this in a few months, given the housing market.

No, we won’t call it Arnold, because we have a friend whose name is Arnold. He’s close enough that people would think he’s the namesake (especially because we have the same last name), but distant enough that other friends would feel slighted. Sorry.

I have thought about circumcision, but I’m not sure which way we’ll go. I think my husband is for it, but I don’t think adamantly so. My understanding is that the benefits have been rather exaggerated and the risks underestimated, so I want to take a look at some numbers before I decide.

Not at all. (In fact, Rosemary’s Baby is one of my all-time favorite movies.) I’m actually relishing the weird, sci-fi aspect of this. I mean, think about it: one of my cells somehow fused (under its own power!) with one of my husband’s, and has now become an organism growing inside my body, living off me like a parasite and triggering bizarre changes in my physiology and body chemistry to suit its needs, and (if all goes well) will eventually burst out and become an independent life form. How awesome is that?

14

If it makes you feel better, we’ll be moving halfway across the country when I’m about 7 months pregnant. Better than moving with an infant I guess - and maybe I’ll be “nesting” by the time we move in, that would be useful.

Honestly, we tried to plan it better, we wanted the baby to be born before we moved, but we thought it would take less time - it took 6 months, which is “average” as these things go, but we didnt’ have any known factors working against us, either.

15

About “how far along are you?”. Those extra two supposed to be the two weeks before you ovulate, since that does start the whole process of becoming pregnant. Of course, you & I don’t actually ovulate on day 14, but the “dating” still works that way.

If you are into pregnancy books, Your Pregnancy Week by Week has a good explanation of why they date like this. In a nutshell, you are (roughly) 7 weeks pregnant, and your “fetal age” (actual age of the fetus. Duh.), is 5 weeks.

Even then, it’s kind of a crapshoot. If your embryo implants early, you’ll measure further along than you/your doctor think you should be. I think I did, b/c I started getting what I later figured out were pregnancy symptoms at around 7 days after I ovulate, which is pretty early. Also, at my first appointment, I thought I was 7 weeks (per my ovulation date), but my ultrasound showed that I was measuring closer to 8 weeks pregnant, so they kept the due date from my period, since it was closer.

Pregnancy is weird.

16

Definitely have to sell my house first–we both owned houses when we got married. We’ve been renovating his while living in mine. Sooooo we’ve gotta get out of mine and sell it, both to get out from under the mortgage and to pay back money we borrowed for the renovation.

Once my house sells, sweet sweet financial freedom is ours, and every month I’m working is a month we stockpile insane amounts of cash. He doesn’t even HAVE a mortgage on his house anymore–he paid it off.

17

Does this image make you nauseated?

If you find out it’s a demon child, what will you do? Do you think you could kill it to save the world?

18

:mad:

Better you than me is all that I can say! I am quite content with the small miracle that happens with my taste buds when I eat dark chocolate or spaghetti Bolognese. I did learn one valuable lesson about pregnancy - when your wife has a scheduled C-section but then shortly before that date feels labor pains while talking an outdoors walk, it is ill-advised to ask her “can’t you hold it two more days so that we can go into the hospital as originally scheduled?”

19

So far, yup.

Rock on!

Nah. I stared at it for a while trying to see if it would, and I got a little bit of a headache - how’s that? The nausea comes and goes of its own accord. I can’t make it better, but I can’t really make it worse, either (yet). I’ll check it again in a month and let you know. If I’m feeling it, thinking about the wrong food can trigger a slight gag reflex, but that’s about it. Of course, I never know what the wrong food is until I’ve thought of it.

Sure, I’d kill it if I could be certain it would save the world. But if its existence is Written, then it Shall Come to Pass, one way or another, right? If I killed the host, the demon would just keep trying until it found one with a more sentimental mother. And maybe Hell on Earth wouldn’t be so bad, anyway. I, for one, welcome our new demon child overlords.

Ha ha ha ha ha! You poor man. Have your bruises healed yet?

That reminds me, I know a guy who used to think (he says until middle school - I suspect he’s lowballing) that women could control the flow of their periods like you can control peeing. He thought they just wore pads and tampons because they were lazy.

It’s ideas like that that inspire threads like these.

20

I trust your pregnancy will do fine and the kid well show up on Arnold’s picture list as a new Doper.

I usually recommend not getting too attached to a pregnancy before 12 weeks. But if it’s a first pregnancy, I understand the enthusiasm.

Just 22 short years to go…