I’m now in my 35th week of pregnancy.
Since the beginning, pretty much the only thing that’s been similar between my pregnancy of Kate & Jake is the fact that I had a pretty tough time in the first trimester. That basically meant that I was always tired and feeling ill with unbelievably bad nausea and all-day-sickness and bad vomiting and dehydration, which got so bad with Jake that I was hospitalized. I’m not sure that Jake is ‘stronger’ than Kate – I do know that my body is weaker this 2nd pregnancy. I even guessed that Jake was a girl based on the very-similar-morning-sickness; but I was wrong. (Just like how I was wrong guessing that Kate was a boy!)
Diet: My default food with Kate was ba-chor-mee/fishball noodles with chilli and plenty of vinegar. Default food is what I’d eat every time I did not know what to eat. Jake likes chicken rice. With both kids I enjoy potatoes though I had better appetite with Kate. I think Jake’s bigger and takes up more space, thus squashing my stomach so I don’t/can’t eat as much. I take a lot more cold & sweet drinks with Jake – I like iced Ribena. I don’t have very weird cravings, and I still eat pretty much whatever I want to though I avoid raw food and alcohol. I feel abit wistful because I do want to eat more but I’m also aware that stuffing my face ain’t going to help because 1/ I cant really stuff that much in a limited space & 2/ I get heartburn which is just uncomfortable and I don’t really want to torment myself.
Bladder movements: Jake sits more on my bladder and I’ve had plenty of false alarms this time round. I’d feel this immense need to pee but when I do go, it ain’t much. Naughty boy! I’ve also had some slightly embarrassing moments but luckily, nothing very alarming nor very often so I’m thankful.
Weight gain: When Kate was full-term, I put on 15kg. Right now, I’ve put on 10kg. People say I look small and great despite being this far in my pregnancy and I’m very thankful (& not-so-secretly very pleased!). I feel that I was more blubbery with Kate (cos I could eat much better), and I think this lesser weight gain with Jake is not a bad thing. For one, he’s growing well – heavier than Kate and likely will be a bigger baby than Kate at birth, said the doc; and two, I’m older this time round so weight loss will be of greater concern so anything that’s lesser is great news for the vain me. At my last doc visit 4 days ago, Jake weighed 2.6kg. He’s been growing consistently 500g every 2 weeks in the past 6 weeks. Mathematically, this will work out to him being about 3.6kg at his full-term (gasp!).
Baby movements: Jake is a boy and he behaves like one. Everyone says that boys are rougher and more active and he’s just like that. I don’t recall ever calling out in shock of pain with Kate but with this boy, I do! There’s this particular hot spot of his (I suspect it’s his knee) that he always pushes and always hurts me. I react by tightening my (whatever’s left of) stomach muscles – I don’t know why I do that or if it helps but I guess when your innards are being massaged about I instinctively need to do something. In the recent weeks, I know when Jake’s grown because his movements are obvious from one end of my tummy to the other. I love how special I am because only a mother will be able to feel this with her child and I love to feel him, ouches and all.
My body in general: is weaker. I get the same backaches and calf aches but am more tired than ever, and I get cramps in my calf. This pregnancy (I cannot remember with the last), the cramp always happens in my right leg and it hurts. At this current stage of pregnancy, my clothes are stretched and I’m beginning to waddle. Yesterday, I slipped (gave myself a shock!) and my pelvic area was aching from this sudden jolt. Good thing I didn’t fall! I also have slight water retention and I feel so guilty that I don’t exercise much (at all) with Jake. Though the few times that I do walk a little more, my tummy feels so heavy that I get plenty of Braxton hicks, stitches and cramps. With so much going on in my life, sleep is truly evasive. & that affects my well-being (not very well at all, really).
My emotions: I remember being more independent with Kate. The husband was away for my 2nd trimester and I had little choice but to just deal with things on my own. I also had no idea of what to expect so I was able to just, well, cruise along ignorantly. Of course, I remember breaking down and feeling lonely and all that – but at the moment what I remember more clearly was how I felt post-birth than during the pregnancy. Right now, I’m going through quite a lot of changes in my life and these couple of days have seen me emotionally defeated. I get teary & mildly weepy talking about heavy subjects with the husband, I have teared over a few squabbles with the husband. Being stressed about Kate really takes a toll and when I feel down I just want to curl up and cry. [Baby Jake, Mommy loves you much and I feel bad but it’s the hormones wrecking a mess – I guess you’ll understand empathy and you’ll be a sensitive child ya?] Of course how I feel is different with each pregnancy because of how my life circumstances are at the moment. And I am rather independent now too - but I do acknowledge that I've been more emo lately. *sniff
What’s next? I hope that things settle down very quickly and I’ll become a super mom who can deal with having 2 brilliant, lovely kids. I wonder about how my labour will be (Jake’s in position already) and I also wonder how much more uncomfortable this pregnancy will be in these last weeks. I wish to be more stable emotionally and be in the right frame of mind to welcome my baby into this world.
No comments:
Post a Comment