6 Week Updates

When I first told my cousin (who is 3 months pregnant) that I too was pregnant, she warned me about the 6 week mark. She said she had felt great until 6 weeks hit and then BAM- she had 4 weeks of pretty constant nausea.

Last Thursday I hit 6 weeks and thought "hey hey! I am totally going to be that girl who doesn't get morning sickness."

Then at 6 weeks, ONE day (good one, universe!)- voila. After breakfast #1 of my congee mush I got a wicked wave of nausea that had me breathing deeply and looking at what else I might stuff in my mouth at that second. And it has continued every morning since then (and often at night too).  It is definitely not 'all day' nausea, and thankfully I haven't felt the need to throw up, but it is intense when it hits. I now have a supply of crackers and peanut butter next to my bed, and anytime I wake to use the bathroom during the night (which is often!) and feel that icky tickle in my throat, I eat a snack, take a drink of water, breathe- and usually it subsides.

I remembered reading something about how having morning sickness correlates with a lower chance of miscarriage, so of course I had to google it. I ended up finding lots of articles confirming this- which is really crazy & fascinating. I am just so happy to finally be pregnant that I am willing to take & put up with anything that comes my way- morning sickness included.

I am starting to have more specific cravings & aversions, which seem to change constantly. Last night, turning my nose up at a fridge full of Easter dinner leftovers, I wanted nothing more than a simple (and heavenly!) bowl of ramen. Today at Whole Foods I stocked up on more soups & noodles, only to find in the check out line that the idea of refried beans was the only thing on earth I thought would taste good to me at that moment. Thankfully I live in Austin, where every 2 blocks is a taco stand. Those tacos tasted as amazing as I'd hoped (with the exception of the dude mixing up my request for tomatoes with onions- I HATE onions!)

I have also had a pretty constant aversion to sweets since very early in this pregnancy. We hosted the family Easter celebration this weekend, and I was a baking fool- making my sister-in-law's cake pops and baking my traditional sugar cookies:

And I didn't want to eat ANY of them. So sad. I made BC let me have one tiny bite of his cake pop- just so I could see how they turned out. They were dee-lish, but I still absolutely didn't want any more bites.

Spot has still been stopping by maybe 1x/day, if even, and remains extremely light & brown. I think I've finally got used to him enough not to feel alarmed, but still hope he takes a permanent hike soon. And I still have a tickle of glee with every bathroom visit where he doesn't show up!

I can't help thinking that this whole pregnancy thing is like a mad science experiment. As the baby grows & develops it interacts in totally different & unique ways with my body. This week, for instance, as I begin to experience what 'morning sickness' is,  our baby's nervous system & organs are all starting to develop. The heart is already beating, and its facial features are starting to take shape. Amazing how quickly these little ones grow.

I had my last beta blood draw Thursday at exactly my 6 week point. The nurse said anything over 10,000 is really great- and I came in at 35,485! It was strong enough that I was told I didn't need to do any more blood draws- yippee! Now we await our 1st sonogram in about a week, where we pray to hear a strong heartbeat. Go baby, go!