First Trimester, Month Three, Week 11

This week was a fun one! I had signed up for a family mini session to get some fall photos together and brought along a fun little prop – our ultrasound picture! When I tell you Maxann is a magician behind the camera, I’m not kidding. In a few short minutes she was able to capture SO many beautiful images of our family that you would’ve thought we were out there for hours. The girls absolutely lit up, and we were able to get some really fun ones with our ultrasound picture too. I can’t wait to see the final results! This week was also a really great reminder of the special place where Girlhood and Motherhood meet: The morning of our photos, I sat in a friends kitchen while she did my hair. While we sat, we talked about our lives and our kids and her oldest son was showing me the latest additions to his car collection. When I left, I took with me a dress from her closet to wear for our photos. I honestly never imagined I’d get to have another chance at these types of friendships after I left college, but beyond the speed-dating that is *meeting new moms* it is an indescribable feeling to have these deeper relationships in my 30s, in motherhood, in adulthood, in ALL the things!

I digress, and back to the pregnancy we go! My symptoms have more or less held steady, I’m still having some nausea and fatigue, but I do feel very lucky that the “fatigue” is presenting itself more in the evenings (aka when the girls go to bed, I’m going to bed too) and less during the day. With a toddler and a baby – I REFUSE to also call Sophia a toddler too – to chase after every day, ain’t nobody got time for that! The only downside is I did get a really bad migraine toward the end of the week, which has been on par for my pregnancies, and honestly just life in general. With last week being such a big week for work, this week has been relatively quiet, so I’ve had lots of extra free time to hang with the girls and we got outside daily with some randomly warmer November temps. My weight has more or less remained steady, but I feel like I’m already showing; it’s so obvious to Jon and me that I look pregnant, but know the outside world still has no clue! We also finished decorating our Christmas tree, made a gingerbread house, and broke out all of the Christmas books for that extra festive feeling!

We’re also one step closer to weaning as we’ve officially stopped our morning feed and are now only nursing once a day before Sophia’s bedtime! There’s definitely the most emotional attachment, and potential impact to routine, with dropping the evening feed so it made the most sense to drop the morning first. I took a few steps to get to this point: initially, when she woke up we would still nurse but if she was distracted or unlatched, instead of trying to get her back on we would just stop. Some days if she was waking up fussy we would still nurse briefly before going downstairs to offer a cup of milk and/or breakfast, but if she woke up in a good mood we immediately took the party downstairs to play and get her a cup of milk. She’s continuing to do really well with solids so she’s definitely not going hungry by any means. I’m shocked at how much more time and flexibility it feels like I have to my morning! Now onto making our plans for how we will drop the night feed – and I’ll leave it at that before I get all in my feels over it!

• Baby Size: As big as a golf ball! 1.5in and 0.25oz
• Weight Gain: -0.5 lb total (start weight: 151)
• Symptoms: Evening fatigue, lower appetite with some nausea, migraines
• Nutrition (Cravings? Aversions?): Remaining neutral, definitely still getting plenty to eat, but not feeling snacky by any means. Preferring salty/savory over sweet
• Exercise: Got out for walks nearly every day this week except for when I got a migraine!
• Overall Mood: Happy and neutral, overall in a pretty good day-to-day groove
• Movement: None yet!
• Best Moment This Week: Getting family photos done!
• Looking Forward to: Our 12 week appointment and NIPT testing!