First Trimester, Month Three, Week 13

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a couple friends who are earlier in their first trimester during this time and all of the cooking and food smells are kicking their butts today, and I’m feeling extra grateful that I am able to enjoy all of the cooking and eating that the holiday entails! Just as routinely as those annoying first trimester symptoms came “right on time” at 6 weeks, they’ve started to fade out this week as we start saying goodbye to the first trimester (thank goodness). I had another migraine that lingered on for a few days, but other than that – and starting to feel like my belly is popping – symptoms have been pretty quiet this week! We typically host my family for Thanksgiving, and also make it a pseudo Christmas since we spend Christmas with Jon’s family – this Thanksgiving Britt was on her honeymoon but we still had an amazing holiday with my mom and Jon’s mom together! Having all hands on deck is always nice because I still get the chance to cook my favorite holiday dishes vs being strictly on toddler wrangling duty. We also did some fun Christmas activities like visiting a tree farm/stores while we were in the holiday spirit.

We partook in a little Black Friday shopping as well! Walking the shops of our cute downtown and getting some small items like plants, candles, chocolates, etc. and in bigger news….A MINIVAN! It’s funny how things change: in 2020 child-free Katie got the GMC Acadia, which had a third row and 6 seats total because “I know I’ll want kids one day soon.” And it was great for the two girls, with the third row down I had more than enough room for the double stroller, diaper bags, or dogs in the trunk. But realizing that if I actually needed to utilize the third row, I was literally losing all of my trunk space. I didn’t want it to be a battle every time I wanted to take the babies AND the stroller somewhere at the same time or go on a trip with the family and some suitcases, beach chairs, etc. so the minivan just made sense. We did a lot of surface level research but only seriously came down to the Toyota Sienna or Kia Carnival. Both were an equally smooth ride, similar size specs around the rows and trunk and had a lot of the safety features we’ve come to love and expect. But, with the Siennas popularity it really was a “take what you can get” at a higher price point and with the Kia you really get all of the bells and whistles at a milder price (and the sleek SUV-like exterior definitely helps the transition to minivan life).

One final note for the week, I was very curious to see how long it would take my NIPT results to arrive; Natera gives a general “two weeks” although many people talk about getting their results within a week. With the thanksgiving holiday I was sure I’d be closer to two but I WAS WRONG! The email came in that the results were in my portal right at the one week mark, which meant an immediate phone call to my midwife nurse line to chat results. In the past when I did the Natera NIPT testing, when you open the results, the gender is right in the middle of the main page in big, bold letters, and we didn’t want to find out just yet, which is why I wanted to call instead. Some of my friends who had other testing companies have said how the genetic results pop up on the main page with a separate button to reveal gender, which I think is nice! So I chatted with one of the awesome nurses at my practice and they let me know that all of my genetic testing came back great and low risk! I’m SO curious about the gender because for the first 10 weeks or so I was CONVINCED we were having another girl – and the old wivestale of a higher heart rate for a girl at the 8 week appointment aligned with that thought – but recently Layla has been telling me it’s a boy baby and at my 12 week appointment the heart rate was in the 130’s so now I’m just not sure? Excited either way, but very curious to find out!

• Baby Size: A baseball!! (3in and 1oz)
• Weight Gain: +2 lb total (start weight: 151, current weight: 153)
• Symptoms: Nausea starting to fade out, digestive changes still on par with eating different foods/amounts. Not feeling as tired in the evenings but still hit or miss if I stay awake past
• Nutrition (Cravings? Aversions?): Still leaning toward the savory vs the sweet and had MORE than my fair share of deliciousness with Thanksgiving and with leftovers
• Exercise: Movement dipped this week as I traded exercise time for family time and we have had some high winds which just aren’t fun to get out and walk in lol
• Overall Mood: Tired but consistently great mood
• Movement: None yet!
• Best Moment This Week: Family Thanksgiving time!
• Looking Forward to: Having a little holiday getaway with the girls and Jon and finding out the gender of Baby #3