13 Weeks

Tomorrow marks week 13 in this exciting pregnancy journey. Tomorrow is also the last day of school! Woo-hoo! What a great way to begin my last week in the 1st trimester. Time seems to be flying and creeping at the same time…weird how that happens. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday we found out we were pregnant and other times I feel like I’ve already been preggers for 6 months or more. For the most part, I am enjoying the pregnancy. I did have some nausea, but never to the point of actually being sick. The first few weeks were also VERY tiring! I was beginning to wish for my preschool days again when the students would take a nap and I would occasionally lay my head on my desk. Sleep is my best friend. Never ending hunger has been the biggest change I have noticed. Most days I eat, eat and eat and still want more. It’s not like I just want more, it’s as if I feel I’m going to pass out if I don’t get more. But all of these symptoms started fading around week 11 so now I’m starting to feel more normal again. Except for the asthma, my asthma has been an annoying problem that has gotten worse since being pregnant. I’ve tried two different preventative inhalers and have not noticed a difference. Therefore I am still taking my rescue inhaler frequently. Normally I wouldn’t care about taking medicine, but now I am always more aware and cautious because of the baby. Hopefully, this asthma thing will start to disappear once my allergies go away. Last week at my doctor’s appointment, my mom and I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It was beautiful! I’ve told people that I have never been so moved by a sound. It’s amazing how much reassurance there is in simply hearing a steady beat. Baby Cowen had a nice regular heartbeat of 160 bpm. As soon as we left the doctor, I began looking to see if that meant it was a girl or a boy. I’ve heard a higher beat means it’s a girl and lower means it’s a boy, but then I also hear it’s just a myth. Oh well, I guess we will find out soon enough. Besides hearing the heartbeat, my favorite part so far has been watching my belly grow. Below are two pictures. The first is when we found out I was pregnant around 4 weeks and the second was taken at 12 weeks 5 days. Joel keeps joking by saying, “You’re just pushing out.” LOL