Week 8

whoooo week 8!!

I've been obsessively checking this site for daily probability of miscarriage. 2.1% today! Maybe this spawn is here to stick around - O.O

So on to the nitty gritty of week 8

Stuff everyone's heard of about pregnancy

1. Nausea. I was unfortunately not one of those blessed with little to no morning sickness (shakes fist). I wouldn't say I have extreme morning sickness as I've been able to keep food down but it definitely has not been pleasant. All I can say is - I BETTER HAVE ABS AFTER ALL THIS THROWING UP.

Some things they never really talk too much about on all those sites about pregnancy (or maybe they do but I just always glossed over them to look at pictures instead, who knows).

1. Taking care of myself. Before getting pregnant I always thought that I should be able to keep myself fit, eat well, take care of myself, and in the process try to make an attempt to prevent extreme physical changes (too much weight gain, stretch marks, etc). I mean, it should just take a little self control and sheer force of will right?
   
   SO WRONG. Turns out after getting pregnant, I can barely lug my body around to go through the regular routine of life. This little spawn has taken over and my physical needs has been limited to throwing up, sleeping, eating. In between these lovely activities I can squeeze in a shower, brush my teeth, and maybe watch some tv. On top of all that, the thought of all food nauseates me - I can't even order those company dinners at night because reading the menu grosses me out. So my "eating well" has basically turned into "eating whatever the hell I can think of without gagging". Which apparently is a ton of fast food, I haven't touched this much taco bell, pizza, or mickey D's since I was 12. I have officially turned into a gross baby incubator. 


2. Bloatedness/gas. In the past few weeks I've basically turned into this gassy bloated disgusting shadow of a human being. Apparently there are hormones relaxin and progesterone wreaking havoc on my body and relaxing all my muscles - including my digestive muscles. Which has basically turned me into the most disgusting human being ever (I'll spare you the details)
   
3. Hunger pangs. I AM SO HUNGRY. ALL THE TIME. It's really really horrible. Normally when I'm not pregnant, I get these gnawing hunger pangs when I'm super hungry and then it passes after I start drifting into starvation - totally bearable. In pregnancy phase, the hunger pangs are about 10x worse (I literally feel like I'm dying) and it's always accompanied by nausea and dry heaving. On the other hand, if I eat too much then the nausea starts showing up too. So I've resorted to snacking nonstop all day. Someone at work commented on my level of snackiness and had I not been exhausted and nauseous I probably would have cared and maybe been offended.

Weeks 1-7

Week 1-4

• Nobody had any idea the spawn existed
• I ate sushi like there was no tomorrow
• It was also around this time I consumed the most alcohol I've consumed in the past 3 years (so like, one margarita)

Week 4
This was the week I realized my period had not arrived yet and something could be up. I dug out some expired HCG strips that I'd purchased as part of a 20 pack on Amazon two years ago and promptly submerged that in pee. They both came back negative (note to all: pregnancy tests that are two years past expiration date do not work) but to assuage my paranoia I went out and bought a non-expired pregnancy test.

That one came positive and so the Liaw baby spawn adventure (in the belly) begins!

wooo super classy picture of pee on a stick!

Week 5
Longest week EVER as I tried super hard not to tell anyone - and in the process told everyone (IN MY DEFENSE, that was ~3 people). Eric ran out and bought about six more pregnancy tests so other than casually peeing on a stick every couple days there wasn't any other proof that there was a baby happening. I worried a little bit.

Week 6
WELL TURNS OUT I DIDN'T NEED TO WORRY. The nausea hit pretty hard and I would just randomly dry heave for no good reason. No vomit was happening yet but thinking about any types of food would send me into another round of dry heaving. Initially it freaked Eric out but he grew accustomed to it disturbingly quickly and now he doesn't even flinch as I walk around dry heaving. Fatigue was also pretty bad. I felt like a walking zombie and would go home to and go to bed at 9PM.

Week 7
I don't know how any working woman handles being pregnant and working at the same time. Your tolerance for people and bullshit drops to about negative 50. Which basically makes you just about the most unpleasant person ever to work with :(.

Went to the OBGYN this week. I opted for the transabdominal ultrasound rather than the transvaginal ultrasound (which basically means we won't be seeing much on the sonogram at this point of the pregnancy). They took an urine sample and the OB confirmed that I was indeed pregnant and we got to stare at this lovely sonogram of the gestational sac where a vague lump attached to the wall of it *could* be the baby spawn. She mentioned that I could try drinking 3-4 cups of water to fill up my bladder and that could allow us to get a better ultrasound picture. So Eric fetched me 3-4 cups of water that I promptly guzzled down. Then I promptly threw it all up.

So round two of the ultrasound showed EVEN LESS but at that point I just never wanted to drink water ever again. After that checkup they sent me to a lab across the parking lot to get some blood drawn. SO MUCH BLOOD. Those wasteful bastards filled up about 12 vials worth of blood. I wonder what they will even do with the rest of it.