Week by Week: Week 6

Our Baby:

• Has tripled or almost quadrupled in size and is now almost 1/4 of an inch long. 
• Is starting to form lungs, a nose, arms, and legs. 
• Has a detectable heartbeat already, and it's twice as fast as mine!
• Has recordable brain waves.

I (traditionally):

• Might have some weight fluctuation, either gaining or losing. 
• Suffer from uncomfortable breast changes. 
• Have some heartburn. 
• Am moody and irritable without notice. 
• Get up in the middle of the night to go pee. 
• Have some form of food aversions or cravings. 
• Am starting to feel nauseated on the regular. 
• Feel exhausted all the time. 
• Have a much slower digestive system now, usually characterized by constipation. 

I (actually):

• Haven't gained or lost anything yet. My weight is right where it's always been. 
• Still have massive sandbags hanging from my chest, and they're sore all the time. Our cat likes to show his love for me by pacing back and forth on my chest, a.k.a TORTURE. 
• Have been taking naps for the first time in my adult life, and I'm still not getting enough sleep every day. 
• Wake up in the middle of the night needing to pee, but can't stand the thought of getting up, so I toss and turn in bed for another hour before I absolutely must go. 
• Didn't think I had cravings until out for lunch one day with my mom. I saw fruit salad on the salad bar, and suddenly it didn't matter that it was cold and windy and rainy outside because all I needed in the world was delicious and sweet and tangy fruit salad and ohmigosh it was so good. 
• Am blessed (currently) with a functioning and normal digestive system. Thank you high fiber diet!
• Have no nausea. Don't hate me. 

My mom came to visit us this weekend, and it was so wonderful. I got to hear all of the stories I hadn't heard before about her pregnancies. I also found out that she got to eat her steaks medium-rare, while I'm biting the bullet and choosing to have my meat cooked to the proper, safe (but much less delicious) temperature. 

I'm finding it hard to admit that I actually just need to chill out about the fact that I'm exhausted all the time. I mean, my body is playing host and builder to the creation of another human being. Holy crap. Considering we're at the quadruple-in-size-every-week stage, it's no wonder that I'm beat by 2:00 in the afternoon. I need to embrace the naps. I also need to embrace the middle-of-the-night peeing. 

Freak-out-Moments: 

• This might be more information than y'all wanted to know, but I haven't been through a pregnancy yet that wasn't accompanied by lots of bleeding. And whether that bleeding lasted for months or days, it ended the same way. I'm still checking for blood multiple times a day, and running to the bathroom when I imagine that I feel blood coming out of me. So far, nothing, but that doesn't change my anxiety. 
• I read a blog post by a woman who didn't take pre-natal vitamins because the artificial colors in them were supposed to be bad for pregnancy. For a moment, I considered nixing the vitamins in favor of supplements and herbs. Then I calmed down and decided to trust my midwife, who wants me to take my vitamins. 

It's been a good week so far. Can't wait for another!