5 Weeks and Counting

Today I am exactly 5 weeks pregnant.  Even though we can't be certain what the final number of babies will be, I've been living life as if I'm pregnant with multiples.  That means increasing my vitamin intake significantly.  I take a cocktail of about 15 pills everyday including multiple prenatal vitamins, fish oil, folic acid, magnesium, and probiotics.  In addition to that I'm still supplementing progesterone  and estrogen throughout the first trimester.  I still feel every bit the infertility patient because of it.

My diet is also baby-centric.  I'm eating almost all organic now (which is, admittedly, tough on the pocket book).  I try really hard to get enough iron and calcium in my diet and am putting a heavy focus on protein.  I am also going to acupuncture once a week, and may increase to twice a week if multiples are confirmed.  I tried to enroll in prenatal yoga, but they prefer that you wait until the end of your first trimester before beginning.  I am still doing regular Yoga, but I've switched from Power to Restorative classes and I'm also keeping the Pilates reformer classes going.  My Pilates instructor is really good about helping me modify for pregnancy and I really like that.

So far, everybody is surprised that I haven't already gotten morning sickness because all of my hormone levels are so sky-high.  I hope that it is related to everything that I'm doing with vitamins, diet, acupuncture, and exercise and that I can keep it manageable, if not avoid it entirely.  I know that multiple pregnancies can be very difficult, and I am hoping that I get to be the exception to that rather than the rule.

As far as symptoms I am experiencing, I still have a crazy strong sense of smell and it's getting more pronounced every day.  Ryan came home from skiing yesterday, and I gave him a big hug and almost choked on the smell of sweat.  I'm a little nervous about going to volunteer at the Humane Society today because of all of the smells.  Hopefully it's not too bad.  I am also starting to notice the fatigue.  I get tired more quickly than normal.  When I went in for the ultrasound, Dr. Magarelli came in and specifically told me not to try to power through it.  He said, "I know your type, and you have to trust me on this.  You won't be able to do as much as you are used to doing."  So far, those are the only symptoms I'm having.  I'm sure more are on the way.

I'm glad to have had the first several days of my pregnancy off from work so I could establish a routine.      I've also had a chance to do a lot of reading and studying which puts me at ease.  I like to feel in control, and being educated about what is going on inside my body helps me to do that.  I know that I'm probably going overboard, but when you've worked this hard to get pregnant, you don't want to leave anything to chance.  As an infertility patient, it's hard not to view pregnancy as a series of hurdles.  Positive pregnancy test, confirmation of implantation, heartbeat, first trimester, etc.  I am making an effort to just enjoy it when I can.  I just wish that part came more naturally.