Shaes Chronicles

Having a baby is the greatest experience that any woman can go through…to know that you are nurturing and building a life that for years to come will solely depend on you to guide the way. It’s a scary feeling, but exciting too. For the long 40 weeks ahead of you there is an experience like none other and even after you’ve given birth to the first child…any other additional pregnancies may not follow the same pattern.

Although as a newly pregnant woman you may feel thrilled at the thought that a baby who God has created just for you will be joining your family…you also feel a slight sense of queasiness and dizziness to go along with it. Before you know it, your beautiful thoughts of a wonderful pregnancy are turned around to constant vomiting, sore breasts, hot flashes and sweat. Yes ladies…this is the beginning of your pregnancy symptoms.

I have had four pregnancies and I gave birth to three. All boys, all three years apart in age. My youngest son is only 8 months old now so the pregnancy symptoms of that child are still fresh in my head. My oldest son is 7 years old and even his are still fresh in my mind. With each boy I experienced a variety of common (and not so common) symptoms…so I will guide you through some of the things to expect in early pregnancy as a new mommy.

Nausea

Not every woman will vomit on a regular basis in early pregnancy…some (such as myself) do not vomit at all. It is a common symptom though to “feel” like you are about to at any given moment. Sometimes, just taking a deep breath of fresh air is enough for you to stop and curl over as if you are about to lose yesterday’s meals. Being nauseated is not a comfortable feeling, but can be relieved by eating small meals throughout the day and drinking lots of fluids. What seemed to work for me was anything that contained salt…crackers especially. Sometimes, if I was at home I would just take a pinch or two of salt and swallow it just to ease that nasty feeling. Sometimes you will find yourself being dizzy too.

Sore Nipples

Now ladies, this is how I actually discovered I was pregnant 3 of 4 total pregnancies. Each time I woke up one morning and realized that I was very sore…and then said “uh oh”. Who needs a pregnancy test when you have nipples that tell you what’s going on? My breasts were on full alert and were correct each time…I was 4 to 5 weeks pregnant each time. It doesn’t happen like that for everyone, but sore nipples are very, very difficult to deal with. It seems like everything wants to brush up on you at that time and it hurts. It even hurt to wash in the shower because the water would fall on them…oh the agony!!

Rash

I don’t know if this is common or not but I have known a few people in addition to myself that broke out in hives in early pregnancy (and soon after delivery). I think it’s just some weird thing the body tries to do when it’s suddenly morphing into a baby factory…but its another uncomfortable and itchy symptom.

Sleepiness and Feeling Hot

During this time it seems like 12 hours of sleep really just isn’t enough anymore. I have slept almost entire days with my pregnancies. Hot flashes and getting the sweats tend to occur too in some women, I believe that this may have to do with the body working extra hard on what its creating and sometimes you feel like you ran a marathon and you’ve only gone to the bathroom (thought you had to vomit but didn’t). When you lay back down, its bedtime…again. You must drink plenty of fluids to help your body recover.

In addition to fluids, eating the proper diet will help your body to overcome a lot of the symptoms that are sure to follow. Sometimes you will experience symptoms like these…other times your body may throw something at you that you never expected. But they do not last long. Anything that seems too odd or makes you very ill, visit your obstetrician as soon as you can. In the end it will be all worth it.

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