I never thought I'd say this. I'm into my second trimester!
It all started when I had to just stop my elliptical work after less than 10 minutes on the trainer. It is usually a drag for me anyway, but never have I felt like I just.couldn't.continue. Then my chest started to hurt like crazy.
In the middle of a particularly difficult day to get through in the office, it suddenly dawned on me that this could be signs of more than the flu or normal aches. One short gynae appointment later we were staring at little jelly bean on the ultrasound scan.
Some ups and downs of the pregnancy so far:-
- I don't have toclean touch the cat litter. The hubbs is so fearful of toxoplasmosis infections that he has now taken complete ownership of this chore we once squabbled over.
- I haven't gained much weight - some flesh immediately appeared almost overnight on my butt, stomach and upper arms, but nothing particularly alarming. And my stomach also has the tendency to be normally-sized in the mornings and then balloon like crazy after a meal. But other than that, I still fit into most of my clothes (I do confess a sudden preference for elastic waistbands) and on the most part look like myself.
- FATIGUE - The first few weeks of the pregnancy were the WORST. I felt like a truck had run over me most of the time. I couldn't sit straight,let alone work some afternoons. This plus the fact that I had to endure quite a lot of business travel (quite a few day trips ugh) which really drained the life out of me. Oh, and one Saturday we decide to hit a mall after brunch. After an hour of trekking through its labyrinths, I told AK I REALLY needed to get home. Once home I was knocked out for 2 hours straight - almost unheard of for me.
I have been desperate enough to catch some rest in washrooms and even my car during office hours. After reading some tips online, here's what helped me the most:-
- Eating a good proper breakfast. Take blackstrap molasses in my coffee.
- Take multivitamin supplements in the morning
- Ironically, exercise. Long walks in the neighbourhood, breathing fresh air, helped me feel less lethargic and I sleep better at night. I have also been doing quite a bit of walking during my travels. A business trip to Singapore where I took the opportunity to walk from my hotel to the nearby malls (and hit Crate and Barrel), getting myself thoroughly lost in the basements of Ion Orchard. Ak and I also went on our long-awaited vacation to Bangkok, where we walked Chatuchak, Platinum Mall, and Siam Paragon numerous times. Though we depended on cabs a lot more more than in our previous trips. My parents also paid us a visit over the Raya holidays and we took them shopping. So some walking there as well. unfortunately due to all the travel I had to do I couldn't do as much yoga as I wanted (boo).
- Turn in early. In the first few weeks I was in bed by 9 and in dreamland by 9.30, only to struggle to wake up at 7 to go to work.
I am grateful though, as the weeks go by and I approach the second trimester, that the fatigue seems to be tapering off. My gynae warns me that once the fatigue goes off then comes the nausea and morning sickness, which I am grateful (for now - fingers crossed!) that I have not experienced.
- Heartburn/Chest pains - I can't eat the portions I used to anymore. My usual style is to inhale/gobble my food, which is really BAD for me now. I end up with severe heartburn and chest pains that can go on for hours. I don't have much of an appetite (although I have very specific cravings), so often I don't realize I'm hungry until I'm ravenous. Now I need to remind myself to eat slowly and pause in between bites. This in some ways has been harder than giving up my coffee. Like, for example, we had a delicious team lunch of (extremely oily) spagetthi aglio olio and the yummiest chicken wings I had in a while. I couldnt stop myself from eating 4 wings in addition to my pasta, and am still feeling the effects 4 hours later.
- I do have VERY specific cravings though, that AK has to scramble to meet :) We've driven around Lucky Garden 3 times in search of a parking spot for Sarawak Laksa, sweated our brains out in Paramount Garden for Curry Mee (reeeally excellent by the way); braved the jam to Paradigm mall for deep-fried squid, to name a few. Yes, all I want to eat most of the time are spicy curry noodles!
Other than that, our lifestyles haven't really changed. We still go out with friends. I badly want to do a bit more travel before I reach the 3rd trimester, but with our work commitments it's going to be tough. Still, we'll see. I still want to cook and bake and do everything I love to do. And there are so many things we need to line up to prepare for our new arrival - hire a helper, shop for the best post-natal treatments, attend antenatal classes. One thing at a time though, and it's still early days.
It all started when I had to just stop my elliptical work after less than 10 minutes on the trainer. It is usually a drag for me anyway, but never have I felt like I just.couldn't.continue. Then my chest started to hurt like crazy.
In the middle of a particularly difficult day to get through in the office, it suddenly dawned on me that this could be signs of more than the flu or normal aches. One short gynae appointment later we were staring at little jelly bean on the ultrasound scan.
Some ups and downs of the pregnancy so far:-
- I don't have to
- I haven't gained much weight - some flesh immediately appeared almost overnight on my butt, stomach and upper arms, but nothing particularly alarming. And my stomach also has the tendency to be normally-sized in the mornings and then balloon like crazy after a meal. But other than that, I still fit into most of my clothes (I do confess a sudden preference for elastic waistbands) and on the most part look like myself.
- FATIGUE - The first few weeks of the pregnancy were the WORST. I felt like a truck had run over me most of the time. I couldn't sit straight,let alone work some afternoons. This plus the fact that I had to endure quite a lot of business travel (quite a few day trips ugh) which really drained the life out of me. Oh, and one Saturday we decide to hit a mall after brunch. After an hour of trekking through its labyrinths, I told AK I REALLY needed to get home. Once home I was knocked out for 2 hours straight - almost unheard of for me.
I have been desperate enough to catch some rest in washrooms and even my car during office hours. After reading some tips online, here's what helped me the most:-
- Eating a good proper breakfast. Take blackstrap molasses in my coffee.
- Take multivitamin supplements in the morning
- Ironically, exercise. Long walks in the neighbourhood, breathing fresh air, helped me feel less lethargic and I sleep better at night. I have also been doing quite a bit of walking during my travels. A business trip to Singapore where I took the opportunity to walk from my hotel to the nearby malls (and hit Crate and Barrel), getting myself thoroughly lost in the basements of Ion Orchard. Ak and I also went on our long-awaited vacation to Bangkok, where we walked Chatuchak, Platinum Mall, and Siam Paragon numerous times. Though we depended on cabs a lot more more than in our previous trips. My parents also paid us a visit over the Raya holidays and we took them shopping. So some walking there as well. unfortunately due to all the travel I had to do I couldn't do as much yoga as I wanted (boo).
- Turn in early. In the first few weeks I was in bed by 9 and in dreamland by 9.30, only to struggle to wake up at 7 to go to work.
I am grateful though, as the weeks go by and I approach the second trimester, that the fatigue seems to be tapering off. My gynae warns me that once the fatigue goes off then comes the nausea and morning sickness, which I am grateful (for now - fingers crossed!) that I have not experienced.
- Heartburn/Chest pains - I can't eat the portions I used to anymore. My usual style is to inhale/gobble my food, which is really BAD for me now. I end up with severe heartburn and chest pains that can go on for hours. I don't have much of an appetite (although I have very specific cravings), so often I don't realize I'm hungry until I'm ravenous. Now I need to remind myself to eat slowly and pause in between bites. This in some ways has been harder than giving up my coffee. Like, for example, we had a delicious team lunch of (extremely oily) spagetthi aglio olio and the yummiest chicken wings I had in a while. I couldnt stop myself from eating 4 wings in addition to my pasta, and am still feeling the effects 4 hours later.
- I do have VERY specific cravings though, that AK has to scramble to meet :) We've driven around Lucky Garden 3 times in search of a parking spot for Sarawak Laksa, sweated our brains out in Paramount Garden for Curry Mee (reeeally excellent by the way); braved the jam to Paradigm mall for deep-fried squid, to name a few. Yes, all I want to eat most of the time are spicy curry noodles!
Other than that, our lifestyles haven't really changed. We still go out with friends. I badly want to do a bit more travel before I reach the 3rd trimester, but with our work commitments it's going to be tough. Still, we'll see. I still want to cook and bake and do everything I love to do. And there are so many things we need to line up to prepare for our new arrival - hire a helper, shop for the best post-natal treatments, attend antenatal classes. One thing at a time though, and it's still early days.
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