I’ll give you a break from all the holiday content and Christmas recaps to pop in with my 21 week update. Don’t you worry, I’ll have my Christmas post up tomorrow! 🙂

I was bummed to miss my 20 week post last week due to being sick because 20 weeks is technically halfway. BUT “full-term” can actually be anywhere from 38-42 weeks so we’ll call this my halfway mark…especially since it seems first babies are often late. Only time will tell.

21 WEEKS PREGNANCY UPDATE

Baby is growing! Around three-quarters of a pound and 10.5 inches from crown to heel. I’m not digging the endive comparison but some other sites have said large carrot so we’ll roll with carrot. 20 weeks was a banana and I loved that!

Here’s the latest with baby boy! (Did you miss my gender announcement? IT’S A BOY!)

• Although he’s getting all the nutrients he needs from the placenta, baby swallows a little bit of amniotic fluid each day to practice for when he’s out in the real world. The crazy thing is that the taste of the amniotic fluid changes day-to-day depending on what I’ve eaten. And since baby’s taste buds are already starting to develop, he can get some “tastes” of the flavors I’ve been eating. How wild!
• Baby is becoming more coordinated and gaining more control over limb movements
• Baby’s bone marrow starts to make blood cells

Since I missed last week, here’s the 20 week “bump”-date.

And here’s 21!

BEING SICK IN THE SECOND TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY

Before I get into the survey-style update on how things are going, let me first take a moment to talk about being sick and 20 weeks pregnant. It has not been a fun ride.

I’m currently on day 8 of some sort of upper respiratory infection that has been brutal. Typically, when I get a cold/cough, I feel bad for 2-3 days and then it’s just nagging symptoms but nothing that I can’t manage. This time around, not so much. I have had eight straight days of feeling tired, achy, congested and coughing like crazy.

My symptoms first started on Monday, December 18. I felt tired and like I had a little tickle in my throat. I knew it was going to go one of two ways and unfortunately, it went the way of sick. Overnight on Monday everything set in and I coughed all night. Tanner held me and I just laid in bed crying because I felt so awful. Every day since then has just been more coughing and increasing head/nasal congestion as the days go on. I’m also really hoarse. Each day I think, “okay, this is it…I’m turning the corner” and then I just don’t feel better. The nights are the absolute worst. I’m sick and want to rest/sleep but the congestion and coughing are terrible at night, even when I prop myself up.

Here are the natural things I’ve tried…

• Apple cider vinegar shots, 1-2 tablespoons 2x day.
• Running a humidifier at night.
• Diffusing peppermint oil and lavender at night.
• Tons of fluids like water, hot tea, ginger ale and apple cider vinegar drinks.
• Throat drops/hard candy.
• Teaspoons of honey.
• Neti pot. This is definitely my favorite natural remedy so far and I can’t believe I waited so long to try one.

I called my doctor’s nurse on Saturday and she told me some OTC things that I could take and told me if I wasn’t feeling better on Christmas Eve to go in to OBGYN urgent care. Well, I felt bad on Christmas Eve and made an appointment to go in and when I arrived I was told that the OBGYN wasn’t there but I could wait a couple of hours to see the regular doctor if I’d like. Give me a pass on being pregnant and hormonal but I left and then called Tanner from the car crying. I ended up speaking on the phone with a friend of ours who is an ER doctor and she said she thought I was okay just to keep riding it out since I wasn’t running a fever and didn’t feel flu-like. She encouraged me to take some of the OTC meds so here’s what I’ve taken.

• Benadryl at night to help me sleep.
• Tylenol (regular strength) to help with body aches a couple of times.
• MucinexD half doses, one on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas Day. My doctor’s office suggested this. I have only taken half doses because a) anything with Sudafed in it makes me feel legit crazy and b) I wanted to be as cautious as possible with the baby on board.

While I don’t feel well, my biggest concern has been for baby boy, especially with all the coughing I’ve been doing. I’ve been assured that he is very protected in there – both from the sickness and from the coughing – but it’s still hard not to worry.

I wish I could say that any of these things were magic fixes but to be honest, nothing has really helped a ton and only time will get me to the other side of this. There is a ton of respiratory stuff going around in Charlotte right now. I do see my OBGYN on Thursday for my monthly check-up so I’m looking forward to hearing baby’s heartbeat on that doppler and talking with my doctor about all of this.

Okay, that was a lot but I wanted to document that in the event that it helps someone else. <3

HOW I’M FEELING AT 21 WEEKS PREGNANT

How about another bump shot? It looks so much more “real” when I’m not standing straight to get the weekly documenting photo.

Weight Gain/Body Changes: I think I’m around 11-12 pounds gained at this point. Nothing crazy with body changes other than filling out in the chest, abdomen and hip/booty area.

Workouts/Workout Modifications: ahhhh, baby FINALLY moved up off my bladder and running was starting to get comfortable and then I got sick and haven’t run in a week and a half. I’ve been taking it easy on workouts the last couple of weeks, a couple yoga practices, some walking and some strength before I started feeling really bad.

Symptoms: nothing to report on the pregnancy front other than this URI.

Food Aversions: nothing significant.

Food Cravings: still wanting lots of carbs and pineapple, which has been pretty constant through pregnancy for me.

Sleep: has been terrible due to being sick, not due to pregnancy.

Maternity Clothes: still haven’t bought anything maternity specific but I did go to Lululemon and got some things a size up as well as some roomier-cut tanks.

Movement: I’m adding this one in since I’ve finally started feeling intermittent movement since my 19 week update. Reminder, I have an anterior placenta…

(source)

Like the one on the right so my placenta essentially acts a cushion between baby and my stomach which means I don’t feel as much movement. I’ve finally started feeling some rolling and kicks, especially at night when I get in bed and am very still. It’s on and off at this point and I’ll go a day or two between feeling him so I’m ready for a little more consistency for my own peace of mind!

Next up: oh man, we told ourselves that we would get through the holidays and wait until the new year to start on things like nursery, planning showers, signing up for classes, etc. and that time is fast approaching. I can’t believe that we’re just a little over four months out from meeting baby boy!

Have you experienced being sick while pregnant? If so, how did you deal? With both the actual sickness and worrying about baby? 

Does anyone have experience with hiring a doula? This is something I’m considering strongly for birth. 

Thanks for following along! xx