The Hughes': Weeks 4-11

Now that the news is public, I can share my pictures and details of the pregnancy so far!

The day after I got a positive pregnancy test, I went in to my doctor's office and got blood drawn to confirm the pregnancy. Once it was confirmed, they had me come in for more blood draws (7 tubes! Which I don't even do that many on my patients at the hospital haha!). Then I had an appointment with the nurse to answer a ton of questions and fill out some paperwork.

From weeks 4-7 I had some awful, painful cramps. They were a lot like menstrual cramps, but just out of control. It worried me that it could be something wrong with the baby, but the nurse assured me that I was just dehydrated. It was an everyday occurrence and it was so painful! It seemed like I was drinking water constantly, but it just wasn't enough. Luckily, at week 7 the cramps disappeared.

However, at week 7, the nausea took over. I know a lot of people say this, but I have no idea why they call it morning sickness. It was present all day and all night. I would wake up from a deep sleep and feel so bad. The best way I could describe the feeling to Jimbo was to compare it to a really bad hangover. Like when you move your head and the whole room spins. Or you know you need water, but the thought of drinking anything makes you want to be sick. Yuck haha! I will say that I found that it was worse when I hadn't eaten. When my stomach would normally start growling because I was hungry, it would instead feel nauseous. Week 11 is when it really started to ease up and now that I'm in week 12, I can say that the nauseous days are few and far between. Thank goodness!

The craziest part of being pregnant....the cravings and aversions! Before the morning sickness started, I was into eating really healthy. I wanted fresh salads, salmon, fruits, vegetables, etc. But once I was feeling sick, I couldn't stand anything. The only thing I had any desire to eat was pizza. Unfortunately, I ate so much pizza in a short amount of time that Jimbo and I were way burnt out on it haha! During week 11, I started getting my appetite back little by little. Hopefully it continues to get better because I've actually lost weight since my pre-pregnancy weight.

Now for some pictures!

Week 4
Babe is the size of a Poppyseed!