Week 7 or 8: The Heartbeat & The Hangover

This was a big week for the Chiampas household.

We had our first appointment at Kaiser, during which we did the first Ultrasound. To be completely honest, I felt a good amount of excitement and anxiety going into the appointment. Up until this appointment, while I felt the exhaustion, nausea and did PLENTY of home tests, I still didn't believe that this pregnancy was the real deal.

Champ, of course, wanted to join me for the appointment and he came equipped with a Post-It note full of questions and clarifications that he wanted from Dr Niedel (very endearing). The exam began with a series of questions about general health, a breast exam, and then we went into the Ultrasound. The miniest lil fetus popped up on the screen and we could see its little heart beating like crazy. When she magnified and turn on the sound, it was literally the craziest thing I've experienced. She measured the baby to check the progress. Based on my calculations, we thought I was 8 weeks and 2 days, but according to the measurements I was 7 weeks and 2 days. Due to this discrepancy, I'll be going back next week for a followup ultrasound to remeasure and determine which they'll use to determine my EDD (Estimated Due Date).

This week I've also had a very real battle with "morning sickness" which is bullshit because this feeling in the base of my throat literally pops up all day long and makes EVERYTHING sound terrible. Poor Champ. This is the norm anytime we talk about food:

Champ: What sounds good for dinner? I'll make you anything.

Me: Nothing.

Champ: You've gotta eat something

Me: I'm sorry. Literally the thought of anything makes me gag.

Uh, I'm annoyed at myself so I can only imagine his life dealing with a person who:

- comes straight home and plops on the couch to try to alleviate the nausea

- can't figure out what she wants to eat

- when we do eat something I get tired of eating it about halfway through

He's literally researched and bought ALL the remedies in the book for me and nothing seems to be a fail-safe. I take the B6 daily with my Folic Acid, I reach for the dissolving Motion Sickness pills whenever I'm feeling REALLY bad, I'm trying to keep crackers close to eat throughout the day, but I can't stand the taste of ginger lately. I'm the worst. I try to remind myself each day that I'm just lucky to be blessed with this pregnancy and I'm sure there will be much bigger struggles in my life, but then I have a mini pity party where I feel bad that I'm literally living through a perpetual hangover that (hopefully) will (only) last another month.