My pregnancy [3rd month]

Dear Reader, This blog series is written in the present tense. This is because I wrote these articles monthly during my pregnancy as a kind of diary. In the meantime, my pregnancy is already over and I am gathering strength again in the postpartum period. During this time, this blog series should accompany you. And now I hope you enjoy reading!

The 3rd month begins where the second month ends: with nausea. But they endure this for me. In the 9th SSW I also have the first checkup with my midwife. This is a completely new experience for me. With my son, I had all the checkups with my gynecologist. But now this new way feels more fitting. I feel good overall and don't want this constant medical checkup. I trust my body that everything is fine the way it is.

My midwife feels for my uterus and draws blood and sends it to the lab along with a urine sample. She looks at my blood pressure, weight, and abdominal girth. We also try to hear the baby's heart sounds. The arteries supplying my uterus are loud and clear, but no heart sounds from the baby. But everything is in order, it is difficult at this stage of pregnancy. The pregnancy hormones can be clearly detected in the blood and about two weeks later I can also hear my baby's heart in my belly. This is very moving.

I can feel how the uterus is growing more and more and a small belly is making itself felt. I am very relieved about this. With my son, I had a lot of pain until the belly finally "protruded". This time I feel much better. I feel the stretching, but have no pain at all. For others, this belly is still barely visible.

The 3rd month is gradually passing and I notice that the nausea is slowly improving. Still only a little, but sometimes I have a few hours of rest. I no longer have to make sure to eat something every hour so that the nausea remains bearable. I still get acupuncture, but the intervals are slowly getting longer. I now have a break of three or four days between treatments and for the most part it is bearable. Of course there are good days and bad days, but I still feel a small, steady change. I am very grateful for that.

At the end of the 3rd month I feel my baby in my belly for the first time. I feel the movements internally and also with my hand when I put it on my belly. I am totally amazed, as I thought I would feel it much later. It is still very gentle. When I feel inside myself, however, I can feel it clearly. That makes the remaining nausea even more bearable.

And then it's already over - the 3rd month of pregnancy. Of course, I am happy and hope that the nausea would soon be completely gone. But it also makes me aware again how fast time flies. It felt like only yesterday I had taken the pregnancy test and now 12 weeks of pregnancy had already passed.

The cover image comes from unsplash.com.