Growing a Baby is Hard Work

I am amazed by the speed of fetal development. Above, my 8-week
ultrasound. Below, three weeks later.

At 11 weeks, baby looks like a baby.

Like my first pregnancy, the most noticeable early symptoms I have are extreme fatigue. I mean, extreme. When I was pregnant with Lily, I blamed it on recovering from working on a major event at the office. This time, I thought my body was refusing to adjust to the time change. Of course, the further we got from when time changed, the less likely it seemed that was my problem.

Three pregnancy tests later, and it was clear that my exhaustion was due to my body trying to work for two.

A side note about pregnancy tests: I'm cheap. I hate the idea of paying $20 for a name-brand test that's only going to turn up negative. So, I took a friend's advice this time and picked up two tests at the dollar store. The first one was clearly positive. The second was clearly negative. This did not instill confidence in me on either test's accuracy so I broke down and sent my husband to a different store for one of those fancy-schmancy digital tests. $20 and a clear "pregnant" reading later, and I would say that the $2 spent on the first tests was my only true waste of money.

I'm fortunate that nausea isn't much of an issue for me. It's the fatigue, insomnia and constant trips to the bathroom common in the first trimester that get to me. I don't complain because my pregnancies are cakewalks compared to many women I know, but it's still an adjustment for me to realize that my energy is limited.

In hopes of helping my energy levels, I've been on the following supplement protocol since confirming my pregnancy in November:

• Rainbow Light Just Once Prenatal Vitamin (1 a day)
• 800 mcg Folic Acid (1 a day)
• 50,000 IU Vitamin D (1 a week)
• B12 monthly injection
• 60 mg Floradix liquid iron supplement 
• 2,500 mg calcium citrate (taken in 5 doses throughout the day)

My doctor runs full labs on me every month so we can be sure I'm absorbing whatever I'm taking in is being absorbed by my body and making its way to the baby.

On the exercise front, I've decided to hire a personal trainer to ensure that I can maintain my level of fitness during pregnancy without putting myself in danger. I don't think the average person would need to take such precautions but given that my abdominal hernia is still uncorrected, it seems safer to err on the side of caution.