Prego 101

I’ve read a lot of articles and books about pregnancy. There are many things in those articles that I didn’t feel when I was pregnant. I didn’t even believe in most of them. I will share my experience when I was expecting my daughter. You may feel and be the same, it may also be different for you. But this is the closest that I can give you guys a help and a guide through your pregnancy.

I have a regular period. So the first time I missed it got me all shaky. I thought it was just delayed, just like the number of times that it had been. The second month that I missed it, I was still in the stage of trying to believe that it will arrive, but I have my suspicions. Finally, on the third month, I took a pregnancy test. I was able to purchase two that costs about 150.00php each. I bought two, because according to my aunt who is a nurse, it is safe if in case the PT would give you a false positive result.

It both turned out positive and I was on my way to an OBGYN the next day. I chose an OBGYN that was covered by my health card. A quick tip, just like what I did, I took several trips to different doctors, trying to choose to whom I would be most comfortable with. It is advisable to just have one doctor from the start until delivery, so as for them to be able to keep track of everything that’s happening within the pregnancy.

Since I was already on my 3^rd month of my pregnancy, my OBGYN, Dr. Elizabeth King-Supelana from the Metropolitan Medical Center, advised me that it will be too late to take folic acid. She said that this helps develop the baby’s brain, and at 3 months, the baby’s brain is already developed. So she gave me Mosvit multivitamins, Ferrous Sulfate, and Vitamin C. At first, she also advised me to drink Anmum twice a day, because according to her, the calcium in the drink is very good for the baby. But since I am lactose intolerant, I had to stop the milk and just take a capsule for Vitamin D.

Different OBGYNs prescribe different vitamins depending on the results of the lab tests that you need to do. Make sure to not cheat on them because it is your baby’s welfare that is at stake.

My lab tests included urinalysis, glucose tolerance test, of course, CBC, and the like. It is also your choice if you will allow you selected hospital to do the test. Some hospitals provide very expensive prices for those, so you can just have them done in some place cheaper.

The first time that the doctor checked the heartbeat of the baby, it was 166 beats per minute. My OB said that it was normal that it is that fast. When I heard the heart beat from the Doppler, it was just amazing.

In the coming months, you will experience a change in your eating and sleeping habits. When I was pregnant, I sleep most of the time and when I wake up, all I do is eat and stretch a little. I was working then but my preggo belly was aching a lot because of the stress that work was giving me, so I was advised to go on bed rest.

My morning sickness didn’t occur until the 4^th month of pregnancy. From the articles I’ve read, vomiting is good. Don’t believe that it only happens in the morning. There had been times that it was happening all day for me, there were days that I just felt okay.

Hormones are also going to shoot up and down at this experience. At times, I felt so happy because of the amazing developments of the little life inside me. But there were times that I worry a lot of how we would raise the baby. There had been times that I was so needy and was asking for too much attention.

At four months, that’s when my baby bump showed. I wasn’t thin, so it just looked like I gained weight. Though, I was losing weight at that time. There had been a period where I lost almost 10 lbs. the doctor checked the baby though, but she was good. It was really me who was losing weight. From my research from some nurses, they said that it is okay to still do light exercises. But if your tummy hurts or if you bleed, you better stop. They said that any kind of bleeding during pregnancy is not good. But don’t panic if you are experiencing this. It is best to keep calm and just consult your doctor about it.

It will take a lot of patience during the months that you are pregnant. I mean, waiting for the baby to come out isn’t as fast as 1, 2, 3. But during this stage, you have to be very careful in what you do and most especially, what you eat. I usually binge on fruits. Although, my doctor warned me that since fruits are also filled with sugar, I may need to cut back on those and have a balanced diet. Of course, it was difficult. I ate all that I can, avoiding food with too much salt and sugar.

Elders also advised me to take soups with malunggay leaves, as they are good to provide breast milk in time when the baby comes out. I came to a point where I put malunggay leaves in instant noodles.

Nowadays, 3D ultrasounds are very popular. Well, it is very advanced and it will make you more excited to see the baby. My cousin had one of those, but it is not really as clear as how they would advertise it. My OB didn’t even recommend it. She said that the 2D one will do, because basically, that’s all they really need to see.

I found out the gender of my baby at 7 months. She was really moving a lot that the doctor had a hard time taking shots of the her inside my womb. That’s when I felt her first kick as well. A very painful bang on your belly, and there would even times that you would feel the movements of the baby when you lay your hand on top of your tummy.

The baby’s movement and kicks are all different. There are some active babies that moves around all the time. There had been several nights that I wasn’t able to sleep properly because of it.

When my tummy was as big as a watermelon, that’s was when I needed help in putting myself to sleep. It is most comfortable to lie on your side. The doctor even said that it is not advisable to lie flat on the bed. It is also normal to have difficulty in sleeping during the last months of your pregnancy. Your trips to the bathroom to pee will be tripled. My morning sickness were still present even at 7 months, the doctor still said that this is normal.

At nine months, my feet started to hurt every day. I weighed about 180 lbs. at that time. My OB advised me to stop taking the multivitamins, as the baby doesn’t need it anymore.

As you have watched from movies and teleseryes, giving birth requires screaming and a lot of pain. Well, I guess everything is really magnified on TV. On the day that I gave birth, everything was still normal. I even went out to have a very heavy lunch since I felt so hungry, not knowing that that will be my last meal in the next 24 hours.

My face started to numb together with my tummy. At first, it was just for a few seconds, and then it became frequent. So I called my doctor and she asked to drop by the hospital to have a check-up. I just went there the day before and my cervix wasn’t open yet.

From the hospital, they did an IE, and found that my cervix had opened, but just 1 cm. the doctor told me that it may take a little while for my cervix to fully open, so they advised me to go home for the meantime and update her for anything that I would feel in the next hours.

Before I left the hospital, they checked my cervix again, and found that it had opened to 4 cm. so they asked to stay instead and that’s when the labour started.

After an hour, my cervix opened to 5 cm. they asked me to walk around, to stress myself, so that the cervix would open more, and the labour to be faster. I was walking around the hospital in robes with my dextrose hanging up a pole.

It took another hour for me to move another cm and I got stuck there for 3 hours. They induced me with meds to make the labour period faster. That’s when my belly started to contract, it was still tolerable though. They also had to break my water since it’s not happening.

At 9 cm, they took me to the delivery room. It took a lot held breaths and turning before the baby could at last, come out.

Like what I said, it is different with every pregnancy, with every woman, with every baby. These are guides and something to smile about if you are experiencing the same. Remember to always consult the doctor, be mindful of everything you do, and have a happy pregnancy!