13 Weeks - Big Bad Belly Shots

It's my 13th week of pregnancy and end of my first trimester! Yahooo! My belly is not that big yet, but I wish it'll grow bigger because it just looks like a "puson" as of the moment.

My baby's development:

1. My angel starts to inhale and exhale inside my womb.
2. Hands are becoming more functional. Baby is starting to play with those little fingers.
3. The genitals begin to take on the proper gender characteristics. (I wonder if angel is a boy or a girl?? Still can't be seen on the ultrasound though).
4. Heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time! That was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard.

What have I been feeling so far:

• Fetal movements!!! Hahahaha... the best. I love it when baby moves.
• Frequent headaches
• Trouble sleeping (I've been thinking too much lately, and there's that frequent visit on the bathroom).
• Growing hip line. My pants won't fit anymore so I starting buying some preggy dress. Actually they're not pregnancy dresses hahaha.
• Occasional vomiting, due to fatigue. This is the reason why I haven't gain enough weight despite my increase in appetite.
• Cravings for food. I crave for mango.. mango fruit, mango shake, mango juice.
• Increase in appetite. This morning I had 1 longanisa rice, one hashbrown, one sausage mcmuffin... then after 30mins, I threw it all!

Hold on tight baby, and keep growing. We still have a looong way to go.

11 Weeks

After a few weeks of straight work (10-11hrs a day), I'm beginning to feel the fatigue and stress for the very first time.

You see, my team is back for another design, and we've been spending 8hrs a day daily on the conference room for brainstorming, specification and design review. One day, I come home with a bad headache. It was so painful that I didn't get to eat, and sleep well. The headache lasted for a week. It was really scary, a migraine attack during my first-trimester where every thing is so delicate. The one thing that probably caused my headache was the glare of the projector during our meeting so I was advised to stay home and rest.

I've read that if you suffered from migraine attacks in the past, it is more likely strike more frequently during pregnancy. A pregnant woman should be prepared for dealing with migraine attacks preferably through prevention. If you know what brings the attack, you should try to avoid the culprit. Here are a few of those:

• Stress
• Chocolates
• Cheese
• Coffee
• Red Wine

To ease up migraine, do one or more of the following:

• Splashing the face with cold water or applying a cold cloth or ice pack
• Avoid noise, light and odors by lying down in a darkened room for two or three hours with eyes covered
• Don't read or watch TV

Since I've suffering from these attacks before, I didn't bother calling my OB. I just rested and PREVENTED drinking pain killers (harmful for the baby) and paracetamols (according to my OB, it's safe).

Houston, we have a heartbeat! (10 Weeks)

It was my first visit at my OB's clinic at Medical City. I was tremendously happy meeting Dr. Perona. I immediately like her, felt completely at ease and comfortable with her. In fact, I like her better than my OB in Bcd. She's very friendly, more like a mom. She listens to every thing I say to her and always have a piece of advice. She jokes around and shares her experiences with me at the same time.

She ordered me to lay on the bed, put out my belly. Then took this small radio sized machine and put some oil on it. It's called the Doppler, a machine they use to listen for a heartbeat of a baby in the womb. It took her around 5 minutes to finally get to the perfect spot. She needs to poke on my stomach to get the baby to move closer to the Doppler. At first we only heard the sound of my pulse, then out of nowhere there's this faint sound, a beat that's so much faster than my pulse. Dr. Perona said that that's the heartbeat of the baby and asked if I can hear it clearly. I was overjoyed. It was a good strong heartbeat! It only lasted for a split second because the baby seems to be moving.

The sound of my baby’s heartbeat was the best thing I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. All those questions have truly been answered: I am totally pregnant and it is for real! It was the first real assurance that there is in fact a real person (a super tiny person) living and growing inside me. It is an experience that I will never forget.