6 weeks

It's Sunday, I'm officially 6 weeks, starting into my 7th week now. The embryo should now be the size of a rice grain, or a pea. My picture of a rice grain looks a bit small, I probably should have used a long grain rice instead.

I've started to feel a lot better this week, I've been feeling less side effects from the Crinone and less bloated. I've been worrying a little bit about not making it through the first trimester, but I haven't focused too much on it as I'm so excited I'm still actually pregnant.

I've been looking up the foods I'm not allowed, and I would be half way through eating a pizza and think...is that feta cheese cooked enough? Does that chicken look a bit pink? Or I would grab some grapes from the fridge and start eating them before thinking...did I wash those? To be safe, I may just go vegetarian, avoid soft cheeses and wash all the fruit and vegies before they go in the fridge.

A friend and I were saying how some women still smoke and drink during their pregnancy, which put things into perspective a bit. Here I am, worrying about a dirty grape, and other women are still poisoning their unborn child and still carrying a child to full term. I think I should probably relax a bit.

Otherwise, the main pregnancy symptoms I've been feeling this week is frequent urination, sharp pains and twinges, minor cramps, overall tiredness and changes in my appetite.

Frequent urination

What I didn't understand about frequent urination was the immediate urgency for the need to pee. The usual need to pee would consist of 2 or 3 levels of warning. The first one you would ignore, the 2nd level you would start to make your way towards a toilet at a leisurely pace and the third level is "drop your pants now, I'm not waiting for you anymore". Somehow, when you're pregnant, you skip past that first level and you don't hang around on the second level of warning for too long. So don't ignore the alarm bells when they're distantly ringing, get to the toilet quick...even if it's just for a piddly, little amount. Also, night time pees became an issue. I would need to go to the toilet at 3am every morning. It hasn't been so bad lately. Apparently, your hormones send more blood to the pelvic area and your uterus is positioned right on your bladder (until second trimester), meaning you need to pee more. Brilliant.

Sharp pains, twinges and minor cramps

I notice a few sharp pains, especially when I'm lying on my back and try to move around a bit. Nothing too dramatic. I've felt minor cramps in different areas of my lower abdomen as well, but again nothing too drastic. I read somewhere that cramps are a good indication that the uterus is still preparing itself, still in early construction stages.

Soo tired...

I've been quite tired this week. More than usual. I've found it quite hard to get out of bed in the morning, and I'm just ready to fall onto the couch when I get home from work. I don't drink coffee anymore, but I find a cup of tea does wonders for me. I've also really noticed a drop in energy levels since I've stopped taking my multivitamin. I hear it passes, and again, it's just the baby using up all your energy levels to keep working on the construction stages.

Appetite

My appetite has changed a bit. I can't seem to finish a full meal. So I tend to snack more through out the day instead of having big meals. This also helps prevent bloating. And I always wake up starving!