My Son’ll Be Born in 2020 (A Pregnant Lady Rant)

Hey there, hi there, ho there.

I’m pregnant. How pregnant? Second trimester preggo. As I boogie on through the mid-way point of this whole gestation situation I believe this blog would be a good place to share some of my reflections and revelations from my first go-round on the family planning mobile. This isn’t a journaling exercise (I have a pregnancy diary for that!). It’s more of a place for me to share some of the shit I had no idea happens during pregnancy because I just didn’t and it’s not discussed in depth on any of the “what a beautiful blessing you have been gifted” pregnancy apps on my phone.

So here goes.

The 1st Trimester was an L
Eight out of twelve weeks of the first trimester were a total loss as far as I’m concerned. Morning sickness drug me over the coals from weeks 7-10, exhaustion hovered over me like a rain cloud weeks 4-11, and I felt like I could smell any scent within a mile radius and all of them were terrible. The inability to go anywhere outside of the house and at least busy myself with non-home related tasks also did a number on my mental health. My son developed all his major organs during those first 12 weeks and for that I’m grateful but times were tough for ya girl.

Tough tough.

Bright side is I lost a bunch of weight and am the lightest I’ve been in years.

Body growth
I’m 17 1/2 weeks which means I’m no longer losing my lunch every other morning, but now my mid-section is in a constant state of change. You don’t just get big overnight friends, no. Every week (day really) your body grows at pace with your nugget which is hella cool. At the same time my body is letting me know its growing and expanding by what seems to be daily aches and pains around my lower abdomen. I’m pretty sure i’ll be picking up a belly band soon.

Your Regularly Scheduled Program Will Be Interrupted
So due to my stage of pregnancy my uterus is still sitting pretty low and therefore Malcolm’s placenta (the organ baby-bakers grow during pregnancy [and expel during labor] that sustains your nugget and gives it all its nutrients) is positioned over my cervix. This positioning is called a placenta previa. It’s gonna move as my uterus lifts higher up into my abdomen and my son gets bigger which is awesome. What is not awesome is that because of that placenta position having penetrative sex or pelvic exams may cause you to bleed afterward (and may or may not cause you to bug out). Baby’s fine, chilling like a villain even, but your cervix is very perturbed and you may or may not get put on some form of rest until it resolves. Yay pelvic rest (-_-).

Things Change Quickly
I found out I was pregnant two days after my wedding (which also happens to be the day the lockdowns got announced in Louisiana). As soon as I found out a bunch of pregnancy symptoms seemed to hit at once–cramps, needing to eat to avoid nausea, and a heightened sense of smell. I think I believed I had more time between week 4 (about the earliest you can realize you’re pregnant) and the start of the second trimester before I would feel pregnant. But alas, the pregnancy bus was waiting for me at the door almost the moment that stick came back positive. Pregnancy is a full body experience and impacts almost all of your systems and parts. Don’t believe me? My doctor was able to tell the gender of my baby from my blood at week 11 (3-4 weeks before his gender would be visible on an ultrasound). There’s gender juice floating in my blood y’all!

Telling Folks Has Been & Is Still the Most Fun Part
We went the route of telling almost all our family and friends within hours of us finding out. I was hesitant just in case of a loss of pregnancy, but I went with my husband’s gut (and my own love of sharing good news) and we told our crew. Hearing and seeing the different responses has been a joy. Especially as those closest to you start to identify the baby by its relationship to them (nephew, grandson, cousin, etc.). Even strangers’ faces light up when you mention that you have a bun in the oven and in these times its fun to bask in some delightful news.

Well that’s all the ranting I have for today. Looking forward to sharing more about this whole thing in the future.

Bri aka Some lil boy mama bka the Good Doctah