Pregnancy week 20: My monthly check up + Morning sickness remedies



Week 18: You can see my tiny bump



Our baby is the size of a cantaloupe now! Our baby is getting big. Also he or she have been kicking non-stop which feels incredible.

I've been following my pregnancy update day to day on a iphone app called Babybump. It's indredibly informational. Today's say that our baby can start recognizing my voice starting week 20. So, i'm going to start singing away to my baby. You know you all do that in your car anyways. 

I had my monthly check up yesterday. I have a routine when I go in for my check-up. I provide the nurse a sample of my urine for her to check my body’s ph level.  Then she weigh’s me and checks my blood pressure. The most exciting part is when she checks the baby’s heartbeat to make sure it sounds great. My check up’s usually takes about 15 minutes.
The doctor said the baby’s heartbeat sounded great and I looked great so we’re on the right track.  I’m currently 101 lbs. I gained about 4 lbs since last month. The doctor said the gradual weight gain was very healthy. My pregnancy has been fairly good except for all the drowsiness and morning sickness.  It sucks that I’m still having morning sickness even during my second trimester. It’s a little difficult when I get tired during the day as well.  I try to take naps for about an hour if I have time but if I don’t a cold drink usually help. I like to drink orange juice or my mango citrus Fruits & Vegetable Twist Tube. I only buy Orange juice that’s not from concentrate with no added sugars or preservatives. It tastes fresher. I didn’t like orange juice before I got pregnant but now it tastes amazing. It’s incredibly refreshing. The other drink I’m in love with is the mango citrus twist tube. It tastes amazing as well. I love that it doesn’t have a sweet after taste so it doesn’t make me feel thirstier. It’s made from organic fruits and vegetables which is awesome. Also, I get two servings of fruits and vegetable per drink which is much needed for me and my baby.  

Morning Sickness:

I wanted to share a little bit about my morning sickness experience. I started feeling morning sickness around week 7. The first week was bearable but it started getting really bad into my week 8. I was throwing up everything I ate. Also my senses were heightened so I was able to smell anything from miles away. Chris had to immediately brush his teeth after he ate something or I would smell it the minute he came home. I specifically hated the smell of fast food. It made me really nauseous. Luckily I wasn’t gagging at the sight of food but just throwing up once it entered my body.  I couldn't swollow my vitamins during my first trimaster so Chris grinded them for me and we added it into my food. I couldn't leave out my vitamins.

A few things that helped my nausea:

1)  Ondansetron: Ondansetron is used to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. Doctors prescribe it for pregnant women with severe morning sickness. This made my morning sickness diminish about 90%. Please contact your doctor for more information.

You can read more about it here- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000157/

2)  Baked Potato Chips: Potato chips helped my nausea a lot. I usually get the Gluten Free/ Cholesterol Free/ All Natural Baked Potato Chips from Trader Joes. You’ll find it in the chips aisle.

3) Plenty of rest: Especially during your first Trimester make sure you get plenty of rest. I felt more nausea when I was tired. If you’re still working like me try to take 30 min naps during your lunch time.

4) Still try to eat even if you throw up. I know it’ incredibly hard but I kept trying to eat anything I can think of because having an empty stomach makes the nausea worse. I ate even if I would throw it back up hoping at least 1% of it would stay in my stomach.
5) Udon Noodle Soup: I almost lived off of udon noodles and the soup for couple of weeks. The warm soup helped soothe my stomach tremendously. I get the brand Pulmone. You can get buy them at any Korean markets. It has no MSG or preservatives.  

**There's alot of websites such as http://www.babycenter.com/morning-sickness with great remedies for improving morning sickness.

A few things that made my morning sickess worse:

1) When I ate fruits on an empty stomach it made my nausea worse. The acid in the fruits was too harsh for my body. I usually eat it after a meal.

2) Spicy food: It was hard for my digestive system to digest spicy food so I would get heart burns.

That’s all that I remember for now. If I remember more I’ll definitely share it with you guys. I hope this was informational.

Love,

Sandy