Pregnancy - Spotting during the 1st trimester of pregnancy

Posted by Carri:

One part of my pregnancies is spotting during the 1st trimester, and is easily one of the worst and most stressful parts. Starting with my 2nd pregnancy, I would start spotting during my 5th week and usually spot until 12 weeks. I found with this current pregnancy that it was often worsened by stress and doing too much. I always had ultrasounds early to check the viability of the pregnancy, and even though once they found the heartbeat my chances of having a miscarriage went down significantly, I never stopped worrying until I was out of the 1st trimester. I did suffer one miscarriage, but there was no spotting beforehand. I just woke up with a lot of bleeding, and it only increased from there. There seems to be no cure to spotting, it just seems to be what some women’s bodies do, and others do not. All I can say is that I learned from my miscarriage that I knew how short and precious life was and I vowed to love these tiny babies as much as I could, for as long as I could. I also found this was a great opportunity to challenge and rest in my faith. For those of you who are also experiencing spotting, I hope and pray that you are made stronger and that your pregnancies end with a healthy happy baby in the end.

Pregnancy - Carri's Pregnant!!

As part of a series we are beginning in Carri's 2nd trimester, she will be giving us her input as a pregnant mommy with 3 boys already!

Posted by Carri:

I’m finally returning to the world after a very long and sick start to my fourth pregnancy. This pregnancy was a big surprise, but very welcome none the less. My husband and I went to Chicago to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and a friends’ wedding, only to bring home more than the guest chocolates. I had a lot of doula births lined up for the fall and before I had even missed my period I started showing signs of pregnancy. Fatigue and nausea – ugh. On our actual 10th wedding anniversary we took the test and found out that I was indeed pregnant! To make things even more wild, it turned out my due date was the exact date I miscarried last summer. This news was very exciting, overwhelming, daunting and humorous all at the same time. However, I proceeded to get more and more sick, which is bad enough on its own, but with three other children, a business, and many doula clients it was near impossible. Morning sickness is such a strange phenomena. Why some women get it and others don’t is unfair and mysterious. I did have it with the other three pregnancies as well, but this one out did them all. I ended up depending on Unisom – yes the sleeping pill. It was the ONLY thing that helped, and helped does not mean cured. I tried the prescription meds, even IV meds when I went to the ER for fluids. I do not recommend taking Unisom, because it is not recommended for pregnancy, but it was my saving grace. I do also have to give a shout out to my amazing husband during this time. Not only did he work a lot during this period, but he would come home, cook, clean, handle the children and get them to bed every night for many months. Without him it would have been disastrous! So now at 20 weeks, I’m back and will gladly share my weekly journey along the way!