One side effect of pregnancy is that the body lowers mom's immune response so that she does not reject the big ball of rapidly dividing foreign cells inside of her. What does this mean for mamas? You're more susceptible to illnesses like the common cold and the flu. Well, there is a cold that has been circulating among our staff and patients for weeks. I've been so impressed that I haven't been affected but after a busy weekend on call, it got me. It's your run of the mill cold: congestion, itchy throat, mild cough. I so rarely get sick that I have little tolerance for these things but I've spent my day sleeping, reading, watching TV, and willing my body back to health with the help of eccinachea tea and Airborne.
I can also start to feel my fundus! (Translation: as the uterus grows, you can palpate the top of the uterine muscle starting at 12-13 weeks just above the pubic bone. It moves up, one centimeter a week until at 20 weeks, it rests just at the belly button.) I realized this when I was in the kitchen and I reached across the counter, pushing the counter into my stomach and felt a big ball being pushed back into my tummy. If I'm standing and then sit down quickly, I can also sometimes feel that ball rearranging itself to accommodate the change in position. Oooh, ahhh.
My medical assistant at work remarked that "I keep forgetting that you're pregnant. You're so normal." Uh, yes, and why wouldn't I be? I'm roughly the same weight, at 13 weeks I have yet to balloon into a massive swollen whale. I'm working just as hard as before because, well, why wouldn't I? Its as if the expectation was that pregnancy would morph me into a fragile and angry person. I guess there are many weeks to come, I shouldn't speak too soon!
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