Pregnancy Reflections - Fourth Month

Pregnancy Reflections
Fourth Month)

What I least expected with this pregnancy was:
Believe it or not, that I would conceive on the very first "try". I've been doing my research for months now, and even my wonderful OB pointed out that we fall into the 20% of couples who manage to get pregnant right away.

The best bit of advice I've received is:
To get as much rest as possible. I never realized it before, but even just a five-minute break gives me the energy I need to put up with the backaches, stomach aches, and all the other unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy.

What has changed the most in my life with this pregnancy is:
Learning to take better care of myself. Of course I'd heard the warnings before (particularly in the case of morning sickness, body aches, and other inconveniences) but I never realized how debilitating these things could be. Now I'm constantly on watch - am I eating the right foods? Have I remembered to take my medicine? Am I stressing myself out too much? It's a tough job keeping an eye on myself!

What made me realize that I was really pregnant was:
My second ultrasound at 15 weeks. Unfortunately I don't have a memento of it (my OB couldn't figure out how to work the new printer), but seeing baby hiccup and hearing a steady heartbeat were extremely reassuring. It also made the baby seem more human to me - at only four months he (or she!) sleeps, turns over, and hiccups just like I do.

This month's ultrasound was:
More reassuring than recreational. It was great to see my baby again after 6 weeks, and even without a print-out of the event I still felt extremely accomplished. I was hoping to catch a peek of the gender while we were at it, but apparently we have a very lazy baby. ^^

At my prenatal visit this month I discovered that:
Babies require an awful lot of bloodwork. ^^ I know it sounds silly, but I wasn't expecting the lab technician to fill eight vials' worth of my blood in just the first visit. The results should be back in time for my big appointment (the Anatomy Scan after 20 weeks), so it's something to look forward to.

My hopes:
Smooth sailing! I was hoping the second trimester would magically make things more bearable for me, but there's still time for my body to work out its issues. I'm just hoping it happens soon - there's no way I want to be sick to my stomach when I go in to find out my baby's gender!

My fears:
Now that I've gotten preliminary bloodwork done, I'm a little nervous about the results - this is the real test to see if everything is going well with baby. Also, my Anatomy Scan is in 4 weeks - this is the big one, ladies and gentlemen, so hope and pray that baby's growth is on target... it'll give me a lot less to worry about!