It's been a busy couple of weeks (both in terms of life in general and in my pregnancy).

At the beginning of week 14, I had my most recent appointment with my OB/GYN. This time I'd only lost 1 lb in the month. While weight loss in early pregnancy is not completely unusual, in most cases care providers would rather see you maintain weight or gain around 5 lbs by the end of the first trimester. Since my weight loss is still relatively low (around 5-6 lbs total), my doctor is not too worried.

Because I hadn't had one in a year, I was due for a pap smear. During my first pregnancy, I had a pap before I became pregnant. However, had I needed an exam they would have done it during my first or second appointment. The office policy has changed since then and now if a patient needs a pap, they wait until you are more than 12 weeks to do the exam. I've never been particularly bothered by gyn exams, so as usual, I had no problem with this exam. My doctor conducted a regular physical (listening to my heart, etc.), did a breast exam, and then took the sample of my cervical cells and did the bimanual exam. He said that with pregnant patients they are extra careful when obtaining the cervical cells and only swab around the edge. They don't want to upset the mucus plug or irritate the cervix too much. (The mucus plug is pretty much what it sounds like. It is a little bit of mucus that creates a seal over the cervix during pregnancy. One of the things it does is to keep out bacteria.)

During the exam, my OB noted that my cervix looked healthy and was tightly closed. During the routine external part of the exam, he could feel the top of my uterus slightly above my pubic bone (right where it should be at this point in pregnancy). This is called checking fundal height. It gives the doctor an idea of how the fetus is growing. Overall, my OB said that everything looked healthy and right on schedule.

As further evidence that pregnancies vary, the first trimester of this pregnancy has been completely different than with my first pregnancy. With my other child, I had a low level of nausea throughout the first few months, but it was nowhere near the nausea I had this time around. In that pregnancy, I think I gained 1 lb total during the first trimester, rather than losing 5+lbs. Also different this time was my level of tiredness. The first time around, I was exhausted every single day, requiring a couple of hours worth of napping each day and still needing to go to bed very early. This time, I was tired but can make it through the day without a nap sometimes.

I've really felt much better during the past two weeks, thank goodness. I feel more pregnant, though I'm sort of waffling on whether I look pregnant or just heavy. My body is definitely changing. I actually feel hungry now, which is a welcome change. I've discovered my first craving with this pregnancy, hot & sour soup. This is really unusual for me because I don't typically love hot & sour soup. I'll eat it if it comes with my meal at a restaurant, but I don't seek it out. For the past week, I've felt like I could eat it every single day. When I had some at my favorite Thai restaurant the other day, I nearly licked the bowl clean. During my first pregnancy I learned how important it was to temper my pregnancy cravings. Don't get me wrong, I'm a believer in indulging when necessary. I don't cut myself off from things that I want, because all that does is make the desire for it worse. But at the same time, I don't want to over-indulge because that has some bad results as well. Once, I was craving wheat crackers and I sat down and *somehow* managed to eat an entire box of them. This was not a wise choice on my part. While my stomach felt okay about it, other parts of my digestive tract did not. Let's just say that the result was pretty much what you would expect after consuming a huge amount of fiber. It was not pleasant. So I've learned my lesson about letting those cravings get out of control. I'll stick with a bowl of hot & sour soup ever so often, not a gallon at a time (even though I really feel like I'd like to eat it by the gallon).