What I’ve Been Doing the Last Few Weeks

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on this blog, so I wanted to give my readers a bit of an update on what I’ve been up to these past couple of months.

Mostly I’ve been away because of some good news: I’m expecting our third child, a girl, coming sometime in October!

I’ll be honest, though: I am not singing the praises of pregnancy #3. I have been much sicker and for longer than in my previous two pregnancies. The first two times, I was nauseated but never threw up. This time I threw up pretty much every evening until 20 weeks. I know lots of people have it far worse. Still, being nauseated, especially while trying to get a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old ready for bed, is no picnic.

At the same time, my son was too young to ask much about my second pregnancy. This time, it’s be so fun to hear their questions and see what they do and don’t get about a new baby coming. My daughter keeps trying to give the baby toys, by sticking them under my shirt! And my son has been careful not to poke the baby through my belly. He also has a bit more realistic sense of what a new baby means, and asked if we could still cuddle when she comes out of my belly. Talk about tugging on those heart strings!

The third time around, everything is different. I have been so busy with the kids, work, and writing, that I can barely remember how far along I am. This time I use pregnancy apps not to read what organ is developing this week, or what absurd fruit comparison they’re using for the baby’s size–banana or cantaloupe?–but just to remember how far along I am.

Although I feel more relaxed compared to pregnancies 1 and 2, this pregnancy has also been a good reminder how you tend to flit from one burning question to the next : Am I really pregnant? Was that a dread evaporation line or a real positive? (I’ve discovered a whole genre of YouTube videos of people peeing on sticks and then taking them apart!)

Will it stick? What are my chances of miscarriage? When will I stop feeling nauseated? What prenatal tests should I get? What are my chances of preterm labor? Am I gaining too much weight? When will this baby ever come out and what can I do to get this show on the freakin’ road?

The other reason for my recent hiatus is that I’ve started writing for Bloom, a pregnancy technology company. They’re a super cool startup focused on developing smart tech for pregnant women. Their first product (they have a lot more in the works) is a contraction tracker for pregnant women that syncs to your phone. Unlike most “contraction tracker” apps, which require you or your birthing partner to enter contractions into the app, their tracker uses a device on your belly to tell you when you’re having a contraction. As someone who never feels Braxton Hicks, I am psyched to give it a try.

I’ve written on their blog about the common bump up in weight gain in the second trimester. And I have a new post coming out sometime this week about prenatal cell-free DNA screening for genetic disorders. I am super excited to share it with you guys. I’ll be keeping you guys posted as more articles come out.

Author: Amy Kiefer

As a former research scientist and proud mama of three little munchkins, I love digging into the research on all things baby-related and sharing it with my readers. View all posts by Amy Kiefer