Sissi with baby bump: 13th to 20th week of pregnancy

In Winter 2018, our LILLYDOO midwife Sissi Rasche is expecting her third child! Despite her pregnancy expertise, these nine months with a baby in the belly remain simply magical for Sissi. And the best part: she takes you along on her exciting journey! Every two weeks, she provides an update on her pregnancy in our LILLYDOO magazine and shares her very personal experiences with you. In addition to five consistent questions about the current status, Sissi answers us in each column with a special additional question.

We wish you lots of fun accompanying Sissi with her (growing) baby bump in the coming months!

1. What is your current waist circumference? now?

My waist now measures 79 cm, so it hasn't changed that much yet.

2. How are you feeling right now?

Overall, I am in a good mood, but I am currently not the most patient. In the last column, I mentioned that I have become quite sensitive to noise due to pregnancy. If it gets too loud, I react quickly with irritation. However, so that my children don't think it's about them, I talked to them calmly about why their mom is more easily annoyed than usual.

3. What does your body tell you?

My body is still very exhausted. Fortunately, I no longer have to vomit, but during the first weeks of the second trimester I still struggled with . Additionally, until the I was constantly troubled by an unpleasant taste in my mouth, which has fortunately disappeared by now.

To keep my circulation in good shape, I try to go to regularly despite the weakness. Even though it initially takes quite a bit of effort, I notice that exercise does me good and I feel better afterward.

4. What cravings are you currently experiencing?

Because I still often felt nauseous in the past few weeks, I still didn't have any specific cravings. When I feel sick, carbohydrate-rich meals like potatoes or bread still suit me best. However, starting from the 18th week of pregnancy, I also began to crave cold, fresh foods again, and I was able to enjoy the strawberry season a little. :)

5. What was your most beautiful moment?

The most beautiful moment recently was when I felt the baby's movements for the first time in the . I don't feel the little one regularly yet, but every now and then there's a little flicker. Of course, it's always something special when you first become truly aware that a baby is growing inside your own belly.

Did you suspect that you were pregnant and how exactly did you find out about your pregnancy?

My period is usually quite regular, and at some point, it suddenly stopped. However, I didn't experience any of the typical , such as tender breasts like I did during my previous two pregnancies. After the first also came back negative, I was pretty sure I wasn't pregnant. After another week, my period still hadn't arrived. When I was out to dinner with a friend and told her about it, she said I should buy a test immediately. Since I was convinced I wasn't pregnant, I was initially skeptical, but at her insistence, I took another pregnancy test. And indeed: this time it was positive! I immediately called my husband and shared the good news with him. Since we weren't trying to get pregnant right away, I couldn't believe I was actually expecting a third child. Later, it turned out that the first test didn't show the pregnancy because my had occurred quite late.