First Trimester of Pregnancy Recap
In the beginning of pregnancy, I loved reading other women’s first trimester recaps. It’s kind of strange when you first find out you’re pregnant because you don’t meet with your doctor for weeks. No one is there to give you a pregnancy orientation (I wish!). Meanwhile, you’re going through a whole lot of physical and emotional changes. It can be really overwhelming. Reading other women’s recaps felt really supportive for me.
I knew I wanted to record this pregnancy from the beginning. Right away, I pictured myself doing weekly video check-ins. I even started recording some. But then the nausea hit and there was no way that was happening! I want to document this pregnancy for us, but I also know how helpful it was for me to read other women’s stories. So if you are the one woman reading this and getting comfort from it, that’s a win! I did journal, but not as much as I would like. It seems to be easier for me to type it out.
I’m going to do this post with a Q&A format. These are the questions I have been asked, or get asked most frequently.
How and When did you find out you were pregnant?
We found out on our anniversary! We had been “letting things happen if they happened” for a while if you catch my drift. But nothing had happened, so I was aware that we could be but I didn’t think we were. I didn’t have any symptoms and I actually felt like my period was coming (a symptom actually, ha). But I felt sure my period was on its way. I decided to test that morning so I could find out if I should drink that night or not because we had plans to go to a cocktail bar before dinner. I took two because it was still early for a home pregnancy test to pick it up accurately. I was so nervous, I couldn’t look at it! I had to have Ian look at it first. We actually caught the whole thing on video. I set up my phone to record every time I would take a test just in case and then delete them. Sure enough, there were two big fat positive lines and a big ol’ “yes” on the digital one.
It was pretty cool to find out on our 6th year anniversary.
When are you due?
We’re due on January 30th! I am 17 weeks and 5 days along as I write this. I’m finally feeling well enough to be creative and start sharing again.
Do you know the sex of the baby?
We do! But we didn’t find out until the second trimester so you’ll have to wait for that recap. You may already know if you follow me on insta :)
What did you eat during your first trimester?
Oh man, food was a doozy! It was really hard for me in the first trimester. I had lots of morning sickness! I had worse nausea than lots of women I talked to, but I also know I had it less bad than some, especially those who get hyperemesis gravidarum. That being said, eating was hard. I was nauseous 24/7. It was a weird time of nothing sounding good at ALL. But then, I would get terrible stomach pains from hunger and have to eat something, anything I could. I know some women say they feel better if they have a full stomach and that wasn’t the case for me. I really just didn’t feel well and was nauseous full belly or not. Eating did help keep me from passing out and stopped the (insane) hunger pains though.
I wish I could say I ate healthy for the babe, but I didn’t. I did my best and my best was survival. I was really diligent before getting pregnancy because I was trying to heal some hormonal imbalances. I also took prenatal vitamins before we even decided to start trying to for a baby and I’m really glad I did. I don’t think I touched a vegetable between weeks 6 and 11!
Basically, I had to eat first thing in the morning and that was usually crackers, graham crackers when I got sick of saltines, or a bowl of cereal (panda puffs are my fav, but I also liked plain organic wheat cereal). Toast was even too much. Then as the day went on, I basically ate: crackers, juice, toast, bagels with cream cheese (pretty much always sounded good), LOTS of fruit, cheese sticks, pickles (always a thing for me), some smoothies (but only fruit - no greens), some peanut butter, rice, tofu, and broth or soup. I was able to do a bit of meat in stew or chicken soup, but usually picked around it. I was essentially living on carbs.
Did anything help with the nausea?
Like I said, not really. But there were a few things that did help a bit:
Lemonade! Homemade lemonade with just sugar, lemon juice, and water was my go to when I had to go to appointments, had clients, or anything I had to do (I also cut back on those things). But sipping lemonade helped me go out and about for a period of time.
Sour candy
Preggo pops actually did help and I would suck on these too if I had to do something.
Rest! Resting, laying on the couch, and sleep really helped. I would frequently take two hour naps and they would really help!
Exercise occasionally helped but most of the time made it worse. I’ve heard women say walking really helps them but for me would often turn into a headache and dry heaving.
Did you have any cravings? Any aversions?
Yes! More aversions than cravings. I didn’t have craving exactly, just food that sounded good. I pretty much had to eat whatever sounded okay, and those would be the go to foods. I’m definitely noticing patterns, even now into the second trimester, similar things are still tasting and feeling the best. (fruit and dairy mostly).
Aversions:
MEAT! I couldn’t handle meat. Ian couldn’t cook it in the house, even the sight of it sent me into dizzy spells. Chicken, fish, meat (except for one or two times bacon actually sounded good). I was vegetarian most of the time.
Tomatoes! I can’t stand the sight of sauced tomatoes. Ian can’t eat salsa next to me. It’s horrible. Still. I had to ask people to turn their plates at our table at a wedding so I couldn’t see the tomatoes in the tacos, haha. I was that girl. I threw spaghetti up once and that kinda ruined it for me. Same with pasta for a while, (except mac and cheese).
Chocolate. It was sad but I didn’t like chocolate. I do now though, so we’re good.
Coffee, obviously, this was really hard. Tea was even hard. I don't think I could enjoy a cup of tea until week 12.
Honestly most food.
Cravings: Not really cravings...maybe? But there were some one-offs that I wanted. Spring rolls, but just the sauce. Cocoa puffs (I still have half a box sitting in the cabinet and I bought those weeks ago), I just wanted a bowl. Dortitos - but only because those were the first things in weeks that went down smoothly and tasted good instead of igniting my gag reflex. I think we could call mangos a craving. Biggest craving is ICE COLD water!!!
Foods that always sounds good: Strawberries!! This baby may as well be nicknamed strawberry. Mangos. Grapes, blackberries, raspberries, peaches. Cheese, cheddar cheese and cheese sticks. Mac and cheese (that helped me through a few times), soups, banana bread. Definitely on the sweet side.
Are you still working out? Training?
I actually was able to stay pretty consistent with training. I had a loose attitude about it, but noticed it helped me feel emotionally/mentally more okay. It helped sometimes physically, and sometimes would make things worse so I just had to take it moment by moment and stop if I started to get a headache or dizzy. I kept working out 4 times a week consistently in the gym and a few runs here and there. I walked most every day, maybe 4-5 days a week and went SUPing weekly(ish). Occasionally I did yoga instead of the gym. Two of the weeks I only went once because we were traveling for one and that was hard on my body, and one of the weeks I did an intentional de-load week. I’ll outline more in a week by week below.
Any other symptoms:
Super weepy around weeks 11-13. Crying so hard. I was feeling super lonely for some reason, even when I was around and connected to people.
Bloating. I was for sure bloated.
Winded all the time.
Fun pregnancy brain, haha. I think it’s fun.
More connected to my emotions and what I want, which is super nice!
Dizzy
Spider veins
Cramping
Headaches, I get them easily when I overdue it or do too much. But they are much better than pre-pregnancy for me.
Exhaustion sometimes, but mostly just nauseous.
Aches and pains - my back pain has been better but I take a really long time to recover from the gym and had a few weeks of being achy all over.
Dizzy spells.
Slightly tender breasts - but I honestly feel like I’ve been lucky on this one, they’re just getting bigger.
Are you going to give birth in a tub in the middle of your living room?
Let’s hope! That’s the plan if all goes well. We connected with a midwife group who works outside of the hospital and their birth center is full so we are planning on a home birth. With COVID, I’m not even able to tour the birth center at the hospital so I don’t know what those birth suites look like and am not able to get a good feel for what giving birth there would look like. Also because of COVID, it’s nice to be able to plan our birth team better, know that we can have the people we want with us, and all that. There’s so many unknowns and it just seems like a better option right now to plan for it at home. I also feel more comfortable at home, and suspect I will really want to be in a warm water bath. I can’t do that at the hospital so, all arrows point to home. That’s the plan for now, but you know me, I like to keep my options open.
Are you showing yet?
I really noticed a difference in my stomach but didn’t show at all in the first trimester. I held water and was bloated right away. I gained a pound here and there but then also lost a pound here and there. This has changed in the second trimester but I didn’t gain any weight or show in the first trimester.
Did your clothes still fit?
Haha, kinda! I had to unbuttoned my pants at the end of the day pretty much right away but I was able to fit in most of my clothes. Now, I totally don’t and my belly seems to be changing by the day. I think this started around week 16/17. I definitely plan on sharing my maternity outfits and the maternity capsule wardrobe I have been diligently planning and budgeting for.
How did you balance work and morning sickness?
I didn’t! I had a couple of clients I had commitments to and I kept showing up for them, but I didn’t take any new ones on and rarely called inquiries back. I couldn’t. It’s hard to explain other than, do you remember those days of having the flu when you need your mom, you need someone to help you to the bathroom, someone to hold your hair back for you, and you need to call in sick from school because your whole body aches, you feel so sick, and you need to just sleep or watch hours of TV? It was like for me for weeks on end.
How are you feeling?
I already talked about how I was feeling physically, but I also want to note emotionally because pregnancy is such and emotional journey too. I have felt less anxious, more stable, more grounded, and more at peace during this pregnancy and i think i can thank both weekly therapy AND the increase in progesterone for that. I feel grateful that my mood is pretty positive. I’ve been stressed about money and what it means to become a mother archetype but all in all, I’ve been able to let most anxious thinking go and not get hung up on worry too much.
I did however, experience a handful of weeks of doubt right away. I want to address this in case there are other women out there who feel doubt too. There is so much stigma against women who don’t want kids or feel anything other than excitement about being pregnant. I feel grateful and lucky that getting pregnant was and is an option for us. And, at the same time, I felt doubt right away and struggled to embrace being pregnant and the decision to have a kid. It’s a big deal and if you have some of those feelings too, know you’re not alone.
Does Kala know?
Kala is our dog, and I think she knows I smell different. But who knows? Probably not.
