First Trimester Overview

February 23, 2013

Well, it's officially the end of my first trimester.  I am excited to have the first one done.  I am writing the post for the future in case if we decide to have a second kid I can look back and remind myself what it was like being pregnant.  Considering I expected the worse case scenario, I am going to have to say I was pretty lucky and my first trimester wasn't so bad.

Morning Sickness
I have heard a lot about morning sickness, but I don't think I ever experienced it.  I definitely never vomited.  I had a few days early on where I felt a bit nauseous and didn't want to eat my lunch, but honestly, that is just another normal day for me.  I normally get nauseous quite often just from eating the wrong thing that did not agree with my stomach or I had too much dairy that day.  I assume that nausea was from being pregnant, but it definitely wasn't anything I couldn't handle since nausea happens to me a lot.

Exhaustion
Man, when pregnant people say they are tired I don't believe that is the correct term. I don't think there is a word for how exhausted I was feeling.  I definitely didn't feel exhaustion was the correct term as I felt way worse than that.  It was a struggle just to get through the work day and 8pm was pretty much my bedtime until I hit 10 weeks where I was able to stay awake until 9pm.

IBS
I may not have experienced morning sickness, but I definitely had quite a bit of IBS problems for two weeks straight before I got it under control.  I read that I should be constipated, but I was the complete opposite.  The doctor had me take immodium for three nights before I went to bed and drink plenty of Gatorade and Vitamin water because I was dehydrated.  Once I got this problem "controlled" all was good.

Headaches
I am prone to daily headaches.  Fixing my TMJ definitely cut down on my headaches, but I still would get them regularly.  Once I got pregnant my headaches completely went away.  I had two headaches in the first trimester.  I was shocked and find that crazy for me.  I makes me think my headaches are due to a hormonal imbalance.  Those two headaches were brutal though since I cannot take Excedrin and that is the only thing that works to get rid of them.

Exercise
I am definitely a workout-aholic.  I have been working out regularly since I was 18 and joined my first gym.  With that said I was definitely not going to stop because I am pregnant.  I didn't realize how much harder my workouts were going to be.  It's not as easy anymore with the exhaustion and weird stuff going on in my body.  I had to change my workout routines to be low impact and pay attention to my body so that I know when I have had enough or if I have to slow it down even further.  I am working out 4 - 5 times a week and hopefully will continue throughout the pregnancy.

Weight Gain
I have gained 1 pound so far.  I started out weird by losing four pounds at first and staying stagnant at that.  I found that interesting since I felt like I was eating a lot more and I definitely did not feel like I lost any weight. If anything I felt as though I gained weight.  I am attributing the four pound weight loss to cutting alcohol out of my diet especially since I was not puking regularly from morning sickness.

The Secrecy
This was the hardest part for me.  Not being able to discuss the pregnancy until the 12 week mark, especially since I peed on a stick at four weeks.  It was a long 8 more weeks of secrecy. 

The Emotions
Oh man, the emotions are crazy.  I couldn't believe how up and down I was.  I went from being absolutely freaked out and not wanting to do this to completely being excited and can't wait to September 1st.  I also freaked out on Andy at least once (reason is so lame so I won't put it down).  He just laughed at me and said "If you could see yourself now, you would be laughing too."  I didn't find it funny at the time, but a couple days later I laughed about how ridiculous I was.  I am just glad Andy found it funny too instead of getting mad or annoyed with me.

Food Cravings
I didn't have a lot of food cravings, but when I did want something I definitely had to have it. I love shrimp, but for some reason shrimp absolutely grosses me out.  I hope I can eat shrimp again, but right now the thought of it just makes me nauseous.  I have never eaten peanut butter sandwiches before.  Not even as a kid.  I never liked how the peanut butter sticks to my mouth.  Andy has always made fun of me for this.  Well, one day I was craving a peanut butter sandwich and now that is what I am having everyday for lunch.  Weird!  Other than that I just crave fruit.  I eat a lot of fruit all day long.  I will have grapes, pineapple, strawberries, banana and two clementine's everyday.  I just want fruit all the time.

My Husband
Andy is absolutely amazing.  I knew he would be great with me (or at least I hoped so), but he is beyond great.  Very attentive and making sure I have everything I need.  He also made sure we had the food in the house that I was craving.  He was just beyond awesome and I am very lucky to have him for a husband and baby daddy.