I’m Pregnant! 1st Trimester Recap

I’m Pregnant! I can’t believe I’m actually writing this!!   

Before I get into all the details of 1^st Trimester, let me say a few things. If you are currently going through a journey of trying to get pregnant but it may not be coming as soon as you’d like or as soon as you had planned, do not give up. Getting pregnant wasn’t as easy and carefree as I had thought it would be, I thought you just tried one month, and it happened. It seems as women we spend our whole teenage-young adult years trying to prevent pregnancy and then when we actually want it, it may not be as easy as we thought.

My faith (and Tommy of course) are truly what kept me optimistic. And if you aren’t religious, then I encourage you to find something/someone to lean on… because I cannot imagine going through this without the Lord. I was always reminding myself His plan is better than ours and that is what I held onto when we decided to start trying to get pregnant. Although I’m so grateful it only took us around 8-9 months of really trying, it was still hard, especially when you want something SO bad.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”- Jeremiah 29:11

Everyone’s journey is different (just like fitness), it might take some couples one month to get pregnant, or 3 years. Sometimes couples have to utilize medical assistance, while others may choose adoption, and some couples may struggle with frequent miscarriage or chemical pregnancies. If you’re on your own fertility journey, or are thinking of starting it in the future, do your best to stay optimistic if it doesn’t go as you had planned. Whatever the outcome is for you, you will be thankful you didn’t give up!

I wanted to share the things I used, resources I found helpful, etc to getting pregnant and then I promise I’ll get into the 1^st Trimester deets!

1. Book: Taking Charge of Your Fertility: This book is what I used to learn about my cycle, how to track, when to know the fertile days, etc. Even if you are trying to prevent pregnancy, this can be a great book as well.
2. BBT: Basal Body Temperature. This is covered in the book I mentioned above, but this can help confirm ovulation and then let you know how long your luteal phases are, which I learned early on that mine were pretty short, too short for me to even get pregnant. I took my temp every morning when I woke up before getting out of bed. I just used a thermometer from Walgreens.
3. Ovulation Strips: I used these each month to see when my LH surge was happening, they’re super easy to use and way cheaper than the digital ones at Walgreens.
4. Although I did use my AVA bracelet every night, I didn’t rely on it. It never really matched my AM temperature taking and I trusted that way more. I also found that sometimes it wouldn’t start recording data until like 1am, and then things are obviously going to be skewed. It’s a pretty expensive little device and for it to not work that great, I’m not sure it was entirely worth my money. I’d just recommend getting a thermometer and doing it yourself in the AM.
5. @ttc_nutritionist. This was my favoriteee IG account to follow when it came to nutrition and foods for TTC. She is so smart and gives such good recommendations. She also has a podcast that I found out about like one month before we got pregnant called “Food, Freedom, and Fertility”, I only listened to a few episodes, but I loved it!
6. Real Food For Pregnancy: Although this book is more focused on foods for when you’re actually pregnant, I figured that it would probably be smart to eat those foods while trying too. Lily is so intelligent, and I’ve found myself referring back to her book multiple times during this pregnancy. She also has some recipes in the back of the book that are incredible!

Alright, I think that’s everything! Now let me get onto all the 1^st Trimester details! As I’m writing this I’m almost 13 weeks pregnant, looking back it probably would’ve been smarted to write this during the trimester instead of after but I’ll try my best to remember! I also had a “note” I journaled in whenever I remembered throughout the trimester on how I was feeling and what I was eating. I’ll make an entire blog post related to that so you’re able to know how I was feeling by the day lol!

Speaking of sickness, that basically sums up the entire 1^st trimester, SICK. In fact, as of 3-4 days ago I actually started feeling a bit better, better enough to eat something other than popcorn for dinner. I had all intentions of having an entirely healthy pregnancy, limiting most processed foods, eating whole foods, getting in daily walks, drinking lots of water, etc. But let me tell you, that did not happen. Honestly, I realized that 1^st Trimester, for me at least, was about surviving and advancing. Whatever food sounded good to me, I had to eat, even if it wasn’t the most nutritious… I knew it was better than nothing. Every woman and every pregnancy is so different so please don’t look at someone on the internet eating salads every day during their 1^st trimester and feel guilty for not doing the same. I don’t think I’ve had a green vegetable in 10 weeks.

For me, the worst sickness was from 7.5-12.5 weeks, the peak of it being 9 weeks. I found myself gagging in the toilet almost every day during this time. Luckily, I only puked once, but I could’ve WAY MORE. I have been hospitalized for dehydration multiple times in my life from not getting in water/electrolytes so I was freaked out that it would happen again. Anytime I started feeling like I was about to puke I would just lay in bed and sleep it off.

A HUGE misnomer that I came to realize was the term “morning sickness”. I was only sick in the morning for about 10 ish days (and that’s because I didn’t eat right away). Otherwise, it was an afternoon and nighttime sickness. Typically, I started to become sick around 4pm and it would last until the end of the night. Being on my phone or computer at night only made that it worse too, which made it difficult to do my job. I couldn’t eat a normal dinner until a few days ago, otherwise it was eating whatever I could – mac & cheese, crackers, popcorn, fruit, popsicles, sorbet, chicken nuggets, chocolate milk, etc. I was basically eating like my brother when he was 12 years old.

As far as cravings go… these are the main things I craved:

1. ALL the fruit, mainly apples and watermelon
2. Colby jack cheese and crackers (very Wisconsin)
3. For a while the only meat I could eat were Brats (also very Wisconsin like)
4. Cottage Cheese
5. Sorbet/Gelato – but not the chocolate kind, the fruity kind
6. Gushers
7. Sour candy – gummy worms were my fav. Nothing chocolate sounds good, which is SO weird because I normally have such a sweet tooth for chocolate.

I noticed that I didn’t really like warm/hot food but instead I craved cold food. For example, I couldn’t eat scrambled eggs for the longest time, only hard boiled.

Food aversions. This is the part that surprised me most. I always heard people say there were certain smells or things they couldn’t eat, but for me it was basically EVERYTHING lol. The main ones…

1. Anything with red sauce like spaghetti, lasagna, any type of pasta, chicken parmesan, etc.
2. The smell or even thought of ground turkey or ground beef made me gag multiple times. I would try to eat most of my protein in the morning and lunch because I knew I wouldn’t be able to at night.
3. All vegetables except sauteed spinach (I DON’T GET IT EITHER LOL). But things like asparagus, zucchini, broccoli, peas…PUKE!
4. Fish Tacos. Omg I might puke typing this. We ordered fish tacos for take-out one night, got them home, and I instantly sprinted to the bathroom to puke lol. So ever since that night, fish tacos sound horrible to me.
5. Scrambled eggs. Anytime Tommy made these in the morning I had to go in a different room. But as of Monday (12w1d) I’ve been eating scrambled eggs every morning lol.
6. Winston’s food. Obviously, I don’t eat this lol but I could no longer dish up his food for him because it made me want to puke, sorry Tommy!
7. Brushing my teeth (only at night). I think my gag refluxes were just so touchy that when the toothbrush got too far back, I had to stop because I almost threw up lol.

I know there was wayyyy more, but these were the main things I remember. However, it has gotten way better after hitting the 12-12.5 week mark. I still can’t imagine eating spaghetti, but I’m now able to feed Winston!

Things that helped my nausea:

1. Eating right away upon waking and then eating often (every 1.5-2 hours). If I waited longer than 2 hours to eat something, even if it was small, I would become sick. Low blood sugar can often cause worse nausea and I absolutely experienced that.
2. Warm ginger tea. As I mentioned previously, my sickness was the worst at night. There were multiple times I was in bed by 7:30pm drinking ginger tea. I felt it helped settle my stomach.
3. Lemon and Ginger Chews. My friend Carly sent these to me after I told her I was pregnant, and they helped so much. I think it was the mix of sour, hard, ginger candy that helped so much.
4. Motion Sickness Bands. Every time I got in a car, I put these on and often I would wear them throughout the day as well when on my computer or phone.
5. Fresh air. If I was feeling really sick, I would sometimes just step outside and get fresh air, even for 30 seconds. If I was up for it, I would try to go on a walk because that always helped too.
6. Taking a nap or just going to bed early often helped me to sleep off the nausea. I understand naps throughout the day isn’t always possible, but if you can sneak one in, I recommend it.

As I’m writing this my nausea still isn’t gone, but it is definitely better. I was, unfortunately, one of those women who had it EVERY SINGLE DAY of 1^st trimester. To be honest, sometimes it gave me a little peace of mind because then I knew everything was still ok.

A few other things that I have experienced in 1^st trimester…

1. WEIRD DREAMS. You guys this is the craziest thing to me. I cannot even fathom how my brain came up with the things it did at night. I wake Tommy up at least 3 times a week because of a weird dream I’ve had. I wish I could record them and play them for Tommy to watch so he could see how messed up they are lol.
2. Extreme tiredness. Before getting pregnant I don’t think I’ve taken a nap in like 7 years. I’ve never been a nap type of person; I always have had energy and never felt I needed one. However, since getting pregnant, naps became a way more common thing to me.
3. Frequent urination. As the uterus is growing and more blood is being pumped there, it causes me to have to pee alllll the time.
4. Big boobs. Look, this is one of the best dang parts about being pregnant LOL. For someone who’s had a negative A cup their entire life and now has a full B… it’s pretty crazy!
5. Extreme bloat. I know I’m growing a baby, but the baby isn’t any bigger than the size of a lime in 1^st The bloating that I was experiencing was more significant than a lime, lol. It’s kind of like when you bloat before your period but 10 times worse. And you’re not showing really yet or telling people, so I walked around with baggy sweatshirts basically every day.
6. Out of breath. I get so out of breath even just talking on the phone or telling a random story. I would have to stop and take breaths so often; it was the weirdest thing.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up 1^st trimester! If you’re still here, and still reading, thank you! I will try to do another one of these for both 2^nd and part of 3^rd trimester. I will also be doing blog posts on baby things I’m purchasing, or any other questions you guys have for me!

This is a whole new journey I’ll be going through, something I’ve never experienced, but I have to say, I think this is going to be my favorite journey ever! Thank you for following along with our lives, we are so so so grateful each and every one of you are here. I appreciate you all more than you will ever know!!!

Here’s to the most exciting time of our lives!!!!!

Peace & Love,