SHOP MY LOOK:
I had the best of intentions to share this post on the first trimester of pregnancy a couple of months ago, but you know…life! Morning sickness was still going on along with trying to get moved into the house and getting things organized, all while working 2 full time jobs from home and keeping Leighton at home all day with me.
For someone who has never been able to work from home and has always been at a corporate office over 40 hours a week for work, it was quite the change. I’m not going to lie though, as tough and busy as it was, I wouldn’t trade those moments one bit! It’s all just park of the journey. = ) And it gave me a new appreciation for everything that matters!
So now that I’m only a little over a month away from the 3rd trimester, I figured I better hurry up and share all about the 1st trimester before I forget because…pregnancy brain haha! = )
First Trimester of Pregnancy: Weeks 1-4
Goodness, these weeks feel like SO long ago already! But when I was in them, they felt SO long! It’s kind of like having a newborn. The days are long, but the years are short. It just flies by too quickly, so don’t wish any of those moments away!
We found out we were pregnant at 23 days, so we found out pretty quickly, and I’m surprised it even showed up on a test to be honest! We had been trying to get pregnant for 5 months already, and I was just about to give up and call my fertility doctor once Monday rolled around, and then we found out that weekend. = ) I had hoped and prayed everything was okay, and I didn’t have to do IVF again, but after several months went by, I couldn’t help but think maybe that was why. Thank goodness the Lord had a different plan, and we didn’t have to go down that road again.
Matt and I were about to go to bed one night, and I felt really strange all of a sudden. It took me a minute to even realize what it was. It was heartburn. I’ve only had heartburn once in my life, and that was during the last few months of my pregnancy with Leighton. So, I knew it wasn’t something I normally felt. I immediately took a pregnancy test, and yep, we were pregnant!
I was shocked. I literally was just starting to feel overwhelmed and give up, so I was shocked how much that one day had changed from morning to night. We were both so excited! Had I known that everything would quickly change that next month with quarantine, I honestly probably would have planned a little getaway to celebrate. Matt had a work trip the next morning, so he was off to travel immediately. We jumped right back into work and then closing on our house and moving, and then boom, quarantine and morning sickness hit.
First Trimester of Pregnancy: Weeks 5-8
During these weeks, the heartburn turned more into acid reflux. And morning sickness got especially worse at week 5 and just progressed each week until about 17 weeks when it basically just went away one day. Morning sickness wasn’t morning sickness. That’s where they fooled me, haha! With Leighton, I didn’t have morning sickness, so this was brand new for me. I was sick 24 hours a day.
The only thing that made me feel better was to sleep, but it was hard to sleep while having acid reflux, headaches, feeling dizzy and lightheaded and feeling like I was going to vomit all day. My doctor told me to take Unisom to help me sleep at night. It definitely helped some, but it honestly would really knock me out and make me feel groggy. But I was grateful to at least be sleeping and not realizing I was feeling sick during those hours.
All I craved to eat was fruit and vegetables, and all I wanted to drink was juice. My favorite drink, water, made me feel sick, and fruits and vegetables made the acid reflux even worse. I couldn’t eat any meat. It all made me sick just thinking about it, and didn’t even taste good. Really, no food tasted good. I didn’t even eat chocolate for months (a favorite of mine!), because it didn’t sound good.
I was thirsty ALL day long though, and even though I didn’t feel hungry or want to eat, I would get sick if I didn’t eat several small snacks throughout the day. I typically only eat twice a day, but I realized really quickly I would feel even worse if I didn’t force myself to eat something.
Not only did I have aversions to almost every food and drink, I also had aversions to smells. Hardwood, leather, the outdoors…basically every smell was making me feel sick unless it was such a simple clean soap smell. We had just moved into our new house, and the smell of the hardwood and furniture gave me worse headaches every day. This was something I never felt with Leighton either, so it threw me for a curveball!
We had our first appointment and ultrasound at 6 weeks, so it was exciting to see the baby after we had known we were pregnant for a few weeks already! We got to hear the heartbeat, and it just felt so surreal to both of us! Shortly after we had our ultrasound, we took some pictures to announce our pregnancy and sent those to our parents. With quarantine, I knew we wouldn’t be able to see our families any time soon, but we just couldn’t wait to tell them! You can find our pregnancy announcement post and pictures here.
First Trimester of Pregnancy: Weeks 9-12
Weeks 9-12 got worse with morning sickness, but I just kept counting down knowing the morning sickness would have to pass eventually! I was still exhausted everyday and tried to get 8-10 hours of sleep or a nap in to feel a little bit better. By mid-afternoon, I would usually be getting worn out and would realize I needed to shut down both computers and just sit down for a minute and rest. I have a habit of trying to do it all and never sitting still. But this forced me to sit still some.
We had another doctor’s appointment and had our genetic testing done. The results came back, and the doctor said everything looked great. We also found out we were having a boy. = ) Matt was ecstatic! I didn’t care either way what we had, but I knew deep down Matt had always wanted a little boy, so I was happy too. = ) You can find our gender reveal announcement and pictures here.
With all the morning sickness, food aversions and headaches, it’s no wonder I didn’t gain any weight during the first trimester, but I’m sure I’ll make up for it soon. = ) The morning sickness continued on for another month, so you’ll have to wait until later this month to hear all the new updates we got. =) As rough as morning sickness was, it’s like everything else in life. It helps you to really appreciate the good days. I feel so good right now in the 2nd trimester, and I love that because my goal was to really to try relax, enjoy my body and soak up every moment of my last pregnancy. = )
What about you? What was your first trimester like? How many kids do you have? Was each pregnancy like night and day? Let me know in a comment below!
