First Trimester
As I write this post I’m actually 11 weeks pregnant today but as you read this post I’ll be 24 weeks! Can you believe we have our very first bun in the oven? I wanted to make sure I captured my first trimester in all its glory in real-time while I was experiencing it. I had big plans to do video dairy’s and vlogs but let’s be real I was way too tired for any of that! To all the women on YouTube who have documented their entire pregnancy week by week, you guys are the real MVPs and deserve every single view, like, and comment that you have because trust me I needed that support, and I was so happy to have your videos to reference. Anywho, thank you guys so much for all the love, support, and congratulatory messages about our pregnancy! We couldn’t be more excited to welcome our first child into the world. I hope this post about my first trimester is entertaining, enlightening and if you too are going through your first trimester of pregnancy, I hope you find it useful.
First Signs
To be honest, there weren’t any true first signs of pregnancy for me. Since my husband and I had been “trying” to conceive, I took a very pragmatic approach to this entire process. I knew when I was ovulating, and I knew when I should take a test 2 weeks after to see if we were successful. This was only our second month trying and using this approach so on the morning my period was supposed to arrive, I made sure to pee on a stick first thing in the AM. I used a digital true-blue test and honestly did not think I was going to see pregnant because I was just certain it would take us a few tries to get this thing right. After I peed on the stick, I put the test down and waited the three minutes until I saw the result. I looked over, after what felt like 30 seconds later, and saw a big fat PREGNANT. I was so shocked that I kept saying to myself “NO WAY!” It was about 6am and any other day my husband would’ve been getting up and starting his morning routine. But on this particular day, he decided to snooze. So, being the patient wife that I am, I got back into bed with the pregnancy test and just stared at him and waited until he opened his eyes lol *creepy*. When he finally woke up, I handed him the test and asked him to tell me what the test said. He looked at the test and looked back at me and said pregnant and I was like can you believe it? He rolled over, still super sleepy, hugged me and just said wow. My husband’s reaction was still a bit delayed, so as the days went on, he grew more and more excited as the reality that we were going to be parents started to hit him.
Symptoms
I found out that I was pregnant pretty early on, around 4 weeks in. My symptoms were seriously nonexistent the first couple of weeks. After about a week or two the tiredness started to kick in and the yawning started to kick my butt. I literally could not keep my eyes open in the afternoon and needed to nap daily.
As the weeks went on, I started to sleep in a little later and forced myself to skip the afternoon nap when possible so that I could sleep deeply through the night. But I have to admit that this type of sleepiness is really different. I mean, I have never felt more tired in my life. I guess it makes sense as I am growing an entire human, but wow, it’s exhausting. I still thank God for no morning sickness, food, or smell aversions. I keep saying that God knows what you can handle because I’m not sure how I would have made it through 13 weeks of just feeling sick. My mom said she didn’t experience nausea or morning sickness with me, so I think that might be a part of my blessing. Some other mild symptoms that presented themselves included random headaches, slight heartburn, body aches (lower back tightness, and some upper abdomen tightness). Other than that, I literally had NO SYMPTOMS!
Cravings
During my first trimester, I ate really GOOD, ya’ll. I pretty much ate whatever came to mind. I did have some random cravings for sweets like ice cream, cookies, and milkshakes but I also had random cravings from childhood like cornmeal porridge and cereal. Keep in mind, I don’t really love sweets, and porridge and cereal are things I would actually say I don’t like. I’m also easily influenced by things that I see so If I saw a bucket of chicken on Instagram that looked good early in the week then that was a seed that was planted into my subconscious and I would somehow be craving that days later lol. To be honest, the cravings part of pregnancy has been fun! I’m not a person who would usually just give in to every food desire that comes to mind but having such a loving and supportive husband like Nate, he literally gives in to every one of my food desires. It’s the best! So far, some things that have really hit the spot included a take-out trip to Olive Garden, a pizza/calzone concoction that was incredible, burgers fresh off the grill, and anything cheesy.
Body Changes
My body was slow to make any physical changes during the first trimester but after eight weeks, I started to notice that my stomach was already poking out. I would literally stand in front of our bedroom mirror and ask my husband if he saw what I saw because it’s way too early for me to have a belly! I know bloating a real thing and even water can make your stomach expand but this was just crazy to me. I started to take photo’s around eight weeks and my bump is for sure visible, see below! Other than my tiny baby bump poking out, I didn’t really have any other body changes. I did feel like my face was getting a little bigger in some photos but that was just me being paranoid, I think. The “glow” that people rave about is something that I didn’t ever really see for myself but I would gladly take the compliment if it was given.
Fitness
Prior to getting pregnant, I was on a pretty strict workout regimen. I did a 90 day P90x3 challenge and then a 60 day T25/Piyo challenge and so I was in the best shape of my life. During the first couple of weeks after finding out I was pregnant since no symptoms had hit me yet, I took advantage by continuing my daily workouts. As the days went on, I started to get light-headed during certain Piyo moves and realized I needed to do shorter more low impact workouts. So, I researched different programs and found a couple of Instagram influencers who were experts in workouts during pregnancy. I started a new schedule, one day on, one day off. Doing the 30-minute works outs on my on days and just doing some light stretching on my off days, if that. We have an indoor mini elliptical that we bought right when COVID became serious and I get on that to get my steps in, sometimes even making that my work out for my on days. Fitness is a huge part of having a healthy pregnancy and I’m committed to moving as much as possible during this journey but I’m also giving myself a ton of grace and taking it a day at a time.
Emotions
I wanted to make sure that I touched upon the emotional aspect of the first trimester because it was the hardest part for me. I also feel like this is the part that is usually not talked about during this journey. When we first found out, my husband and I were absolutely thrilled. It’s a combination of excitement and relief like “omg, this really works and I’m ok, I don’t have a problem. It’s a very interesting feeling. Also, not being able to share the good news and scream it from the rooftops during the first trimester is extremely isolating. I know this is a personal decision that couples can make but it is usually said that you should share the news after you get the pregnancy confirmed by the doctor. Because of COVID, my doctor did not see me until 8 weeks which was a full MONTH after we found out we were pregnant. Talk about a challenge. To be around friends and family acting like you’re not holding in this MASSIVE secret and also being expected to be your normal self when you are forever changed is not a good feeling. The month of waiting was the worst part of pregnancy. In my opinion, looking back, I don’t think I would’ve waited to tell my family. Going through this physical and mental change, you need all the support you can get. I know society says to wait but it’s just not conducive to your mental well-being. Granted, we weren’t out and about as much as we would’ve been given the pandemic, but we did have family gatherings and it was exceptionally hard to act like nothing was new. I highly recommend that if you’re in your first trimester and you have to wait a few weeks to get the pregnancy confirmed, to pick a few close family members and friends to confide in because it will make your waiting process a lot easier when you have additional support. Also, essentially having to lie when someone asks if you’re pregnant, while you’re pregnant is the absolute worst. And why do we do it? Because society says shhhhh it’s a secret until the doctor confirms. It sucks and it’s not right. Do you boo, and do what feels good for your mental health. Other than hiding the pregnancy from friends and family for four weeks my emotions were pretty stable. I was definitely more sensitive and could cry way easier due to the hormones from the pregnancy but other than that, I was fine.
Genetic Testing
One surprising element of my first trimester was when my doctor called me to tell me that I tested positive as a carrier of the CF Trait (Cystic Fibrosis Trait). I had no clue what this was and was shocked that this was my first time hearing about this in my 31 years of life. Apparently, at my first ultrasound appointment at 8 weeks when they took my blood work, this was a trait that was tested for in my blood. Essentially, being a carrier of the CF trait means that I am a carrier but don’t actually have CF. CF is a rare inherited disorder that causes damage to the lungs, digestive system, and other organs in the body. As you can imagine, when my doctor told me this my initial reaction was panic. But she quickly said that it wasn’t anything to worry about and that nothing was wrong with the baby. Essentially, we just needed to get my husband tested to see if he was a carrier for the trait. If he was a carrier, there was a 25% chance that the baby could have CF. If I was the only carrier then there would be a chance that the baby is just a carrier like me. Overall, everything worked out just fine in the end, but I wanted to share this story because it was totally shocking to me and I was a bit spooked in the beginning so If there is anyone else going through this out there know that everything will be fine, and your doctor and genetic counselors will be there to support you every step of the way. It’s all in God’s hands.
Overall, I had a really smooth and positive first trimester. I am so thankful for no sickness or major symptoms. Being able to be at home during this time has really been the biggest blessing of my life. I commend every single pregnant woman who gets up every single day and goes into an office and works all day. I mean you guys deserve a medal, seriously. It is not easy. Despite going through a global pandemic and living in a racially charged country, this is such a special time for my little family and I couldn’t be happier to share that joy with you guys.
I wanted to leave you with a short list of a few items that I’ve been loving during my first Trimester:
Premama prenatal This is a bomb prenatal that is small has all the nutrients and DHA + a lovely minty flavor to allow the pill to be an easy swallow.
Fetal Doppler I got this when I realized my first appointment was not going to be for a month. This handheld doppler allows us to hear the baby’s heartbeat at home whenever we wanted. It can be hard to find the placement of the baby in the beginning but once you get the hang of it and you know what the baby’s heartbeat sounds like from the first ultrasound then it’s the best little gadget to have! We use ours about once a week to check on baby G.
Expecting Better by Emily Otter I love to research and wanted a book that was armed with facts and statistics about pregnancy and this was the perfect book for that. The book is saturated with hard facts, studies, and data. I loved having the data and making the best decision for myself and our baby vs. just listening to the blanketed long list of no’s for expecting mom’s). This is a must-read.
Flo App I guess I can give credit to the Flo App for getting pregnant because it accurately told me when I was ovulating, and the rest was history! It also has a handy pregnancy feature once you do conceive and the private boards are an interesting read, to say the least. I can get lost reading those stories and comments on the boards for hours, download at your own risk lol
Pregnancy+ App This is a really cute app for weekly updates about the baby. You learn what’s happening in your body and I love the images that the app provides, super realistic. There is also a notes function for you to jot down what you might be experiencing during that week of pregnancy so that you can remember. There are a million pregnancy apps, but this is just the one I landed on that I happen to enjoy.
That’s it for now you guys! I hope to pop back on with a trimester 2 update shortly since I’m almost in trimester three!! Can you believe it? Time flies when you’re cooking a baby! We also have a Youtube video up with our announcement and Trimester 1 recap.
Talk soon!
P.S. Check out my last post here.
