The first trimester. It’s so different for everyone. You may have read in the post before this how I found out I was pregnant and some initial symptoms. In case you haven’t, I’ll start at the beginning.
My cycle was super regular, every 28 days, which is on a Saturday. This particular Saturday, I was going to Houston to see Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour!! The day before, we are packed and ready to head to Houston. While waiting on my husband’s cousin, who was going with me, I remember telling my husband that I didn’t think I was pregnant and it must be a horrible period that is going to happen this weekend of all weekends. That night (Friday), I was woken up out of a dead sleep at 2am with some of the WORST cramps I’ve ever had in my life. Long story short, the weekend came and passed but no period. Sunday, it took 3 tests to convince me that I was pregnant. Of course, including one that said the word PREGNANT in order to convince me haha.
The Symptoms
Cramping
I started having this symptom at 3 weeks! That’s not what I realized the cramping was though. This was going to be my first period off birth control after about 5 years of being on it. I truly thought my body was angry and my period was going to be the worst I’d ever had. The cramping was TERRIBLE! I couldn’t stand to wear pants or shorts or anything that put pressure in that area. When I did wear pants, I was unbuttoning and unzipping whenever I got the chance for some relief. This symptom lasted for about 3 or 4 weeks. The intensity of the cramping went down over time though.
What I thought was a lot of bathroom visits
At about 4 and a half weeks, I started needing to go to the bathroom more often than usual. There was a slight annoyance that this symptom starts early on. Little did I truly know how often I was going to have be going later. We did make a trip to Austin when I was 12 weeks pregnant so this symptom was particularly annoying then.
Exhaustion
Before I was pregnancy, I used to take naps every once and a while but not consistently. During the first trimester, if I didn’t take at least one nap then I was beyond tired at the end of the day. I also remember the first time I needed to sit down just from switching out the sheets on the bed. My arms and legs would feel like heavy noodles after simple tasks.
Congestion
I started having congestion really early on. This is also referred to as pregnancy rhinitis. That congested feeling is due to your blood volume increasing, hormonal changes, and HGH could also play a role. All I did to help was take a Zyrtec everyday and I definitely noticed if I forgot to take it.
Nausea/Dry Heaving and Throwing Up (Food Aversion)
So I didn’t throw up too much, in comparison to others, but I had a LOT of nausea. Instead of throwing up, I would just dry heave for like 30 minutes feeling miserable and not getting any relief. Then came the one and only food aversion, beef. We eat beef all the time so this one was upsetting. What is probably worse is that I didn’t realize (or admit to myself) that beef was an issue for me until I threw it up many, many times. It smelled great and tasted amazing but once it hit my stomach it was a different story. Speaking of stories, I have a few stories with this symptom.
Story 1 - We went on our usual vacation to the beach when I was 8 weeks pregnant, I basically was throwing up at least half of vacation. Because at this point, I hadn’t admitted to myself that beef was a problem and I was enjoying steak as much as possible… We ended up heading home a day early since I had FINALLY stopped throwing up. Tip: don’t eat anything acidic (like tomato based things) if you know you might throw up later because it’s sooooo much worse coming back up.
Story 2 - We went out to eat one night at Genusa’s, an Italian restaurant, and I ordered the lasagna. It was hands down the BEST lasagna I’ve ever had in my life! I couldn’t eat all of it so I took the rest home. Well not too much later I’m throwing up in the bathroom and then in a ball on the bathmat in misery. My husband sees me and asks if I’m okay, which I’m definitely not. We quickly determine it was the lasagna and I start balling my eyes out. He tries consoling me but it’s not helping. As he thinks I’m just upset about puking, I’m actually crying because it was so good and I was looking forward to my leftovers but now I can’t eat them… without consequences of course. I told him to throw it away or eat it out of my sight. Later, his resolution to that was to stand only a few feet behind me but not in my sight to eat it… not quite what I meant but at least it didn’t go to waste.
Story 3 - I briefly mentioned this story in a different post. When I was 6 weeks pregnant, I was taking the NCE (a licensing exam) early in the morning and it’s a 4 hour exam… I informed the proctor (who had 3 kids and completely understood) and we had an understanding if I just ran out of the room haha. Thankfully, even though the exam has no scheduled breaks, you can take as many breaks as you want but your time keeps running. The screen made me nauseated so I stepped out twice. The first time, just to sip on some water and snack on crackers while I took some deep breaths. The second time, I went to the bathroom and dry heaved until I puked. With 10 questions left, I thought I was going to throw up but I took some deep breaths, closed my eyes, and then finished the exam. Grateful I made it through because I passed!
The Pregnancy Nose
It was unbelievable how easily I could smell things and how strong they were. I specifically remember a few instances:
I was working at a school at the time and I could smell any cleaner as if it were perfuming the halls which I had never noticed the smell before.
At a high school graduation that was held on the football field, we sat in the bleachers and it was HOT. Everyone was sitting somewhat close together and fanning themselves. So many different perfumes and colognes were mixing... it was unpleasant to say the least.
I was in the kitchen and something smelled fishy. Eventually, I thought it might be the dog's breath who was pretty far from my nose. My husband had to practically put his nose in the dog's mouth to understand and confirm what I was smelling.
Lightheadedness/Dizziness
I have low blood pressure and what I call “blackouts” all the time. Basically, when I stand up too fast, my blood pressure drops and I lose vision for a little bit, get lightheaded/disoriented, sometimes with spasms… not fun and the frequency of these increased in the first trimester. I had to learn to take it easy and drink A LOT of water. These episodes also leave me with a headache for a while after if it’s a more intense one.
The Hormonal Emotions
I’m already someone who is open with my emotions but I would cry anytime, at anything. Especially music. Fortunately, I was able to quickly realize when the level of my emotions were due to hormones. I would then be able to logically start to calm myself down and talk it out instead of sitting in that sadness or anger for longer than needed. My emotions were valid but the way I was letting the emotions affect me was not beneficial. This really helped me so my whole day wasn’t ruined and I could turn it around. This wasn’t always the case though.
Worth noting
The question of when/if to share the news
We had a lengthy discussion of how when wanted to do this and didn’t follow it exactly. I’ll elaborate more on this topic in a separate post.
First doctor’s appointments
My first appointment was at 7 weeks 4 days since we were about to go on vacation. Everything looked great and I was measuring a few days ahead at the time. The first thing she said on the ultrasound was “there’s just one in there” and talk about a sigh of relief. We got the official due date of December 30th! Then got some bloodwork done. Just in case you don’t know, the first ultrasound is a vaginal ultrasound, not on your tummy because they’re so little then!
My 10 week appointment just included a meeting going over my pregnancy packet, getting bloodwork done for genetic testing and finding out the gender (because I needed to know, I’m not patient), and getting set up on a payment plan for the doctor’s bill for delivery… yay.
My 12 week appointment was the typical weight, blood pressure, questions, pee on a stick situation. With the exception that they forgot to do a swab on my at my 8 week appointment so they did it at my 12 week which means I had no pants on. The nurse practitioner was so bubbly and high energy. She asked if I wanted to get an ultrasound to see my girl since my pants were already off haha. Of course I said YES! They don’t typically do ultrasounds at that appointment and she started to look like a baby instead of just a little bean at that point so it was very exciting to see her moving around!
Pregnancy Pillow
I started using one at 6 weeks due to cramping. It just helped me not feel scrunched up and more comfortable to lay down. I loved it from the very beginning.
Clothes
I started having a hard time finding clothes that didn't show my bump or just make it look like I had gained weight. Since I had a small waist, I liked dresses that were fitted at the waist and then flared out. This style became not ideal pretty quick. Once we had announced my pregnancy, I was ready to show off my bump!
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