first trimester in review

With only one week left of my second trimester, i figured i'd better write down my thoughts on my first trimester before I begin to forget!

But oh the first trimester. Not a fun time. Not at all...

The Good: Finding out! Finding out I was pregnant was the best part of my 1st trimester, it was very emotional, exciting, and made me giddy every time I thought about it for the next week.

The Bad: However that giddy excitement only lasted a week, because exactly one week after I found out I was pregnant I had a miscarriage incident. At that point I was 6 weeks pregnant and I began cramping and bleeding. It's a long story but to sum up: after talking to a nurse (on the phone) I was told that this early on there was nothing that could be done so just take it easy and follow up with an OB soon. At that point I did not have a doctor. But 3 days later me and Kyle went to an emergency room because of my increasing symptoms of nausea, feeling hot, hunger and just generally feeling sick. An ultrasound revealed my living, heart-beating away baby! The ultrasound also revealed a second, empty sac. The ultrasound tech said that most likely there had been a second baby that hadn't developed right and that's where the bleeding/cramping was coming from. But due to conditions I was told that I was still at risk to miscarry the baby that was alive and so I was told to take it easy and follow up with an OB soon.

The Ugly: Beginning at 6 weeks I felt extremely nauseous, hot, sick, dizzy, light-headed, no energy, hungry, extreme bloating--I would eat an apple and my stomach would bloat so bad I had to unbutton my pants! And the symptoms got worse and worse every single day until about 8 weeks when the constant, and I mean constant 24/7 nausea finally turned into vomiting. Unfortunately, when nausea is a result of hormones, vomiting does not offer any relief at all, it just made me feel even worse. Weeks 8-12 was my month of death. It was awful. Experiencing all of these symptoms every day and every night, week after week after week after week, plus all of the emotions and constantly worrying about miscarrying my baby added up to me also feeling pretty depressed during my first trimester.

Bright Spot: At 8 weeks we finally met with an OB and we once again got to see our baby on an ultrasound. At that point everything looked completely normal and healthy which was a huge relief!

First Trimester Cravings: My very first craving was for a quiche haha, after that it was anything that I thought I wouldn't throw up, mostly white carbs and fruit. Toast, potatoes, french fries, tater tots, mac and cheese, crackers and cheese, chips, grapes, watermelon, hot dogs, smoothies, and tuna fish sandwiches.

No-Nos: Water. I could not drink water during my first trimester, it was just too plain! Even the thought of drinking water made me nauseous, so I mostly did watered down juice, flavored sparkling water like La Croix and some carbonated drinks like Izzes and rootbeer.

Pregnancy Super Power: My sense of smell was out of this world! I've never had a very good sense of smell but wow it's really picked up since getting pregnant! In my first trimester I would wake up in my bed upstairs with the door closed and I could always tell what my mom was having or had for breakfast. One time I was upstairs getting ready and i could swear I smelled a donut. I went downstairs and there on the counter inside a plastic bag was a single donut my dad had brought home from the grocery store! The downside of course is that smells bothered me a lot more and often made me feel even more nauseous. Even Kyle would smell too strongly sometimes, not a bad smell, just his normal smell, but it was just too strong so he had to sit away from me, haha.

The Really Good: My first trimester did end eventually! I made it through, and more importantly my baby did too!

How I spent so many of my first trimester days.
In bed with my crackers, throw-up bowl, and a cold wash cloth.

The excited dad-to-be with our 8 week ultrasound picture!