If you missed my pregnancy announcement post, check it out here! I also shared a Q&A post with a lot more info. I can’t wait to meet our little one early next year! I’ve gotten several questions about how my pregnancy is going, so I thought it might be helpful to share a first trimester recap.
How I'm feeling overall
So far how I have felt during my pregnancy has been a pretty accurate reflection of how I treat my body. When I am taking care of myself (getting enough sleep, not working, exercising, eating healthy…) I usually feel pretty good. When I’m sleep deprived, stressed, etc I have felt awful at times. Unfortunately the best way I can describe it is I feel pregnant. It almost feels like a chronic illness that makes you really tired and sick all the time… which sounds awful but it’s the closest thing I can compare it to. I would say the fatigue has been the biggest struggle.
On a positive note...
Most of what I will be sharing in this post sounds negative and I wanted to emphasize that regardless of how sick I have felt at times, I am SO grateful to be blessed with a (as far as we know) healthy pregnancy. Pregnancy truly has been the most magical thing I have ever experienced and of course I would not trade it for the world. I feel like my mood has been at an all time high, and I think it’s because of the season and the fact that I’m so excited I’m having a baby!
Signs and Symptoms
I have had lots of normal pregnancy symptoms so far.
Fatigue
I have felt more exhausted than I have ever felt before. I do think my work schedule is the biggest contributor – staying up all night is tough even not pregnant. I will still take night shift over day shift, though, since I feel even worse getting up really in the mornings.
Sore/growing breasts
This was my first pregnancy symptom. My breasts hurt the most when being touched, even just brushing against clothing. or when I’m running or moving around a lot. And they have been growing… I had purchased a normal bra in the next size up and the following week it was already too small. So I have been mostly wearing this stretchy bralette in one size up but I’m not sure how much longer they are going to fit!
Nausea/vomiting
I have thrown up more times in the past 2 months than I ever have in the rest of my life combined. When I was on my honeymoon I didn’t vomit once. I was getting enough sleep, sleeping in every day, eating healthy, and not working. I think working full time with difficult hours and being tired have been the biggest contributors to my nausea. I have thrown up the most when I have woken up really early for working day shift, in the morning after working night shift, when I’m hungry, when I eat too much at once, or when I’m driving! Snacks and cherry coke are my best friends and the two things that have helped the most with nausea. I will say that luckily I don’t feel nauseous all the time or all day long – usually it comes and goes pretty fast after eating or vomiting. My doctor did offer me medication which I decided since I feel like sometimes the vomiting is preventable and the nausea is usually relieved quickly.
hunger
I did not know what hunger was until I became pregnant. Pregnancy hunger is a whole different kind of hunger! The best way to describe it is it’s like my stomach is telling my brain that I need to eat and I need to eat NOW or else something bad is going to happen. That’s literally what it feels like. I get really nauseous and just feel so sick and awful when I don’t eat! On a positive note, food tastes soo much better being pregnant – at least, the foods I like!
Cravings/adversions
I have not had any specific cravings or aversions. My tastes are the same as they were pre-pregnancy except everything is exaggerated. The foods I loved before I was pregnant taste so much better, and the foods I didn’t like are a little more repulsive. I’ve always favored plain foods and even more so now. I have found that sticking with “safe” foods – foods I’m familiar with and know I like – have sat better with me. This has not been the time for me to try new foods!
If there’s any specific foods I’ve been craving, it’s all the foods I can’t have of course which is probably why I want them even more! I have given up a lot of my favorite foods like ahi tuna/raw sushi, charcuterie boars with salami and soft cheeses, sandwiches with deli meat, greek salads with feta, etc.
heightened sense of smell
My sense of smell has been more potent. I haven’t noticed good smells are any different but the bad smells smell even worse and stronger now.
headaches and migraines
I have suffered from headaches and migraines for years so this is nothing new, I just noticed they occur more frequently now. I usually get them when I am tired or dehydrated so I have found that the best “cure” is preventing them.
dry mouth/dehydration
I am awful at drinking water. Some nights I would wake up in the middle of the night with such a dry mouth that it was painful. I have thrown up entire meals. I would eat “wet food” like Mac and cheese, cereal with milk, etc and then when they came up, they would be super dry! It was the most uncomfortable feeling vomiting completely dry food, lol. And then of course vomiting contributes to the dehydration. I have been trying to drink more water, Liquid IV, and Pedialyte which all have been helping.
frequent urination
This is obviously a common symptom. I think it will be even more prominent in the second and third trimesters though.
feeling colder
I have always been an “always cold” person and would rather be warm than cold. During this pregnancy I have felt even colder, which I wasn’t sure was even a pregnancy symptom at first. Now that I have done some research, it sounds like I am not the only person who has experienced this!
Brain fog
The pregnancy brain is REAL! I have forgotten things at work that I have literally never forgotten in the 3+ years I’ve been a nurse. And my memory has been awful… Ryan can attest to this!
Bump updates
I started noticing a tiny bump in the evenings around 10 or 11 weeks. However, even now at 16 weeks I am barely showing when I first get up. But by the end of the day, after I have eaten, the bump makes its appearance. It definitely depends on what I wear too, you cannot tell at all when I am wearing my scrubs or looser clothing. It’s the most noticeable in tight dresses!
I only have two photos because I didn’t start taking bump photos until 12 weeks – My goal is to keep up with them during the second and third trimesters.
a look ahead
My next pregnancy/baby blog post will be the gender reveal – ahh! Look out for that within the next 1-2 weeks!
