My First Trimester
Before getting pregnant I had read a lot of books and blogs about pregnancy and nutrition to prepare for the journey I was going to embark upon. You hear a lot of stories about how rough the first trimester is; the nausea, the exhaustion, the food aversions. Than you hear a few stories here and there of lucky 1/3 of pregnant women who don’t experience any of that. During my first pregnancy I didn’t experience the food aversions or nausea, just some tiredness.
I’ve heard from a few doctors saying that the more you suffer from these symptoms the lower rates of miscarriages. I don’t know if my HCG just wasn’t high enough during the first pregnancy and that was a sign my pregnancy wasn’t going to make it full term, I don’t like to think too much about it because I have a tendency to blame myself for what happened. But lets talk about this beautiful pregnancy and what a rough ride it has been.
The first day of week 5 I was hit like a truck with extreme exhaustion, nausea and no want to eat any food at all. I told my husband that it felt like I had the stomach flu from the moment I woke till I fell asleep. If you know me you would know that I am the type to not really sit still, I always have something to do wether it be around the house or with one of my businesses and blog. Also I don’t really eat a lot of carbs, my main diet is protein, fat and veggies. During the 7 following weeks I was eating crackers, bagels, sushi, sometimes tacos and a hamburger. By the end of the 7 weeks I was so sick of carbs that I would feel sick at the thought of eating carbs and I was finally able to eat veggies and meat by themselves which felt so good that I wanted to cry. I am sad that still at 14 weeks I can’t stomach steak because I really miss steak and it is my favorite.
I was tired the moment I woke and ended up taking 1-2 naps through the day, mostly just laying on the couch all day, only getting up to get some work done and ready for bed around 8pm. My husband would drag me out for walks in the evening and my body felt as if I was being weighed down and had to drag myself through the walks.
I am thankful that I didn’t throw up everyday but there were a few days I did, maybe once a week and a few days that it was like all morning that I would throw up. Food and supplements all gone. I am so happy that it wasn’t everyday because I really dislike throwing up.
Another thing is that my belly gets big pretty early in pregnancy and so by week 6 I had a visible baby bump and my boobs hurt so bad. During the first pregnancy my boobs had already started to grow and than when I had the miscarriage they stopped growing and they were constantly achy and sore until like week 12 of this current pregnancy.
I would like to say and let all women know that pregnancy isn’t always sunshine and rainbows like you might see on social media and it actually sucks at certain times, it is okay to feel that way. It is okay to feel horrible and over it and still be happy to be pregnant and thankful. I know I’ve seen people not really want to admit about how sucky it can be for fear and sounding like they aren’t happy to be pregnant and it gives other women the thought that they can’t say anything for fear of that.
Lets go back to the topic of nutrition, what you eat during pregnancy is very important and affects the babies growth and your health. With that said first trimester nutrition can be difficult to get enough protein and needed nutrients in that are recommended and that is okay. It can be hard to eat what you need when you are constantly throwing up or your body is threatening to. Don’t beat yourself up about it, I know that it was hard for me not to feel horrible about not getting in what my baby needed during that time but the most important thing you can do is eat what you can and work on staying away from highly processed and fast food as much as you can. Those foods can cause inflammation and can have negative effects on the growing baby and can lead to preeclampsia.
Another thing that was different with this pregnancy from the first was when we decided to announce it to everyone. During the first we announced it as soon as we found out because we were so excited. This time around we felt a little more cautious about when we wanted to announce it socially and decided to wait until the second trimester and after we had heard the babies heartbeat. Either choice is amazing and I would recommend doing what feels right to you. I hear a lot about how you should wait until the second trimester to announce when its safer so you don’t have to announce if something does happen but that if that time does come you may feel alone in your grief and may need support. With our miscarriage it was very difficult to cope with the grief and we wanted support from our friends and family even it if was a hug or just to check to see how we were. That decision is up to you and don’t let someone change your mind about that.
The most important thing is get rest because your body needs it and try not to stress too much. You are doing an amazing job growing a human being and all the pain and suffering will be worth it in the end. I am so thankful and blessed to be able to get pregnant and be growing our rainbow baby.
Another decision we decided on was no unnecessary ultrasounds. With an ultrasound and even a doppler it causes heating of the tissue and some studies show that it also sends heat to the baby and can heat their organs and brain. We didn’t want any of that so for our appointments we chose no ultrasounds and very quick doppler sessions to just hear the heartbeat to make sure everything was good. For the sex of the baby we decided to do a blood test which can be done as early as 9 weeks and you get a very accurate result of the babies sex where as with the ultrasound it is not 100% that they get the sex right. This was our decision and please make the one that feels right for you and don’t like yourself be made to feel like a bad person or a weirdo for the choice that you make with your baby and your body.
Thank you for following my journey and if you are interested in Health Coaching for weight loss support, Gut Healing, Preconception Planning and Hormonal Health please check out my Health Coaching pages and send me a message to find out about my current specials.
