First Trimester Confessions

Looking back, I laugh at my naïve self as she boldly walked into her first trimester. Poor sap, she had no idea.

Two of my New Year’s Resolutions were: don’t eat out as much, and exercise every day.

What ended up happening was that we ate out more in January than we ever have in our entire lives due to 1. My utter exhaustion and inability to touch a piece of raw meat without gagging and…2. My cravings for anything and everything McDonald’s and/or fried.

As for the exercise, I worked out every day for a week after we first found out we were pregnant. Then I stopped, and instead came home from work every day and crawled into bed and was asleep by 7:30 every evening.

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All my lofty goals were replaced with simply surviving the first trimester.

I have my sights set on the second trimester–which is generally lauded as the promised land of pregnancy–here’s hoping it will be as fabulous as all the message boards say! Ha ha!

Confessions

• I got a positive pregnancy test when I was not even three and a half weeks along. Basically, the very earliest they say you can get a positive: I got one.
• The line was so faint, I threw away my first positive test, and it wasn’t until the next morning when I fished it out of the trash that I realized that there was a faint second line!
• The first week after I found out, I felt like every woman smiled at me. Like I had joined a new club, and we were all sisters, and they all somehow just knew that I was carrying a baby.
• Some days, the only foods that sounded good, were potato ole’s from Taco John’s and a McChicken sandwich from McDonald’s.
• I do a lot of nutritional counseling at the chiropractic office where I work. So throughout my pregnancy I have helped countless people with their diets, all while snarfing down fast food in my time off. I used to be such a healthy eater! Sob! The irony wasn’t lost on me, that I would convince them to give up their one vice, but I was diving headfirst into mine.
• I have rarely eaten any vegetables except for the shredded lettuce on the McChicken sandwich.
• I have been continually sick with the flu and colds for the past two months. First, a miserable cold that hung on for weeks of nose blowing, body aches, and continual misery. Then I got a twenty-four hour flu. Then, this past week I got a cold complete with a double ear infection. This week, especially, I felt rather pitiful. I was working twelve-hour days, nursing my ear infections, and pregnant to boot. Something about being pregnant makes any other malady seem like a woeful affliction, indeed. Perhaps I should consider eating a vegetable.
• My neighbor found out that I was pregnant by observing me throwing up in our parking lot. I didn’t even notice he was there, because I was…ahem…otherwise occupied. I am so very sorry #youknowwhoyouare.
• When hubby is cooking meat, I run to our bedroom, and hide under the blankets. This has been the one time I have really wished for a bigger house rather than a one bedroom apartment, so there would be somewhere to escape the smells!
• Our refrigerator smells awful to me. I sniffed my friend’s fridge just to check if hers smelled as bad, but it didn’t.
• Until week 11, I didn’t have any nausea or morning sickness, which scared me, because: 1. what would other women think? 2. was I really pregnant?
• One of the first questions I asked my midwife was if I was really pregnant since I hadn’t had any nausea.
• Starting week 11, I started having nausea in the evenings. This is when most women’s nausea subsides, but mine seems to have just started. Oy.
• My husband has never done more loads of laundry or cooked more meals. I would get home from work and lie down and he would do the laundry, make me a meal, make himself a meal (because he eats a lot healthier than my pregnant self), and was pleasant about it all. What a stud.
• I had a very vivid dream that it was a girl even before I knew I was pregnant. I thought it was a sign, but once I knew I was pregnant I started having dreams of all sorts, baby has been a boy, a girl, twins, etc… now I am losing my faith in that first dream.
• We kept the news to ourselves for one week. And it was torture. I know common sense says to sit on it for a while but we just couldn’t. We told our immediate family when we were not even five weeks along.
• I have told many complete strangers that I was pregnant: the employee at Goodwill, in the comments on an instagram post, the Wal-Mart cashier.
• I read so many pregnancy articles before I got pregnant, that my first midwife appointment went over everything I already knew. I am a huge over-researcher, and over-thinker, and all I could do was smile and nod.

What Saved Me During my First Trimester

My hubby, friends, and family: so many people have gone out of their way to encourage me: from my hubby keeping us fed, to  people sending me books about pregnancy and childbirth, to others just taking time to chat with me. I am so grateful for all the support!

Whole food prenatal vitamins: On my Mom’s recommendation, I began taking prenatals over a year before we even tried having a baby. So, when that happy day came, I felt really good about the store of good nutrition in my body. I have continued to take a whole food based prenatal along with fish oil and probiotics every day. I know you can’t out supplement a bad diet, but when you are eating  a bad diet, a good supplement won’t hurt. 😉 On my worst days of eating french fries and McChicken sandwiches I had some peace of mind knowing that baby was getting those good vitamins too.

Smoothies and fresh fruit: no matter how icky I feel, I will always welcome a piece of cold fresh fruit and a homemade smoothie. Just like the very hungry caterpillar in that children’s book, I have eaten my way through 5 lb bags of grapefruit (usually, weekly), boxes of kiwifruit, bags of grapes, and bowls of strawberries. Fruit has been one healthy thing I have craved, and has set well with my stomach.

Beans and eggs: I don’t know what I would have done for protein if it hadn’t been for these two things. Beans have now fallen out of favor, but there was a few weeks where that was basically all I craved or ate. Eggs, have now taken their place, and I can even sneak just a few veggies into an omelet, and still eat most of it. Scrambled, omelettes, or fried eggs have been many a quick meal for me!

Massages and chiropractic care: I get super cheap massages at work, and free chiropractic care. As a result, I have been getting weekly massages and bi-weekly adjustments. I have never had a massage before in my life before this pregnancy, but we just happened to add a massage therapist to our staff about the time I became pregnant. Score! I have been getting tension headaches after work several times a week, and the massage therapist has helped immensely with those!

Hopes for my Second Trimester

I am really hoping that 1. My food aversions subside just a little, so I can start eating a few more veggies, and…2. I get a little more energy. I have never been so low-energy in my life, and I am hoping that the second trimester burst of energy isn’t a myth!

A bit more exercise: I know how important it is to get my body as strong as possible before labor and delivery! I am hoping to work some exercise into my schedule, and if I get a bit more energy along with a bit fewer hours at work, and warmer temperatures I am hoping it will all fall into place!

Keep the house picked up: for about six weeks there, I didn’t lift a finger to do any house work whatsoever. Any spare time was spent sleeping. This second trimester I am hoping to ease back into my daily chores at home!

What was your first trimester like?