Baby G #1 Bumpdate – The First Trimester (Weeks 1-12)

 

LACE GOWN: c/o Willowby by Watters  //  BABY BALLOONS: Amazon  //  COLE’S JACKET: Express  // 

Happy Monday! In case you haven’t read my announcement post from last week, Cole and I are pregnant (first-timers) and I’m following the news up with my first-ever bumpdate. And I promise the frequency of baby and/or pregnancy-related posts will decrease after this, I’ve just been holding this news in for so long that I feel like I have so much to update you all on! I told myself I would write periodic bumpdates throughout my pregnancy here on the blog in the hopes that it can give other mama’s-to-be clarity or peace of mind, but also (selfishly) so that I can have something to go back and reference when Cole and I (hopefully) get to go through this crazy process again with our future babies. So without any further rambling, here’s a re-cap of my first-trimester experience with baby G #1.

From every weekly symptom to the products I grew to love during the first trimester, click on the read more button below to find out about my first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

My Very First Symptoms (Weeks 3-4)

Slight Left-Sided Cramping: I shared in my post last week that Cole and I were “not-not trying” to get pregnant, so I was looking out for symptoms right from the start. About a week before my expected period, I noticed some crampy/tingy-like feelings for several minutes on the left side of my pelvis area. It almost felt like something was pinching from the inside. I probably wouldn’t have noticed this if we weren’t trying to get pregnant, but thanks to Google, I was paying attention to every little change in my body.

Sore Boobs: The next change I noticed before my positive test and missed period were that my boobs were sore and heavy, but that’s something that usually happens before I start my period anyway, so I wasn’t convinced.

Super Human Sense of Smell: The one early symptom that was the strangest to me and really made me think something might be off was my incredible sense of smell. This would be a great symptom if the only smells I could detect were our Capri Blue candles, but from the sink disposal to whatever was stuck to the dogs paws, I could suddenly smell every little cringe-worthy detail.

 

Symptoms After We We’re Officially Pregnant (Weeks 5-6)

Emotions: As previously mentioned, I actually had to wait an entire 5 days to tell Cole once I got my positive pregnancy test because he was hunting (more on how I surprised him in my next bumpdate post). So after all that waiting, this guy (AKA Cole) decides to call me up on Friday afternoon to tell me he’s going to just stay an extra day and drive in the following morning with his cousins, who were staying with us for the weekend (this would mean I’d have to wait TWO more days to tell him since we were having company). I lost it. The tears came pouring down, straight ugly-cry status, and through breaths in between my sobs I begged Cole to come home that day. I’m emotional as the next girl, y’all, but I don’t cry quite like that very often. Cole FREAKED out, saying I “must have started my period” (wait, WHAT?!), something that normally would have really sent me over the edge, but to throw him off, I just agreed with him and said I was extremely emotionally drained and stressed, and just needed him to come home. I remember getting off the phone thinking, “who am I?!” It was an out-of-body experience where I felt I had no control over my emotions. Thanks pregnancy hormones!! This emotional rollercoaster was especially twisty, turny and jerky throughout the entirety of the first trimester, and while it’s getting better, I still catch myself crying at the sight of random babies on commercials, when my puppies are snuggled up in a certain way, etc.

Extreme Exhaustion: Nothing could have prepared me for the way pregnancy sucked all the energy out of me in the first trimester. I knew people said the first trimester was the most difficult, but I thought that was all because of the nasty symptoms like nausea, but exhaustion hit me first, and it was, in my opinion, just as yucky! Around week 5, I noticed it started to be extremely hard to get out of bed at my usual early hours. So, I started sleeping in a bit, thinking that would help. But even after a later alarm setting (which I eventually completely stopped hearing and would sleep right through!), I found myself wandering to our bedroom every afternoon just to lie down for a 1-2 hour nap (this was about the time I started not appreciating working from home…the temptation makes it SO hard!!) I’ve always prided myself on being self-motivated, but I’d never experienced this kind of exhaustion before. I tried to explain it to Cole that it was like taking a tylenol pm every morning and struggling to stay awake through it. SO brutal! There were even a few days in the 7th-9th week (after the nausea combined with the exhaustion) that I slept an ENTIRE DAY. Like, didn’t even leave the bed. Inevitably, the exhaustion alone majorly set me back in work, at the busiest time of the year, but I did the best that I could and re-adjusted to an earlier bed time, a later wake-up call and more naps. According to my pregnancy apps (I’ve listed the ones I love further down in this post) that I read daily, the reason the first trimester is so hard is because 1 – you’re making a tiny human, complete with ALL of his or her organs, and 2 – the placenta hasn’t completely finished forming yet, so you’re doing all the work. What I learned from this is that you have to listen to your body and take it slow. Be prepared to not be able to get as much work done in a day, plan for it, and be okay with it. You’re creating a little life, after all, and it takes A LOT of energy. Thankfully, now that I’m a few weeks into the second trimester, I can tell you that the placenta does pick up the slack and your energy DOES come back – so know there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Mid-Trimester Symptoms (Weeks 7-9)

Oh Hello, Nausea (& Heartburn): One of my best friends Bethany just had a baby last August (she’s the CUTEST and definitely gave me allll the baby fever), and I remember her asking me how I was feeling around week 7, and explaining to me that weeks 8-9 had been especially awful for her. That very night, in the middle of the night, I woke up with raging heartburn, extreme nausea, and threw up. If you know me, you’ll know I HATE throwing up. I will do ANYTHING to avoid it (which usually includes climbing in bed in a fetal position and not moving until the nausea goes away). I’ve never been one of those people who “feels better” after throwing up if I’m sick (or, in my college days, hung over). When it does happen, there are lots of tears, feeling like I’m dying, wanting to crawl out of my skin, etc. I just HATE it. So that was a very terrible, bad, awful night. And the next day I started Google researching and asking around for any and all ways to prevent nausea/throwing up. What I found for myself personally was that the extreme nausea that made me throw up was triggered by heartburn. I found out that Zantac was A-okay to take and it became a daily staple for me during those few weeks. I didn’t throw up again, but I did end up having nausea nearly every morning-early afternoon, and a few days, all-day, for weeks 7-9. Luckily, this is when December (the crazy-busy month) had passed, so when I felt extremely nauseous, I just laid down and slept it off as much as I could. I also found that eating small-portioned, mild foods like saltine crackers, bagels, peanut butter and jelly and Greek yogurts every 2-3 hours during the day helped a ton with the nausea.

Backaches: I had to put this one on there because it especially freaked me out. The day before we had our first OBGYN appointment (which was near the end of week 8), I’d had an especially bad day with nausea and ended up in bed all day, only to be woken up with a massive backache (which only seemed to make me more nauseous). Naturally, I decided to Google this symptom and it was NOT GOOD. According to Google, this can be a sign of miscarriage in the first trimester, so naturally, I went into straight panic mode. Of course, the baby was absolutely fine when we went in for our first sonogram (we got to hear the heartbeat too!) and my doctor assured me the symptom was completely normal, especially with a first pregnancy, and just meant my body was growing and expanding to accommodate the baby. This was especially reassuring because the random back and pelvis aches continued throughout my first trimester (and still do!) Now it’s a happy reminder that baby G#1 is doing well, and if it gets too bad, I always have some Tylenol handy.

 

First Trimester Final Lap (Weeks 10-12)

Increased Appetite: Around week 10, I noticed my nausea started to get a little better and by week 11, it was almost completely gone. It was quickly replaced, however, with a RAVENOUS appetite. This is when allll of my carb cravings kicked in, which I talked about on the blog over the weekend. The two-hour eating rule became a necessity not just because of nausea, but also because of extreme hunger pains in between my eating. Still to this date throughout my pregnancy, I just never get that “full” feeling. Though I did tend to crave carbs (and still do), I also intermixed it with as much healthy fruit as I could, and vegetables too (which I’m finally able to eat a lot more of lately!) Read all about my crazy pregnancy cravings here. 

Interrupted Sleep/AKA Frequent Peeing: This was a not-so-fun symptom. Just when my exhaustion was starting to let up a little, my sleep started getting interrupted around week 10 and especially into weeks 11-12. Every two hours, I was woken up with an urge to pee, which has NEVER been an issue for me. I’m the kind of person who will fall asleep and be out like a rock. No tossing and turning, no sounds that easily wake me up. Not only that, but I can usually hold my bladder FOREVER (which has actually ben an issue in the past since it attributed to frequent UTI’s). But this was something else and completely uncontrollable. Apparently it’s because baby was sitting right on my bladder, increasing the pressure. The yucky part about this symptom is it attributes to being tired again during the day since you don’t get a full night’s, uninterrupted sleep. My mom says it’s just God’s way of training you for baby, who will also wake up every few hours, so I guess there’s your silver lining.

Bloody Noses/Sinus Issues: This symptom was just annoying more than anything. It actually started early on around week 7 but got increasingly worse throughout the first trimester. I remember getting ready with the girls for my cousins wedding, before we had announced to anyone, including family, and one of the other bridesmaids noticed my nose was bleeding and kind of gave me a funny look. I’d never gotten them in the past, but I woke up numerous days with a bloody nose and messed up sinuses, which sometimes made it hard to breath at night. I started sleeping with a kleenex box next to my bed (it’s still there) and that definitely helped a lot!

First Trimester Things I LOVE

To help combat those pesky first trimester symptoms and to help learn more about what was going on during my pregnancy, there are several things I grew to love during my first trimester, which I listed below.

 

Gummy Vitamins – In the first several weeks of pregnancy, taking down a giant pill was really hard with my nausea, so I loved these gummy vitamins (they taste SO yummy and they contain DHA!) Note – gummies don’t contain iron, so you’ll also want an iron supplement like this.

Expecting Better Book – I absolutely LOVE this book and recommend it to all new momma’s-to-be. It goes through common pregnancy

The Bump App & What To Expect App – These two pregnancy apps are my fave because they not only give you a thorough weekly update of everything that’s happening with baby and your body, but they also feature interesting tidbits and articles everyday (which I absolutely binge on!!)

Wusic Baby Doppler – This was something I bought on a whim on Amazon and it’s one of my FAVE things I’ve gotten. This little device will allow you and your husband or partner to hear the baby’s heartbeat from the comfort of your own home. I bought it around week 10 and it took me a while (I definitely confused my heartbeat for the baby’s at first – theirs is SO much faster at this stage!), but when I found it I knew, and I now can easily find it every time. It just gives you peace of mind to know that peanut’s doing okay down there in between your appointments.

Humidifier – We’ve never had a humidifier in our room, but after reading that it could help with the pesky bloody nose and sinus issues, I decided to buy one and it DEFINITELY did!! I highly recommend it to mama’s-to-be, especially those who are regnant in the cold, dry winter months.

Dude You’re Gonna Be a Dad Book – I put this book in Cole’s little “surprise -we’re preggers” gift (more on that later), and it has helped so much with Cole being able to understand what I’m going through and the importance of each stage in the baby’s development. What I love most is that it’s written by a guy, for guys, so it’s hilarious and really fun to read!

Phew! That was a long one, y’all! I’ll be doing the rest of my bumpdates every 3-4 weeks so they won’t be novel-length like this one. 🙂 Stay tuned for my next bumpdate from the first part of my second trimester here on the blog soon!

 

Fair-well xx,

**photography by Angie Garcia Photo.