The first trimester was a bit of a roller coaster. The usual symptoms hit with a flood of hormones, tiredness, and morning sickness. Being tired all the time was probably the first symptom I noticed. The morning sickness soon followed, but thankfully seemed relatively mild. I felt unsettled all the time, but only felt sick sometimes and only threw up twice. I actually gained weight during the weeks I was most nauseated because I felt badly if I allowed myself to get hungry, so I tried to keep a little food in my stomach all the time. I didn’t have any unusual food cravings, but have developed a surprising aversion to shrimp. I was certainly glad not to be working at the bakery anymore where I’d be on feet all day and smelling all kinds of smells! Working at home with a flexible schedule that allowed me to take breaks as needed was wonderful.
It was really strange at first and hard to wrap my head around the fact that we were pregnant. It felt more like a foreign invasion releasing a bunch of hormones in my body and triggering symptoms that I couldn’t control. It was hard to think of it as a baby, let alone our baby. Gradually that shifted, but it took awhile. I’m still getting used to the idea, although feeling the baby moving around has made a big difference.
I was also frustrated by all the negative comments we received. In pregnancy books, apps, and conversations with others, we got a lot of negative remarks. Things like “you probably feel exhausted, but this just gets worse once the baby comes” and “better learn to deal with stress because once the baby’s born it’s going to get worse.” I’m sure all these sorts of things are true, but it’s just been an overwhelming amount of negative with very little positive.
The second trimester brought welcome relief where I started to feel more like myself again and some days even felt normal. As the weeks passed and my belly grew, I started having to make adjustments like sleeping with an extra pillow, modifying my workouts, and having to stand up and stretch more often because my ribs having already started feeling uncomfortably pressured. It’s strange to eat relatively well and exercise regularly, but still gain weight.
At 19 weeks, we had our ultrasound and got to see the baby for the first time. It was incredible. The detail of ultrasounds now is unbelievable; we were able to see things like the valves of the heart and everything. It was amazing. That was a big highlight for us. After the ultrasound, we celebrated by having pizza for lunch. Another highlight was finally feeling the baby move. It took a long time before I was confident I was feeling the baby since there were so many other sensations occurring. But by 24 weeks I was feeling the baby move a lot and Joshua had felt it moving too. Now, we feel the baby moving regularly.
Overall, the pregnancy has been pretty uneventful so far with expected symptoms and everything looking normal at all our checkups. As we move into the third trimester, we’ve just started our childbirth class and are beginning to think about labor and delivery. It’s exciting to move into this final trimester and prepare to meet our baby. It’s been a whole new experience so far and I’m sure that will continue, but we are excited about this new phase of our lives.
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