First Trimester Battles

Thank you to everyone who commented and congratulated Wes and I on the baby. We are so blessed with amazing support from both friends and family. We look forward to sharing this exciting experience with all of you!

Now that the  news is officially "out", I can start blogging about my journey throughout my first pregnancy. Even though my body has yet to outwardly show any signs of our precious cargo being on board, my body is definitely telling me it is working overtime and giving me quite a challenge to get through this first trimester.

You probably already guessed it, but yes...nausea has reared its ugly head already. Lucky me. :)

After we found out I was pregnant, everyone kept asking how I was feeling so far and I repeatedly answered them with, "I honestly don't feel any different. I kind of wish I had some symptom so I could feel like I am actually pregnant".

Why did I say that? So naive as a first time mom. It seems that you are so excited just to finally be pregnant but then you don't feel any different, so you wish these awful symptoms upon yourself just so reality will set it a little more.

Well, ask and you shall receive I guess.

Here's how it started: Monday, Jan 9th (not even 6 weeks pregnant yet) Wes and I had a hamburger and fries for lunch. Sounded great, tasted great too! Then for dinner, we rented a movie and I was craving Chinese food (mainly egg drop soup) and so of course we ordered out Chinese and it was great!! I didn't eat all of the Chinese so I stored it away in the fridge for leftovers the next day.

The very next day, Wes opens up the fridge to find something to eat for lunch and what does he pull out? Chinese of course!

And what happened? My stomach did a complete flip and the thought (and the smell) of that Chinese food made me so sick to my stomach. I couldn't even stay in the same vicinity as the food in fear of losing it completely. Wonderful.

And thus began the vicious cycle of first trimester hormones and nausea. Yay. I asked for it, right?

Not even 6 weeks pregnant yet! All the forums I've read (yes, I'm that girl) had said that the nausea usually kicks in between 6-8 weeks. I figured I had at least a good week to go! Boy, was I wrong.

Luckily, I haven't thrown up (but have gotten close once) but have ALL DAY nausea. I'm hungry ALL the time, so much so that my stomach physically hurts because it needs to growl. Problem: NO food sounds good, nor does it ever taste good. Great combination, right?

So I eat just to satisfy the hunger pains and hope it will subside the nausea too. I realize that the nausea is only worse when my stomach is empty, I get it. I need to eat. But how am I supposed to eat when the thought of any food makes it all worse? Rough.

I haven't even been able to drink much fluids either, which worries me because I know I need to stay hydrated. I've continued taking my prenatal vitamins and can keep them down. Most say that baby is still getting the nutrients it needs as long as I keep taking them. I feel like this is the only thing I am doing good for my baby at this point.

The day the nausea hit, I had to go into work that night and work three nights in a row. Talk about a struggle. Trying to eat normally even if you aren't pregnant is hard when you are working nights. But now add the complexity of pregnancy nausea to the mix and we have a problem. Those were the hardest nights of work to get through. Luckily I work in a labor and delivery unit, so I can get some sympathy and nausea meds to get me through.

My the end of the week, I had called my doctor to get something called in for the nausea so I could at least eat something. The meds are helpful but never a guarantee that all the nauseous feeling will go away.

Since then, I have had good days and bad days. Probably more bad than good but I will take what I can get. Yesterday was a good day. The day before...not so much. Today..not so much..

I had computer training class Monday and Tuesday of this week and those were not good days. Having to get up early and get moving and out the door quickly does not work well for me. I need to eat desperately to make the nauseous feeling go away, but there just isn't time. So by the time I got to class, I felt awful. I managed to eat dry Cheerios and water throughout the morning to get me through till lunch. Nutritious huh? Like I said, I take what I can get these days.

The second day of class I debated on leaving early due to feeling so bad. I toughed it out though and got through the rest of the day, but just barely. The next day I had absolutely nothing to do so I stayed in my pajamas and never left the couch. Slept off and on all day and still put in a good 12 hours of sleep that night. Growing a baby is tiring!!!

The only food that I have noticed myself actually wanting is Mexican food. Wes's mom said this was all she wanted to eat when she was pregnant and so far, it's not a bad choice. Normally, when all else fails, some type of burrito and chips and queso manage to sound appealing.

The bottom line is I have to keep my stomach full at all times but hard to do when nothing sounds good. Halfway through first trimester and so ready for the next half to fly by so I can feel normal again.

Until then, I will do the best I can and enjoy the ride. The end result must be all worth it for women to continue to put themselves through these pregnancy symptoms over and over again. September can't come soon enough!!