Hungry Baby: First Trimester of Pregnancy Recap

Hi, Friends!  Today I’m updating you guys on the first trimester.  I started keeping track of what was going on around week eight so I have a little more detail from then on. Today’s post is going to be massive.  I thought about splitting it up, but I don’t want baby/pregnancy posts to take over the blog.

  I figured those of you who are interested could read as much as you want, and those of you who aren’t will skip it.  After today, I think I’ll record every two weeks, that way I’m keeping you guys up to date, but it isn’t pregnancy in your face all the time.  Hope that works! If you have other suggestions, I’m open to them! I will also probably do a “First Trimester Survival Guide – or must haves” or something along those lines later this week!

First up, here are posts so far you may be interested in:

• Guess what??? – Pregnancy Announcement
• Getting There – Suspected Luteal Phase Defect

Week 4

As I mentioned in my getting there post, I started testing early.  Around 8 DPO (days past ovulation) and I got very faint lines.  My worse nightmare considering what happened with our chemical pregnancy.  I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t say anything to Mr. Hungry.  Around 12 DPO, when I should have gotten my period (again read my getting there post for why this is not 14 days like most people), I took the digital test which came out positive.

Mr. Hungry was home from work recovering from his hernia surgery that week. I was so excited that I just ran into the living room and threw the test on his lap.  He was excited, but like me, cautious.  Since the last one “didn’t stick” we had more of a wait and see type attitude this time.  We did tell my mom and his parents, but that’s it.  Other than that, we kind of just tried to put it out of our minds.

I did go in for preliminary bloodwork which all looked fine.  HCG and progesterone levels anyways.

Exercise – Friday Fitness #52

Week 5

I was having pain on my right side, like groin but also in the abdomen. I mentioned it to the doctor’s office, and she said the concern is an ectopic pregnancy so if it gets worse I need to go to the hospital. By Saturday night it had gotten worse, it felt so deep achy I thought I was going to pass out in Costco. I thought it might be a muscular thing related to my workout, but it was tough to say. So, we ended up waiting 3 hours at the stand-alone ER (remember how I said they were super fast when we went there for Mr. Hungry, totally jinxed myself there). They started with an ultrasound – but I was so early (beginning of week 5) that they could barely see anything. However, they did see enough of an area in the uterus they thought was consistent with the beginnings of a gestational sac or yolk sac (not sure which is the proper name) that they could rule out an ectopic. They checked the tubes and ovaries and said they looked clear.

Oh but here is the SUPER FUN part, the doctor came in and said: “its kind of weird your urine pregnancy test came out negative, so we are going to run some blood work.” They drew the blood and then we waited. It was the longest 20 minutes of my life. The doctor came back in and said I don’t know whats wrong with the urine test, but your HCG is showing higher than 2000 (more than triple from three days prior).

And I immediately burst into tears, confusing the hell out of the doctor, until I explained they were happy tears.

He also looked at white blood count to rule out appendicitis and UTI/bladder infection. He said he was confident the pain is likely muscular and unrelated to the pregnancy, so we went home after 6 hours in the ER. Then we got in and out because I hadn’t eaten since 2 pm. It turns out, this was just psoas groin pain, and my magical chiropractor fixed me right up after one visit. But, I’m still glad we went because it was a scary pain.

The rest of the week was rather uneventful. I did start waking up a little nauseated in the mornings, but nothing breakfast wouldn’t fix. I did take an entire week off of exercise though see Friday Fitness #53.

Week 6

I didn’t record this week, but I do remember this is when nausea hit and fatigue hit full force.  I was feeling super bloated too like I ate Thanksgiving dinner every day.  Mr. Hungry started meal prepping his meals, picking up my half of the chores, and doing just about everything.

For exercise this week see Friday Fitness #54.

Week 7

I also didn’t record this week of pregnancy, but I remember the mornings got tougher than the week before.  My usual eggs for breakfast stopped working.  I ordered these protein shakes and started having those with toast for breakfast. But the happy part of this week was that we had our first ultrasound at 7.5 weeks.  I was a nervous wreck.  Our previous loss very much instilled a sense of fragility for this babies life that I still haven’t been able to shake at 15 weeks.  Despite the progesterone support, we were very nervous.  Thankfully, all was well though!

You know when Rachel in Friends can’t find the baby on the ultrasound? I mean I could see the baby, but they kept looking at the heartbeat saying how much of a miracle it was. I’m like what are you looking at? They had to point out to me where the heartbeat flicker was, I felt SO dumb.  At least I could see the little gummy bear!  I told Megan this week, but she kind of already knew.  We work closely on building What to Eat? Meal Plans and I was sleeping and slacking. She gave me a ton of grace!

Exercise: Friday Fitness #55

Week 8

Formatted records start here! Haha After the ultrasound I was a little bit more confident, at least enough to start recording.  It is now written in “real time” from me during that week.

Baby Size: Raspberry (I use BUMP and What to Expect Apps)

Symptoms: I’m mainly feeling better this week compared to the crazy nausea of week 6 & 7, but I attribute that to learning how to handle it a bit better and being more prepared for it. Fatigue is still nuts; I can sleep 9-12 hours at night and take a 90 – 120-minute nap throughout the day.  There was one day, last Sunday when we had family over. I was so tired and nauseous all day I had to excuse myself to lay down for a nap when Grandma did. So now I have the napping habits of a 90-year-old. My boobs are also growing like crazy, and have remained super sore since post ovulation.

Currently Missing: My gel manicures.

Sleep: Sleep wasn’t going so well till I started up with my Natural Calm again, I still have some weird pregnancy dreams, but they don’t keep me up all night.

Food Aversions: Chicken, can’t handle it. Cooked vegetables. Eggs that I cook at home. Yep, I can eat eggs out like in a feta wrap or sandwich but hate them when prepared at home. Nut butter and RX bars also make me feel sick after eating them. (Really this should say all food except randomly finding comfort foods that feel better.)

Food Cravings: Still not a “craving” more of what is tolerable.  Sometimes pizza or mac and cheese sounds so good, but if overeat it, then I feel gross and don’t want anymore.  It’s fantastic.

Exercise: I’m averaging about four workouts a week which I’m okay with. Usually two full body strength workouts and two running days. That’s only one day less than pre-pregnancy, so I think that works for me. (Friday Fitness #56)

Mood: Highly highly anxious. I finally got into to see my counselor who helped a lot. Our previous loss was hard on me physically, and emotionally and I have a ton of fears surrounding losing the baby. My counselor helped me see that life is all about risk, there is a risk in everything we do. She helped put things into perspective for me. She suggested some relaxation exercises and that I visualize a stop sign before googling stuff like “miscarriage risk week by week.”

Maternity Clothes: I broke down and bought some maternity shorts. I think I’m too early for maternity clothes, but my shorts don’t fit me, and when I tried to go a size (or even two) up in regular shorts everything cut my stomach off weird. So maternity shorts it is! After failing at finding tops to wear at Target, I ordered a few flowy tops on sale from Free People!

Reading: This book about how to prepare your dog for a baby. Nala is super sweet and never aggressive, but there were some moments that she barked at my nephew over the holidays. Not a scary bark or anything just like “you scared me why are you pounding on me while I sleep type bark.” That made me realize it’s our responsibility to protect both our dog and the children in our house. I’ll let you know what I think of the book!

Buying: nothing baby related yet, just food and clothes for me haha!

Looking forward too: My next ultrasound.

Week 9

Hee is what I have for week 9. I think it’s fair to say that was a survival week.

Baby Size: Strawberry or Olive

Symptoms: Holy fatigue, nausea, and food aversions.

Currently Missing: Caffeinated coffee.

Sleep: Getting up to pee is now a thing.

Food Aversions: Everything except saltine crackers and ginger ale.

Exercise:  Sprained my ankle running, resulted in the week off.  Friday Fitness #57

Mood: Irritated.

Maternity Clothes: Shorts.

Reading: Nothing New.

Buying: Nothing New

Looking forward too: The end of the first trimester.

Funny Story: I told another friend this week because she was teasing me about eating chocolate that I gave up for Lent.  I didn’t want her to think I was “weak” for giving in to my temptation and giving up on my lent promise.  I was SOOOOOOOOO glad I told her, she has been such a support to me over the last few months.  She had her baby just a few months before, so pregnancy was still fresh for her, she was a huge rock for me! Thanks, Jenna!

Rocking my flowy Free People clothes and target maternity shorts most days I go out in public. PS I think the state of the bedroom says it all.  I did not even attempt to clean up.  Notice the clothes all over the place and the box of whatever carb back there on my nightstand.

10 Weeks

Baby Size: Prune or Strawberry

Symptoms: I had some nausea at the beginning of the week that was killer, but it happily went away until the end of the week, so I got a few days break! (Which was both exciting and scary because the morning sickness lets me know everything is okay.)

Currently Missing: Same caffeinated coffee.

Sleep: Having a hard time going back to sleep after waking up to pee.

Food Aversions: All meat/most food except for chipotle steak bowls and hot dogs. Eggs still sound revolting as well.

Food Cravings: Still not a “craving” more of what is tolerable. Same – popsicles, string cheese, pickles – anything salty or sour. Salt and vinegar chips made a brief appearance.

Exercise: Back at it after my hiatus last week when I was too sick, tired, and had an ankle injury.  Oh yes, this is the week I sprained my ankle running, and that was the last “long run” outside I went on. Friday Fitness #58

Mood: Anxious about the upcoming ultrasound.

Maternity Clothes: Nothing new.

Reading: Nothing new.

Buying: Nothing new.

Looking forward too: 11-week ultrasound, I want to know everything is okay.

11 Weeks

Baby Size: Size of the Lime about 2 inches

We had an ultrasound this week and got to see the little one wiggling around on the screen.  I was pretty nervous before the ultrasound but felt a lot better after!

Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue kicked my but all week this week. I was MISERABLE, complaining all the time, and incredibly unproductive.

Currently Missing: Same caffeinated coffee, yep. But, at my last appointment, my doctor said she would rather me drink one cup of caffeinated coffee than decaf. So now, what’s a caffeine-loving mama to do? Right now I can’t stand the thought of coffee, but I’m missing the idea of it if that makes sense.

Sleep: At my ultrasound, I mentioned the waking up sick in the middle of the night thing, and my doctor suggested I try Unisom. I went straight to the pharmacist at CVS and asked them what that was and where to find it. The pharmacists mentioned there were two versions the “NyQuil version and the Benadryl version.”

I looked at him dumbfounded and said: “I don’t know, I’m pregnant.”

He smiled and said, “ah, I see.”

He came out of the pharmacy took me over to the Unisom and handed me the right box (which I don’t know which one was that). What I wish he would have told me was how strong that stuff is! I took a full dose the first night and woke up with a crazy hangover like feeling the next day. I had to cancel about every meeting I had and struggled to make it through the day. The night after that I took 1/2 dose, and that was MUCH better. I’ve been taking it on and off, I don’t like using it, but I also don’t want to wake up nauseous at 3 am unable to go back to sleep, trying to eat crackers to no avail. Not fun.

Food Aversions: Same. Most foods I’m adverse too, but slowly more food is starting to sound tolerable.

Food Cravings: I told another close friend this week, and she asked me what my cravings were. She asked me if I wanted “all the carbs.” I laughed because I don’t think of them as cravings, I think of it more as what sounds tolerable. Yes, cereal and same foods of last week are basically what I find tolerable, but I wouldn’t say I crave ANYTHING except sleep. Same as last week – popsicles, string cheese, pickles, olives – anything salty or sour. Salt and vinegar chips made another brief appearance.

Exercise: Struggle bus. I managed to get four workouts in, I wouldn’t say they were high quality, but I did them. Friday Fitness #59 

Mood: Happy and relieved, we had a great time seeing our little one wiggle around on the screen. Confused about the early testing.

Maternity Clothes: Nothing new.

Reading: Nothing new.

Buying: Nothing new.

Looking forward too: Not feeling sick anymore. Come on second trimester.

12 & 13 Weeks

I didn’t record these weeks which I didn’t realize until just now.  I think that illustrates how terrible I felt those weeks.  Everything was the same as 11 weeks, and I was praying for the magical second trimester.  For one so that I could feel better, and for another so I could feel more confident and start telling people! I owe it to Jenna for really listening to my every gripe and complaint these two weeks especially.  I spent a lot of time praying for the second-trimester relief and thanking God for our miracle at the same time.

Friday Fitness #61 (week 13)

Friday Fitness #60 ( week 12)

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