I promise not to make this blog entirely about my pregnancy, but I've really enjoyed reading a few posts from other bloggers about theirs, so I hope you'll indulge me as I share a few details about my first trimester! I'm almost 19 weeks now but started taking notes as soon as I began feeling changes in my body--I want to be able to look back on this time and remember it well!
Cravings:
lemon La Croix
green juice
acai bowls
yogurt, especially lemon or peach
Chinese food of any kind
everything bagels with lots of cream cheese
chicken tenders or nuggets
I was mostly excited about my cravings at first because for a few weeks, they were pretty healthy: fresh fruit, lots of sparkling water, green juice, and smoothies. This was in March and the weather was getting really nice and I thought it would be so easy to eat really well throughout my whole pregnancy.
Then week 8 hit me and I started getting super nauseated--all I wanted/could stomach was carbs. Noodles, toast, crackers, rice--you name it, I wanted it. Rob made hot dogs on the grill one night (one of my favorite dinners) and I couldn't even be near them. That evening I had Cheetos, an orange, and ginger ale for dinner. Luckily I wasn't actually throwing up (yet) so I could usually drink some soda and have a few crackers and it would subside enough for me to continue with my day as planned.
Symptoms:
so sleepy--I took a nap every day at 2PM whether I wanted to or not
my boobs grew immediately and really hurt (this was the first thing I noticed and the thing that made me wonder if I was pregnant in the first place--it was probably only at 4-5 weeks.)
I think I peed every 25 minutes for several weeks
had some cramps that freaked me out at first but then read were normal at the beginning
started feeling nauseated around week 8
Exercise:
I was still going to barre 4-5 days a week, and tried to incorporate Platform (Pure Barre's extremely difficult version of a cardio class) once a week. My nausea was really intermittent at first, which was great because I was able to work out regularly for a really long time, and I found that even if I did feel nauseated before class, once I started moving I would feel a lot better. I even went to Pure Barre teacher training in Colorado during week 9 and felt pretty good!
Ender and I walk at least a half hour almost every day, so even if I don't get to the studio for a workout we're at least getting up and doing some exercise very regularly.
Things I Thought I Would Miss But Didn't:
Caffeine: I knew I would miss coffee but I thought switching to decaf wouldn't be satisfying. Turns out I don't need caffeine as much as I thought I did and really just like the flavor and ritual (although let's face it, decaf doesn't taste as good as regular). I was also doing some tea, and after a few weeks the smell of hot coffee really grossed me out so some chai or Earl Grey in the morning was exactly what I wanted.
Poke Bowls: I surprisingly haven't been eating much sushi since we moved to California, but I did have an almost-weekly poke bowl habit. Lucky for me, the thought of raw fish those first twelve weeks didn't sound appetizing at all and I didn't miss it one bit. (Ask me about it again now though, I dream about them daily!)
Things I Didn't Think I'd Miss But Did:
Lunchmeat: Deli turkey is kind of my go-to lunch and snack thing, and I didn't realize how much I loved it until I couldn't have it anymore. I love it in a lettuce wrap, on a rice cake with a bit of mayo, even just on its own. You can heat up deli meat to a certain point and then it's safe to eat during pregnancy, but since I don't really eat bread, a hot turkey sandwich just didn't sound good (and sort of defeats the purpose of a lettuce wrap or open-faced rice cake sandwich to me). I keep saying that all I want is a cold deli turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo and Rob laughs at me, saying I'm going to overhype it and be disappointed when I finally get it; it's become such a thing that now my brother jokes that he's going to order me something from Jimmy John's and have it delivered at the hospital as soon as we let him know I'm in labor. (He better not forget.)
Weirdest Thing I've Eaten So Far: a frozen Indian dinner from Trader Joe's...for breakfast.
Silliest Thing I Googled: "Can you go trampolining while pregnant?"
Feelings:
Wanting to tell people but also wanting to wait. We felt like it was too soon, but when we went to Charlotte in April I was 8 weeks and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to tell some of our friends in person.
Not actually feeling pregnant and wondering if it was all a misunderstanding.
Feeling guilty because it happened very easily for us and we have so many friends who have struggled to get pregnant.
Being excited but also scared because we're on the opposite side of the country from my mom and friends. I would love to be in Charlotte for this.
I was cautiously optimistic at 4 weeks when I found out, then got really excited for a few weeks, and then at 7 weeks I felt this completely overwhelmed sense of "holy shit, now what?"
This cosmic sense of returning or "meant to be" because I was also born here in the Bay Area.
Other Stuff:
That's all for now! Let me know if you have any questions! Looking forward to sharing a few more posts like this with you in the future, and I'd love to hear from you if you've had similar (or different!) experiences.
