My First Trimester

So I guess now that the word is out, I can start recapping some of this crazy journey. Crazy is definitely the appropriate word ~ especially for this first trimester!

I found out there was a bun in the oven on November 6th. Election Day. That night, after all the discovery went down, I emailed myself this lil blurb so I could always remember the emotions of that day.

So today. Wow, today. Today I found out I am pregnant it’s honestly been a good couple of days. And now I understand why! I’m lying in bed, engrossed in baby websites, calculating my due date, etc. and all the while I still don’t believe that its true. I’ve been feeling cramps for the past few days and have been anticipating the arrival of aunt flow since yesterday. But every time I checked,, nothing. I texted Jaime earlier, making a joke about how I wish my uterus would just get on with it already, and she told me to just take a test! So after not giving myself enough time to even digest what I was doing, I decided to do it. and next thing i know, I’m looking at two pink lines on the First Response PREG test. After sending a pic to S for confirmation, I realized it was true! I showed nick, whose response was something like, well now let’s not jump to conclusions! So a couple glasses of water and another test later, I had my initial answer confirmed And now I’m just happy. Slightly stunned, but ecstatic. The reality will hit me sooner or later, but or now I’m just glowy,, and I love it. EDD – 7/16/13

I spent the next couple of days in la la land. Not believing it was true. Thinking there was something else I should be doing (i.e. taking more tests?? Certainly 2 wasn’t enough!). I decided to call my OB and make my first appointment and ask them if there was something I needed to do to confirm. They reassured me that the home tests were validation enough and that they wouldn’t need to see me until the 10 week mark. December 18th. How was I supposed to wait that long??! And even more, how was I supposed to keep this all a secret??

Pic taken the week I found out. No one ever told me about baby bloat!

Initially I felt great. I kept to my usual routine of working out, eating well, and sleeping soundly. I actually ran the Monumental 1/2 Marathon pregnant unbeknownst to me (which probably explains why I felt the way I did)! I was able to keep running early on too, not feeling too much of a change. It wasn’t until Thanksgiving weekend that the true symptoms started kicking in. Mostly the overwhelming fatigue with a sprinkle of nausea. Thankfully I wasn’t physically getting sick, but I was just run down like never before.

We made it to our first prenatal appointment on 12/18 where we confirmed our due date (7/16/13) and got to listen to the sweet sounds of our bean’s heartbeat (170 bpm and perfect). THAT was the confirmation I needed. I was secretly hoping for an ultrasound that day so I could visually see something was happening inside me, but since I am low risk, this was not routine practice. My patience would have to be tested for another 3 weeks. Guess this is the only the start of my trials with patience #motherhood

We decided early on to wait until the holidays to tell our families. Can I just tell you how hard it was to withhold that information from everyone?! Especially since I had made a trip home to Michigan a few weeks prior and had to do some major covering up: of my baby bloat AND the fact that I was not drinking (the latter being the harder of the two). We told Nick’s family the weekend prior to Christmas then to mine on Christmas Eve. It felt so good to get the word out so I could stop making excuses for the way I’d been feeling! And my obviously visible lack of alcohol consumption. To say everyone was thrilled was an understatement.

We said goodbye to 2012 and welcomed 2013 with big smiles and crazy expectations. Unfortunately those smiles lasted only about 8 hours into the new year before I was inundated with my first go around with morning sickness (MS). And it came in like a flipping lion. Due to the constant queasiness, I was afraid to move/ sit upright and forced to limit myself to clear liquids (i.e. popsicles and Vernors/ Sprite). As soon as I felt like I could move or wanted to eat something substantial, I was reminded that bean wasn’t quite ready for solids. Luckily for the most part, this paralyzing malaise typically lasted only 24 hours before I would return to functional status again. But this on again/ off again sickness cycle continues to persist, kicking up again as early as late last week.

So far, the MS tally looks like this:

• Work call-in’s: 2.
• Days/evenings spent on the couch: too many to count.
• Weight gained: 0 lbs (initially up ~5, now back to baseline). Thanks nausea!

I long for the day where I feel good enough to get back to the gym (which has happened only once in the past 4 weeks), sweat out the toxins, and feel like a human more often than not. And the visions of being a pregnant runner? Pretty much out the window. I suppose I can still dream.

During all that craziness, we did have some good moments. The main one being the day of our first ultrasound, January 10th! The hubs and I visited the prenatal center together that morning where we were taken into a cozy dark room with video screens all over. The premise for this u/s was to screen for congenital abnormalities, even though our overall concern for this type of thing is very low. It was more or less an excuse for us to see the bean! And see he/she we did! Measuring perfectly without any visible signs of concern, we were in heaven.

We also got a nice little frontal shot of our alien-to-be

I’ve also had some wonderful moments spilling the good news to all my closies!

Our next ultrasound will be at the 20-22 week mark, otherwise known as the anatomy scan. And you may (or may not) be interested to know that contrary to popular demand nowadays, the hubs and I DO NOT want to know the sex of our little one. I’ve always wanted to be surprised in the delivery room and thankfully Nick is on board. I mean, what greater surprise in the world is there?? Relinquish control, people. It’ll be worth it in the end Nothing wrong with gender neutral.

Click me!

So that’s where I’m at lately! At 15 weeks and 5 days, I’m officially out of my first trimester. A bump is slowly forming. I’m starting to look less and less like a chubby girl and more like a pregnant one.

The second tri hasn’t been overly impressive thus far. I’m hoping for a little momentum shift in the coming weeks. A little more energy and a little less nausea would be lovely. And the next exciting thing on the list: babymoon planning (any recommendations???) ! But the saying is definitely true: growing a human is hard work!