My First Tri-Mester

As I told you in this post, we're expecting a baby in September and found out about it over this weekend in NY!

Today though I'm sharing my experience in those first few weeks becuase let me tell you it is DIFFERENT for everyone. I'm lucky enough to have a few best friends who are currently pregnant as well, but all seeing different doctors with different opinions and processes and one of the biggest things I've realized is that there are a lot of right ways to do it. For example, one friend was told to take a pre-natal PLUS a DHA supplement. One was told to take a pre-natal PLUS extra folic acid. For me, the Dr said my pre-natal is all I need but I decieded to add in the DHA myself. The important thing is feeling that your Dr or Midwife is smart and capable and has brought other babies into the world successfully and will help guide you through the process the best he/she can.

So I wanted to share my experience in those really early weeks, when I saw the Dr, what she advised etc.

My Dr Visits:

• As I mentioned in this post we found out over a weekend in NY so once we got home on Monday I called my regular OBGYN Dr and to my surprise they had me come in on Thursday for a blood test and again the following week for more bloodwork to make sure all of my levels were rising appropriately. I had thought I wouldn't go in until 8 weeks for the ultrasound based on what I'd heard other friends go through but I was actually really appreciative of the thoroughness of them double and triple checking. It personally gave me great peace of mind.
• From there I had an ultrasound around 7 weeks where we saw the heart beat (127!) and where I found out I have a small ovarian cyst as well as a fluid sack they wanted to watch. This part was a little confusing...
• While the ultrasound was happening the technition told me about the cyst and said a Dr would want to talk to me about it after the ultrasound.
• When we did meet with the Dr after she said everything looked great with the baby but she wanted to talk about one thing, I quikcly said oh yes the cyst that the technition mentioned? To my surprise she said no, the cyst is totally normal and that is what creates the progestorine in your body before the placenta develops so that it was totally fine and normal that they would just watch it to make sure it eventually goes away.
• What she wanted to discuss was a fluid sack (of course she used a way more technical term that I can't for my life remember) that she said could just be some residual blood from the implantation and that again this is very common and usually goes away but to be on the lookout for spotting.
• Her advice was to refrain from any intense exercise (dagger to my heart) for the first tri-mester and especially to avoid taking/potentially even teaching hot yoga. This was pretty much the hardest bit of news for someone that takes workout classes daily and has been a devoted hot power yoga practitioner for 5 years.
• Between that visit (7 weeks) and the next visit (8 weeks) we decied it was time to tell our families and boy was that fun. Post coming Friday about how that went down....
• At my 8 week visit with my Dr she took a couple tests, asked a bunch of qiestions, and walked me through the general timeline of events and answered questions around what I can and can't eat, etc.
• The first tri-mester of course wraps up around 12 -14 weeks with another visit where I had an ultrasound, another visit with my OB, and a ton of blood drawn for genetics testing, carrier screening, and the gender tests!
• We got the call at just about 13 weeks that the genetics testing came back looking good and that the gender was available! I had them email it to me in an attachment that I coudn't see (but of course made my best friend login to my gmail and check it fist to make SURE I wouldn't see it, then I passed it along to my friends over at YogaClub Box to fill our reveal box of blue or pink clothes!

My Symptoms:

1. Nausea. That has definitely been my biggest and yuckiest symptom but I will say I know I'm lucky that it hasn't turned into throwing up and on many days was totally manageable. Of course there were a few days when it was a rather debilitating, resulting in a few tears, feeling like I'd never feel normal again.
2. Acid reflux and burping - omg EW. This actually might be the yuckiest. I am NOT a burper so this new development felt really disgustig and the acid reflux that came along wasn't pleasant either. It seemed to get better by week 11/12 so currently hoping it stays that way!
3. Aversion to veggies & cooking. Seriously besides for scrambled eggs, the one time I made pasta, and the eggplant parm I made at week 12, I pretty much didn't cook in the first tri-mester. I honestly just couldn't do it. Everytime I thought about it I felt like I was going to be sick - WHY?? My best friend had the exact same symptom and as I've now heard from a few women this is pretty common. Additionally the fact that it was rare for vegetables to sound good was so frustrating. I can't wait to crave a salad (besides for Greek Salads, those have been high on my cravings list - all that tangy vinergary-ness, yum!)
4. Smells. I've always had a strong sense of smell and am easily bothered by them so pregnancy has only heightened the whole thing. Since we were living through construction for 3 weeks in the first tri-mester it became apparent that the construction smells (paint, and the general smell of Home Depot/dust) had me feeling SO SO queasy. It even got to the point where if I didn't have a scarf wrapped around my face in almost every part of our home except one guest bedroom I would start to gag. This resulted in leaving our house and staying with friends/family for a week while our place was fumigated!! The smell didn't really go away for me even after that but my doctor put me on these great anti-nausea pills  that majorly helped, but they do make you fairly sleepy. Some days were rough, most were fine but they helped me life a fairly normal life where I could start cooking and LIVE in my home again.
5. Feeling lazy. I have generally been really lucky that I'm not insanely exhausted, in fact I've barely napped. But I just generally feel a bit unmotivated and that in turn has left me feeling a little guilty and lazy. It has however helped (despite not being allowed to do hard workouts) to at least get to the gym once a day to take an uphill mile long walk on the treadmill followed by light weights and stretching.

What I've Eaten:

1. Fruit - ton's of fruit which is good. Specifically craving berries, grapefruit, and watermelon
2. Carbs - any and all. I try to be selective by eating GF oats without any added sugars or sweeteners, these flaz seed waffles, and this sprouted toast but sometimes you end up with pasta and white bread and saltines and you just gotta let it go.
3. Crackers - speaking of saltines... actually my go to has been pretzels. I accidently bought  bag of rye pretzels at Trader Joe's but they oddly caught on and now I love them. Graham crackers have been pretty good too.
4. Salt - OMG I crave salt in everything. I used to make scrambled eggs dry with no salt or pepper. Now i have to cook them in a little butter and salt. *sorry not sorry - it's a phase*. Also Live Love Pop lightly salted popcorn has saved my life on a few occasions.
5. Red meat - this one is particularly annoying since I set out a year ago to massively reduce my red meat & dairy consumption. And while I still velieve in it, right now when it's one of the only protein sources my body is craving I've had to cave on a few occasions.
6. Other random things that have helped: jolly ranchers (apparently they help with nasea and I have to say I think they do), grapes (a great go to snack that you can eat slowly and munch on over the course of a half hour), pretzels (for me a great snack on the go), bananas (my lifesavers in the middle of the night, I always keep one next to the bed).

What I've mostly realized in the first tri-mester regarding eating is that I am almost always hungry and of course I get REALLY hungry every couple of hours but it doesn't take a lot to fill me up and I really prefer to eat slowly. Which is all intersting because I'm usually a fast eater and can eat a lot before I feel sick, now I eat half of what I used to eat and feel painfully full. I've tried really hard to listen to that and stop when I'm full which isn't my natural tendency!

I also found that keeping a banana next to the bed in case I woke up at 3am painfully hungry was really helpful, and eating right away when I woke up. That first meal was usually plain oatmeal with berries or cottage cheese with grapefruit, then after teaching my first class of the day and working out I'd make scrambled eggs, more fruit and sometimes avocado toast.

All in all I learned that everyone experiences it differently and you just have to try your hardest not to be impatient with yourself or your body. It's easier said than done but just know you're not alone and the reason youre feeling sick is becuase your body is doing something really wonderful, the yucky feelings are just a side effect.

 

Shop the adorable outfit in the photo plus a ton of the home decor via my LikeToKnow.It