It felt like only yesterday when I announced my pregnancy, let alone found out that I was expecting! Seriously, where has this year gone?? I got so wrapped up in preparing for baby, while also still working and going to school full time, that I completely forgot to do a recap on my 1st trimester. As of today, I am 26 weeks pregnant and closing in on the 2nd trimester, so look out for the next update!

Majority of my first trimester, I was completely oblivious to my pregnancy. In fact, we didn’t even learn that I was expecting until week 8. However, the symptoms I experienced during that time will surely never be forgotten. So far in my pregnancy I have experienced literally every symptom listed in the books and my first trimester was a roller coaster ride, to say the least.

While my first indication that I was pregnant was nausea, the first symptom was actually breast tenderness. And we aren’t talking about a little achiness… no, more like can’t even attempt to put on a bra without keeling over from the pain. That symptom started to slowly ease over the course of the next few weeks but was still unbearable at times.

For about 3 to 4 weeks, around the 8 week mark, I suffered from intense nausea, but surprisingly, never actually had morning sickness. During this time I lost about 15 pounds because I wasn’t able to eat or drink anything other than saltines with ginger ale without feeling queasy. Picture your worst hangover being repeated daily. I was so sick and exhausted, that I could hardly move from the bed or lift my head off from the pillow.

I purchased these motion sickness acupucture wrist bands off of Amazon for about $10.00, and they were worth every penny. Even though my nausea has settled since this time, I still keep these wrist bands in my purse for long car rides. If you tend to get motion sickness easily, these are a life saver – even if you aren’t pregnant!

Due to being nauseous 24/7, I didn’t have any food cravings during this time. Well, unless you count any food or drinks that contained ginger as an ingredient!! Ginger tea, ginger ale, ginger lozenges… You name it, I had it. Anything to ease the nausea.

With that being said, I had several food aversions during this time. Some that, frankly, broke my heart. Before getting pregnant I could easily eat eggs at every meal, however during my first trimester, the thought alone would turn my stomach into knots. I tried them scrambled, fried, and omelette-styled, but no matter how I cooked them, I couldn’t get pass the texture.

Another food aversion that was equally just as disappointing was fried chicken. Yes, the holy food of the south. The devastation was real. It took me months to try eating at Chic-fil-a again. I also figured out through trial and error that preparing the chicken at home would also prove to be regretable.

Luckily, food aversions, as well as nausea, are normal and positive signs of pregnancy. In fact, some common food aversions are chicken, eggs, red meat, fish, milk, onions, garlic, and coffee. Basically, anything that was once living or that is overly aromatic.

Toward the end of my first trimester I thankfully started to get my appetite back. Around 2:00 to 3:00 am, hunger would strike pretty hard and I would be in need of a snack, which usually resulted in a bowl of cereal. Along with late night munchies also came late night bathroom breaks. Around the 10 to 12 week mark, I would start getting up every 3 hours to pee. I’m not sure if this was just because of how much water I was consuming or if it was because of baby pushing on my cervix. Either way… this is still a symptom that is going strong well into the second trimester. Perfect practice for when baby comes!

Learning that your pregnant naturally brings on some degree of anxiety. However, learning that your pregnant during a global pandemic brings new meaning to the word. I am naturally a very anxious person and struggle with my mental health every day. The level of anxiety I had in my first trimester was simply unmeasurable to my anxiety before-pregnancy. I was worrying about literally everything and almost making myself sick in the process, which is obviously not healthy for the baby or myself.

I grew more and more relieved after we started telling our loved ones about the news. We received love, support, and positive affirmations that helped me get out of my own head and allowed myself to be excited about our new journey that awaited us. Granted, I still worry about being a first time mom, juggling work, school, and a baby at the same time, and constantly worrying about contracting the virus and giving birth alone in a hospital room; however, it isn’t as scary as it was initially and I am taking on one thing at a time.

Are any of you first time mom’s or parents during this pandemic? If so, how are you managing and do you have any advice on navigating through these complicated times? Let me know down below! Also, make sure to stay tuned for the second trimester recap which is coming soon 🙂

Sincere,

Lee.