Today’s prompt is to write about something I know a lot about…
I can’t really say I know a lot about pregnancy, as each pregnancy is unique and women experience it in so many different ways. However, I have been trying to know everything I can about pregnancy since I was in first grade, the year my parents had “the talk” with me. The next year my mom had my little brother and I watched the delivery. Yep, it’s true. I’ve been prepping myself for labor since age eight.
Ever since then, I’ve been on a quest to discover anything and everything I can about pregnancy, labor and delivery, postpartum symptoms, breastfeeding, etc. When my first close friend had a baby almost ten years ago now, I hounded her with questions and I haven’t stopped since. If you’ve had a baby, please tell me every gross and beautiful detail. I want to know it all.
Now that I’ve acquired so much information over the years and experienced the first half of a pregnancy myself {21 weeks today!}, I thought I would share my knowledge. Many of you probably aren’t as forward about asking your friends for pregnancy details, so I will just try to answer some questions you’ve possibly been wanting to ask.
And if you are a guy {although I doubt many men read my blog}, you can stop reading now. Thanks.
I’m going to break these posts down by trimester, and I’m going to share three things: my own experiences during pregnancy, stories/symptoms experienced by other women, and a bit of advice. Here it goes…
Real life… The first trimester was a breeze. Zero sickness. Almost no tiredness. I thought I would get sick, because my mom was sick when she was pregnant, but it never happened, so clearly genetics aren’t a determining factor in morning sickness. I worked out throughout my whole first trimester. I never felt nauseous. Quite a few of my closest friends were also NEVER sick during pregnancy, so it is possible and I wish a sickness-free pregnancy upon every woman I know who is hoping to conceive. The toughest weeks were 6-8. This is when I felt the most tired {but I still easily stayed up until 10pm and survived off 7-8 hours of sleep}. This is also when my chest started to grow, which was definitely my most uncomfortable symptom for about four weeks. Around week 10 the soreness went away, but I had already increased a full cup size. Eek. Scary! Also, your nasal passages get messed up during pregnancy {because of increased blood flow, sensitive membranes, etc.}, so it’s common to get nose bleeds. I got one around week 8, right in the middle of a group meeting at school. I also would often see faint blood when I would blow my nose, which went away around week 12 but has come back recently. Additionally, I would wake up every morning feeling like I had a cold or allergies. I would typically sneeze and blow my nose for the first hour or two of the day, and then the problem would go away until the next morning. Apparently, this has an official name… the rhinitis of pregnancy, and it’s also caused by swollen blood vessels and increased mucus in the nose. I had no major food aversions during my first trimester. Certain foods would sound unappetizing every now and then {yogurt, peanut butter on bread, etc.} but nothing that I couldn’t eat at all for weeks on end. And did you know you aren’t supposed to eat any extra calories during the first trimester and you should only gain 3-5 pounds? I gained five pounds in my first 8 weeks, and 10 by the end of the trimester. Oh well! My clothes starting fitting awkwardly during week five {which was actually before I knew I was pregnant}, but it felt like premenstrual bloating, so I didn’t think much of it. However, other than a general tightness in my clothes, I could pretty much wear almost everything in my closet {with the exception of my skinniest jeans} all the way through the first 13 weeks. I went for looser fitting clothes when possible, so I never even used my Bella Band.
Rumor has it… You can puke your guts out every day of the first trimester, sometimes multiple times a day. Sickness usually starts around week six and ends by week 13 or 14, but I’ve had some friends that have had to battle sickness for their ENTIRE pregnancy. There are meds for this if it gets extremely bad and you can’t function or you are losing weight. Also, strong food aversions are likely. Many women hate the idea of eating meat, especially plain cuts of meat that aren’t chopped up and hidden in a dish. It’s also common to dislike fruits and/or vegetables for a while. My nurse told me that if I found myself not wanting certain foods, it was perfectly fine to eat ANYTHING that sounded good, even if that meant a whole box of Nilla Wafers, simply to get enough calories in my body. Since I had no major symptoms, I ate pretty normally, but a Nilla Wafer dinner is completely okay if you’ve been vomiting all day long and it’s the one food that will stay down. Also, some women are extremely exhausted during the first trimester, needing 9 or 10 or more hours of sleep at night and naps during the day. Also, the chance of miscarriage is greatest in the first trimester, but it decreases as each week goes by. By the time you get to week ten, your chances of losing the baby are super low and by week 13 they decrease to less than 2%.
My advice… If you think you might be pregnant, you should try to find out right away since the baby is going through crucial development during the first few weeks, and you will want to avoid harmful substances {alcohol, raw or under-cooked meat, etc.} and dangerous activities right away. The night before I found out I was pregnant, I almost went in our hot tub, which can be extremely dangerous for the baby {saunas also}. Thankfully I felt “fat” in my bikini, thought I was starting my period, and ended up not going. The next day I found out I was pregnant. I never thought I would say this but PRAISE THE LORD for feeling fat and uncomfortable! Also, remember, during pregnancy there is a fine line between being safe and careful, and believing your body will do what God made it to do. It’s easy to get nervous and stressed about pregnancy, especially if it’s your first, but you also have to remember that women have been having babies for thousands of years with none of the comforts and conveniences we have in this age. Even today women get pregnant and don’t know or hide it on purpose and they never take a prenatal vitamin or go to a prenatal doctor’s appointment and their babies are perfectly fine. I’m not advising carelessness obviously; I just think it’s good to remember that our bodies are made to grow babies and under most circumstances they will do just that… produce a healthy baby without us having to stress our lives away!
These are my twenty week pictures. I’m always a week behind!
What about you? Have you experienced pregnancy? Were your experiences similar to those listed above? Did you have any first trimester symptoms that I didn’t mention? Please share in the comments and educate us all!
|Linking up with Busy Bee|
Aww,you are so cute pregnant. You know how some look at hot mess when they're waiting for that baby to pop. Nope not you. Yay! Wait, that was meant as a compliment and not to be creapy weird.
I am 23 weeks on Fri! And I was one of those unfortunate women throwing up every meal, every day. The good news is that there is a medication that is safe to take while pregnant, which made me feel nauseous still not at least I kept food down. I'm still on the meds b/c if I go off it comes back full force. Wheee!
I've learned that everyone's body reacts differently, but its all weird haha.
Congrats on your pregnancy! I'm just over 24 weeks with my second (a little girl!) and I am only now just starting to get a break from morning sickness.. It was all day every day but now I seem to get nauseous in the afternoon and evenings. I'm so jealous of your morning sickness free pregnancy!
Liane x
I didn't get sick during my first trimester either! I thought I was weird and going to lose the baby at any moment because "you have morning sickness" during pregnancy. Little did I know it was the greatest blessing ever! Stopping by from Jenni's link up 🙂
You look so beautiful and blushing! 🙂 Stay Healthy.
-Stopping from May challenge.
Seriously adorable pictures! I never did get sick with my pregnancies. Although, I felt like I was going to more when I was pregnant with twins. The nurse told me there was no way I could be pregnant with twins because I should have been much more sick but turns out, I could be. Fun stuff.
Love this! I'm 17 weeks pregnant now. I am envious of your symptom-free 1st trimester!! I never did throw up (thankfully!) but I was nauseous pretty constantly, definitely had bad aversions (particularly plain chicken, as you mentioned), and was tired all the time. I went to sleep at 7 PM some nights! But by week 13 I felt great! Loving 2nd trimester! Though I'm feeling more and more fat! haha! I guess that's supposed to happen though! 😉
The only useful advice I got was for labor. If you can't sleep through it, it's labor!
I'm so glad that your first trimester was a breeze!! I was sick 24/7.. threw up for weeks. My husband's scent even made me sick. It was awful, but totally worth it. Thank you for this though, I can't say at all that I know everything about pregnancy even though I've gone through it!
Christy
Sunny with a side of…
PS. Found you through The May challenge link 🙂
awww, i love this. reading pregnancy tips is always good to me. i am not pregnant right now but i remember when I was pregnant with my daughter I felt so good and thank goodness I didn't go through the morning sickness it happens many pregnancies
Congratulations on your pregnancy. I have had three and all have been quite different. I am like you and so intrigued by it all that I am now studying midwifery and following through women through their pregnancy journey, labour, birth and into early parenting.
Enjoy the experience 🙂
I've never had a baby and just watched one be born for the first time a couple of weeks ago!
It was a crazy/awesome experience. Congrats and best of luck, although, I doubt you'll need it 🙂
Awww such a great pick mama!
When I was pregnant my first trimester was awful and I didn't know much about pregnancy other than what they show on this pregnancy shows. I think the biggest thing I learned was it helps talking about it and a milk shake always helps 🙂
You're right behind me it seems, since I am almost 23 weeks right now! Like you, I have had no sickness with this pregnancy- and I didn't with my first, either. The fatigue was terrible, though! I could give you lots of gross details, if you ever want them. I fancy myself a bit of a birth junkie. 😉
one sweet tuesday.
so true. each and every pregnancy is different. i got nose bleeds with one but not the other two. I itched head to toe with my daughters but not my son ( something caused by hormones ) started the last 6 weeks.
I wasn't sick at all during the first trimester either. Or since for that matter (I'm at week 29 right now). I have had friends that were not sick at all and friends that went to work sick and dealt with it because they were sick all the time… So everyone is different!!
I have experienced the nasal issues though and those are STILL lingering around.
I wore my normal clothes up until something like 16 weeks. And technically I'm still wearing normal clothes, just maternity or stretchy bottoms now.
Great advice you shared there! When I was in my early pregnancy before knowing I was pregnant there were several chances I could have gone out with drinks for friends and for whatever reason at the time I didn't… Close call!!
coming over from the baby link up!
you are beautiful! congrats on the pregnancy and half way mark!
This is great…I'm the same way, I CANNOT got enough information on pregnancy and childbirth. It absolutely fascinates me! You look great and I hope the rest of your pregnancy is as smooth as the first trimester! Thanks for linking up. 🙂
Hi!! 🙂
Just wanted to say hi and introduce myself as your newest blogger. I'm enjoying your blog- congrats, motherhood is incredible. I just had my sweet baby girl six months ago. Hope you'll stop by my blog.
All the best,
Christina @ The McGuire Family
MarkChristinaMcGuire.blogspot.com
Just found you through the Baby Talk link-up – new follower! I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby and I am lucky that with the exception of being tired in the first trimester, both first and second trimester have been a breeze for me so far. I love finding other mama's to get advice from and share the experience with!