This post is long overdue as I am officially in my seventeenth week of pregnancy. I had all the intentions to sit down and write it out for you guys but these last several months have been so spontaneous. I feel like I am finally starting to get into my routine again and find my new normal. I’ve been saying that for weeks now, I know, but each week I am getting closer and closer to sorting out these constant life changes. If you have no idea about the craziness my life has been, you can read all about it here in my previous blog post.

Now let’s get chatting! By now you know I am pregnant with mine and my husband’s first baby! Each day presents itself with a new set of emotions and challenges and I’ve been (mostly) loving this rollercoaster of a ride!

I decided to do a blog series (as well as video series via YouTube and IGTV) to help document my pregnancy. I believe pregnancy is a big deal, especially your first, so I want to remember everything as much as I can. I also want to have these glimpses into the past when my children are all grown up. If you haven’t read the first post of my pregnancy series, you can find that post right here.

Like I said, this post is long overdue as I am almost halfway through my entire pregnancy! However, I wanted to make sure I touched on the first precious moments of my journey and answer all the questions I’ve received.

I want to preface this post with this…

Every pregnancy is different. Every woman is different. Please do not take this post and compare it you those you know or yourself. This is simply my own personal experience that I decided to share. As always, I hope you can take this post and use it as inspiration.

My First Trimester of Pregnancy: Part I

My first trimester was nothing like I expected it to be. However, I was fully prepared for the worst, although hoping for the best. I like to think I was somewhere stuck right in the middle.

When you hear the word “pregnancy” you think of morning sickness right away. And well, that’s usually what’s expected! I know I sure expected it. Like I said, I was prepared. I was taking my prenatal and a b6 vitamin well before I knew I was pregnant. I had the house stocked with crackers, ginger tea, ginger candy, and basically anything else that was said to alleviate morning sickness.

I’m happy to report back and say my first trimester of pregnancy was a breeze compared to the average woman. And I am SO GRATEFUL. So so soooo grateful.

If you know me, you know I have an irrational fear of vomit. I hate throwing up and I hate when other people throw up. So, I was going to do anything to prevent it. I like to think my healthy diet and lifestyle pre-pregnancy had a lot to do with how well my first trimester went. I also like to think I prepared my body with b6 vitamins which is what the doctor usually prescribes to women that do suffer from nausea. (Pregnancy depletes the body of b6 which is one of the main causes of morning sickness, along with the drastic hormonal changes occurring in the body. So, taking a b6 supplement pre-pregnancy made sure my body wasn’t as depleted. ASK YOUR DOCOTOR BEFORE TAKING ANY ADDITONAL MEDICATION OR SUPPLEMENTS). While I like to think my lifestyle choices blessed me with an easy first trimester, I truly believe I was one of the lucky ones. Beginner’s luck if you will, lol.

Don’t get me wrong though. I had my fair share or symptoms. Although I didn’t have extreme nausea or vomiting, I did experience some nausea. There really wasn’t a specific time of day it would hit, it was mainly all day. It wasn’t like I was running toward the toilet either. It was more of a full belly type of feeling and loss of appetite. Any nausea I did have though was usually treated using ginger tea with lemon as well as my essential oils. Overall, I could function fine on a day to day basis.

I may have not been running to the bathroom to stick my head in the toilet, but I did have A LOT of food aversions. Food aversions are funny. Like everything in pregnancy, they vary from woman to woman. I kind of shrugged them off like “yeah, I doubt I will have any.” HA! For me, I pretty much lived off of carbs and sugar. Yup, real refined cane sugar. Shocker, I know. I hated most protein, all veggies, and almost all of my go to snacks. Coffee and matcha were another aversion, so I stuck to black tea. I basically ate whatever I was craving at the time. I would say the first trimester is the most expensive because everything in your fridge you hate, and you don’t know what you want until you want it. As much as I wanted to feed my body all of my go-to staples, I just couldn’t stomach it. I ate what I wanted for a little while, knowing my body would always tell me what I need. More on this later.

Aside from the aversions, sensitivity to smells were another game changer for me. While most gross smelling scents that would normally bother me, didn’t, everything else did. For example, the one smell that would actually make me dry heave was the refrigerator. No matter how many times we cleaned it or what food was kept in there, I couldn’t open it without gagging. It got so bad that one day my husband opened it up like three times in ten minutes that I just broke down in tears, bawling my eyes out. Yup, pregnancy hormones.

One of the first signs of pregnancy, other than the obvious positive test result, was exhaustion. I’m not talking about the kind where you wake up early and have a long day. I’m talking about the kind where it feels like you’ve stayed up for a week straight, running in circles, all while coming down with the flu. Exhaustion during pregnancy is seriously no joke. I would wake up after a good night’s sleep and be tired by ten 10 a.m. I was taking naps every day and couldn’t be out longer than a few hours at most. This showed a lot on my Instagram and blog as I didn’t post for almost a good two months. I praise all of the women who work full time and/or have children already- you are killing it.

I’m going to end it here as this post is way longer than I thought it would be. I will continue part two of my first trimester later this week. Thank you for reading and following along on my journey!

 

Share your thoughts with me! Comment below or head to my Instagram page (@iamdevonjade)!

XOXO,

D.J.