Pregnancy is miraculous and magical, but there are many things that I did not anticipating feeling or experiencing. I have learned all about pregnancy in nursing school, in movies, from friends, and from my mom, but it wasn’t until I became pregnant myself did I really grasp the changes that our bodies endure and all the emotions that flood through your mind. For some reason, I had not prepared myself mentally for any of of the changes. I’m a planner, and I didn’t plan for this at all!

I don’t know why I thought that because I was healthy, exercised, controlled my stress level, and ate plenty of fruits and veggies and rarely drank soda, I would be spared from pregnancy symptoms. Oh the naivety! We also began hearing over and over that all women experience pregnancy differently.

Here is a little more about my first trimester-

My First Trimester

When are you due?

Halloween!!!!

Did you have morning sickness?

The term morning sickness was not accurate to describe what I had. To sum it up, I had all day nausea, intermittent vomiting, and often non stop vomiting on most days in the evening for about 12 weeks. By week 18, I was no longer vomiting, and the nausea was more intermittent. I received a myriad of tips from helpful family and friends, but honestly, nothing really worked. I really missed drinking water, and knew that at times, I was very dehydrated.

Did you have cravings?

I got this question a lot, especially at work. The answer is no…and see above. Most things did not stay down.

What kind of physical changes did you see?

None, really. I felt like I was getting “wider” early on, but I’m not sure if that was my imagination. Like it felt like my midsection was widening. Some days I felt like my boobs were bigger, and some days not. Nothing consistent!

What other pregnancy symptoms did you have?

Some constipation, which I attribute to not really eating or drinking and stress incontinence. Really, the vomiting was overpowering everything else. I did have left lower back pain that was mildly concerning, but a quick trip to the doctor told me that it was totally just pregnancy and not a UTI or anything serious.

Overall, the 1st trimester (and many weeks after) was rough. I see now that there were many nights that I should have probably been in an urgent care hooked up to an IV, but I never went. As a healthcare provider, a big part of me thought it wasn’t that serious, and I knew that it wasn’t going to cure me anyway. Thankful to be on the other side of things and looking forward to the rest of this pregnancy!

What was your first trimester like?