Healthy Chicks

{still no bump, but babe is the size of a lime here!}

Good morning babes! As you probably know by now, I am pregnant and we’re expecting our first baby late August. The end of this week, I’ll officially be out of the first trimester (hooray) so I wanted to fill you in on all the ups and downs thus far.

While I’m trying to be present and appreciate every moment of this pregnancy, I’m not gonna lie — the first couple months were rough. From nightly vomiting and food aversions to extreme fatigue and sore breasts, I’ve pretty much hit the jackpot with all your typical pregnancy symptoms.

While I’ve spent many nights balling my eyes out in misery, sucking on mints to ease the throat burn and wondering how I’m going to get through this, knowing our rainbow baby is waiting for us at the end makes it all worth it.

Today on the blog, I’m sharing an inside look at the first trimester — the good, the bad and the ugly!

Cravings

During my first trimester, food was one of the last things on my mind due to the pretty intense nausea I had! However, there were a couple foods that kept me going including fruit (especially clementines, melon, kiwi and all berries), smoothies, corn flakes, cucumbers, peanut butter, gluten free toast topped with ghee, cinnamon and coconut palm sugar or peanut butter, cinnamon raisin bread, plantain chips, popcorn, and Trader Joe’s Organic Corn Chips. Sadly, that’s pretty much all my diet consisted of for over a month.

While I don’t eat dairy or gluten, I found myself wanting cheese occasionally — likely to get some salt and protein — so I allow myself small amounts of good quality, pasteurized cheese when I want. While this wasn’t really a craving, I also incorporated bone broth for its healing qualities and nausea go-to. (View this post for more on that!)

I also had random afternoon lunch cravings for Chipotle Burrito Bowls with white rice, chicken, black beans, romaine and pico de gallo, which I enjoyed a few times. Then there were weird quick moments where I’d have a very specific craving for something I knew very well would make me sick like Taco Bell’s Cheesy Gordita Crunch and Subway’s Meatball Grinder. (Yuck!) Seriously, What. The. Heck?

Fortunately, these out of the blue cravings would pass rather quickly, and I’d go back to my fruit salad! During the beginning of week 6, I also really wanted gluten free chicken nuggets, but now I can’t even look at them.

Food Aversions

My list of food aversions is definitely much longer than my cravings! Once I hit six weeks pregnant, I was pretty much disgusted by all food, especially the smells. On the top of my no list was all vegetables (except occasional cucumbers, carrots, and avocado, technically a fruit), pretty much anything cooked or served hot, all meats, eggs, breakfast burritos, and almost all dinner foods. Now that I’m almost 13 weeks pregnant, I’m able to do hard-boiled eggs but I still can’t look at a runny yolk, and I’ve also added things in like oatmeal, salads and the occasional meat so my appetite is slowly coming back.

Having all of these crazy food aversions was really hard for me, since I had to completely change my diet! I am so used to eating tons of veggies, leafy greens and high-quality meats but I wasn’t having any of it during the first tri. At first I was really bummed out about it and worried that my baby wasn’t getting enough nutrients, but then I was reassured that early on they get pretty much everything needed from your prenatal vitamin. Phew!

While this isn’t a food, I was also grossed out by room temperature water, and needed to have my water ice cold, which is so strange for me since I used to only drink it warm or room temp straight from our filter. I ended up filling up a big pitcher to store in the fridge so I could always have super cold water ready for me, since hydrating during pregnancy is extremely important! Another shocker: coffee now completely grosses me out, especially the smell.

“Morning Sickness”

As I mentioned, I was one of the “lucky” ones hit by massive morning sickness, except whoever named it morning sickness is crazy since for me it was all afternoon and worst at night. As hubby tells friends, “The morning sickness is REAL.”

My first bout of rough nausea came right before 6 weeks pregnant on New Year’s Day. We were driving home from my sister’s house, and I had to suck on crystalized ginger the whole time just to get through the car ride, followed by a painful episode of vomiting.

Once I hit 7 weeks pregnant, I started throwing up every night and it hasn’t stopped since. I’m now almost 13 weeks pregnant, so I’m praying I’m almost in the clear! I can’t tell if it’s eased up a little or I’m just so used to it, but I have an inkling it’s almost through.

When the nausea first came, I was actually kind of relieved since it provided proof I was indeed really pregnant. Plus, all of my doctors and pregnancy books say morning sickness is a positive sign of a healthy pregnancy and that baby is doing well. But now that I’m nearly 13 weeks pregnant with two ultrasounds under my belt, I won’t lie: I’m all set with the nausea.

Check out my morning sickness must-haves over here in this post! 

Other Symptoms

One of my friends told me that there’s nothing like pregnancy tired, and she is so right! I’ve been really tired, and take a mandatory nap every day around 3:30, sometimes for an hour and sometimes for almost two! As hubby says, when I’m sleeping my body doesn’t have to focus on anything else except growing babe so I’ve been embracing the slowing down. The only other super noticeable symptom is my breasts are super sore, especially during the first month. They’ve also definitely grown a bit, which I’m not complaining about! Other than that, I haven’t really noticed any major changes, although friends say that I’m “glowing,” probably just being nice.

Best Moment

The best moment was by far our 8 week ultrasound, when we got to see little “gummy bear” squirming around with a strong heartbeat of 180! I can’t tell you what a relief it was to see baby and know everything was OK. Our 12 week ultrasound was pretty freakin’ amazing too, although I went into that one with much less nerves!

We actually bought an at-home baby doppler so anytime I need a little reassurance we can listen to the heartbeat. I’ve only used it a few times so far, but it’s nice to have between appointments.

{our little gummy bear at 8 weeks!}

Worst Moment

One night around week 9, I was feeling so extremely sick and having trouble snapping out of it. My mom called me to check in, and I told her the scoop then immediately burst into tears when we hung. up the phone! Poor hubby was trying to calm me down, but I was having a full blown freak-out.

The next day, my mom drove up to take me out for pedicures and lunch, and it was so nice to get out of the house and spend some quality time with my mom! She also brought her pregnancy journal for giggles, and it turns out she was just like me with the daily nausea and vomiting. My worst moment quickly turned into one of my best.

To my pregnant friends and moms out there, what was your first trimester experience like?