Pregnancy Progression: The First Trimester

I have two words for the first trimester: 

sayonara, sucker.

No one really talks about the horrors of the first trimester, or maybe I had it worse than most – but oh sweet Moses. The first trimester was just plum awful.

When we found out I was pregnant, I was a mere four weeks (if you missed that story you can read that HERE), so it was quite early on. And because I was miserably sick every day, time passed SO SLOWLY. I seriously thought I had to be about 23 weeks by the time the first trimester ended (spoiler alert: I was indeed only 14 weeks).

I initially was going to title this post “How to Survive the First Trimester” – and still think writing a post like that is good idea – because I would literally type that phrase in google at least once a week. No exaggeration. I was desperate for tips to survive. Not thrive, just survive.

So why was it so awful? Honestly it’s just because I was sick as a dog. Admittedly, in the past, when people have said they had morning sickness I would just brush them off and be like ‘eh they have a little nausea, they’re fine.”

FALSE.

If you have never had morning sickness, you're probably all "wow, she's being dramatic." But if you've experienced a rough case personally, then you are likely nodding vigorously with your hands in the air and saying all the amens. 

SOLIDARITY. 

(fist pump)

<One of my VERY favorite sonograms - she looks like a little gummy bear!>

Luckily, I was in between a job transition at my firm and was able to work from home. Which I did. For over a month. My sweet boss had mercy on me and when I offered to come in, simply said "there are some things that are just better taken care of in one's own private bathroom." Bless him.

But because I can't live like a hermit crab, I did get out some. And I sure did toss my cookies on planes, in traffic on the highway, and in public restaurants. YAY. 

I will say, what I wasn't expecting, was the 'debbie downerness' that came with it. I don't want to call it depression, because it was certainly not to that extent, but I was just down. All the time. I didn't want to get out of bed, I didn't want to get dressed - all I wanted to do was sleep and escape into Netflix binge-watching. 

And on top of that, I felt SO guilty for being down! I was having a BABY! That is exciting and happy news! So then I just got mad at myself. It took me a while to admit all these emotions to Jeff, and he simply said "you puke all day long, I wouldn't be happy either."

TRUTH. So I stopped being hard on myself, turned back on Netflix and ate the only two things that ever sounded good to me: potatoes and my MILs green bean soup. 

The silver lining was that "they" say morning sickness is a sign of a healthy babe. I had several friends who had no morning sickness and had a lot of anxiety with the risk of miscarriage (understandably). I didn't really worry about that too much. I basically interpreted my extreme sickness with me growing an over-achieving Olympian or something.

I want to document each trimester, but honestly other than being sick, experiencing a fatigue like I've never felt before (my mom kept telling me I'd have energy again and I assured her I would never bounce back from the tiredness I was experiencing), and processing the medical stuff - there's not much to report!

Oh. And I also went to Japan. That's actually where the food aversions started... the thought of Japanese food still to this day makes me queasy. 

However - there were some highlights, and that was sharing with our family, close friends, and then ultimately the "world!" THAT was fun. I'm smiling as I relive it :)

Jeff and I found out we were expecting the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. We were celebrating with my family on Saturday and his on Sunday. But when we found out (at about 9 o'clock at night, mind you), we had to devise a new plan. 

I didn't have plans to see my family again for another month, and I knew 1) I couldn't wait a month to tell them, and 2) I couldn't not tell them in person. So, we made up a story (lies lies, so many lies) to both sides of the family. We told Jeff's side that we needed to push back Easter lunch to Easter dinner (we went through so many potential "reasons" I don't even remember what we actually ended up telling them), and we told my family that Jeff's family had to postpone, so we were coming back down to my sister's house for lunch (because to make matters more complicated, my dad was leaving Dallas at 1p to go meet up with my brother in Houston - so timing was of the essence). 

Follow all that? 

I knew I wanted to do something creative to tell my family - whenever the time came - but I never figured I'd have less than 24 hours to think up something. And I knew it had to be clever - my sister catches on quickly. 

I finally decided to alter an Easter poem (if you know me you know I write poems for anything and everything), split it into 6 phrases, put each phrase in an Easter egg, and make everyone read a phrase, with my phrase being the "kicker." I also knew my sister would totally make fun of me for this, but that's per usual. I told her I had an Easter blessing idea I found on pinterest :) 

Here was the poem:

Jesus came to earth one day,
To show us how to live,
How to put each other first,
How to love and how to give.

Then He set about His work on earth,
That God sent Him to do;
He took our punishment on Himself;
He made us clean and new.

He could have saved Himself that day,
Calling angels from above,
But He chose to pay our price for sin;
He paid it out of love.

Our Lord died on Good Friday,
But the cross did not destroy
His resurrection Easter morn
That fills our hearts with joy.

Now we know our earthly death,
Like His, is merely just a rest.
We'll be forever with Him soon
In heaven, where it's best.

We thank Him for His sacrifice
And for this Easter lunch,

And also for this little one
He's adding to our bunch!

And then there was a moment of processing....followed by a LOT of screaming.

Jeff nonchalantly set up his phone on the counter before we sat down, so we got the whole thing on film. Here's the end... :) 

And yes, that blood curdling scream was Brooklyn, and then Easton got scared and asked for someone to hold him. Sweet boy. 

After lunch (I barely ate - so much adrenaline - scheming is hard!), we headed back home to prep for the next announcement. Luckily my sister had sent us with half of the eggs we dyed on Saturday, so we threw together a little egg basket, wrapped it up, and brought it to Jeff's parents to open before dinner. 

And then we breathed a big sigh of relief. I could never be a con-artist. 

So yes, sharing the exciting news was DEFINITELY a bright spot in the first 13 weeks, but considering I'm writing this as I'm 4 weeks into the second trimester - this next phase is muuuuuuuch better! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Katy