We have hit the halfway mark people! Ahhh!! Weeks 3-16 felt like an eternity but 16-20 went fast and I have a feeling these next 20 are going to FLY by. I always planned to do trimester updates on here but since I hid my pregnancy the first 16 weeks, I decided I’d share the first half and then do the second half.
First Trimester in Review:
The first trimester was spent in complete anxiousness. Since I lost my first pregnancy I was extremely reserved and guarded for this one. I felt like such a liar/phony for the first 12 weeks. I “fake” drank to fool my family and friends, I constantly thought of excuses as to why we couldn’t do anything or go to dinner with people, and I was overall in a weird place. We told family at 13 weeks so it was a LONG awaited moment.
I was in therapy weekly just trying to survive my anxiousness from appointment to appointment. Thankfully, my OB worked with me and my need to know everything was ok each week. My first ultrasound was at 7 weeks and then I had one at 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 11 weeks, and 12 weeks. There’s a lot of different info out there that too many ultrasounds could harm your baby but my OB said that it’s fine so I moved forward with weekly ultrasounds. (Your Dr. may say differently and that’s ok!)
How I Felt:
Tired. So so tired haha. I would get up, walk, and sit down for work and immediately feel so exhausted I would want to go back to bed. It was tough! Here’s a few more symptoms I had:
- Low back pain
- Cramping just about everyday
- Constantly peeing
- Constipation
- Sore boobs
Around 7 weeks was when my back acne, heart palpitations, and nausea kicked in and really hit full force at 8 weeks. I was mainly only nauseous every evening. Around 12 weeks my back acne started to go away but dizziness/faintness kicked in. Every time I stood up I felt like I was going to faint. Such a weird feeling all day!
Food Aversions:
- Coffee- Which was so sad because I went from drinking 3 coffees a day to absolutely despising the smell and taste of it for weeks haha.
- Anything healthy- I wanted carbs, fried foods, and salty.
Cravings:
Didn’t have too many “cravings” but these foods always sounded good:
- Sugary cereal
- Green apples
- Fruit smoothies
- Fried chicken
Even though the majority of my first trimester was an undocumented blur… I loved every second after seeing our baby’s heartbeat.
Second trimester so far:
Around 12 weeks is when my energy started to come back thank goodness and even though I’ve had some symptoms, it’s been SO much better and more joyful than my first trimester. After my 12 week scan, we had another at 14 weeks which showed my placenta was low lying so they had me come back at 16 weeks to check on it. Thankfully, it moved and my last scan was our anatomy scan at 20 weeks.
I began to slowly celebrate this pregnancy, by telling some family and friends and then announcing on social media at the end of 16 weeks. From there, we found out we are having a little BOY and time has moved pretty quickly since then. Our 20 week appointment went great other than him hiding for a lot of the photos haha but we’ll try again at 24 weeks.
I felt small “flutters” for the first time at 16 weeks and now I feel him kick/move a few times a day. Josh felt him for the first time one evening (just one big kick) at the end of 20 weeks.
How I’ve Felt:
So energized, getting back to my routines, and healthy eating (sometimes haha). A symptom that kicked in around 13 weeks was leg numbness at night. Holy cow! Each night I wake up and have this numb/annoying feeling in my legs. Here’s been my other symptoms:
- Heart palpitations lasted until 17 weeks
- Still experiencing: Low back pain and leg numbness
- Dull headaches off and on
- 19 week symptom: At 19 weeks I actually started leaking/lactating! So weird and I panicked but seems to be normal. I usually wake up every morning still with a few dried liquid spots on my shirt.
I started seeing a prenatal chiropractor at 19 weeks which was recommended to me for low back pain too and I’m really enjoying that so far.
Cravings:
Again, I haven’t really had any DYING cravings that I absolutely have to have. Although, I did see a sonic commercial the other day for a S’mores shake and it was the first moment that I felt “Wow I have to have this today or I won’t sleep lol” So delicious!
- Fruit- have especially loved peaches
- Avocado toast
- Eggs in the morning
- Carbs every evening haha
What I’ve ordered (Pregnancy):
- Fetal doppler
- Baby journal
- Pregnancy pillow
- Belly oil (Plant based + non-toxic)
Pregnant workout routine:
My goal is to still workout 5x a week. Sometimes I only feel up to 2-3x but I mainly listen to my body and push myself when I feel up to it. I was told by my OB to stop all HIIT and running back at 7 weeks with my history but that most everything else I can do just modified.
- Incline power walking 20-30 mins
- Lower body or upper body workout (Love the Burn App or Youtube)
- Pilates 1-2x a week (Bailey Brown on Youtube she also had an app called Align)
- 20-30 min walk outside everyday
Baby/ Pregnancy books I’m reading:
Next plan-
Feeling really good about starting to plan a nursery and gather my registry! I have so much to learn and do and truly so excited to get ready for our baby boy.
P.S. I have a post coming soon about my grief/loss journey so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out my non-toxic post I did regarding the changes I made in our home to help fertility and conceiving again.
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