How I Survived My First Trimester

Recently, I announced my husband and I are expecting our first baby.  I'm kind of a private person so I wanted to wait until I was pretty far along before I posted it on social media.  I'm currently 5 and half months and so happy to be through with the first trimester!  Today, I wanted to share my personal experiences with being pregnant those first few months.

Brian and I have been married over four years.  Last year, we decided we were ready to have a baby.  Those first few years of marriage without kids were great and I'm glad we got to enjoy that time together.  In May of 2016, I went off birth control and it took about 5 months before we got a positive test result.

On September 25, we both stared at the result window with shock and excitement.  I remember feeling shaky and overjoyed to be carrying life inside me.  It was extremely hard, but we decided to keep this a secret from our families for a while so we could do something really special when we made our announcement.

On October 29, it had been a little over a month and we were finally going to tell our families.  I didn't want anything extravagant, but I also wanted to surprise them.  My sister and brother-in-law already found out because they accidentally saw something on Brian's phone.  They helped set up the camera so we could record reactions.  We invited both of our parents, sisters, and brothers-in-law for dinner and when everyone got there, Brian said we had an announcement. 

I made up a bogus story about how we were going to be building a vacation home in Georgia and we wanted them to help us decide on the plans.  We handed each couple an envelope with 4 pictures, the last one being the ultrasound.  My mom jumped up and hugged me so tight I couldn't breath.  Some were shocked, while others had their previous suspicions confirmed.

The picture in the top right is a reaction shot of when I told Brian to come look at the pregnancy test result.  He was testing his game camera and when we saw this, we died laughing.

I didn't show much at all in the first trimester, so I was able to wear all my normal clothes.  I used a hair tie to make my pants a little looser, and that was a great fix since I didn't want to buy maternity clothes yet.  I did have some emotional and physical symptoms.  I was nauseated almost everyday, but thank God I never threw up.  My eyes got even more sensitive to the sun, I had no energy, and I was often depressed.  Brian went on a lot of hunting trips during this time too, so I was alone more.  Usually this wouldn't bother me, but for some reason I felt more lonely.  Unfortunately, as a result of not feeling well, my family got the worst of my mood swings.

I did have a few weird cravings and got off track a little on my Beauty Detox diet, but I quickly realized I couldn't keep that up because I would feel sick after eating "cheat" foods and my skin broke out a little too.

I ended up losing some weight, which the doctor said was normal due to the nausea.  I got a few pounds under 100, but once I got past the first 3 months I got my appetite back and started gaining.  Now that I'm in my second trimester, many things have changed, which I will update on once I enter my third trimester.  I'll also be posting about my terrible experience with my former OBGYN, so look out for that soon!

I feel like my first trimester could have been better, but it could have been way worse.  I'm thankful to have such a loving family who is always there for me.  It took a lot of praying and taking it one day at a time, but I made it through.  The second trimester is definitely a lot more fun!