With that said, let’s talk about the first trimester. It was an interesting ride to say the least. The morning sickness, the excitement and uneasiness about being pregnant, and the telling people that you’re pregnant was all awkward and a little overwhelming at times. I’m sure the typical woman really enjoys all the attention and the congratulations that come with it. For me, it was a mixture of emotions. I wanted to tell people, yet I didn’t want to tell people. Why? Who really knows? Maybe it was because that would mean I’m an actual woman who had to start acting like a woman. What do I mean by that you ask? Well, it was more of a mental thing than anything. Don’t get me wrong here, I always have looked at myself as a woman, but a woman who likes wearing baggy shorts, t-shirts, and athletic shoes. A woman who enjoys eating pizza, drinking beer, and watching football. A woman who goes running, cycling and plays softball with no fear who doesn’t care about putting on lotion to avoid stretch marks or conditioning her hair to prevent it from breaking off or taking vitamins to ensure she gets the right amount of nutrients in her body. Or maybe I didn’t tell people because it was a fun little secret that my husband and I had and we only wanted to reveal our little surprise every now and again to see people’s reaction. Or maybe it was because I just didn’t want to deal with everyone else’s reaction. In any event, it was a slow process telling people and when I did, hearing the congratulations and getting all the attention was rather nice, so maybe I’m more of a woman that I thought?
Let’s get back to the first trimester and what it meant for me. I touched upon the morning sickness and guess what, it really hasn’t gone away like all the professionals said it would in the second trimester. So, eating has been a bit of an issue as of late and even taking the vitamins can be very annoying since they too make me feel sick to my stomach. The worst part of the day for me is in the afternoon, where I frequently run to the bathroom to get sick. Over share, yet this blog is about sharing, right? :)
Figuring out all the other stuff during the first trimester has been a bit of a chore to say the least and that’s where having to act like a woman comes into play. I never used lotion before until I really needed it. I never conditioned my hair on a regular basis. And, I never tried to eat completely healthy, well rounded meals with fruits and veggies and so on and so forth. I never took vitamins and I worked out a bunch. Now, I own all sorts of lotions, body washes, moisturizers, shampoos and conditioners, vitamins and supplements, and routinely go to the store to buy oranges, bananas, juice, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, milk, low-fat proteins, Balance Bars, Fiber One bars, and all of it is extremely expensive.
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| Some of the girly items I recently purchased. WalMart is the cheapest place to buy this stuff! |
I also have had to curtail my workouts and the last time I ran was the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Changing my lifestyle has been a bit of a pain, but I know it’s for a good reason. I need to be healthy so my baby will grow healthy and strong. Kind of corny and cliché, yet it’s the truth. I, as every parent wants, a strong, healthy baby boy or girl. I can’t wait till I get to meet the little guy or gal in July.
Some first trimester highlights:
- First ultrasound where Dave, which is my husband’s name by the way, and I saw our baby’s heartbeat. Pretty cool!
- Learning that there was only one heartbeat given that having twins would be crazy.
- Second ultrasound where we got to take home pictures of the baby, sure they were hard to make out, but cool anyway.
- Getting the results of our genetic testing back and having the odds of having a healthy baby be in our favor.
- Finding that plain cheeseburgers are a food I can eat without getting sick afterwards. Chocolate shakes are a good food source too.
Some first trimester downers:
- Not having a lot of food options since nothing really tasted good.
- Raging hormones that resulted in horrible mood swings.
- Morning sickness (obviously).
- Weird body changes.
- Being tired all the time, but unable to sleep through the night.
All in all, the first semester went okay and I think I’m going to stop here for today. There is soooo much more that I would like to go into and I fear that I could write on and on. So until next time, it’s Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off!
