Recap of first trimester

So to catch everyone up, I thought I should go back and review how my first trimester went. Mark and I were lucky to conceive very quickly, almost as soon as we started trying to get pregnant. I tested myself at home (repeatedly—I just couldn’t believe it!) and got a positive at less than four weeks. Our first doctor’s visit was at 6 weeks; she did a vaginal ultrasound (picture at left) to confirm the pregnancy and everything looked good. Our due date is September 28! We were really excited but also afraid that something bad might happen, so those first weeks were an anxious time.

At first I felt great, which is part of why I was nervous, but then at about 6 weeks I started feeling really really tired all the time and also nauseated. I had to start eating breakfast every morning, which I never did before, or else I really couldn’t function. These symptoms got worse and worse until around 8 weeks when I started throwing up. For the next two months I vomited every day, usually several times a day. It really sucked, I’ll be honest. And I can’t believe how little energy I had. I remember one Sunday all I could do was lay on the sofa and feebly use the remote control. I really could not get up the whole day. I keep trying to convince myself to at least take a shower but I just could not move. It was crazy. Working while being so sick was not easy, although my coworkers were good-natured about it. It helped that I was not usually surprised when I threw up; I could always tell beforehand that things were not good and was able to get to the bathroom and thus avoid using the trash can in my cubicle or my bosses’ desk or something like that.

A typical day went like this:

Wake up
Force down a few crackers
Throw up
Shower
Eat breakfast
Throw up
Go to work
Throw up
Eat lunch
Feel queasy but better
Eat dinner
Finally have a couple hours feeling somewhat normal
Go to bed

Sounds fun, eh? Finally stopped throwing up at around 16 weeks, although I’m still dealing with occasional nausea and plenty of food aversions.