When I found out I was pregnant I thought I knew what to expect. I have had several close friends that have had kids in the past few years. The one thing about my friends is that most of them don’t have filters. I felt prepared by their stories and rants. I read books, blogs, listened to podcasts and watched all the things over the years, I thought I was ready but goodness gracious I was wrong.
I wanted to share the good, the bad, and the not so pretty things I have experienced during my 1st trimester. Let me start by saying that this post is going to mostly be a rant and may come across as negative and that I’m not excited about this baby and what life is going to bring. That could not be farther from the truth. I am over the moon excited about having this baby. I just wanted to take the time to open up about some of the real parts of pregnancy that you don’t always hear about.
The Good:
Morning Sickness-
I kept waiting for the morning sickness to hit but, it never really did. I know that I’m SO lucky. I have heard horror stories about morning sickness and I was ready for the worst. There were a few times I need to breathe through it, mostly at night after I was brushing my teeth. I feel like the fact that I was constantly eating helped tremendously. I literally brought my personal bag of baby carrots to a party. I wanted to be sure I had food I could eat and not feel like I was hogging all the food. I walked around carrying a bag of carrots while everyone else was carrying beer, wine, and shots.
The Bad:
Exhaustion -
I have heard that you are tired when you are pregnant but I never expected how extreme it would actually be. The only thing I can equate it to is the last day or two of having the flu. For me, it was more than just being tired after a long day it was a full body and mental exhaustion. I took naps after work even before I was pregnant, but it was 30 minutes to an hour at the most. During the first trimester of my pregnancy, I would easily take a 3-hour nap after work. I would only get out of bed or off the couch because I knew I needed to fix dinner. I love sleep and naps but this was a whole different level that I have never experienced before. Trying to cover up or explain away my exhaustion while pretending I wasn’t pregnant was very difficult.
Migraines and Headaches -
I had the very rare migraine before getting pregnant, but as soon as I was pregnant I developed debilitating headaches. My migraines went from 1 every year or two to 1 a week. I also had an ocular migraine (pain-free but it flashing rainbows snaking across my vision) at least once a week. The worst part is that while you are pregnant you can only take Tylenol. What no one tells you is that Tylenol is basically a sugar pill. I’m serious Tylenol did basically nothing. This is something that while I was complaining to my friends about they all said the same thing…. Why wasn’t I warned about this? I did find that caffeine helped, but for whatever reason, not all caffeine is created equal. I found that Coke helped with my headaches, but coffee not so much.
The Not So Pretty:
Secrets Don’t Make Friends -
I 100% understand why you hold off on announcing that you are pregnant. However, I have to say that it was exhausting keeping it a secret. I’m a very open person and it was killing me to keep such a huge part of my life a secret. It sucked to flat out lie to friends and family. I had to make up reasons to miss out on events. I’m the kind of person that if I’m not drinking while out to dinner or at a concert people would know something is up. I switched my drink to a mojitos instead of my normal glass of wine. When my friends asked why the switch I would just claim that it was my summer drink. What I didn’t tell them is that I got to the bar or restaurant early, told the bartender or server that my mojito needed to be virgin, and I not to mention it to my friends. If I couldn’t get there early I would just claim I was on antibiotics and that is why I wasn’t drinking. I just didn’t expect how draining lying and keeping this a secret would be.
I know that this post seems like I’m whining and complaining because well it is. The first trimester was hard, and I’m only a third of the way through. I have heard magical things about the second trimester so I’m crossing my fingers that they are true.