I'm Pregnant + 1st Trimester Recap

I'm pregnant! In this post I'm sharing our exciting news and an overview of how my first trimester went.

As most of you know if you follow me on YouTube or Instagram, I'm pregnant! This blog post is a little overdue, seeing as I'm almost 21 weeks along now, but I wanted to take the time to sit down and share a bit about how pregnancy has been going for me, including a recap of my first trimester. Spoiler: it was a little rough!

Finding Out I Was Pregnant

You can watch my video here of me finding out I was pregnant. I had been experiencing quite a few strong symptoms very early on (extreme hunger being one of them!) that led Sean and I to think I was most likely pregnant. So while I wasn't 100% sure, I had a feeling I would probably see a positive result on the pregnancy test. And yup -- it was positive! It was so exciting.

If you're interested in hearing all about my two week wait experience and all the symptoms I had prior to taking a test, you can watch my video here!

The First Trimester

If I'm being honest, the first trimester was a bit of an eye-opening experience for me. I spent so many years dreaming about becoming pregnant and imagining all the wonderful things I'd do and ways I'd feel, and while there absolutely are beautiful moments during pregnancy (especially once you start feeling better), the first trimester is a little underwhelming. Those images I'd created in my head of being in total bliss all the time were replaced by the reality of spending most of my time feeling completely useless on the couch, dry heaving over a toilet, and gagging at the thought of pretty much all food.

It wasn't easy, especially as the weeks went by and the never-ending lack of motivation and lethargy began to take a toll on my mental health. But, even though I'd give the first trimester 0/5 stars and a terrible review on Yelp, I was (and am!) so grateful to be carrying our little one, which we found out is a GIRL a couple weeks ago!

You can watch my video below for a full first trimester recap, including symptoms, cravings, and what I found helpful.

Week 4

Overall I felt pretty good this week, but the hunger pangs were coming on strong. I learned quickly that I absolutely needed to have bedside snacks. I developed a fear of bleeding as I discovered that pregnancy makes you produce quite a bit more cervical mucus than usual! Thankfully I never had any bleeding, but I was a little apprehensive for a few weeks. For the most part, week 4 consisted of some fatigue, sore boobs, and food tasting 10x better than usual.

I craved citrus this week (cue all the lemon water and grapefruit) and had a real hankering for cheese.

In these early days of pregnancy I found pregnancy affirmations to be really helpful. It's easy to get caught up in all sorts of fears and worries, especially when pregnancy is so new to you, so I found listening to affirmation videos on YouTube and repeating them to myself calming.

Week 5

This week started off okay, but ended pretty terribly. My boobs were so sore that it hurt to flip over in bed at night, and by the end of the week, food was starting to become pretty unappealing. This is when my nausea really started to pick up. I also started having vivid dreams, which are hilarious things that got increasingly more detailed and ridiculous as the weeks went by.

I was all about the fruit this week. Juicy, sweet fruits. Strawberries, mango, clementines. By the end of the week though, chicken broth was about all I could comfortably tolerate.

I heard back from the midwifes at the end of this week and was so excited to hear that they had a spot for me.

Week 6

Week 6 was truly the worst week ever. This was the week where my nausea really took over. I had aversion to all foods, everything was repulsive, and it took a great deal of effort to chew and swallow pretty much anything. The worst part was the combination of these nagging hunger pangs coupled with food aversion. It was an impossible situation.

I also had a heightened sense of smell this week (even my shampoo was too strong), a bad sour taste in my mouth, shortness of breath, and I felt like a gross lethargic blob. It was not a good week.

I found lying down horizontally to be somewhat helpful as being upright made me feel worse. I also found that having at least some food in my stomach at all times was helpful with at least slightly easing my nausea.

Food I was able to tolerate this week was mostly salty, brothy soups and noodles and apple juice. I ate a ton of big, juicy green grapes, too, and craved veggie sushi (which I did eat, and also craved quite a lot in subsequent weeks).

Week 7

This was a slightly better week. I was still nauseous and food was still difficult to eat, but my appetite was at least marginally better. Hunger was still constant, and I started waking up in the night to pee.

Food was random this week. I tried to incorporate more protein among all my quick carbs -- bacon and eggs, chicken tacos from our local Mexican restaurant, and Greek yogurt. But I was really only able to handle a few bites of things before feeling sick again.

We began telling a few close friends and family members this week that we were pregnant. And I was still eating constantly, albeit small amounts, to keep food in my stomach.

Week 8

Week 8 was once again a better week. Ish. My nausea was a bit better earlier in the week and was more or less a discomfort in the background all day. I still couldn't eat regular sized portions, and my gag reflex decided to really start acting up this week, which unfortunately lasted many weeks. I threw up for the first time at the end of the week.

I craved roast beef this week. Beef was actually a pretty consistent craving of mine throughout the first trimester, and was something I could tolerate reasonably well. We told more family the news this week, and Uber Eats had become an essential service.

Week 9

Things took a turn for the worse in week 9. I was so sick again. Consistent nausea picked up all through the day and my already minimal appetite plummeted further. My boobs were sore, I was still having shortness of breath, round ligament pain, and my prenatals were becoming difficult for me to take because of my exaggerated gag reflex. Fun. On the plus side, I started to notice a firmness in my uterus area this week, and I thought that was cool.

Cold egg sandwiches were doable for me this week, as were plums (tons of plums!), orange juice, more veggie sushi, and avocado toast.

I had my first midwife appointment at 9 weeks and heard the heartbeat on doppler for the first time. We continued to tell a few more people the news, and I threw up again at the end of the week.

Week 10

This was a real mental health week for me. Things started off okay-ish, but as my nausea increased yet again toward the end of the week, I started to deal with a few bouts of depression. By this point, I'd been so exhausted, unmotivated, sick, and unable to keep up with my usual responsibilities at work and home for so many weeks that it really began taking a toll on me mentally and emotionally. I so badly missed feeling like myself and carrying out my usual habits and routines. It was a bit of a breaking point for me, and I just wanted to feel better already.

Vivid dreams were going strong, and my skin was breaking out (thanks to all the quick sugars and carbs I'd been relying on for weeks). I also started feeling "stretchy" feelings in my uterus and lower abdomen. I knew things were growing!

Fave foods from this week included more avocado toast, perogies, and spaghetti.

Week 11

Ah, week 11 was a breath of fresh air. I wasn't feeling 10/10, but my energy was starting to come back, nausea was a lot less, and my skin was even clearing up. However this was also the week of next-level bloating. A truly unfair degree of bloating. It lasted a week or two.

I was loving berry smoothies this week, which was refreshing as I really hadn't wanted smoothies at all up until this point. I was also still on the avocado toast train and absolutely loving watermelon.

Week 12

This was my turning point! While I experienced my first bad bout of fiery acid reflux this week, I was also less nauseous, less bloated, and dealing with less extreme hunger. I was sleeping a bit better and I had more energy during the day. I was plagued by headaches starting this week, though, which lasted quite a while, and also came down with a few back-to-back colds which was very annoying.

Foods this week consisted of quite the craving for tuna sandwiches. I tried not to go overboard and I opted for chunk light tuna to be on the safe side, but a couple tuna sammies with mayo really hit the spot.

We had our first ultrasound at 12 weeks and got to see baby wiggling all around. I cried tears of joy and relief!

Week 13

It's week 13! The last week of my first trimester. I was really on the up & up at this point. Way more energy through the day and a lot less nausea, though it would return temporarily in the evenings. But it was way better than earlier weeks! I was super thirsty this week, headaches were still happening, and I was also my most tired ever ever ever during week 13. Cue all the naps.

So that's about it! The first trimester was loaded with ups and downs both physically and emotionally. Time is going by so much faster now that I'm feeling better, and I get more and more excited as the days go by to meet our girl!

I'm also excited to share content on pregnancy and motherhood which you'll be seeing more of in my videos and here on the blog, especially within the context of health and wellness.

I'd love to hear how your first trimester went if you've been pregnant before! Share in the comments below.