Pregnancy Update: 0-19 weeks
Welp…this blog post has been a long time coming. 19 weeks in and I’m just writing to you about it all!
Most of this has been for good reason. I wanted to sit with it for awhile, it’s quite a personal venture to discuss! Plus, as you will hear me mention in today’s post- I’ve been functioning at less than optimal…
So let’s chat about it!
Quick disclaimer: Everything discussed in today’s blog post is my personal experience and any suggestions or supplements recommended are only general recommendations and not intended to be medical advice. I may work with clients in my private practice, but I am by no means a pregnancy expert, just here to share my personal experience with you!
1st Trimester: 0-14 weeks
The first trimester was a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Since I track my cycle (I discuss how to on the podcast, if you are curious!), I knew almost immediately when I was pregnant. I’m pretty in tuned with body, after years of learning intuitive eating and living, so I could also almost immediately feel a difference. Something was just….different? I just knew, and I know that sounds so abstract, but its so true! Also, numerous pregnancy tests confirmed my suspicious thoughts :)
Throughout my first trimester, I had a lot of symptoms. My breasts were incredibly tender, I was super emotional (I cried. so. much), I was incredibly nauseous and had food aversions. The food aversions were one of the hardest parts, because if I got too hungry it was make the nausea significantly worse. I definitely had morning sickness, but thankfully threw up only a handful of times. I just constantly felt like I needed to :) The part that was the most challenging to me though was the fatigue. It hit me SO hard.
If you know me in my personal life, I’m a chill person except when it comes to my business. I LOVE working and chasing my dreams and can easily work 10-12 hours (this is not good, I realize). I seem to have limitless energy when it comes to things like working with my clients and business owning, but boy did that change in my first trimester. I just couldn’t keep up. I think I probably worked around 6 hours a day for the majority of the three months. I am SO incredibly grateful to Meg who helped step in while I was feeling sick, Nick who took over all the household duties (we already do a 50/50 divide of everything in our home, so this meant he was literally doing everything) and my seriously amazing clients who were incredibly understanding when I was slower than usual.
I am also grateful, as well, for the work I’ve done on my relationship with myself and my body, because I was able to listen to my body and its needs and slow down while it asked me to.
Speaking of gratitude, I am SO incredibly thankful I helped my relationship with food, years ago. My first trimester and what has continued to be the trend, is that I eat all the time, primarily carbs and some of my favorite foods like vegetables are pretty non-existent. I exercise, but not a ton. And I sleep a lot. More to come on this in part two!
In the beginning, I had some fears around seeing my body change. When I sat with it and got curious as to why I felt that way, I realized I had done a ton of work dismantling diet culture and body stigma from my body, but had completely forgot to do so when it came to pregnancy. I immediately had voices in my mind of those who judge others for gaining too much weight or praising others for being the “cute” pregnant women who gains weight in “all the right places”. I wanted to speak to this in today’s blog post, because I know I am not the only person who has had these thoughts. I think for those of us that already don’t fit society’s body expectations, its even more challenging.
I wrote down all the fears, processed through them and then released the stories I had told myself about the right and wrong way to do pregnancy, including when it came to how to gain weight. For awhile I added it to my daily list of mantras/intentions, “I trust my body to gain the weight it needs, I trust my body to take care of my baby” but overtime I felt I was no longer worried and just knew this was true so I stopped writing it down on a daily basis. I do recommend writing intentions around what is worrying you though, I found it incredibly helpful!
2nd Trimester: 14 weeks-19 weeks (and counting)
Around 15 weeks, I started to feel dramatically better. I still feel way more fatigued than I used to pre-pregnancy, but the intense fatigue that left me working from bed most days has thankfully passed. The food aversions and morning sickness have improved as well, but has not completely dissipated yet. Y’all want to know what is so funny? Toothpaste is what brings on the sickness more than anything! I switched to Tom’s child strawberry flavored toothpaste to help! I also find its super helpful for to eat small meals, very frequently. No real cravings yet but I sure hope they happen as it is welcomed after experiencing such severe aversions.
I have found myself already in quite a nesting stage, much to Nick’s dismay. I’ve insisted on cleaning out every closet, room and piece of furniture in the house, and already started planning the nursery. We are undecided at this time if we will stay in our current home or not by the time the baby comes, so I am likely acting too soon but I just can’t help it! Nesting. is. fun.
Any fears, any worries, about weight gain, labor, pregnancy scares, being a mom have passed at this point. I believe its 100% normal to experience them and instead of judging myself for having those thoughts, I sat with them until they passed. My primary goal for pregnancy, with literally everything, is to just trust. I have spent the majority of my life being an anxious person trying to plan every detail of my life, I just don’t feel the desire or want to handle pregnancy or go into motherhood with that type of mentality. As a result, I am going with the flow of things and preparing for the baby, but not being my old control freak self about it either.
Here’s what we have planned so far:
We found a team of midwifes and I’m 90% sure I know where we will deliver the baby. I had hoped and dreamed to have him or her at a birthing center, but I have not been able to find one here in St Pete also affiliated with a hospital. Since that was both mine and Nick’s desire was to have that, we have chosen a hospital instead.
We are currently searching for my doula, and I am so pumped to have that as part of our labor plan.
I plan on having a name and number of a lactation consultant I can contact if needed. I worked at WIC for years, and it taught me so much about breastfeeding. One of the primary things it taught me was to not fear asking for help, that experts are amazing when needed.
We have started the baby registry! And we have started to slowly plan some baby showers that will happen later this year.
We have decided to not have a gender reveal party or baby moon. If we do a baby moon it will be very low key, but personally I have my heart more set on decorating the nursery and on saving as much as we can so I can take a maternity leave (#entrepreneurshiplife).
We do not plan on having a birthing plan, but more of intentions and goals for the outcome. #1 goal: have a healthy baby. #2 goal: don’t approach anything with anxious thoughts.
And that’s about it so far! Still lots more to do, but I am just taking it day by day.
Books I love so far in this amazing journey:
The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth by Genevieve Howland
Genevieve is a wealth of knowledge on pregnancy and childbirth, and what I love most about this book is that while its focused on natural methods, it isn’t extreme or absolute in its recommendations. She gives all the options available and pro’s and con’s to each.
Like a Mother, A Feminist Journey through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes
Absolutely obsessed with this one that my sweet friend gave me. It explores the science and biology of pregnancy, but also approaches the conversation from a cultural, societal and feminist point of view. I’ve learned so much and its brought me thoughts I never even knew to explore!
Real Food for Pregnancy, The Science and Wisdom of Optimal Prenatal Nutrition by Lily Nichols
We had Lily on our podcast and it was such a pleasure! I read her book before she came on the show and I found it so helpful. It’s very scientific and delves deep into the truths and myths on prenatal recommendations. I personally didn’t read much of the chapter on the carbohydrate recommendations as I wanted to focus on listening to my body to determine my needs, feel free to do the same as well! There’s still tons of amazing info in this book.
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by by Ina May Gaskin
I haven’t started this one YET but I am so excited to read it as several people recommended it to me. A sweet client of mine sent this to me that prepares you for having the best birthing experience possible, no matter where you deliver. My client recommended I read part two first, and then go read part one afterwards.
I’ll be back on the blog next week discussing budgeting with wellness in mind, BUT I’ll be back in two weeks with the rest of my pregnancy update so far: including what supplements I’m taking, what food and exercise looks like, a pregnancy approach to wellness without obsession and…the gender reveal!!
XOXO, V
