Claire AndradeRead about our infertility journey and finding out we were pregnant in part one, two and three.
Weeks 0-13: April 16-July 22 2020
I took my first pregnancy test at exactly 4 weeks, so that is when I found out I was pregnant. The first 4 weeks of being pregnant, you don’t really even know it. Then the next two weeks, I felt pretty much normal and had basically no symptoms at all. I was just in disbelief I was actually pregnant. I started putting together to do lists and lists of things we needed to buy (because I am crazy and need to be prepared and can’t help myself lol).
But at around six weeks, or June 1st to be exact, I started feeling sick. I was basically just nauseous a lot and started having food aversions and not many things sounded good. I started researching things to alleviate morning sickness (although my sickness was not just in the morning).
At seven weeks, I had my first doctor’s appointment and Miguel was able to come. We got to see our little peanut on the ultrasound and saw that baby had a good heartbeat. We had a viable pregnancy and could “graduate” from the infertility clinic! So I scheduled with a “normal” Ob-Gyn for my 12 week appointment.
My sickness got increasingly worse over the next couple of weeks. First, I couldn’t cook anything but I could still eat a few things that sounded good, then I was unable to eat anything that was “hot” and a lot of things did not sound good at all. I also started actually throwing up during this time as opposed to just feeling nauseous. Not eating made me sick. Eating made me sick. Being hot made me sick. Brushing my teeth made me sick. Taking a shower made me sick. Taking pills made me gag. Laying down flat immediately made me nauseous. I couldn’t eat but I was starving – I was absolutely miserable.
And it was all day. Not just morning. I was actually sicker at night most of the time.
Other “fun” symptoms of my first trimester were an awful metallic taste in my mouth, feeling absolutely exhausted (but not being able to sleep well) and terrible acid reflux and gas. I was so thankful I was able to work from home during this time. I honestly worked from the couch or my bed pretty much every day during the summer.
I tried ginger supplements, peppermint oil, peppermint candies, crackers, eating small meals, drinking lots of water, taking B12 but nothing made the symptoms go away. Although having something to eat right when a woke up, trying to eat as much protein as possible, eating in small amounts and drinking a lot of fluids helped me survive. Key word there is survive. I was definitely just in survival mode for 12 weeks.
At 12 weeks I had my second appointment and ultrasound. Baby actually looked like a baby this time! And they did not stop squirming everywhere, the ultrasound tech commented on how active baby was. I was happy so see a healthy baby even though most days I was feeling terrible.
I made it through the end of week 13 and thought that I would magically feel better because I feel like everyone always says once you get through the first trimester, you are golden. This was not my experience. I was still unable to cook or eat like normal and I was still throwing up even after passing 13 weeks.
Overall my first trimester was not a pleasant experience. I do think I was depressed – it was probably the lowest point of my life in terms of mental health – and was doing the bare minimum just to survive in all aspects of my life. I was afraid that I would feel like this for the rest of my life. (it did get better, but not until well into my second trimester). Looking back, it was hard, but it does get better (even if it doesn’t feel like it) and eventually you can try to forget 🙂