As someone who’s never been pregnant before, and is the first of most of my friends to be pregnant – it’s been a real journey learning about what pregnancy is really like, aside from how movies and tv shows portray it. Once I took that test & saw a positive result, I basically started googling everything that came to mind (& that doesn’t stop btw). As I progressed through my first trimester, I was constantly looking for women on social media or blogs that shared about their pregnancy experience (in depth!) so I could have somebody to relate to. Surprisingly, it was challenging to find any sort of long form content that I really was able to digest and find value in. 

Before I get into it, I just want to take a moment to send love to anybody who is struggling with infertility for any reason and is trying to get pregnant. Pregnancy can be such a sensitive topic and I just want to say that I’m sending you love and would be happy to pray for you (if you message me). xx

I may just be uneducated but I had no idea that by the time you miss your period, you’re already four weeks pregnant! So technically the first two weeks of your pregnancy, you’re not even actually pregnant. The date actually goes off of the first day of your last period. So this was one of the first things I learned, lol. I found out that I was pregnant very early, right about 4 weeks. My early symptoms were fatigue and very sore boobs, and these were the only symptoms that carried into week 5 as well. One thing I hadn’t heard anyone else talk about was the level of anxiety that comes with being newly pregnant, or pregnant at all really. I was so scared that something bad would happen 24/7. I had to wait till I was 8 weeks along for my first appointment to see the baby, so eventually I just had to give it to God and trust in His plan because stressing and worrying wasn’t healthy for me or baby. 

I didn’t start having any nausea or additional symptoms until around 6 weeks, and then it hit. I will say, I think I was on the luckier side as I wasn’t throwing up – but I did have persistent nausea, basically all day everyday. So I felt Iike throwing up, but I wasn’t. Along with that was being extremely exhausted and unmotivated. I almost felt slightly depressed, in a way? I’ve never struggled with depression (praise God) but I really just felt very lonely and sad. It was dreary, gray and rainy for months, I wasn’t seeing anyone (my family lives in AZ) and I felt terrible, so most days I didn’t even want to get off the couch – which just made me feel bad about myself. At my first appointment the did a transvaginal ultrasound, which was another thing I wasn’t expecting. This early in the pregnancy, they can’t really see the fetus well from the topical belly ultrasound so they do it that way to get a clearer picture. As I progressed through the first trimester, I decided a trip to AZ would be nice to lift my spirits, and it did! 

Once the sun came out again, and spring approached, I got a renewed sense of energy and excitement and those dreadful symptoms started to subside. Thank goodness! My nausea began to subside *somewhat* at 12 weeks, it still came in ebbs & flows, but it wasn’t near as intense as the previous weeks. I was able to start going to the gym again around week 13, which made me feel so much better about myself – even if the workouts weren’t much, it felt good to move my body. By week 14 I was pretty much in the clear and feeling great! Overall, I find that I was pretty fortunate compared to what some people go through in their first trimester, and I am extremely grateful for that. I will share a new post about my second and third trimester when the time comes.

I’m happy to answer any individual questions you may have if you want to DM me! 

xx

Kate