Documenting a pregnancy has been a dream of mine for so long so the fact that I'm actually sitting down to write this out is making me giddy! I've been putting it off because I wanted to do an official announcement post first but didn't feel like I could do that without sharing our experience so now that that's out in the world, here we are!
The first-ever "bump" photo I took the day before we found out I was officially pregnant!
Due date: July 2020! We aren't sharing the specific due date publicly because I know that if I go past then, the last thing I will want is a bunch of people asking me if I've had the baby yet. I can get pretty ornery sometimes so this is just protecting y'all from being snapped at ;).
Cravings and/or aversions: I'm not sure if I specifically had any intense cravings during the first trimester. It was more random things would sound really good like pickles but I didn't feel like I had to have them right then and there. One crazy thing (for me) was that I was no longer interested in pop. I instantly stopped craving carbonation which has never, ever, ever happened to me before. I mainly didn't want to eat anything because most foods sounded gross. And if I cooked something and had to smell it for long periods of time, that food item likely still grosses me out. I'm really crossing my fingers that Thanksgiving dinner isn't ruined for me forever because I spent all day cooking on Thanksgiving Day and could hardly eat the meal. And then turkey was served multiple times over Christmas break and it was a no go every time. Blegh. Cooked vegetables were especially gross to me during the first trimester and those are usually one of my favorite foods!
Morning sickness: I'm very, very grateful to have not had any severe nausea or vomiting. I know that that is a nasty symptom of pregnancy for so many women so I do not take it for granted that my experience was so mild in comparison. I felt nauseous most evenings and knew that eating would help but no food sounded good so that was more annoying than anything. I did throw up twice near the end of the 1st trimester but that was after switching to a new prenatal vitamin and taking it first thing in the morning... big mistake that I didn't know was a thing. Within 20 minutes of taking it, I threw up and it came out of nowhere! I tried again the next day taking it with some breakfast but had the same result. It was especially surprising to me since I had only been feeling nauseated in the evenings so I was not expecting that reaction at all, let alone first thing in the morning. So weird!
Keeping our secret: I want to do an entire post all about telling our families the news because that was another experience that I had literally dreamed about and planned out sooooooo many times in my head over the course of trying to conceive so to actually have lived that out was just dreamy and so special! We had told a very select few people about our fertility treatment and after the embryo transfer, we told those people that we wanted to wait until we were ready to share whether or not the treatment was successful. Everyone was so kind and respectful of our wishes and didn't pry even though I knew it just about killed some of them haha. Looking at you, Mom! But it just made it all the more fun when we got to surprise them with the happy news IN PERSON at Christmas!
Initial feelings of seeing the baby via ultrasound for the first time: We officially found out we were expecting on November 4th and my first ultrasound wasn't scheduled until November 27th. That time in between felt like FOREVER and my mind just kept going to the dark place wondering if the baby was still okay and what we would see on the ultrasound, etc. Parker technically had to work that day but managed to slip away and seeing our little babe on the screen for the first time was magical! We got to see her little heart pumping away. They took some 3D photos for us which was a fun surprise. I didn't know they did that so early but she was such a little alien back then! I was also thrilled to finally have some photos to put on the fridge and stare at every time I walked by!
Aches and pains: I had some round ligament pain in the first trimester that really scared me. It was a feeling unlike anything else I've ever experienced and I think because it had taken so long for us to get pregnant, every little thing kind of freaked me out. But luckily that didn't last longer than 2-3 weeks or so. I also had a tiny bit of spotting one night while we were in Canada over the holidays and just about lost my ever-loving mind out of fear but Parker was able to calm me down. We also were fortunate enough to have been able to listen to the baby's heartbeat the next day and it was as strong as ever so all was well.
My changing body: I didn't really start showing until the second trimester but I was definitely bloated and my boobs got bigger almost immediately (which is just the best!). I could tell my body was changing and Parker could too because we live together but to the general public/family and friends I looked the same.
The gender: Whenever Parker and I would talk about starting a family, we both pictured having a girl first. But after Parker saw the heartbeat on the ultrasound, he was convinced it was the heart of a little boy for some reason haha. I still thought it was a girl but then I started to get a lot of hair on my stomach. And I had been told that if you get a lot of dark hair on your stomach that its a boy so both of us thought it was a boy up until we actually found out the gender. I also have never wanted to find out the gender of my kids but Parker did so I gave in and we are having a baby girl! We didn't find that out until the second trimester and I'll share more details about that day in another post as well but since I know and I've already mentioned that she's a girl in my last post it felt weird to pretend like I didn't know...
Keeping our secret: I want to do an entire post all about telling our families the news because that was another experience that I had literally dreamed about and planned out sooooooo many times in my head over the course of trying to conceive so to actually have lived that out was just dreamy and so special! We had told a very select few people about our fertility treatment and after the embryo transfer, we told those people that we wanted to wait until we were ready to share whether or not the treatment was successful. Everyone was so kind and respectful of our wishes and didn't pry even though I knew it just about killed some of them haha. Looking at you, Mom! But it just made it all the more fun when we got to surprise them with the happy news IN PERSON at Christmas!
Initial feelings of seeing the baby via ultrasound for the first time: We officially found out we were expecting on November 4th and my first ultrasound wasn't scheduled until November 27th. That time in between felt like FOREVER and my mind just kept going to the dark place wondering if the baby was still okay and what we would see on the ultrasound, etc. Parker technically had to work that day but managed to slip away and seeing our little babe on the screen for the first time was magical! We got to see her little heart pumping away. They took some 3D photos for us which was a fun surprise. I didn't know they did that so early but she was such a little alien back then! I was also thrilled to finally have some photos to put on the fridge and stare at every time I walked by!
Aches and pains: I had some round ligament pain in the first trimester that really scared me. It was a feeling unlike anything else I've ever experienced and I think because it had taken so long for us to get pregnant, every little thing kind of freaked me out. But luckily that didn't last longer than 2-3 weeks or so. I also had a tiny bit of spotting one night while we were in Canada over the holidays and just about lost my ever-loving mind out of fear but Parker was able to calm me down. We also were fortunate enough to have been able to listen to the baby's heartbeat the next day and it was as strong as ever so all was well.
My changing body: I didn't really start showing until the second trimester but I was definitely bloated and my boobs got bigger almost immediately (which is just the best!). I could tell my body was changing and Parker could too because we live together but to the general public/family and friends I looked the same.
The gender: Whenever Parker and I would talk about starting a family, we both pictured having a girl first. But after Parker saw the heartbeat on the ultrasound, he was convinced it was the heart of a little boy for some reason haha. I still thought it was a girl but then I started to get a lot of hair on my stomach. And I had been told that if you get a lot of dark hair on your stomach that its a boy so both of us thought it was a boy up until we actually found out the gender. I also have never wanted to find out the gender of my kids but Parker did so I gave in and we are having a baby girl! We didn't find that out until the second trimester and I'll share more details about that day in another post as well but since I know and I've already mentioned that she's a girl in my last post it felt weird to pretend like I didn't know...
Here are all my Sunday "bump" pictures I took during the first trimester! I wish I had taken more even though not much changed during that time.
Please forgive the messy bedroom in the background of every one of these photos... I at least had the decency to make the bed for the first photo haha!
Coming up next: telling our families and friends the news! I can't wait to share that experience along with some videos!!
xoxo, Chelan
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