Please give me a little grace here with my ramblings, stream of consciousness and overall disorganization. This is the best I could do 🙂 Here are some tidbits, hard things, good things and things i used and loved during my first trimester.

I am writing this at 15 weeks and really kicking myself for not writing it sooner.  Honestly, I spent so many days doing nothing during my first trimester, why couldn’t I have just written down some more notes? But alas, GRACE. Must give myself grace.

Because of the precision that comes with the territory when conceiving via IVF, we found out on November 17th via blood test, putting me at 4 weeks.  I went in a few days later for another blood test to confirm again that my HCG levels were rising and that the pregnancy took and we were obviously thrilled with the results. But thrilled in a, “I know I have to wait til 12 weeks to really be excited but I’m really excited” kind of way.  Our closest friends and family knew about implantation and when we would find out,  so we shared our excitement with them when we found out, and slowly over the next few weeks shared the news with more and more friends and family who had been closely following along with our journey. I would say that by week 8, a decent amount of people knew.

Right around week 8, I had bleeding.  Like a big rush of blood and bleeding that lasted about 12 hours.  I was due for my 8 week and last appointment with the fertility clinic the next day, but spent the entire night before thinking the worst had happened. Those 12 hours where I thought I had miscarried were miserable.  Of course, I made the mistake of googling what happened, and everything looked like a miscarriage. There was nothing that I saw in my brief search that said bleeding was normal. My heart now aches even more for those who have had to experience the loss of miscarriage. I truly can’t imagine how that must feel but I did feel that punch in the gut, tears flowing feeling that I would never ever wish on anyone.

When we went to the doctor the next morning, he quickly started the ultrasound, and we felt the ultimate relief, joy, and excitement when we saw our baby for the first time. We both cried, obviously. It was the most magical thing! No one can prepare you for that kind of joy and excitement. Our doctor told me that the bleeding can happen more often in IVF implantations because of the way the uterus is disrupted in order to transfer the embryo and DANG I wish I had known that before.  When I shared my experience with some friends, a few said either they or someone they knew had experienced bleeding and that it was totally normal, but again, DANG why doesn’t the internet tell you that!?

If you read my previous post, I talked a little bit about the progesterone shots and how brutal they were.  They made the first 10 weeks really hard.  I was wiped out. Straight up exhausted. I got really lucky that the worst of it was over the holidays so I was able to rest, but during those weeks it was really hard for me to get out of bed, much less get a full days work in. BUT. Worth it for a *so far* healthy pregnancy.

My nausea (who even calls it morning sickness anymore? Everyone knows its all day sickness) set in right around week 8 as well and raged on until about week 12.  I would say that it was at like a 70%, 100% of the time.  I could really only eat bland, blah foods – baked potatoes, crackers, cheese, bagels.  This baby LOVES carbs. (See my funny reels about first trimester delicacies) Luckily, as soon as we got out to Colorado the combination of vacation and progressing in the pregnancy meant that I started feeling much, much better.

Throughout this pregnancy so far, time has been flying by and going slowly at the same time.  I am looking forward to each pregnancy milestone and anxiously awaiting my growing belly, feeling the baby kick and sharing the gender with you guys. But at the same time, some days are so long and slow because I am still tired a lot of the time.  It is a crazy thing! The body and this whole process is a magical, miraculous, bizarre thing. 

Lastly, sort of. The emotional roller coaster is real. One thing I learned early is that you MUST communicate with your partner at the beginning of the pregnancy and warn them to STRAP IN. You never know when the hormones are going to rage. It is usually when you least expect it and have to immediately apologize.

THINGS I USED DURING THE FIRST TRIMESTER:

In case you missed my semi-viral  tiktok and my previous posts, this full back heating pad saved me.  Because I had to do the progesterone in oil shots through week 10, I was really sore and this heating pad did the trick.  I also just always have a reaaaally tight back and this helped before I could get a massage!

If you are planning on flying during pregnancy, get compression socks. These saved me on the flight to Colorado.  Amazon has lots of options.

Gingins were a life saver. Whenever the nausea was particularly bad, I would eat or suck on one of these!  You can also put them in hot tea.

I have been living in sweatpants and L & M leggings. They’re like lululemon but half the price. And local to Richmond! Use code TCP10 to save.

I thought I would want to keep making myself sparkling water mocktails, like I did during IVF, but lately all I want is water, water, water and tea.  I got this tea organizer that has made me just a littttle more organized.

Like I have said on here a million times, I am terrible at journaling but want to be better during pregnancy! So I ordered this Expecting You journal from Amazon and it is exactly what I needed.

My sister in law, Susannah, put these Barefoot Dreams socks in our stockings and they are the BEST. Have bought myself more pairs since. They definitely live up to the hype.

Whenever I need a little pick me up during the day, I use Eminence Stone Crop Hydrating mist. I am extra careful now to make sure I am using pregnancy safe, clean beauty products and am looking forward to sharing my new routine with you guys here soon! Just doing a little test before I share.

~ PIN TO COME BACK LATER ~