On Pregnancy: The First Trimester

8 1/2 weeks

People have asked me if this space is going to turn into a "mommy blog", and the answer is no. I do not plan on exclusively writing about diapers, feeding, and my baby. I will, however, write about my baby and motherhood and any of the other things that this new stage of life ushers in, just as I write about many aspects of my life now. The baby posts will just be in addition to all of the other posts. With that said, this is the first post in my pregnancy series, beginning with my first trimester. This is mostly for my sake to look back on in the future, but click through if you're interested!


We found out I was pregnant on October 4. I was pretty convinced I was pregnant, but I had told myself I would wait until then to take the test, because I was tired of getting negative tests. Even though I thought I was pregnant, it was still so shocking to see those two lines! I cried immediately because I was so overcome with joy. We had had a friend stay with us the night before, and because I didn't know if he was awake and downstairs with Caleb, I texted Caleb to ask him to come back up to our room. He says he immediately knew what was going on, even though I hadn't told him I was going to take a test (he, too, was tired of listening to all of my "pregnancy" symptoms each month only to test negative). I was still really emotional so I just pointed to the test. We were both so excited but kind of in disbelief at the same time.

For that first week I was constantly reminding myself that I was pregnant. I looked at the test so many times each evening just trying to wrap my head around the fact that we were actually having a baby! I went to my doctor for blood work and was relieved for the official confirmation. The next week (when I was 5 weeks pregnant exactly), the nausea hit. I was so unprepared for how terrible I felt. The emotions also hit that week, as I cried every night when I got home from work just wondering how I was going to make it through. I ended up calling my doctor for Zofran, which really brought hardly any relief. That almost made me more emotional, as it seemed nothing would help. The fatigue also set in immediately; I was coming home from work, eating a little bit of dinner, and going straight to bed. This was also during the time that I was studying for my big test at work, so I was feeling so much pressure because I was not studying at all either.

The next week I had really sharp pains that were different, so I went back to the doctor. They ran some tests and ended up sending me for an ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy wasn't tubal. Seeing the heartbeat on that ultrasound (at 6 1/2 weeks) was so incredible. Thankfully everything looked normal, and there was just one heartbeat (I was so nervous it was going to be twins!).

It was really important for us to tell our family about the baby in person. It worked out at the last minute that my parents and my sister and her kids met at our house the end of October. I was so relieved that I could tell them, because I didn't know how I was going to keep it a secret (from my mom especially) until Thanksgiving! We told them the first night they were at our house by casually slipping it into the conversation. Their reactions were priceless and I will never forget it:) My mom and my sister were such a help to me while they were there; cooking and cleaning and taking care of everything around the house. We even had a dinner party for friends at our house (scheduled before I knew I was pregnant), and they cooked the entire dinner. It was such a blessing!

10 weeks 

The next week (7 weeks) the real sickness hit hard. I had gotten sick a couple of times prior, but it was very sporadic. At 7 weeks it was the real deal every morning (and sometimes at night). I ended up having to tell my manager and the two guys I work directly for that I was pregnant, because I was barely functioning at work. They had been asking me for several weeks what was wrong, as I was out of sorts and clearly had not been on top of my game. It was a relief to have a couple of people in the office know what was going on, and they were very gracious to me. From week 7 to week 14 I got sick every single day. I think I had three days of sporadic relief in that time, but it was seriously constant nausea with at least a daily episode of getting sick.

I'm not going to lie, those weeks were some of the hardest I've experienced. The days were extremely long, I was throwing up every day, I was getting no relief from the nausea, I was completely exhausted, I was super busy at work, and I was also trying to find time to study for this huge test. I didn't feel like myself at all. My day consisted of: get sick, make it through the work day, eat something, go to bed. The list of things I was not doing was much longer: cooking dinner, cleaning the house, keeping up with the laundry, showing up to work on time, exercising, blogging, studying, having people over, buttoning my pants, sending birthday cards, making the bed. It was disheartening.

In all of those weeks, though, I cried out to God for His help more than I can remember. I felt His presence so strongly all throughout the day because I knew for certain I could not make it in my own strength - I had none! I was so very aware of the precious life He had blessed us with, and I was so overcome with thankfulness. I so looked forward to the pregnancy update email each week with where the baby was developmentally. I was often on the floor of the bathroom reading it on my phone, praising God that all of the sickness meant this little baby was developing and growing inside of me.

13 weeks

At Thanksgiving we announced to Caleb's family that we were having a baby. Everyone was together, and they were all so surprised! It was fun to be able to share in person, and we were really thankful we waited even though it was hard to keep a secret for so long! The weekend of Thanksgiving I was 12 weeks, and my 12 week appointment was just a couple of days after Thanksgiving. The ultrasound was just so amazing to see. The baby was dancing all around-like literally most of the pictures are blurry because the baby didn't stop moving. It made the pregnancy seem much more real to Caleb, and it was such a relief to see that everything looked good. We sent out Christmas cards with an announcement to extended family and friends, and it was so nice to finally have the news out in the open! I was also having a hard time hiding it since I had started showing so early! The times of sharing the news with friends and family were definitely some of the best in the first trimester. It's so surreal to say "we're having a baby!" for the first time! 

I had really hoped I would feel better at week 12 like a lot of people say, but it was week 14 that I woke up feeling so much better. I haven't gotten sick since (other than a stomach bug), and I am SO incredibly thankful to be past that! The Lord truly sustained me all throughout the first trimester, and I praise Him for the way that He did (including helping me to pass that test! When the score popped up on the screen, in true pregnant lady fashion I burst into tears, which is really embarrassing since they had video and audio surveillance on me). God is so good to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think!