Life: 1st Trimester Update
So, by now I have officially announced the *very* exciting news that we are expecting our first baby! But as I am writing this, it's still a secret.
I wanted to write about my 1st Trimester while it was fresh in my mind...you know, in case of pregnancy brain striking. So, at this point, I am exactly 13 weeks - the final week of my 1st trimester. While I don't plan to write about every little detail of this new chapter of my life, I do think it will be fun to share a few updates each trimester.
This is all new to me, so hopefully, I can use this as a way to share the learning lessons and help out some other new mamas along the way. p.s. I am desperately looking for expecting mom's or new mamas to follow on social media to follow for a dose of inspiration and encouragement. If that's YOU or someone you love to follow, please let me know! This whole pregnancy thing can seem kind of lonely at times.
HOW I AM FEELING
I am actually feeling really good. I didn't experience any morning sickness my first trimester, which does make me feel a little bit guilty to share because I know so many that feel awful. There were a few other setbacks though...like exhaustion.
The exhaustion is REAL. This was honestly really hard for me at first because I've always been a girl on the go. I've had to learn to embrace slow and to not move so quickly, a challenge for me. I get really tired in the afternoon - right at 3pm to be exact and that is typically when I'll move to the couch to finish up work when I am able to. I also am ready for bed around 9:30pm. Sleep is my new best friend. And I am embracing it.
WHAT I AM CRAVING
I had major food aversions early on in my first trimester. In the first couple weeks, I could only handle eating pita chips & hummus or broth-based noodle soup with grilled cheese. Or bagels. I craved bagels. All the carbs! Meat, chicken, and fish were all off limits. So was coffee, which saved me so much money! I used to buy a coffee a day! It didn't help that I also had the flu in early January. Toughing it out without being able to take meds was rough, to say the least.
Now that I am at the end of my first trimester, I've started to integrate more nutritious foods back into my diet. The things I have craved the most are yogurt and fresh berries, which is so weird to me because I hardly ate yogurt previously! Fresh smoothies, yogurt parfaits, fruit bowls...anything with a mix of granola, yogurt, and fruit have been my go-to. Or fruit-based popsicles. Anything cold and fruity is my biggest craving! I eat this at least 1x per day.
I still love fresh salads but prefer topping it with avocado vs. chicken. And my carb craving hasn't gone away, it's just not as bad as it was in the beginning when crackers/pita were all I could eat! I've also started to eat red meat again. We've had a few date nights where I've splurged on a steak. Still no fish and very little chicken for now...but at least I haven't had any super unhealthy cravings!
MY FITNESS ROUTINE
This was the area of my life that impacted me the most in the first few weeks of my first trimester. I was going to classes at Health House (rowing + strength based studio in Kansas City) between 4-6x per week pre-pregnancy. Before I officially found out, I started feeling weaker in classes, which was weird because I normally feel stronger after every class I take! I would get out of breath and SUPER dizzy. There were a few classes where I had to leave the studio to go lay down on the bathroom floor. So embarrassing at the time, but makes sense now!
After finding out why I was getting so dizzy, I took it slower in classes and only went 1-2x per week. Basically, when my body felt like it. I was so tired my first 6-7 weeks, that it didn't make sense to push my body that hard. So, I did take some time off from working out but it was perfect timing as that fell over the holiday season.
By 8 weeks, I started feeling like myself in classes again. I am now up to 3 classes per week but prefer the RIPPED classes (all strength based) instead of the cardio heavy rowing classes. I've been getting my cardio by walking on our treadmill at home for at least 30-mins each day. It's definitely motivating to see other pregnant women in classes absolutely killing it - even later in pregnancy than me! I am hoping that by keeping up a fitness routine that I will feel so much better.
OTHER UPDATES
I am still working on mapping out what my maternity leave will look like. As a full-time business owner, it's challenging to come up with a plan. But I do know that I want to take time off and am being very conscientious about every client and project I take on. If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen that I've been working from home much more. This was mostly in part to being so tired at the beginning, so I decided to resurrect my home office. But now I think I'm in the beginning phase of nesting and feel most comfortable when I'm at home.
We have not started on the nursey...in fact, I have yet to buy one thing for baby! I will probably start all of the above (shopping, designing the nursery, etc.) later this month!
Finally, one of the things I've been struggling with is my skin. I switched to all-natural skin care products (a mix of things from Trader Joe's and Burts Bees) once I found out we were expecting. But I am not going to lie...it's been rough. My skin is acne-prone. And I have worked SO hard over the last 2-3 years to clear my skin with a mix of treatments from Bare Med Spa. So, seeing my acne come back has been difficult to deal with. If anyone has suggestions on how to keep breakouts at bay during pregnancy, I would be so thankful!