First Trimester Recap

I still almost can’t believe I’m typing this! Even the blog post title was a little too much fun to type – it’s unbelievable to think that the first trimester is actually over! If you missed our pregnancy announcement, well, SURPRISE! 😉 You can catch up on the announcement post from earlier this week HERE.

Let me say again how happy I am to finally be sharing our pregnancy and our journey with you all! This is a big part of our life, of course, so it has been difficult to keep quiet on the subject lately. I just wanted to wait to share until we were farther along.

Today I’m sharing a more general first trimester recap, since I didn’t write anything week-by-week when I was in the throes of morning sickness. 🙂

The first trimester absolutely flew by in some ways…and in other ways, it sure seemed long!

First of all, sometimes I feel like we just discovered we’re expecting! It feels rather surreal some days. I can’t believe I’ve been pregnant since January! But in contrast to that, I feel like time just draaaaags when I’m under the weather.

Feeling Sick:

First, let’s talk about a lovely topic: morning sickness. I loathe feeling sick, and morning sickness did hit me relatively hard. We did get a prescription for morning sickness medicine since I thought for a while there that I’d need some help! Thankfully, I didn’t end up using it.

I’m one of those people who, until last school year (which was my 3rd year of teaching), had not gotten actually sick to my stomach since I was in elementary school. I hate throwing up with a passion, so being thrust into this world of nausea was pretty rough.

At first, I thought I didn’t have that bad of a morning sickness experience – I just thought the months of being pregnant in February and March were sandwiched between 2 really terrible stomach flu sessions…hello, teaching 2nd grade! (The kids all seemed to be getting the flu in February and March this year.) But Bjorn is pretty darn sure that it wasn’t only the stomach flu I was dealing with. 🙂 Instead, it could have been surges of hormones making my morning sickness hit extra hard mid-February and then again in March.

In the meantime, outside of those bouts with the “stomach flu,” I felt like I was walking around for a couple months with a touch of the flu, never quite recovering. I was walking more slowly in the hallways at the elementary school, sucking on Jolly Ranchers constantly, and avoiding icky smells as much as possible at school because they’d instantly make me gag!! I had lost a couple pounds (which is never good for me), and I was in a cycle of feeling dizzy and weak and lacking an appetite. Bjorn always reminds me how I need to avoid getting into that cycle! It’s a slippery slope for me, and before I know it, a week has passed and I’m weaker than ever!

I think I’ve taken about 6 or 7 sick days this school year, which is a SUPER high number for me! I’m in my 4th year of teaching right now, and I generally prided myself on a sturdy immune system. I typically have only taken 1 sick day per school year in the past, so this has been more intense!

Okay, enough of talking about feeling ill, before we all start to feel ill. 🙂

Learning to Lean on God:

We have also been extremely excited and joyful! I praise and thank God daily for this opportunity to be this little one’s mama. Every day really, truly is another day where I get to be their mom! Can you believe it? Some days I can’t!

I taped up a Post-It note reminder to myself in the bathroom that says: Each day is a gift! Thank you for all you’ve given me, Lord. I will not live in fear. I will live one day at a time to honor You. I needed a prayer card like that to keep me focused on blessings and to shut out those times of not trusting God.

It has been quite the journey already in terms of learning to trust God in the little and the big things, and trusting Him and His provision only one day at a time. 

Bjorn had some additional army training he was being sent to in March, so he was gone for 14 days and nights in California while I, of course, continued to stay here in Minnesota and teach full-time. I do work hard at staying positive and independent when Bjorn is gone for army commitments (I think we’ve spent over 140 days of our marriage apart by now!), but it was rather hard having him gone for those specific 2 weeks in March when I was feeling pretty shaky nausea-wise.

I already knew I was pregnant – I already had guessed it, taken a test, and then had it confirmed at the doctor’s back in February. I just basically had to suck it up! 🙂

I monitored my nausea, made sure I always had snacks and water nearby, tried not to take really hot showers, moved slowly in the mornings, got myself to work, taught a full day, did any needed errands after work, drove myself home (somedays pretty shakily), and totally CRASHED into bed the second I finished my supper.

That was my routine for those 2 full weeks. There was a LOT of laying in bed. (Early pregnancy was especially evident in me because all I wanted to do was rest all the time! I felt like I had been running around the block, or like I hadn’t slept in days!) In all honesty, I was discouraged. I was fearful. But, I was also happy and grateful! Pregnancy in the first trimester is a mixed bag (and I’m sure I’ll continue to discover things like this) of exhaustion and feeling not so great, but feeling privileged and full of hope and joy!

When Bjorn got home from those 2 weeks in California, I got pretty sick again with another “stomach flu.” I think my body was relieved to have my husband home and just let itself get sick all over again. Sigh. But, like always, Bjorn took really good care of me when I was sick!! Bless his heart.

How We Found Out:

I’m super in tune with my body, so I knew from my rising basal body temperature, etc., that I was probably expecting. Bjorn and I were visiting relatives when I woke up one morning feeling absolutely terrible. I felt like something was different. I woke Bjorn up and (emotionally) told him that I felt so sick. He guessed I could be pregnant, and reassured me that if I was pregnant and not just ill, then it was God’s timing and gift to us! Then… I went on to be quite sick the next few days. I went to the doctor within that week because I was worried for several reasons, plus I had taken a positive test at home, and then they confirmed the pregnancy with tests and blood work. We even got to see the fetal pole flickering on the ultrasound screen as an early heartbeat as early along as 5-6 weeks!! What a blessing.

I didn’t do anything exciting or unique in terms of announcing I was pregnant to my husband. You see, with us being best friends and also talking about everything, it was too hard for me to keep this kind of a “secret” from Bjorn! He heard all my wonderings and saw how sick I was getting already. I have always loved the idea of telling my husband in a special way, but…not this time around. Maybe some other time. 🙂

People at work have also been suspicious…but like I’ll explain, I wasn’t about to spill the beans yet.

How Baby Is Doing:

Like I mentioned before, we have gotten to hear the heartbeat a couple times more recently, as well as see that tiny fetal pole flickering with the heartbeat way back at 5 or 6 weeks! The doctor told me that the heartbeat was not too high and not too low. By the end of the first trimester, babies are usually about as big as a peach! Can you believe it?! He or she has been doing some crazy growing lately!

Enjoying Our News:

Since that initial doctor’s visit in February, hearing the heartbeat a couple more times has been wonderful! But we enjoyed keeping our new news relatively private – it was special to enjoy that fresh time of “knowing” without telling everyone immediately. That was just our style with this pregnancy.

Bjorn and I didn’t call everyone we knew immediately or anything like that. We’ve told different people along the way as opportunities or prayer requests have come up, some people earlier than others. We have just really enjoyed soaking in this season of being newly pregnant as just the two of us. And I wanted to wait until I was farther along to share it officially on Facebook and with a lot of people.

Future Updates:

I haven’t decided yet just how frequently (or not) I’ll be sharing updates on the blog. Since I’m not yet keeping a pregnancy journal, I do want to use my blog to capture the little moments and other updates along the way when I can! I do look forward to sharing some bump pictures as our little one continues to grow! I haven’t been super great about taking weekly photos or anything, but sharing update posts will be special to do along the way anyway. 🙂

Thanks for joining us in this journey! Already, your support and encouragement has meant a lot to us!!