My First Trimester

Holy Moly! It doesn’t seem possible that I’m already writing about my first trimester! I am 13 weeks and 1 day today, so I am officially in the second trimester. The first 12 weeks of my pregnancy were quite eventful and interesting, but let’s start at the beginning, shall we? 

Back in August, I was at work one day when I started, what I thought was, my period. I carried on through the rest of the day as planned, but when I got home, I noticed that there was much less bleeding than normal for me. I thought maybe things were just taking some time to start up, but found it suspicious when there was zero bleeding at all the next day. I called my mom on that Friday morning, two days after “starting”, and told her about the weirdness of this period. She got very quiet for a minute then asked if I thought I could be pregnant. Now, Jon-Paul and I weren’t necessarily preventing anything at this point, because I had been given a 2% chance of conceiving naturally due to PCOS. I told her that yes, there was a chance, but that it was highly unlikely. She told me that she thought I may be pregnant or possibly having an early miscarriage, and to take a test the next morning if nothing started up by then. So, the next morning, I went to the bathroom armed with my pee stick. To my great surprise, two very bright pink lines popped up VERY quickly. I was in shock. So much so, that I ran to the bedroom and grabbed one of the more expensive digital test we had and used that one too. Sure enough the word “pregnant” popped up after waiting the longest 3 minutes of my life. I was immediately overcome by a mix of emotions. I knew this meant that I was pregnant, but could still mean that I was having/just had a miscarriage. I sprinted back into the bedroom and shook Jon-Paul awake, waving the tests in his face. Mind you, this was at 7am on a Saturday, so he was very confused. He saw how distraught I was and called his mom immediately to help talk me down. After talking with his mom, my mom, and one of my moms friends who is an OB nurse who just happened to be at football practice that morning, I was much calmer, and slightly more convinced that I was pregnant and not miscarrying. After a weekend of worry and wonder, I ended up taking a third test on Sunday, just to see if my hormone levels were still strong enough to register positive. They were!

I made an appointment for the following Thursday, where I found out that they were guessing I was about 5 weeks along, but couldn’t tell if It was an ectopic pregnancy or not based on a mass they found on my fallopian tube. They put me on a progesterone supplement due to the PCOS, and had me come back in the next week. After another week of worry and lots of prayer, the ultrasound that week showed a 6 week embryo safely in utero. Now came the real fun. The progesterone pills began to take their toll on my body, and thus came the dreaded morning sickness. Only this wasn’t just morning sickness- It was literally all day and all night. At 7 weeks, I ended up in the ER because I couldn’t even keep water down. The doctors diagnosed me with Hyperemesis Gravidarum- basically a severe form of morning sickness. After getting some fluids and nausea meds, I was sent home and lived off of mashed potatoes, apple sauce, and bananas for the next two weeks. I was also given meds to take daily for the nausea. 

At our 8 week appointment (usually a woman’s first OB appointment), we got to hear the heartbeat! It was so perfect with a bmp of 169. Around 10 weeks, I started to feel much better. I began weaning myself off of the nausea meds and eating actual meals again at 11 weeks. 

Through all of the ups and downs and trials and triumphs, God has been so constant. I have surrounded myself with worship pretty much 24/7. In the moments where I felt most sick, it was prayer and worship that got me through. There have also been literally hundreds of phone calls between me and my mom and my mother in law filled with me asking all of my questions, and them offering all of their love and advice. I’m so grateful for their love! And as I said in my last post, Jon-Paul has been my rock. He has been so supportive and kind and caring. 

I am looking forward to the much talked about second trimester- supposedly filled with lots of cravings, glowing, and energy- things I’ve been seriously lacking the past 12 weeks lol! 

XOXO

ELK