Early Pregnancy / First Trimester

Pregnancy

Oct 1

Meesh

We had a timeline when we wanted to start trying, and when we found out just a month into trying we were shocked that it happened so fast. I feel extremely grateful that it happened so quickly for us, but I honestly wasn't expecting it. I was expecting a couple more months of trying since we had some big events coming up that I wasn't planning being pregnant at. I was tracking everything for the three months leading up to our first month of actually trying. I started taking my temperature every morning, taking prenatal vitamins, doing the ovulation strips, testing my mucus, reading all the TTC articles online and books. But I think even when it happens and you’re trying it comes as a shock. Most women spend their entire lives up to whatever age trying not to get pregnant and when it actually happens you’re like HOLY COW, okay, this is actually happening! It was a bizarre feeling for me. Since we had only tried for one month, when I told my husband he didn't believe me (kind of jokingly, but he was in more shock than I was). I took a test every day for 5 days to just make sure. Once it settled in that we were actually doing it, and we confirmed it with the doctor, we were very excited! We had told all of our close friends and family by 10 weeks, and announced it on instagram/facebook at 12 weeks. My husband was nervous to tell people early on, just in case… but in my mind, if an awful thing happened to us, I would want to lean on my close friends and family for support. I’m an open person and like sharing my feelings with those around me so it didn't seem like something I should be afraid of keeping from the people I love most. I know they would be there for me if I needed them and that brought me comfort.

My first trimester started going downhill at around 6 weeks and honestly wasn’t “fun” until about week 18. I started feeling very nauseous, my face broke out and all I wanted was sweets, cereal, oranges and strawberries. I had all the wives' tale signs I was having a girl, and low and behold- I was! I would have “morning sickness” all day, but not to the point where I was actually puking, but I was definitely over the toilet multiple times a day. I ate tums like they were candy and used those nausea bracelets and although they didn't cure me, they did help! I was also hungry 24/7! I would wake up in the middle of the night STARVING. My recommendation for quiet and filling midnight snacks to have ready at your bedside are PB&J sandwiches or those soft granola bars with the jam fillings (chefs kiss).

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Nausea Bands

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Tums Ultra Strength

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Nature's Bakery Bars

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Mon

We had been trying for a few months so I wasn’t shocked when I was pregnant (the shock would come later) but it was a surreal feeling. Even though getting pregnant was the goal when I first saw the two lines I had a moment of panic. Is this really what I want? My life was about to be forever changed.

After having my moment I went to tell my husband and that’s when I got excited. I remembered we’d be in this together, it wasn’t just on me and the thought of raising a kid with him was exciting. That feeling would soon change to morning sickness and shock.

I was miserably sick after about 6 weeks. It felt like I had the nonstop flu. The nausea was awful and I remember wondering why people didn’t talk about just how bad it was. None of the natural remedies helped and I could barely keep anything down, but I thought it was normal. Then we finally had our first appointment and I learned it was not normal. The doctor started the ultrasound and quickly found what we thought was one heartbeat but turned out to be two.

“You’re definitely pregnant… you’re having twins,” she told us.

The shock was palpable. Twins had been nowhere on my husband or my radar. Twins don’t run in our family, the thought of twins had never crossed our minds.

“What the fuck!” I heard myself yell at my husband as if it was somehow his fault.

The doctor left to give us some time. It took us a few weeks to process but soon we were excited about the thought of two little babies in our life. We had always wanted two kids and now we’d just do it all at once. How much harder could it be…

Pure Prenatal

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Pregmate Ovulation and Pregnancy Tests

Grace

Once my husband and I got married in October 2021, we were open to getting pregnant at pretty much any time. I had been off birth control for about 6 months by then, but being on BC for 10 years prior to that I wasn’t sure if it would affect anything. Since we were open to getting pregnant but not actively trying, I was very loosely tracking my cycle and ovulation but not paying too close attention to it. I ended up getting pregnant right away and I damn near shit my pants. Cody, my husband, was at home taking his final test to become a Real Estate Agent one Saturday morning and little did he know, I was also taking a test. I had a positive pregnancy test and could not believe it. It was November and my period was only a day late. I went straight into shock and my anxiety shot through the roof. I was of course excited, but that shock and WTF feeling was so real. Once he told me he had passed his test, I told him the news and he was very excited while I was straight up sobbing. Unfortunately though, a few days later I miscarried. I was so thankful for our community and the support we received. We recovered physically and mentally and decided to keep trying. In December I was very disappointed when I got my period. I was actually in Seattle with Meesh and Mon, and being with my friends definitely helped lift my spirits. I had actually been tracking my cycle so I was bummed, but at the same time I had a miscarriage a few weeks before, so I’m not sure what I was thinking, maybe I was just eager because we wanted it so badly at that point. We agreed that I would only track my cycle every other month because I did want to obsess over getting pregnant or stress out about it. In February my period was a day late once again. I wasn’t sure if my cycle was still wonky from the miscarriage and I was crampy so I thought my period was coming, but I decided to take a test anyways. Once again, I could not believe it when I saw that positive test. I was very excited this time around but also very scared because of what had happened. I told Cody by wrapping the test up in his Valentine’s Day present and he had a similar reaction, excited but nervous. Making it past 5 weeks felt like such a relief even though I knew anything could still happen. We were so grateful to have a good first appointment and to hear that heartbeat at 7 weeks. I had been so nervous and scared but also just trying to go with the flow. My mantra for my pregnancy was “Jesus take the wheel!” because I knew I only had so much control over what was happening and I could only hope this time around was different than the first. We also kept it more quiet and didn’t really tell people until I was a little further along. I had fun “fake drinking” at Meesh’s baby shower when I was only 9 weeks so people didn’t catch on or ask me why I wasn’t drinking (thanks for helping me and drinking double the ciders, Mon) and loved having our little secret that only a small handful of people knew.

Once I hit 6 weeks I started having aversions and feeling sick. I never actually threw up luckily, but I felt like hot, hot garbage 90% of the time. I basically could only eat apples and bread with butter until I was 14 weeks along. I couldn’t even think about coffee, chicken, avocado or any veggies really. One morning I was driving to work at my old job and I almost threw up in the car thinking about a caesar salad (who TF thinks about caesar salad at 8am?). I tried some preggie pops and the nausea bracelets and they helped me feel a little better. Having a variety of snacks nearby is how I got through the first trimester. If you can stomach food, making sure you’re eating often and not getting hungry helps with nausea. I slept with a box of cereal and graham crackers on my nightstand so that I could eat first thing when I woke up before even getting out of bed and it helped immensely!

Nausea Bands

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Grace Johnson

Early Pregnancy / First Trimester

Meesh

Mon

Grace

Staying Comfortable While Pregnant

Second Trimester

Moms Doing Our Best