In an effort to keep us from forgetting all the joy ... and nausea ... that came with the first trimester, here are a few details of what went down early on.
The night before taking a pregnancy test - which wasn't even on my radar at this point - we barbequed on our deck with our neighbors, John and Andrea. They took this picture of us and I'm so glad we happened to get one so close to our lives changing forever. Look at us, so carefree and innocent. I love it!
The next morning things changed dramatically when I "just for giggles" took a pregnancy test. And yes, I am the girl who took a picture of it. At least I didn't post it on Facebook ... just on this Blog that's super private (sarcasm)!
Surprise, disbelief, excitement and shock all ran through me at once as the little + sign took shape. I really couldn't believe it since Aaron and I were mentally preparing ourselves for a year's worth of trying. Forever the realists who had maturely prepared for all that could go wrong, Aaron's first words to me were, "Don't get too excited." That probably sounds bad, but it was just a word of caution to ourselves because we were excited and we just didn't want to be crushed by a false positive or miscarriage that were both very real possibilities.
We were only 4 weeks pregnant when we took this first test. The following Monday I called to make a doctor's appointment and was disappointed to find out that even calling this early, we still could not get in until 12 weeks. At least the doctor's office was able to tell me a due date which I was otherwise way off on (I thought I was barely pregnant; not 4 weeks already ... this was the day I learned about pregnancy math), so from there I signed up for weekly email updates from Parenting.com. Those were fun to follow (and still are) to start getting an idea of what to expect and how Baby was beginning to develop.
I remember being so eager to start feeling symptoms and start showing ... and to just share our news with family and friends. The emails from Parenting.com read my mind and said ... "just enjoy that you're not feeling symptoms yet. Soon enough you'll be wishing you felt like this." Now that I am 30 weeks along I know why they said that!
The symptoms I was eager to feel started kicking in at about 7 weeks. I will by no means complain that I was horribly sick or nauseous beyond belief. But between weeks 7 and 10 I definitely felt different! The nausea was mild but present pretty consistently. As far as cravings, the early weeks had the opposite effect and I was averted to foods I otherwise thought were tasty. Leftovers were unthinkable ... who knows why. And it seemed I gagged by just looking at my toothbrush. If I was ever too hungry or too full, my body was pretty ticked at me.
But above any other feeling - the strongest one was exhaustion! This is how I felt after work pretty much every day.
I have never been much of a napper and mostly feel like naps are a waste of time. But starting around 7 weeks and lasting until 12, naps were a welcomed, regular and necessary occurrence. Millie was my BFF for these and kept me company with plenty of snuggles which I very much appreciated.
I managed to eventually wake up to do a few fun things though.
Paul and Debora were here in July so this picture is at the HoDo after a night at the Redhawks game and pizza at Rhombus Guys.
Their wedding reception was in Fergus Falls so before getting gussied up for that, Aaron and I took a stroll on the River Walk in Fergus.
Here's the whole gang at Paul and Debora's reception at Elk's Point on Wall Lake.
And here's the two of us. I'm 7 weeks along here.
We celebrated our 1 year anniversary at Mezzaluna's in downtown Fargo on July 30. I couldn't have wine, so why not dessert!
After dinner we walked to the HoDo for a drink ... well, lemonade ... on the roof top.
In addition to dinner, we also went to Maplewood State Park for a weekend of camping to celebrate our anniversary. This was perhaps not the greatest decision and I wasn't feeling awesome, but it was still fun. Millie looks terrified, but she got over it...
On Sunday when we got home from this excursion, I think I brought one thing into the house while Aaron unpacked the rest of the car. I laid down on the couch right away around 6:00 for "just a second." When I woke up it was 9:00. Yep, mama was tired!
Somewhere along the lines Aaron and I put ourselves to work painting the deck. I should have probably played the pregnancy card a little better here ... I think I was 9 weeks along. But it was OK.
Also around 9 weeks was when I finally told my boss I was pregnant. I stayed home from work one day because I wasn't feeling well. My initial story was that I "ate something bad" the night before, but when I went in to work the next day, I fessed up. I simply can't lie! My boss was awesome about it, congratulated me and was full of helpful tips on fighting the nausea. I wish I'd told her sooner because it was so nice to finally have a female to relate to. Aaron did the best he could (bless his heart), but he's limited in what he can understand about how it feels in the first trimester (or any trimester for that matter). Laura (my boss) recommended lemon drops and jolly ranchers for the nausea (the lemon drops helped!), and she also recommended a week by week pregnancy book which I immediately picked up.
Here's another pregnancy test I took along the way. I think I took one per week between weeks 4 and 12. Without being able to see the doctor it kept assuring me that I wasn't dreaming. I eventually realized I could go in for a simple lab pregnancy test (duh) that I didn't need an appointment for. It sounds so dumb, but I felt more legitimate once a medical professional confirmed I was pregnant. As Aaron pointed out though, "I think the vomiting, napping and sore boobs are sign enough, but if you need to hear it from them, go ahead..." :)
At 10 weeks along we drove to northern Minnesota for one of Aaron's friend's wedding. It was a beautiful setting and a fun weekend, but I admit I was a party pooper and pretty lame for most of the festivities. Aaron was kind enough to join me in my lame-ness by refraining from crazy, rowdy, wedding shenanigans. But it didn't totally matter because of course this particular wedding was one where everyone stays in cabins together at the resort for the whole weekend versus having your own private hotel room. Well, this would normally be fantastic, but when you're 10 weeks pregnant, constantly tired and of course sober, this isn't an ideal arrangement. And wouldn't you know it, the crowd we bunked with was the oh-so-hospitable party crowd who threw the after party in our cabin until 4:00 a.m. the night of the wedding. I was proud of myself for not being a wretched witch who freaked out on them though. In other circumstances I'm sure I would have happily joined the fun. As it was, I stayed sane enough to realize it's not their fault I was 10 weeks preggo and not sharing our news. We all survived. I think I even got some sleep. Maybe this means I'll be really patient for those middle-of-the-night feedings I keep hearing are coming...
And hey. If it wasn't for this trip up north, we wouldn't have snagged this fun picture on our way home which we used to announce our news. If I look tired in the picture, now you know why!
So that was our first trimester. Shortly after taking this picture we had our doctor's appointment, confirmed everything was on track, and started sharing our news. We have 10 weeks to go until Bergill arrives and time is flying. We're hanging on for the ride ahead!
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