Thank you guys so much for all the congratulations and sweet words yesterday on my pregnancy announcement post! Matt and I are so excited to share in this next phase with you. 🙂 It sounds like many of you had already guessed this news given the lack of Prosecco and race plans on the blog lately! Lol! You guys know me well. 🙂
I’m so glad you guys know the news now – it will be fun to share updates every so often as things progress! Let me know if there’s anything you are particularly interested in reading more (or less) about. 🙂 For now, though, here’s a little Q&A about how things have been going so far with the first trimester!
How far along are you?
I’ll be 13 weeks tomorrow (Thursday)! 🙂
What’s the official due date?
November 23 – yes, that would be Thanksgiving Day! Our little turkey!!
Are you showing at all?
YES! I was already showing about a month ago! I have a REALLY short torso, so I think there’s basically nowhere for the baby to go but out. Here’s a picture of me from the track on Tuesday morning – I don’t really look pregnant so much as I just look like I’ve been eating past my fullness cues, but it’s definitely getting obvious, especially by the end of the day when I’m full!
I already had to go shopping for some looser work shirts and dresses – I didn’t realize how much of my stuff was really fitted, and it already won’t fit or just isn’t flattering at all. I also bought some maternity pants and shorts (Old Navy and Target FTW) – my old pants still fit for now but the waists are not comfortable, especially when I’m sitting down. I tried the jean band things but I didn’t love them – if my shirt rode up at all it was like “uh, her pants are unbuttoned/unzipped”. Fail.
How did you tell Matt?
I just told went into our room and told him! I found out on a Saturday morning (the day of my friend Sarah’s wedding, actually!)… I had been taking tests for a few days because my period was late, and I felt super bloated and weird but not period bloated and weird, you know? But all the tests kept coming up negative, until I finally read online that taking the tests first thing in the morning can help because your urine is more concentrated (and therefore hormone levels are easier to detect early on). Sure enough, it worked – there was a reeeeeally faint line, but a line! I sat in the bathroom for about 5 minutes by myself processing, and then walked into our bedroom, where Matt was still in bed, and said “So… guess what?” 🙂 (Also, hot tip if you are trying to get pregnant – these bulk pregnancy test strips without the plastic outer are sooo much cheaper than the ones with the plastic casing.)
How did you tell your family?
We told both sets of parents in person with a cute baby card that had a pop up crib in it, and a photo of Zara with a note that said “I’m going to be a big sister!” They are really excited we finally decided to go for it. 🙂
Here are a couple of the outtakes, which we were DYING over – too funny!! Zara looks INSANE!
How have you been feeling? Have you had any aversions or cravings?
Ehhhh… not absolutely terrible but not amazing, either. Weeks 6 to 11 were especially rough on the nausea front. I never actually threw up (I know, lucky), but I had a sort of constant low grade nausea all day, and it always got worse at night. It made it hard to eat dinner because often everything we had on hand to make sounded gross! This is a photo of one night when I texted Matt around 5 that “all I want in life is taco salad – can you pick up the ingredients on your way home?” – and then by the time he got home at 8 I was like “yeah, I now hate taco salad and also anything else savory.” I ended up eating watermelon and chocolate milk for dinner – whatever works, right?!
Seriously though – watermelon and I have been BEST FRIENDS. It’s been one of the only foods (besides dairy – yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, milk, and I have been BFFs) that has never turned my stomach at all. I’ve also been SO thirsty, so it’s great for that too.
I’ve started feeling a bit better on the food/nausea front the past couple weeks, but it’s day by day – some are better than others – and dinners are still a little tough on some nights. Tasting/small plates places and buffets have been best because I can try different stuff and see what goes down okay! I’ve been lucky that breakfast and lunch have mostly been okay, though, so I’ve tried to get in most of my veggies at lunch time over the past couple months.
Ditto the exhaustion – that’s gotten better the past couple weeks too. There was a few week stretch where I took a long nap every single afternoon and could not make it through a whole workday without one. MAJOR props to those of you working in offices full time while pregnant – I feel so incredibly grateful that I have a flexible schedule and can leave the office early on days I felt especially rough, or go upstairs for a nap on days I work from home.
What prenatal vitamins have you been taking?
I’ve been taking the Garden of Life Organic Prenatal and the Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA (I’m glad I added this because I haven’t been eating much fish lately – haven’t been craving it much)!
How have you been modifying exercise?
I’ve found that exercise has REALLY helped me to feel better physically, mentally, and on the nausea front, so I’ve kept it up, but the caveat is that I have to get a ton of sleep if I’m going to do a morning workout (like at least 9 hours if not more) or else I will feel worse. I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler when I was 7 weeks pregnant, and I was lucky that my friend Kathleen (who knew I was pregnant) was up for running together and we were both comfortable at the same pace.
I did one more longer run (6 miles) the weekend after Cherry Blossom and since then I’ve been doing 4 miles or less, because that’s what feels right.
One of the first things I noticed even before I knew for sure I was pregnant was that I was so out of breath during runs! I definitely slowed my pace down almost right away, and stopped doing any speedwork as soon as I knew I was pregnant. As of a few weeks ago, I’ve been doing mostly walk/run as well, especially on hillier runs, because my heart rate and breathing get too high otherwise. My friend Sokphal has been super nice about making our last couple runs together jog/walks instead of runs – you rock Sokphal!
And my track workouts lately have just been me jogging around the track and then hanging out with people in between sets, because I really miss my track buddies and our weekend long run dates – I can’t keep up with them anymore, sniff!
Boot camps and strength workouts have felt better than cardio in general, though, as has yoga, so I’ve been doing more of that and less of the running. In terms of modifying things, for now I’m just skipping any deep twisting or things that have me lying on my stomach or back for long, and not going too hard on the intensity with the cardio stuff we do. In general, though, the boot camps have felt good!
Exercise is a big stress reducer and happiness booster for me (especially since most of my workouts are social outings as well), so I’m definitely planning to keep it up as long as it feels okay! I had a fun workout this morning with my girls at Urban Athletic Club via ClassPass – you can see my bump a bit here too!
Have you been sleeping okay?
Kind of. I have been going to bed pretty early (8:30 or 9) most nights but I find myself waking up a ton, either to go to the bathroom, or because I can’t fall back asleep. Last night I had to go eat a bowl of cereal at midnight because I was so hungry – I wasn’t feeling my dinner last night and probably didn’t eat as much as I should have. Any tips for sounder sleeping while pregnant? I need to start having a big snack before bed every night, I think!
Wait, didn’t you just get a puppy? A puppy AND a baby?!
Yes, we may be insane. And we’re also planning to adopt my brother’s dog later this summer (he’s headed to grad school in the fall and can’t keep her). So yeah, we entered the year with just a cat and we are planning to end it with a cat, two dogs, and a baby. I figure if we are going to be traveling a lot less and home much more often we might as well go big or go home (or, rather, go big and stay home)… plus I like the idea of our child growing up in a fun, lively household. We’ve also heard 2 dogs is in some ways easier than 1, since they will play together/wear each other out so much. I’m definitely nervous that we are insane/taking on too much, though, so for those of you who got dogs shortly before having a child, I’d love to hear any tips/thoughts/reassurances that this was not the worst idea ever. 🙂
I’ll share more about how our new puppy Ashe is settling in tomorrow… we’ve had fun playing with her and taking her on outdoor adventures this week, and she’s also a super sweet and snuggly couch buddy. 🙂
How have you been feeling emotionally?
For the most part, I’ve been feeling really normal – I occasionally tear up at sweet country songs, but have been feeling more or less like myself. Earlier this week was the first time I started to freak out a bit – I think getting the puppy was a very small taste of what things are going to be like soon, as I was stuck at home all day by myself with her (which I don’t do well with anyway… #extrovert) and just started getting scared and overwhelmed by all the big changes we have coming up this year. But, I think I just need to be smart about knowing how to lift my spirits (social stuff, leave the house, etc.) and making sure that I continue to do all that stuff once the baby comes, too. I’m definitely going to join a bunch of local mom groups – it will be fun to find other people who are on the same timeline as I am! And as soon as I can go back to my coworking space (or maybe a closer one to home) I want to do that, too. I definitely want to keep working, if not full time then definitely part time!
And now – any guesses on the sex of the baby?? 🙂 We actually already know – we found out shortly after 10 weeks because insurance mostly covered some extra testing since I’ll be 35 (aka old/higher risk) at time of delivery. If it helps you to better guess, cravings have been: watermelon, fruit, yogurt, cheese/grilled cheese, raw veggies (especially watery ones like green pepper), milk (bonus points if chocolate), BBQ, burgers, fries, and egg sandwiches. 🙂 Aversions have been mostly meat (except the occasional BBQ and burger), savory stuff in the evenings, cooked veggies, anything too spiced/seasoned, etc.
I’ll share the sex tomorrow, along with some eats/exercise for those of you who’d rather I get back to more normal posting. 🙂
Have a great day guys, and thank you again for joining us on this journey!
