They say all pregnancies are different, and I've definitely felt that to be true! When I was pregnant with my son I remember feeling tired and a little nauseas but it was never enough to really interfere with my days, at the time I was juggling finishing my studies and setting up my business and was able to continue with these things despite feeling a bit off. However, this time, I've felt absolutely floored by the fatigue, all day nausea and headaches and have felt like little more than a blob in bed up until the last two weeks. A girl this time? Maybe, but it seems no matter the sex, symptoms can vary with each pregnancy. We decided to decline scans and blood tests for the first trimester, so there was an element of of apprehension and a little anxiety about how things where travelling. I'd planned to get my HCG levels checked fortnightly but feeling so crumy the last thing I wanted to do was go and get a blood test! So I just had to trust in the process and have some faith. We booked in to see my midwife Jan from MAMA who was our midwife last time, and walking through those doors brought back so many special memories, not only of my days there in my last pregnancy and post partum but also my time their working as a Naturopath. It's a special place to me and they are a wonderful team of midwives dedicated to giving women the best care possible. At my first check up I was about 6 weeks, so we mainly chatted about my ideas around where I wanted to birth my baby this time and any questions I had.
The second visit, at 12 weeks was much more fun as we got to hear our little ones heartbeat on the doppler for the first time which brought me to tears and eased my anxieties about everything being okay in there! We are all so excited and my son loves talking about how big the baby is, what it's doing and all the ways he is going to help once bub is born which is so lovely and nice to share with him, he is going to make a great big brother! My belly has already started to show a little which is way earlier than first time around and I'm looking forward to it growing and feeling movement over the next month!
This pregnancy has felt very different so far so I wanted to share some of the things I have done during this trimester to ease my physical and emotional discomfort:
- Dreaded Nausea! - All day nausea was a real pain, so what I found helped was plenty of water, rest, ginger tea, nux vomica homeopathic and eating lots of crackers such as quinoa crackers and black rice crackers, I even had some pepper crackers next to my bed for night time munching! Trying to eat lots of protein snacks to balance my blood sugar seemed to help too such as raw almonds, greek yoghurt, hommus, eggs etc as I noticed I felt worse on an empty stomach. Thankfully this eased off around 10 weeks, then it was just random bouts of nausea mainly around dinner time.
- Oh so tired! - To be honest I slept a lot, I would have afternoon naps and I would be in bed early as I just felt exhausted all the time. Resting helped but so did things like getting fresh air, I'd often sit out on our deck even if it was cold, just to get some good air into me plus I also made sure I took my iron daily and would take a Magnesium powder in the afternoon to help give me an extra boost of energy and balance my blood sugar levels. The fatigue started to ease off around week 11.
- Cramping - The cramping really got me anxious, as it does for many women, knowing that cramping can be a sign of impending miscarriage. It was never too bad but definitely enough to make me worry on occassion, so I would use heat packs on my abdomen, drink chamomile tea and take 7 drops of Cramp Bark tincture as needed to relax smooth muscle and these things all helped soon after taking them and eased my mind.
- Concern - I was feeling concerned and apprehensive in the early weeks and really just couldn't wait to get 'over the hump' of 12 weeks, so I made myself a flower essence blend with essences for confidence, fear, worry and creativity. I feel that taking this daily definitely helped ease those worries and get me through.
- Supplements - I have been taking a pregnancy multi vitamin with Folinic Acid, the activated form of Folic Acid because I have a defect of the MTHR gene, the gene that controls blood clotting and folic acid metabolism. I have been taking Iron, Vegan Omega 3 DHA and Digestive Enzymes.
- Diet - Although my appetite was greatly reduced I was still trying to eat my usual diet with a focus on upping the greens, I've been putting them into smoothies and we have been eating more salads lately to try and get my greens in but most days look a little like granola and greek yoghurt with ground chia for breakfast, a smoothie with almond milk, hemp oil, banana, baby spinach and blueberries for a snack, almonds/cashews, black rice crackers with hommus, left overs for lunch or a vietnamese style roll packed with pickles (random pregnancy craving!), saurkraut, cheese, salad greens, cucumber and anything else i can fit in! Dinner is often things like mexican, curries, stir frys etc and I've been letting my cravings for things like chocolate and potatoes creep in but I'll keep that in check now that I'm feeling better, although I am all for letting yourself have treats, complete restriction can cause all kinds of other issues for your mental wellbeing!
- Movement - There was not much exercise in the first month as I was so tired but in the last month I started to get back into walking, a bit of pre natal yoga at home from YogaGlo (great website) and even started swimming with my husband at the pool. Now that my energy has picked up and the nausea subsided I plan to pick up the pace in the second trimester.
I'm so happy to be past the first trimester, feeling much better (although I still need my afternoon nap!) and everything going well so stay tuned for my second trimester reflections and tips!