Today I want to share with you some of my experiences during my first trimester of pregnancy...
...some of you may know and
some may not, but usually people divide a pregnancy up into three trimesters,
month 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9. I want to make a post about each of my trimesters,
starting today :)
For many women, including
myself, the first trimester is the hardest one. There is one main reason for
this: Most people do not know that you are pregnant! No one can tell from
looking at your belly! Maybe you do not want to tell people yet, because you
want to wait until the "critical phase" is over... well and because
of all of this, many women feel so alone!
The problem is that even
though no one knows about the huge miracle going on in your body, your body is
working like heck. I felt so tired and so fragile in these first three months
and I could not explain to people why. I wanted to sleep all day but I had to
work and I didn't want to tell my boss yet that I am pregnant so I had to
pretend that I am good. I felt so sick when I smelled certain things but I did
not yet want to tell the colleague who was having this smelly lunch package.
This is why the first trimester is so difficult. You are so alone with your
changing body and all these weird emotions coming up.
For this reason, my first
advice is: find other pregnant women or young mothers to talk to!
It feels so wonderful when
you can share your experiences with someone, when you can talk with someone who
understands how you feel and with someone who has been there too or maybe even
is there too.
Next to the emotional level,
there is your body which is making all these weird things. I felt sick for
almost five weeks in a row (even though I was lucky enough that I did not have
to throw up one single time) and I felt so tired!
You know that I eat a rather
healthy diet but in these first weeks of pregnancy, I just wanted to eat pasta,
pesto and chocolate every day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got sick when
just thinking of green smoothies or veggie dishes. I just wanted everything I
would call unhealthy. It took me a long time before I allowed myself to eat
what I felt like eating - and with the day I felt better! So I learned to
listen to my body and to do what it tells me to do (even though that included
eating pasta and pesto for 5 days in a row, in the morning, for lunch and for
dinner!).
Another thing that made me
suffer was that I was soooo tired. Especially in the first weeks, your body
needs so much energy to create this whole new person in your belly, so
sometimes there is just not enough energy left for you. This was difficult for
me to accept, since I am usually a very energetic person. I did not want to
allow myself to slow down and take a nap every afternoon. I wanted to continue
like always. Well, as soon as I changed my attitude and I began to relax, to do
less and to slow down, I felt sooo much better!
So there are two more things
I can advise:
Eat what you feel like
eating!
Take some time off
whenever you can! Relax!
By the end of the first
trimester, some people could tell from looking at my belly that I am pregnant
and this was such a great feeling! I also began to tell more and more people
and I shared the news with you :) I feel so much better since! When people know
you are pregnant, they act differently and you begin to really enjoy your
pregnancy. Now its okay not to carry the groceries anymore, cause people
understand why you do not do it. Now it’s okay to sleep for 30 minutes after
lunch, cause people know it’s for your baby. And now it’s okay to say no to an
invitation or event, because people understand you need to take care of your
belly. For me, this was the time, when I truly began to enjoy pregnancy and I
know from many others that they felt the same way.
Now that I am already in my
sixth months, I really really enjoy my pregnancy. I actually LOVE to be
pregnant now. I could not have imagined this a few months ago! I do no longer
feel sick but rather great and I love to see my belly growing... and I love
when people look at my belly in the streets and I can tell from their face that
they are thinking "oh, this woman seems to be pregnant".
On the one hand I wish we could just skip the
first three months of pregnancy and begin from month four or five on, but then
I also think there is a good reason for why the first months are so difficult
to most women: our baby wants us to learn from the beginning that from now on
we have to pay attention to it, no matter what. Even though we cannot see it,
we should pay attention to it and do what is best for it. My little wonder
forced me to sleep a lot, to relax a lot, to slow down and to eat what I felt
like eating, and it thereby showed me that from now on, I cannot only focus on
myself any more but I have to take the baby into consideration all the time! I
am somehow grateful for this lesson.
And I also have to say that I enjoyed every single day of the first trimester, even though I felt sick and tired, because I knew its this little wonderful soul in my belly who is making me feel tired and sick. And I am just so grateful and happy about this wonder that I am completly fine with feeling sick or whatsoever ;-)
Well you guys, these are my
thoughts and my feelings about the first three months of pregnancy.
I would
love to read about your experiences if you have any :)
