My Pregnancy Story
Preconception & First Trimester
First, let me just say I think pregnancy and this stage of life of building my family is absolutely incredible. I LOVE being in this phase but I also hate it. Although taboo, I do think it's important to share that not every pregnancy goes swimmingly well and oftentimes is not very enjoyable. I want to share honestly because I know there are some other mamas out there that do experience the hard and sometimes it just helps to know you aren’t alone.
Also I want to recognize those who are struggling to become pregnant or keep a pregnancy. You are not alone and you are not forgotten, and if you find it is not the right time to read about pregnancy then please honor that space for yourself. It’s more than okay to click the back tab. <3
I have seen some really hard dark days of my pregnancies, and it has helped me immensely to know that I am not alone (and I find it hard to come by those types of stories). This pregnancy has gone better than the previous two, so maybe it's not as relatable to some experiencing the hard- I’ve been there too and there is hope! So if you are a new mama or mama to be, I hope your story is different. But if you find yourself in a place like me, you’re not alone.
Preconception:
I always knew I wanted a lot of kids (that number is shrinking) but after having two I knew there was a chance we’d go for another one. I started preparing my body a year or more prior to getting pregnant. I focused heavily on nutrient dense foods and removing toxins/parasites from my body, and supporting my liver. These can all be reasons for morning sickness, and also building up nutrient stores in advance is important because in the case you can’t eat well or anything in the first trimester, your body will use nutrient stores to fuel the baby. Additionally, there are quite a few vital organs and systems that begin forming on a baby much earlier than a pregnancy test will even appear positive (like that neural tube). I also was cognizant of reducing stress and exercising. Exercising didn’t go as well as I wanted to, but I am certain I continued to move my body. Blood sugar balance became a priority and I used a glucose monitor to learn how my body reacted to different foods that I eat.
Although I’ve already swapped out most of my personal care and household products for safer and non-toxic versions, I wanted to be more intentional about reducing my toxic load during this time as well. I made a few more swaps in our home and personal care.
Preconception does not get talked about much, but it is so important and can make a big difference in your pregnancy and postpartum experiences and even the long-term health of your baby. I recommend focusing on preconception a minimum of 4 months prior to conceiving, but even up to 1-2 years can be beneficial. Looking back, I wish I would have run some labs closer to conceiving, particularly full iron and thyroid panels.
If you are in a preconception period where you are hoping to conceive in the next year and a half or less – you need my Fertility Nutrition Plan! Grab it here!
First Trimester:
Finding Out:
I have tracked my cycles for roughly 7 years, so I pretty much knew right away. My morning temps were high for longer than usual, and my blood sugar readings started getting wacky. I decided I didn’t even need to take a test…eventually, a week or two later, I wanted to “make it official” so I took a test, but there was not much surprise when it read positive.
I was very encouraged that I felt so normal! Some slight nausea came, but was the kind that could be remedied by eating a cracker (I’ve never experienced such a thing)! It was still freaking miserable and felt really gross, but it didn’t keep me from doing most of my normal life (as long as I had a bag full of snacks every time I went).
When I was about 8 or 9 weeks, the misery kicked in. I became so nauseous. I vomited…a lot. Some days were better than others. There were days that required me to be in bed all day long, when the only thing I could do was lay down…I couldn’t even look at a screen. On those days I wouldn’t really eat, but the hunger increased my misery, so it was like a lose-lose situation. Other days I could carry on with my daily activities (minus grocery shopping, cooking, eating, or doing any extra chores). Even on my “good” days, I was still getting in bed by 4-7pm every evening because the nausea was very consistent in the evenings. I did not experience any ongoing cravings or aversions though, I had a few occasional one time cravings and felt averse to some things sometimes, but not like the ones in my first pregnancy. Oftentimes a normal meal sounded disgusting to me, protein was hard/impossible, and I could not tolerate water. I did eat plain corn tortilla chips, Simple Mills crackers, toast, and baked potatoes.
Emotionally, those hard days were very hard. It’s hard to accept that I can’t take care of my kids, my home, be a present friend, wife, etc. It also felt very heavy to not know what was in store for the rest of my pregnancy…I was often wondering “What if this is my new normal for the rest of this pregnancy? How long will this last? Will it get better? Or worse?” It was hard to be excited about a new baby because I was so disappointed in how I felt and was barely surviving. And of course it was too early to feel any movement or a bump or anything like that.
Sometimes I got to take walks outside, which was encouraging to move my body and be outside in beautiful fall weather. I felt like that made me feel a little better physically too.
Toward the end of the first trimester, I started to have fewer terrible days. I did a few workouts (that actually made me feel worse), ate normally some days, and occasionally vomited without a whole day of vomiting and laying in bed. (I think there still were a few of those, but not nearly as many). I started being able to make a few dinners and that made me feel really good…just to feel some level of normalcy in my day and responsibilities.
I was feeling more encouraged emotionally, but the hard days became even more hard because I had really wanted them to end by then, they always caught me by surprise, and I was still worried they would continue throughout the pregnancy.
Sometime during all of this, I decided this baby is a girl. I was very sick with both of my pregnancies, but something about this one felt just like my first (which was a girl pregnancy), and that mama instinct was real and strong. So, girl was my guess from early on!
Supplements
I take the Needed Prenatal (and you can read more about why I chose that one here) and it requires 8 pills, I also take a Prenatal DHA, and a few other supplements (BetaTCP, Phosphozyme drops, Phosphatidylcholine) to support my digestion and nausea, so I did not get them all in every day. Needed does make a powdered version of their prenatal for people who can’t swallow pills easily, but it has a strong vanilla flavor so while I found that easier to get down sometimes, but I wasn’t usually eating food conducive to mixing it in. I added magnesium citrate to support bowels, and a magnesium glycinate, LMNT electrolytes when I could tolerate, and plenty of extra B6 (in the form of pyridoxal-5-phosphate or P5P). I did also have to start two medications to help control my vomiting and keep me out of the hospital. I hate to admit it, but there are people out there who need medicine to stay out of the hospital…and so there are cases where the reward is greater than the risk. And I am one of those people.
Stay tuned for second and third trimester!
I would love to hear from you! Have you experienced a hard/very sick pregnancy or known someone who has? Have you ever considered the “preconception” phase before?
Resources:
Needed (use code WELLANDWILD)
My Pregnancy Supplement Recommendations
Perfect Supplements Collagen and Beef Liver pills
Labs for Preconception