First Trimester Lessons

I definitely learned some important things during my first trimester of pregnancy--things I didn't know before experiencing pregnancy :) Here are a few of them:


1. Cravings are real.

Never again will I think that pregnant women are just using their excuse of pregnancy to eat the foods that they really like but feel guilty eating when they aren't pregnant. I couldn't believe how hungry I was during my first 12 weeks of pregnancy, but more than that, how most of the time when I was really hungry, there was only one single food item that would sound good to me. For awhile there, I would get a certain food in my head that sounded good, and literally thinking about any other food would make me feel like I was going to throw up. The strange part was that that "one food" changed almost daily. So I started making a list at about week 5 of all of the foods that I craved during my first trimester of pregnancy!

• fried pickles
• regular pickles
• pickles dipped in ranch dressing
• green olives
• black olives
• banana peppers straight from the jar
• nachos from Taco Bell
• hot pretzels
• oranges
• macaroni and cheese
• eggs
• sausage
• bacon
• grapefruit juice
• noodles
• french fries
• bbq ribs
• chicken strips
• cottage cheese
• swiss cheese
• chips and dip
• Casa salad
• spaghetti with hot sauce on it (weird, I know)
• cream cheese
• spinach and artichoke dip

Most of my cravings have gone away now (except for grapefruit juice, which I drink practically all day every day!)

2. My husband is amazing.

Ok, so I already knew this one. But my first trimester of pregnancy simply reaffirmed that, yes indeed, Aaron is the most amazing husband I can imagine.

The day we found out I was pregnant, he went and got pizza and breadsticks to celebrate, and also came home with an assortment of hand-made dark chocolate items from a chocolate shop in town!

He also made many, many, many special trips to the store to buy just about all of the items I listed above at one point or another!

(He had to do quite a bit of research to find a restaurant who sold fried pickles!)

But most of all, the weeks that I was feeling the sickest, Aaron did absolutely everything around our house, with our kids, and for me. He did dishes, mopped, swept, fed the kids bottles, changed diapers, put the kids to bed, brought me drinks and crackers while I laid on the couch, went grocery shopping, made meals, and still kept up with his homework and reading. Did I mention that he is amazing?

3. Some things that I liked or loved before I was pregnant suddenly made me gag. 

Such as:

• cereal
• some oriental foods
• the smell and taste of coffee (Note to anyone who lives on our floor: this may explain why you saw Aaron making coffee out in the hall or in the bathroom down the hall for a few weeks :))
• brushing my teeth

4. I cry much more easily as a pregnant woman than I do when I'm not pregnant. 

Take this story for instance: I took Israel to his 1 month checkup at the doctor's office. When I arrived there, the receptionist said, "I'm really sorry, but the doctor is running about two hours behind today, and we are going to have to have you come back another day." I have no idea why, but I started sobbing. But while I was crying, I was thinking, "Why in the world am I crying about this????" The receptionist immediately started comforting me, told me to sit down, and said she would go talk to the doctor. She came back about 30 seconds later and said, "The doctor will see you! You don't need to be upset!" I was so embarrassed, but at least Israel got to see the doctor that day, I guess :)

5. You can sleep 14 hours a day and lay on the couch for 4 more hours that same day...and still be tired. 

Thankfully, my extreme tiredness only lasted a few weeks.

6. The feeling of knowing that I have another human life living inside of me is the most amazing feeling in the world. 

I am so thankful to have the honor and blessing of knowing this feeling!

So those are the things that I learned during my first trimester of pregnancy. There will probably be many more lessons to come along the way :)