5 Unexpected Things From My First Trimester

Like planning a wedding or buying a house, having a baby is one of those things that you don’t really need to know much about until it applies to you. And when it does, there’s a lot to learn. As soon as the pregnancy test turned positive, I started doing my homework: I ordered baby books, compiled questions for every doctor’s visit, and consulted my girl friends on everything from stretch marks to strollers. But there were still more than a few surprises. Now that I’m well into my second trimester, I figured I’d share some of the things from the first three months that I wasn’t expecting while expecting...

1. My new bedtime was 8:30 p.m. I was anticipating morning sickness and nausea—which luckily, I never experienced—but I wasn’t expecting what I’ll call evening exhaustion. As soon as I got home from work, I had no energy to do anything besides sit on the couch and wait for Nick to bring me my new favorite dinner, Chipotle.

2. My body changed almost immediately—but not in the way I expected. Much to my surprise, I went up two cup sizes seemingly overnight. It’s kind of like getting to try a boob job on for size. No complaints here!

3. By the end of the day, I’d often acquired what appeared to be a baby bump. I soon realized it was only food—digestion majorly slows down—and would wake up looking normal the next morning. This made for some not-so-fun situations. Some people (as in my super-excited parents) would be convinced I was “showing” and want to touch my belly, to which I’d say defensively, “That’s not a baby. It’s Chipotle!”

4. My girl friends quickly became my best sources of information. Sure, there’s my doctor, but he doesn’t know how to use a hair tie to make your skinny jeans fit. Also, I’m pretty sure you can’t text your doctor in the middle of the night with things like, “I’m Googling ‘Gisele pregnant’ and eating cookies. Normal?” And if you did, he wouldn’t say, “Totally. Try ‘Kate Middleton’ and brownie bites.”

5. Even though I was tired, my body was clearly changing, and What To Expect When You’re Expecting was now on our coffee table, it didn’t feel real yet. Even when we saw our little nugget on the ultrasound and heard the heartbeat, it only felt a tiny bit real. If I had a dollar for every time I randomly said, “OMG, I can’t believe I’m pregnant!” to Nick, we’d already have put a major dent in the baby’s college fund.

In addition to the perfect card (above) sent from one of my best friends, here are a few more memories from the first trimester:

The spare room where Nick keeps his stuff will soon become the nursery. While Nick was out of town, I moved his clothes out of his closet and hung up this onesie. 

I also found baby’s first hoodie! Not to be outdone, Nick then showed up with a Google hoodie and this onesie.

New reading material plus a fun pregnancy journal.

Our little one’s profile. We can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or a girl!

P.S. Our pregnancy announcement featuring our firstborn.