getting ready for baby, pregnancy

First Trimester Wrap Up

The first two pregnancies, I spent a lot of time reading the baby guides, browsing the websites and kept up to date every week on exactly how many millimeters the baby has grown.

This time around, I have yet to blow the dust off my trusty What To Expect guidebook. Because I know what to expect. Nausea, bloatedness, heartburn, vomit, swollen feet, incontinence, hemorrhoids, and at the end of it all, a big, fat episiotomy to take home as a present. Fun times.

Well, now that I’m officially out of the first trimester, I thought I’d do a quick round up of all the things you need to know in the first 3 months of pregnancy.

1. Gas, gas, gas

The pregnancy books make it sound so tame – you may experience some bloatedness due to the increase in progesterone. Um, understatement of the year.

The reality is that being pregnant makes you burp and fart like a drunken sailor. The awesomeness of my day is now determined by how much gas I can expel and I’ve never been this happy to pass gas from either end. I certainly don’t enjoy burping and farting in the presence of other people but it’s causing me so much discomfort that I’m past the point of modesty and decorum. Some days, I’m throwing up bile because my gut is so filled with air that something’s got to give. On multiple occasions, I even contemplated sticking a giant needle into my intestines just so I can let out the air.

I’m only glad that I don’t have to sit in an office all day because given the present state of things, let’s just say that I’m not going to be very popular with the colleagues.

2. Sleep all day

Being pregnant is exhausting. It sounds like an excuse pregnant women concoct so they can laze around and be a slug all day but no. I liken it to taking drowsy flu meds – you’re out before you even know it.

Naturally, the husband doesn’t fully understand this concept and he’s all like “you’ve been sleeping a lot lately…what do you do all day?”

“Oh, what do I do all day? Well, on top of taking care of 2 kids, I just spent the day making another human with my uterus. In fact, I made like 2 fingers and half an eyeball today. What did you do all day? Paperwork? Pffffff.”

3. All-day Sickness

Commonly known as morning sickness, this bout of nausea and loss of appetite can in fact happen throughout the day. Smells that you normally wouldn’t mind will suddenly trigger off a gag reflex and next thing you know, you’ve got your face over a toilet bowl. That is if you don’t first throw up in the middle of the street or in the car.

The good news is that this general feeling of discomfort usually disappears after the first trimester, so yay!

4. Baby wants food

Closely related to the morning sickness is the pregnancy cravings. This heightened sense of smell makes you extra picky about what you want to put in your mouth, so you end up craving for food you might not typically want to eat. In a way, it’s not really you craving for stuff, it’s the baby craving for stuff, and we all know that when it comes to making the husband go out on midnight supper runs, using the baby is a far more convincing argument.

However, in an unfortunate turn of events, I find myself averse to meat this pregnancy. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love meat. I eat all kinds of meat, including pork, beef, lamb, crocodile, squirrel, turtle and any form of poultry. And the meatier, the better.

But of late, the thought of meat makes me want to vomit in my mouth so I’ve been loading up on fruits, veggies and carbs. My mom is thrilled because she’s been telling me to eat my vegetables for 29 years and I’m finally doing it out of my own volition. Actually, it’s the baby that’s making me do it.

5. What Libido?

Most doctors will say that it’s ok to do the naughty naughty during the entire pregnancy but the truth is, the first trimester is not a good time to be getting any action in at all. There’s the exhaustion, which means that I’m literally too tired to make the sexy-time because any time I spend in my bed is going to be the sleeping-time. And then there’s the gas, which not only makes me bloatey and uncomfortable, it makes me pass gas at the most inopportune times. Let’s not even go there.

What all this means is that my libido has packed her bags and is somewhere in the region of Inner Mongolia by now.

PS. Oh, and the baby is doing great.

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19 Comments

  • Reply Yvonne February 27, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    “In fact, I made like 2 fingers and half an eyeball today. What did you do all day? Paperwork? Pffffff”

    **Thumb up**

  • Reply Esther Teo February 27, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    Congratulations on your no 3!!! Take care and enjoy your pregnancy. :)

    • Reply Daphne March 2, 2012 at 1:33 pm

      Thanks Esther! Will try to enjoy it but I’ll be happy to get through till August unscathed.

  • Reply Audrey February 27, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    Well you probably made a toe too by the end of that blog entry, you did too much work today already, now go have a VeggieDelite sub and sleep! I recently discovered if I’m too tired at night I just lie in bed, switch off the lights and give my toddler a torch. Occupies kids for a whole hour…. Try it ;)

    • Reply Daphne March 2, 2012 at 1:34 pm

      LOL nice one! And thanks for the tip, will try it sometime. :)

  • Reply Regina February 27, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    Congratulations on entering the supposed ‘Honeymoon’ phase of pregnancy… although for me, the bloatedness, swelling and gas continued – so I am clueless as to why they call it that :)

    Pregnancy for me was a breeze, I know I’m luckier than many many women… and I thank my son fervently for that! I had no morning sickness to speak of, I only had a stomach showing at 8 months, and I generally felt happy every day, much better than my usual moody me. No fatigue, no swollen nose, or aversion, despite the water retention and expulsion of gas from everywhere.

    That being said… I don’t think I want to go through it again, with baby during the first 12 months and thereafter. So I salute you for being able to do so much. Two kids, a house, a husband, all while growing a baby, too! Well done!
    Regina´s last post ..Bringing up Baby.

    • Reply Daphne March 2, 2012 at 1:36 pm

      Wow serious? Your stomach only started showing at 8 mths? Awesome.. It’s actually not so bad because the 2 big ones make the process a lot more fun and they help cheer me up when I’m stressed or hormonal

      • Reply Regina March 2, 2012 at 3:08 pm

        Yes… the rest of the time I just looked fat. Haha…

        I was so worried though – even though my gynae told me I was being silly and should be thankful for my height and long torso.

        I might do it all over again, but I do believe with 2nd pregnancies the way they are, I may not be so lucky this time round!
        Regina´s last post ..On a wonderful day like this…

  • Reply Sherry February 27, 2012 at 11:09 pm

    Hang in there! The third baby is very adaptable and fits right in with the family usually. But I remember my third pregnancy well – I was sick for 4 1/2 months instead of the usual 3 and my other 2 sons thoroughly enjoyed watching me throw up. They would follow me into the bathroom and say, “Mommy, that was awesome! Do it again!” Fun times

    • Reply Daphne March 2, 2012 at 1:39 pm

      Hahahah your boys are hilarious! I do hope you’re right about the third baby being adaptable, that would make things a lot easier

  • Reply Madeline February 28, 2012 at 9:08 am

    Oh I feel you babe! I always cringe a little inside when some mothers tell me “oh I love pregnancy my hair is so smooth and my bump is so cute. Vomit? What vomit? I feel GREAT!” while I get to look fat, pimply and tired like I havent slept in 2000 years…
    Madeline´s last post ..KL II Day 3: The Last Hurrah

    • Reply Daphne March 2, 2012 at 1:41 pm

      Hi 5 on the fat and tired bit! I did have pretty good skin during my last 2 pregnancies though.. haha don’t cringe

  • Reply zhing March 5, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    lol! you’re doing good!! amazing how you are growing 2 fingers and half a eyeball while making sure # 1 and # 2 are well-fed and loved! sending love to y’all!! xx

  • Reply Bun Bun Makeup Tips March 6, 2012 at 2:24 am

    When will you know the gender of the baby? The round-sharp stomach isn’t exactly accurate, is it?
    Bun Bun Makeup Tips´s last post ..Bun Bun’s First Birthday + Giveaway!

  • Reply Second Trimester Wrap Up — MOTHER, INC. May 31, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    […] pregnancy If I have to sum it up, my first trimester was pretty much like having to survive a brutal kungfu endurance training, but with less of the […]

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