First Trimester of Pregnancy Diary- Week by Week

From the second I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted to keep a diary of everything I experienced each week in my pregnancy. I found the easiest way to do this was by keeping a note on my phone and just jotting down anything I was feeling or noticing. I started with the first trimester then managed to keep it up the whole time and I'm SO glad I did! I'll share each one as I finish them, too. I kept most of my entries bulleted and short, and there is probably some TMI in this so read with caution lol. Just tryna keep it real!

First Trimester Diary

3 weeks (didn’t know) 

• beyond exhausted. Intermittent nausea. Bloated. Thick discharge. 

4 weeks (found out)

• no energy, random nausea, huge painful boobs, bloated and gassy. Still thick discharge. 

5 weeks

• boobs are HUGE and painful. My nips are ultra sensitive. I'm weak. Shaky. Exhausted. Sorta sick feeling randomly? My belly is so bloated. I'm ultra gassy. My uterus feels.... heavy??? 
• Very sick feeling 12/2, boobs not quite as painful. Frequent urination started today 
• Felt great 12/3 for some reason? Maybe cause I ate crackers every time I got up to pee the night before (3-4x) 
• 12/4 felt blah until I got my sea sickness bands and put them on them felt great and didn’t even wake up that night but then felt like shit on 12/5. Horrible taste in my mouth started a few days ago. Sour. Everything is sour afterwards. Heartburn started this week. 
• Still thick discharge. 

6 weeks

• Nausea, sour taste, exhaustion, heartburn. 
• 12/7 took zofran in late afternoon 
• 12/8 no nausea all day. Insatiable hunger. Must have over exerted myself cause I got very shaky and lightheaded right before lunch. Felt very close to passing out twice
• Sense of smell has increased 10 fold. 
• 12/10 and still not much if any nausea. Tons of heartburn. Tons of salty food cravings. 
• 12/11 tired, some heartburn, very short of breath, otherwise fine???? Is something wrong???? ????
• Still thick discharge 

7 weeks

• Heartburn isn’t as bad. No nausea. Super bloating. Ultra constipated. Weak and shaky spells if I go too long between eating. Trying to eat more protein and it seems to be helping. 
• Can NOT keep my blood sugar stable. Trying to eat more protein but I keep crashing over and over. ????
• Tear up quickly over anything kid/baby related. 
• Not quite as short of breath
• Constantly hungry but also always full????
• End of 7 weeks: got my libido back a little (been gone since week 2.5 lol)
• Still thick discharge. 

8 weeks

• severe constipation, ultra bloating, thick discharge, starving every 2 hours. First OBGYN appt. Everything looked good on ultrasound and blood work! Found out I’m O+ blood type. 

9 weeks

• Same as 8 weeks 
• So. Tired. Will I ever have energy again? ????
• The exhaustion is real this week. The worst it’s been. 
• Started taking colace. A savior. And culturelle. 

10 weeks

• stomach pain from constipation. Feels like my abs are bruised. 
• Definitely showing now
• Colace helping. Still so tired. Can’t function without a nap
• Heartburn is back. 
• Stomach feels distended. So tight. So painful. So uncomfortable. 
• 10w6d- scariest thing yet. Took 2 colace cause I still couldn’t go, and within 30 min I was doubled over in pain with unbelievable cramping. I could tell it was my bowels so I wasn’t too freaked out but still super scary. I tried to eat my dinner and just barely finished it and cleaned up before staggering to the bed and putting my heating pad on. I was writhing in pain and unable to catch my breath from the cramps. They came in waves all along my colon and I finally realized I was so dehydrated that it was causing me to cramp from the colace pulling what little water I had into my intestines. I texted Derek to make me a liquid iv asap and hoped he’d read it before I passed out or died or something. I think was nearly hyperventilating. Then Aurora touched me and scared the shit out of me which made me tense up and cramp so hard I thought I’d explode and I started bawling my eyes out. I finally called Derek and realized it had been 30 min since I texted him that I’d been laying there immobilized by pain. All I could choke out through my tears was that I needed help. He came running and I told him I was cramping so bad I couldn’t breathe and to check his texts so he did and went to get me the drink. Within 10 min of drinking 1/4 of it or less, the cramping stopped. I’m still laying here shaking slowly drinking the rest of it but that was absolutely terrifying and horrible. I’m going to have to force myself to try to drink more water somehow. This can never happen again. 

11 weeks

• My guts hurt. They feel bruised? Achy? Like I did too many crunches but with my large intestine muscles? Still constipated. Drinking more water now so hopefully that will help. 
• I think it’s from my abs stretching. Super uncomfy weird feeling 
• So bloated. So uncomfortable. ????????????????????
• Realized it’s probably the iron in my vitamins helping to constipate me. Getting another kind to try. 
• 11 weeks 4/5 days- got some energy back!!
• 11 w 6 d after 3 days miralax and 5 days colace, still no poop. Had coffee and yogurt this morning and finally went!!!!!! Not a ton but more than I had been. Thank the lord ????????

12 weeks

• energy is basically back as long as I don’t overdo it at work (then I’m beat). Still constipated but started a new prenatal without iron at 11w 5d so hopefully it helps soon. 
• Second obgyn appt. Baby is measuring right on track and has heart rate of 160! Found out my ovaries are very enlarged. Doing blood work to rule out liver and kidney disease and thyroid disease. They’re both 10cm across with TONS of follicles. No wonder I’ve been so bloated ???? there’s 2 giant balls of organs in me that aren’t supposed to be that big lolol. My bloating and constipation are worsened by them being so big, too. I have another ultrasound in 2 weeks now to check on them. They’re concerned about ovarian torsion at this point but the chance of that happening lessens the bigger my uterus gets to push them and hold them in place. 
• Very uncomfortable sleeping. Not as hungry. Feel twinges from ovaries which is disconcerting. 
• Less constipation. Now, super loose poop. ????

13 weeks

Got results from blood work from last week. My thyroid levels are normal. Liver enzymes are elevated so they're doing a full hepatitis panel on me this week to rule that out. My pregnancy hormones are normal. But they're also referring me to a maternal fetal medicine specialist in Birmingham for a second set of eyes on baby to make sure everything continues to stay okay with them. Gunna ask to see the local MFM doc to make things easier. Also going to ask all my questions. 

• back for my blood work for hep panel 
• Second blood work showed liver enzymes almost back in normal range (no hepatitis! Yay! Lol) but now I have low bilirubin which doesn’t really mean or do anything but it’s another liver thing so basically my liver is not living it’s best life while pregnant ???? they said they recommended the MFM doc in Birmingham because they’re more experienced and have a better bedside manner which I’m totally fine with. I’m also double checking that my insurance is covering all this ???? 

First Trimester Staple Symptoms:

Craving salty/savory. Unbelievable bloating after eating anything. Exhaustion. Aversion to cooking smells. Weirdly ANTI hello fresh. Can’t even think about it. Don’t want to drink water for some reason. Also no sweets really. Except for pudding and yogurt. 

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I hope this was interesting or helped to make some other expectant mama feel less alone! I can do a whole post about my swollen ovaries if anyone is interested and I might do it anyways just for documentation because when I was trying to find more info about it in the moment, I couldn't really find any. Pregnancy so far has been a crazy ride for me. I feel like my own science experiment which is cool/scary/weird/fun. :)

Thanks for reading!

-JT