‘First Trimester Blues’

Some people breeze through their entire pregnancy without even an iota of discomfort, but the not-so-lucky ones have the ups and downs, while the really unlucky ones have issues from conception to birth and beyond. For me, after the morning sickness had eased up there were just one or two annoying tidbits. At one point I thought about moving into my bathroom permanently since I had to go there so very often. I was told that the increased urge to urinate could be due to an expanding volume of blood circulating in my body, which in turn increases the amount of urine produced. Plus I was in the habit of making sure that I had my eight glasses of water per day so that did not help either.

With the morning sickness gone, I was hungry all the time and, according to my husband, my palate was quite expensive. I seem to have been craving roast duck in plum sauce all the time. To appease me, he made an effort to get it for me a few times, while bringing me home endless supplies of doungs or pomme-surette (small Caribbean fruit), tamarind, tangerines and white guava.

Heartburn was another irritating fact of pregnancy that I had to deal with. This I am told was due to hormonal changes throughout my body. I had to adjust my meal size … instead of having 3 regular meals, I had several small ones. That helped a bit but Tums chewable tablets made me a believer and a lifelong fan!

I was also plagued with unbelievable fatigue. Tired, tired, all the time. My doctor suggested that I stock up on Gatorade and I did. I was extremely exhausted but once again I was told that this was normal and that it was my body’s way of telling me that I needed to rest a bit more. I was further advised to start sleeping on my left side to help relieve pressure on major blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. My favorite pregnancy website (babycenter.com) suggested using a body pillow to help to comfortably support my body. It did help!

With the myriad changes taking place, including the weight gain, my mom and one or two other persons started suggesting that I may be pregnant. But I never confirmed or denied their suspicions since my husband and I decided not to share our news until I safely made it through the first trimester. Thankfully, the trimester safely passed and I could not wait to tell the world. That alone made up for all the not so pleasant pregnancy experiences so far, and at that point I almost forgot about the indigestion, the insatiable appetite, the weight gain, the fatigue, the sleep discomforts, and the frequent urination, until I had to rush off to the bathroom one more time!