Hi friends! I thought I would do a little pregnancy update about what I’ve experienced in the first trimester of being pregnant with our baby. Pregnancy has been a really cool thing and a bit different than I expected, but in a good way. If that makes any sense? 
I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect because so many of my friends have been pregnant and the one thing I learned was that it’s different for everyone and every pregnancy. Hope you enjoy a few photos, as well! Ps. Here’s where we made our big announcement.
13 weeks pregnant. This was the week my belly really made its appearance.
Cravings: Any kind of berries, cheese, smoothies, nectarines, Cape Cod sea salt vinegar potato chips and just about any other fruit. Especially early on with my nausea, I had a lot of food aversions. Meat pretty much sounded disgusting to me and cooking was difficult.
What I’m reading: The old classic, “What to expect when you’re expecting” and “Bringing Up Bebe.”
What I’ve learned: Let me just say that I’m now more than ever a firm believer that it takes a village to get through life. God didn’t put us here on this earth to walk through things alone. He gave us community to celebrate our joys and share in our burdens. With that being said, I have treasured more than ever the sweet friends, young and old; family and community that God has placed in my life. He gave us people to talk to about our struggles, worries and happy times. Find those people and be grateful for them, because life is tough and you were never meant to walk through it alone. I know that this little GIRL (yes, a girl!!) is already so loved and supported. I pray every day that she grows healthy, loves the Lord with all her heart and that He’ll always place people in her life to point her in the direction she should go. The other thing I’ve been learning lately is that you really have very little control over pregnancy and how things are going to go. All you can do is surrender, trust that God’s got a plan and He has it under control even if we don’t. 😉 I have a feeling I’ll be working on learning this one for a while…
14 weeks pregnant and celebrating the end of the 1st trimester!
Favorite memory: Finding out we were pregnant while visiting Iceland was a really cool memory and very surreal to be in the midst of what I like to call a magical snow globe wonderland. I also loved getting to tell our family about the baby by surprising them with gifts and cards on Memorial Day weekend. That was such a special weekend I’ll always treasure. Babies bring so much joy!! It was also fun getting to tell friends over Facetime or in person. I highly recommend telling as many people as possible in person before posting your news on social media, because it’s a lot of fun to see their excitement. I also loved finding out that two of my dear friends are also pregnant and due within a month of me, so that’s been super fun to share. I’ve loved watching my belly all of the sudden (around week 13) just pop and it’s been growing a little every day since. It’s also been really cool to see how our marriage has grown in just these past three months and how God has deepened our love for each other as we walk through this new adventure. Our gender reveal party is one of my all time favorite memories (even though that was technically in our second trimester). But, more about that in my next post.
It’s a…GIRL!
Symptoms: When I first got pregnant, I had some of the soreness and tiredness a lot of people talk about. But, I was actually surprised by the fact that this “pregnancy tiredness” was just about equal to the “first few weeks of school year tiredness.” I thought that was kind of funny. To combat the fatigue, I would just aim to get lots of sleep at night and nap after school. I’d also try to stay really active, walking and doing yoga. Most of my first trimester was the end of the school year, so it was busy and kept me occupied. My morning sickness was kept manageable with medicine (1/2 Unisom and B6 vitamin works wonders). For me, morning sickness began right at 6 weeks and ended just now around 15-16 weeks. Acne has been an on and off pregnancy symptom for me. I’ve had some weeks with round ligament pain and a few medical concerns. My emotions and hormones were a bit of a mess for a week or two but they leveled out much sooner than I thought.
Least favorite part of being pregnant: Honestly, I’ve really enjoyed being pregnant most days! I’ve felt overwhelmed with gratefulness and love. I would say the hardest part so far has been the “new mom anxiety” where your mind just kinda goes crazy thinking up worst case scenarios, worrying about miscarriage, something being wrong with baby etc. As I mentioned, I’ve had a few medical concerns and those have added some anxiety beyond what would be normal pregnancy concerns. I’ve had to really talk it out with my doctor, family and friends, spend time praying and focus on what God says about worrying. This verse has been my go-to and stuck to my fridge for the last couple weeks to remind me what God says when I start to feel inadequate or anxious about the unknown or things I can’t control.
Philipians 4:6-9 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
One of my sweet friends and I wrote out some Bible verses together to encourage her after her baby was born, and she gave me one of them to help encourage me in this time. If you’re going through some kind of worry or anxiety too, I highly recommend writing out and focusing on verses that apply to what you’re feeling.
Isaiah 43:5 “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.”
Baby name: So, we’ve decided to keep our Baby Girl’s name a secret until she’s born for several reasons. That decision has definitely been met with some mixed comments (haha), but welcome to parenthood, right!? People have opinions about everything. 😉
Favorite maternity finds: Anything from Target or Old Navy maternity. I’ve mostly been doing the rubber band trick on pants or wearing dresses. My friend told me about these Belly Bands that allow you to still wear your normal pants and/or provide extra support as your belly grows.
Baby items I’m loving at the moment: I’ve been working on my registry and talking with other moms about what items they really love, so I’ll definitely be posting more about that later. But at the moment, I love everything from the Little Unicorn. All of their patterns are just so adorable. Baby Girl will definitely have a lot of this stuff in her nursery. I’m also loving the Jenny Lind Crib! They have such pretty colors and I love the vintage look of the crib.
Here’s to looking forward to the 2nd trimester as I am now in the midst of week 16! I’m looking forward to feeling her move and her anatomy scan. If you think of it, please keep my health and Baby Girl’s health in your prayers!
Cheers!
Aubrey