When we found out we were expecting our first it was so exciting! When I was pregnant with my first child, the pregnancy symptoms hit me pretty hard. I felt like my body was in “shock” with all the hormonal changes. After meeting with my OBGYN, she advised that this was normal for me and that some of these changes may go away after pregnancy.
Here are a few things I experienced in my first pregnancy:
I was not able to do the following: ( these are things I personally experienced in pregnancy. Everyone has different symptoms. This is different for every woman).
- Wash dishes. No really. The smell of the food and soap made me want to hurl. I would get so queasy and nauseated.
- Purchase, wash, or cook raw meats. Now you are probably thinking I did not cook while pregnant. I cut back BIG time because I just could not handle it. I would cook and pack my husband’s lunch/dinner for work which included hearty meals but stopped due to the overbearing symptoms during my first and second trimesters.
- Stay up later if I had to. I was working during my first pregnancy and had some evening hours. It was a struggle and I was exhausted. Extra tired.
- Eat all the things I WANTED to. In pregnancy you should be aware of the foods and drinks you consume. Before I became pregnant, I had decided to abstain from alcohol. This was a personal conviction from the Lord so when I was pregnant their were no desires or struggles with alcohol. However, certain foods I had to avoid. I love food!
No babies to one baby….
I have to say, it is something you have to adapt to. Your body changes. Mentally and emotionally you will change. My husband and I were both in agreement on keeping our marriage and relationship strong and the PRIORITY. What do I mean by that?
Although we were having a baby, we did not want our child to be the CENTER of our marriage. We did not want him to take over “everything”. Parenting needs to be a healthy balance. My husband and I were on the SAME page when it came to this and still are today.
Overall, going from no kids to ONE was an adjustment! Here are a few things that were challenging:
- Adapting to breastfeeding.
- Learned how to sleep train and the different strategies out there and what worked best for us.
- Inviting a baby into our family and making a healthy schedule for us all
- Figuring out childcare because I was working full time. A blessing that I was able to take long maternity leave from my job. My mother helped after I returned to work so Cupcake was able to be home until my husband and I felt it was a good transition for him to be grounded in a solid childcare/school.
- Sleep regressions. There are many resources out there about this. However, the 4-month regression was very difficult for me. Cupcake’s 4-month regression lasted for almost 3-4 weeks. It felt FOREVER. I was still educating myself about sleep training and how baby sleep worked ( more posts on this later). When I think back, I feel like this could have been handled much better because when our other babies joined the team, it was a breeze ( much of that comes from my experience and educating myself on baby/toddler and child sleep).
