The Woes and Triumphs...So Far

We just made the big announcement so by now, everyone knows that Shelby and I are expecting our first baby! My due date is on June 6, 2014 and we couldn't be more excited! This puts me in week 14 so I'm just at the beginning of the second trimester.

Since I've never been pregnant before and I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing, I have really been trying to prepare for this baby and the pregnancy by reading articles, open forums, and asking advice from other moms. What should I expect this week? What works best for this? What do I need to prepare for this trimester?...And so on. The one thing that I have learned is that every woman is different and every pregnancy is different. If I could guess at what a really rough pregnancy looks like (bed rest, throwing up EVERY DAY, any sort of complication, etc.), I'd say I've had a fairly easy pregnancy. But, like I said, everyone is different. What may be easy for me is hard for others and vice versa. Here are some of the woes and triumphs so far in my first pregnancy.

Woes 

1.  I won't eat meat. On a normal basis, I love meat but if you put a steak or a piece of chicken in front of me right now, I won't eat it...lame. My one craving has been Italian food. I'm always in the mood for a good pizza, or pasta!
2. I'm always soooo tired! Normally, I get enough sleep to last me the whole day without feeling tired. Now I can barely get out of bed, let alone last through the day without needing a nap or just going to bed at 8 PM.
3. If there is one feeling I hate, it's nausea. I cannot stand the feeling like I'm going to throw up!
4. My clothes don't fit anymore...A lot of people know that I've spent a lot of time and effort loosing weight (almost 30 lbs.). It's really hard to watch your body get thinner and leaner only to see it get bigger. I have to remind myself that this is good weight gain.
5. I am far more sensitive to things people say or do. I feel like I anger quickly and take offense more easily now than I ever have before. If you talk to my older brother, he will tell you that he stopped teasing me when we were younger because I wouldn't get worked up and mad. Now if he said something to me, I think I'd have a freaking fit!
6. I cry...a lot...even over dumb things. I went on a Disney movie kick the other day (yeah...still love Disney) and cried at the part in Robin Hood when the rooster sings the song when basically the whole town is thrown in jail. WHO CRIES OVER THAT?!
7. I have almost no motivation to do anything. It takes everything I've got just to clean or make something for dinner...even then I don't do it half the time.

Let's move on to happier things.

Triumphs:

1. We heard the heartbeat! I cried (see woe #6).
2. In the last 13 weeks, I've only really gotten sick a handful of times! I said how much I hate nausea, but I hate actually throwing up even more. To only have that happen a few times is a total blessing.
3. I lost 2 lbs in my first trimester! Even though my stomach got a little bigger, I still lost weight!
4. I never wanted to be one of those women who stopped moving and going to the gym because I'm pregnant (sorry ladies, it's a bad excuse). Fortunately, with the help of a couple of good friends, I have still been exercising on a regular basis. This will be a huge benefit after I have the baby. Easier recovery and easier post-baby weight loss.

According to this, there are far more woes than triumphs but as far as I'm concerned, I would say that the triumphs greatly outweigh some of the woes (except for being tired...that just sucks). I would definitely say that this pregnancy has been pretty easy compared to what I think a hard pregnancy is but don't get me wrong, there are definitely things on this list that have been really hard for me. I just want to enjoy the rest of this pregnancy because I'm just so excited to start a family!