10 Reasons I F*CKING HATE the First Trimester

Ok yes…I realize the title is a tad bit aggressive…but it’s exactly how I feel right now.

I’m NOT one of those women who adores being pregnant (obviously, right? lol). Sure, I believe strongly that pregnancy is a gift…and some days I have a hard time fathoming just how lucky I am…but that doesn’t make me love the experience…it just makes me feel slightly more guilty about complaining.

Frankly, birth is my favourite part of pregnancy, because it means those 9 months of slow, painful torture are over.

So what are my reasons to be so distastefully hateful towards pregnancy? Let me walk through the highlights.

1. Nausea

Yes, smack dab at #1 where it belongs. Constant, crippling nausea is the #1 reason why I hate pregnancy so much. With my first, I was lucky to have it subside at 13ish weeks, and I’m just PRAYING that it will happen again for my 2nd.

To all the women with morning sickness throughout your entire pregnancy, I BOW DOWN TO YOU!!! Simply put, you are my hero.

Not only do you feel like throwing up all day, there’s also a golf ball-sized knot in your throat all day that just won’t go away…until you throw up.

2. Puking

There’s no nice way to put this…but puking sucks. And yes, it deserves its own point, in ADDITION to nausea…

To be 100% honest, I MUCH prefer when I was younger and would “puke and rally” while drinking…because then at least you were numbed by alcohol and inevitably had a fun night in the works.

This time around, I’m lucky enough to have a bloody throat from puking so many times and not being able to drive without throwing up. From weeks 6 – 10, I even had a hard time talking without throwing up.

Fun fact, when you throw up A LOT in pregnancy, you even start thinking about what foods you eat BEFORE eating them and HOW you’re chewing them. I had shrimp the other day, and kept thinking, “Chew these REEEEALLLY well, because this will suck to throw up later”…yes, that’s how my brain works.

Fun fact #2. If you’re on your 2+ kid, you’ll likely pee while you’re puking. Ooooh the joys of motherhood.

3. The Smells

This seeeems like a superpower, but I’ll explain why my impressive sense of smell is slow, painful torture.

I swear, pregnancy has made me an incredibly talented bloodhound.

Every.single.scent makes my toes curl. The smell of my house (and I promise, it’s clean, I swear!) smells like CRAP and makes me want to puke. I don’t even like the smell of my OWN SKIN (it took me 4 weeks to realize lotion would help this #pregnancybrain #duh).

I’ve spent HUNDREDS of dollars on candles, incense, and diffusers in an attempt to cover up the smell….all have failed.

I did find though that rubbing essential oils under my noise temporarily helped, so that was definitely positive!

4. Copper Taste

Picture sucking on a penny all day, and never being able to get rid of that taste. Let’s just say it’s not fun.

For some reason people don’t really talk about this one…but I promise you, it’s no blast.

I HAVE found that combinations of mints, gum, and lemon-waters temporarily helps…but it always seems to come back.

5. Crippling Fatigue

This one comes as no surprise.

A close friend, Jenna Ladd, owner of Iron North Studio, once told me she was so tired while pregnant, she FELL ASLEEP WALKING UP THE STAIRS!! She got half way up, stopped for a break, and fell asleep! This isn’t just normal fatigue, it’s crippling and knocks you on your ass!

Fell asleep walking up the stairs

Now for me, it’s a double whammy because I also have hypothyroidism (which means it’s normal for me to be tired every day), which typically spirals out of control during pregnancy and makes me EXTRA tired.

6. Scary Medical Stuff

Like most moms, I worry. I worry about things that are months off and out of my control…and pregnancy doesn’t help this.

I have a couple of weird medical things:

• Hypothyroidsm: Can cause developmental delays
• Cholestatis: Requires me to be induced at 37 weeks because there’s a risk of having a still-born
• Hip surgery: I had hip surgery last year, so there’s a risk I’ll re-tear my hip and require hip surgery again

Relatively speaking, I’m lucky that these are my own risks…but it doesn’t stop my head from spinning out of control with worry.

7. Acid Reflux

I will admit, I didn’t know what this was until I googled it.

But I do not enjoy burping up acid all day, I think that goes without saying….it’s NOT pleasant.

8. Downing in a Haze of Diclectin

Don’t get my wrong, I’m forever grateful for this magical drug!

I was even happier when my OB told me I could have EIGHT pills a day, as opposed to the 4 my GP had previously prescribed. BUT, I DO NOT enjoy the feeling of being on diclectin.

It’s basically like being exhausted, groggy, and underwater all day…every day. Not pleasant.

9. Only ever talking about pregnancy

Ok yes, I realize how ironic that is considering I’m currently typing up this article.

But, my point is that I want to just get on with my daily life and not have the topic of every single conversation be able my bodily functions. It always seems to come front and center of every single conversation and I feel like I, Erica the human-being, gets forgotten about.

10. I miss my family

This is the biggest one for me….I miss my daughter and husband.

This time around, I’ve been so sick that I haven’t really been able to function…so I’ve barely had anytime with to spend with them…and I feel like I’m missing things.

I have the world’s best husband, who’s been basically running the house and being a single dad for two months…but I miss watching my daughter play, or feeding her dinner without feeling like I’m going to die.

I miss being able to cuddle with my husband without batting him away. I actually can’t remember the last time I kissed my husband because any physical touch makes me nauseous.

It’s lonely…

…so what…

In my mind, the first trimester is slow, painful torture and it’s been BY FAR the hardest few months of my life…but I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

Yes, I get viciously jealous at those women who don’t experience these ridiculous symptoms and wish for time to speed up…

But I’m overwhelmingly happy to have these problems