Not sure if I have mentioned this before in this blog, but I have a very low pain tolerance level. Well, I guess all of you should have kinda know since I wrote the TB test post :) I really hate injection and I know I would have to get a lot of shots and blood checks if I am pregnant. So, I was actually super scared of getting pregnant.
To my surprise though, as soon as I found out that I'm pregnant, I was not worrying about the number of shots I would get or the blood checks. Most of the time in my early pregnancy, I worried about my baby's development and really looked forward to pass the 12 weeks milestone. Why? Because that's when the chance of miscarriage decrease significantly. Also, that is when embryo graduate to become a fetus. So to sum up what my first trimester experience felt like, it felt like I was on a race. I was just super focused on getting through the first trimester and didn't have time to worry about the shots/injection/blood tests or the upcoming labor.
I already shared some physical changes that I experienced on my early pregnancy in the last post such as always feeling tired, nauseous, sleepy, etc. Some other random stories from my first trimester:
1. Food aversion.
I really love fried shallots. I add them on soup, fried rice, instant noodle, everything! But ever since I'm pregnant, the after taste of fried shallots (and garlic!) becomes unbearable. On my last post I mentioned that I experienced a "light" morning sickness, but that does not mean I passed through my first trimester without any incidents. I remembered one night hubby had a dinner plan with a few of his old roommates. Because we wouldn't have dinner together, he asked what I want to eat for dinner so we could just buy it for to-go. I felt like eating something light so I told him I wanted a vietnamese rice noodle box with pork from Asian Box. When he picked me up from the office that day, I was already super hungry, I munched on the rice noodle box on our way home. As soon as we got home, I took a bath while hubby prepared to go out and meet his friends. However, the combination of hot water, brushing teeth, and the after taste of fried shallots resulted in an explosion in the bath tub :) I threw up in the shower and dear hubby has to clean the entire tub before he can go out and meet his friend. I felt so bad but it was really out of my control - everything happened so fast. Lesson learned though - I'm avoiding fried shallot for the rest of my pregnancy.
Another food I love that becomes my enemy during my pregnancy is shrimp. I'm a seafood lover through and through. But hubby is the other way around, he can't tolerate seafood except fish. In my early pregnancy, either the smell or the texture of shrimps threw me off. I couldn't eat shrimps as if, they need to be processed with other meats. I even tried eating my favorite shrimp dumpling (har gow) but found it be really hard to swallow. Not sure why, but I'm blaming my hubby's gene inside the baby :)
2. Scary moment.
When I was either 10 weeks or 11 weeks pregnant, one night before we went to sleep I experienced weird cramping sensation. It was like a rolling wave, starting from my rib cage going down. It didn't disappear when I changed my sleeping position. I panicked. It closely matched the description of contractions that I read online. I called the Kaiser hotline number and spoke with a nurse. He was very concerned but he wanted to check all the other possibilities. He asked me if I have a bowel movement that day - which I did - and suggested me to try emptying my bowel. He also scheduled a check up the next day with my OB. I followed his suggestion - and found out that I was actually having a really bad diarrhea. I went to the bathroom a few times during that night. I felt miserable and anxious. The next day, I went to the hospital and met with my OB. She performed a pelvic exam and informed me that everything still looks good and the mucus plug is intact without any sign of bleeding. To be sure though, she wanted to let me hear the heartbeat of my baby. Guess what? She couldn't find it. I was in the verge of tears. She told me to calm down and went out to fetch the USG machine. Thank God the baby was there! We can see the heart beating really strong, although it was weird that the doppler couldn't find the heartbeat. Later I found out that I might have eaten something bad for lunch the day before - a few of my friends who ate the same dish had diarrhea too. Another lesson learned - be very mindful about what to eat!
3. Hubby's birthday.
As expected, I really didn't have enough time or energy to make elaborate plan for hubby's birthday that November. Especially, hubby was actually battling with cold and cough throughout the month of October - we later found out that he had a sinus infection. Thankfully, early November he was getting a bit better.
There was a new Korean BBQ place nearby where we used to live. In such little amount of time, the restaurant had hundreds glowing yelp review - pretty close to thousand actually. A group of our Indonesian friends were trying to book a reservation to try out the new place since late September, and the date that was given to us was actually my hubby's birth date. So we made everything simple and decide to celebrate his birthday over there - no surprise for him this year :)
I remembered how Hubby and I were extra careful with the meat, making sure everything is well cooked. We shared a table and a stove with two other friends, but thankfully it seemed that they did not realize anything weird with the way I ate. We weren't ready to share the good news back then :)
Did I look pregnant already? ;p
4. Leggings vs Jeans.
Remember I told you about my light morning sickness? It wasn't as if I didn't experience any discomfort at all, but I was thankful because it seemed like it was still manageable. I had all the nausea, feeling bloated, and gagging reaction whenever I smelled food. But eating small snacks throughout the day helped and also ... changing jeans into leggings. Not sure why, but it seemed like my belly area expanded pretty fast. Soon after I found out about the pregnancy, maybe as soon as week 6 or 7, wearing jeans became so uncomfortable. At that time, I refused to buy maternity jeans so early because I thought my belly will continue to expand and I would need to buy a different size anyway. But you know what, I get so used to wearing leggings - I actually haven't bought any maternity jeans and now I'm in my final stretch (37 weeks)!
5. Pregnancy announcement.
Before we are expecting, we used to wonder why people try to hide the fact that they are expecting. Isn't it such a wonderful news? Why don't people want to share it?
Little did we know about all the early miscarriage facts and the survival rate of embryo. So many things can go wrong. It's really hard not to tell everybody actually, but deep down inside you have all these worries and you just want to make sure everything is okay first before sharing it to the world. So we actually waited until we passed the 12 week milestone before letting our friends know that we are expecting. It was quite a surprise I would say, some of them kinda guessed but a lot of people were actually unaware. It felt great to be out in the open though! :)
Anyway, those are stories from my first trimester. Please share stories of yours too - would love to hear them!
To my surprise though, as soon as I found out that I'm pregnant, I was not worrying about the number of shots I would get or the blood checks. Most of the time in my early pregnancy, I worried about my baby's development and really looked forward to pass the 12 weeks milestone. Why? Because that's when the chance of miscarriage decrease significantly. Also, that is when embryo graduate to become a fetus. So to sum up what my first trimester experience felt like, it felt like I was on a race. I was just super focused on getting through the first trimester and didn't have time to worry about the shots/injection/blood tests or the upcoming labor.
I already shared some physical changes that I experienced on my early pregnancy in the last post such as always feeling tired, nauseous, sleepy, etc. Some other random stories from my first trimester:
1. Food aversion.
I really love fried shallots. I add them on soup, fried rice, instant noodle, everything! But ever since I'm pregnant, the after taste of fried shallots (and garlic!) becomes unbearable. On my last post I mentioned that I experienced a "light" morning sickness, but that does not mean I passed through my first trimester without any incidents. I remembered one night hubby had a dinner plan with a few of his old roommates. Because we wouldn't have dinner together, he asked what I want to eat for dinner so we could just buy it for to-go. I felt like eating something light so I told him I wanted a vietnamese rice noodle box with pork from Asian Box. When he picked me up from the office that day, I was already super hungry, I munched on the rice noodle box on our way home. As soon as we got home, I took a bath while hubby prepared to go out and meet his friends. However, the combination of hot water, brushing teeth, and the after taste of fried shallots resulted in an explosion in the bath tub :) I threw up in the shower and dear hubby has to clean the entire tub before he can go out and meet his friend. I felt so bad but it was really out of my control - everything happened so fast. Lesson learned though - I'm avoiding fried shallot for the rest of my pregnancy.
Another food I love that becomes my enemy during my pregnancy is shrimp. I'm a seafood lover through and through. But hubby is the other way around, he can't tolerate seafood except fish. In my early pregnancy, either the smell or the texture of shrimps threw me off. I couldn't eat shrimps as if, they need to be processed with other meats. I even tried eating my favorite shrimp dumpling (har gow) but found it be really hard to swallow. Not sure why, but I'm blaming my hubby's gene inside the baby :)
2. Scary moment.
When I was either 10 weeks or 11 weeks pregnant, one night before we went to sleep I experienced weird cramping sensation. It was like a rolling wave, starting from my rib cage going down. It didn't disappear when I changed my sleeping position. I panicked. It closely matched the description of contractions that I read online. I called the Kaiser hotline number and spoke with a nurse. He was very concerned but he wanted to check all the other possibilities. He asked me if I have a bowel movement that day - which I did - and suggested me to try emptying my bowel. He also scheduled a check up the next day with my OB. I followed his suggestion - and found out that I was actually having a really bad diarrhea. I went to the bathroom a few times during that night. I felt miserable and anxious. The next day, I went to the hospital and met with my OB. She performed a pelvic exam and informed me that everything still looks good and the mucus plug is intact without any sign of bleeding. To be sure though, she wanted to let me hear the heartbeat of my baby. Guess what? She couldn't find it. I was in the verge of tears. She told me to calm down and went out to fetch the USG machine. Thank God the baby was there! We can see the heart beating really strong, although it was weird that the doppler couldn't find the heartbeat. Later I found out that I might have eaten something bad for lunch the day before - a few of my friends who ate the same dish had diarrhea too. Another lesson learned - be very mindful about what to eat!
3. Hubby's birthday.
As expected, I really didn't have enough time or energy to make elaborate plan for hubby's birthday that November. Especially, hubby was actually battling with cold and cough throughout the month of October - we later found out that he had a sinus infection. Thankfully, early November he was getting a bit better.
There was a new Korean BBQ place nearby where we used to live. In such little amount of time, the restaurant had hundreds glowing yelp review - pretty close to thousand actually. A group of our Indonesian friends were trying to book a reservation to try out the new place since late September, and the date that was given to us was actually my hubby's birth date. So we made everything simple and decide to celebrate his birthday over there - no surprise for him this year :)
I remembered how Hubby and I were extra careful with the meat, making sure everything is well cooked. We shared a table and a stove with two other friends, but thankfully it seemed that they did not realize anything weird with the way I ate. We weren't ready to share the good news back then :)
Did I look pregnant already? ;p
4. Leggings vs Jeans.
Remember I told you about my light morning sickness? It wasn't as if I didn't experience any discomfort at all, but I was thankful because it seemed like it was still manageable. I had all the nausea, feeling bloated, and gagging reaction whenever I smelled food. But eating small snacks throughout the day helped and also ... changing jeans into leggings. Not sure why, but it seemed like my belly area expanded pretty fast. Soon after I found out about the pregnancy, maybe as soon as week 6 or 7, wearing jeans became so uncomfortable. At that time, I refused to buy maternity jeans so early because I thought my belly will continue to expand and I would need to buy a different size anyway. But you know what, I get so used to wearing leggings - I actually haven't bought any maternity jeans and now I'm in my final stretch (37 weeks)!
5. Pregnancy announcement.
Before we are expecting, we used to wonder why people try to hide the fact that they are expecting. Isn't it such a wonderful news? Why don't people want to share it?
Little did we know about all the early miscarriage facts and the survival rate of embryo. So many things can go wrong. It's really hard not to tell everybody actually, but deep down inside you have all these worries and you just want to make sure everything is okay first before sharing it to the world. So we actually waited until we passed the 12 week milestone before letting our friends know that we are expecting. It was quite a surprise I would say, some of them kinda guessed but a lot of people were actually unaware. It felt great to be out in the open though! :)
Anyway, those are stories from my first trimester. Please share stories of yours too - would love to hear them!
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