First Trimester Tales

So many people have asked about how I've been feeling this pregnancy, so I'll update here to save myself time :) During Jackson's pregnancy I searched high and low for information about "morning" sickness and how to overcome those tough months. With Mathis it was definitely an adjustment for us, but since we had no little ones, I was free to rest for most of every day. With Kate's pregnancy things were a little rougher ... I felt worse and Mathis was still a baby. But that was a blessing in itself since he still took 2-3 long naps and I could lay on the floor while he played next to me. With Jackson's pregnancy we certainly had the toughest time, and not just because we had two little ones. I was so, so much more sick than I was with my first two pregnancies.

I really struggled during those months ... we knew that we wanted to have many more children, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle being so sick. Especially as we had more children, it was becoming more difficult to care for them while I was having such a hard time taking care of myself. Bard took on so many of the household responsibilities and it was tough on our whole family. Of course, after those months passed and when we held our baby in our arms, we didn't give a second thought to doing again!

So back to my research ... I came across some information linking morning sickness to the liver and it's inability to process the pregnancy hormones. This made so much sense to me, as I felt worse with each pregnancy. The mama detailed her own experience with hyperemesis gravidarum (which is morning sickness on an entirely different level, something I never came close to). After suffering through 3 pregnancies, she began taking milk thistle and vitamin B6 to gently detox the liver. With her fourth pregnancy she experienced mild nausea!

Too good to be true, I thought! If this was so easy, everyone would be doing it and everyone would know about it. But having nothing to lose, I began taking both shortly after Jackson was born. Three months later we were pregnant and held our breaths ... waiting .... The first trimester exhaustion hit me with no sign of nausea. Nine weeks passed ... the time we'd canceled our vacation to California while pregnant with Jackson. During these weeks I was taking 16 capsules a day... three each of the milk thistle and B6 along with 10 ginger capsules spread out throughout the day. I had a wipe of board in the kitchen with a chart to keep track of this every day. It was too good to be true! While I did experience some nausea and generally felt kind of yucky, it was incredibly different than any of my previous pregnancies. During the first trimester, I was able to fix dinner (something that rarely happened before), play with and care for the kids and enjoy life. The hardest part of those first months was being so, so tired! I was exclusively nursing Jackson in addition to growing our new baby and caring for the kids and wow!! that was a lot. I absolutely had to nap with the kids every day and most nights found me going to bed with them too ...at 8:00!!

My gag reflux really kicked in at about 11 weeks and I cut back on the pills because it was so tough to get them all down. I definitely noticed a difference in how I felt when I didn't take them. I'm not taking any now and I'm amazed that I still feel this good. With my previous pregnancies I was well into my 4th-5th month before I started to feel good. Now, at nearly 15 weeks, I'm still having that crazy aversion to food, even though I must eat to feel good. I'm able to skip a couple of naps a week, and here it is at 9:30 and I'm still awake! All in all this pregnancy has been so much easier. We are so, so thankful to God for blessing us and look forward to many more little ones :)

We've also been blessed to have so many sisters pregnant, too. Bard's sisters, Carroll and Kelly, are expecting in November and January and my sisters, Melissa, Sheila, and sister-in-law, Kathleen are all due within a couple of weeks of me. What fun!! We sure do love babies around here, so it will be a blessing to add all these new cousins. Mathis prays nearly every day for "all the aunts with new babies!"

Thanks so much to all those who have e-mailed and called with concern for how I've been feeling. It's a blessing to have so many people that care!