My First Trimester Symptoms and Experiences

 

These were the first-trimester symptoms and emotional changes I personally experienced after discovering I was pregnant. From unexplained restlessness and constant hunger to motion sickness and feelings I wasn't prepared for, this is what early pregnancy looked like for me. 

Being an English Literature major, I was quite familiar with research work. My friends used to call me “Ms. Google” at one point because I used to come up with information that others could barely find in record time.

Let’s just say, once I confirmed my pregnancy, I had to revive those skills that had been in peaceful slumber for years. The best thing was that, with more means of information (reels, ChatGPT, Gemini, YouTube, etc.) I just had all the time in the world to spiral.

The Rabbit Hole of Pregnancy Research 

In all my 29 years of existence, I’ve never really been in the presence of a pregnant woman for more than a day or a few hours. There were two aunts, but I don’t remember much of my visits to them because I was practically a kid myself back then.

A more recent interaction would be meeting a cousin at my paternal grandmother’s funeral. She was a few years younger than me, barely married a year, and already in the last stages of pregnancy. She would claim she never had any of the “usual” symptoms, and that her pregnancy was mostly hassle-free.

I had nodded along, completely unaware that the universe was already plotting to make me remember that particular conversation almost a year and a half later.

Fast forward to the day I found out I was pregnant. If you've read my story about discovering I was pregnant, you'll know that excitement wasn't exactly my first reaction. Anyway, let’s just say that entire day I was glued to ChatGPT like a baby koala to its mother. Honestly, from here on out, it’s just what I personally experienced in my first trimester. If you’re a new momma reading this, you can have a completely different experience, and THAT’s FINE!

If you feel like you’ve been completely thrown into the ocean with zero swimming skills and not even a life jacket on, then this piece might give you some peace. You’re not alone in this journey. Pregnancy can be magical as much as it can be freaky.

So let’s see what actually tipped me off that something was amiss.

Expectations vs. Reality of My Pregnancy Symptoms

You see in movies and TV series that the protagonist usually figures out she’s pregnant when she suddenly remembers she’s late for her period. Well, that’s the easy way out for only the lucky few women who have their monthlies regularly.

For me, PCOS has been my constant companion since I was a teenager. I have gone three months without my periods ever showing up, and even an entire month of light bleeding that just wouldn’t stop. So, a delayed period wasn’t a big deal for me.

The First Symptom: Feeling Uncomfortable

What ticked me off was the feeling that something was wrong.

The entire week before I took my pregnancy test, I was uncomfortable at night. Usually, I would be so tired from work that I’d fall asleep the moment I hit the bed. But for days, I kept tossing and turning.

I would feel a bit warm, and that feeling of discomfort never left me. 

If you'd asked me what was wrong, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. Because there wasn’t anything wrong per se. I was just a bit restless. 

Pregnancy scares weren’t a new thing for me. There were two times in the past year when my period was extremely delayed (they had become a bit regular the past year or so), and I took pregnancy tests just to confirm. But they were always negative.

This time, however, I was in for a different result.

Now, I’ve already droned on quite a bit about how conflicted this whole pregnancy made me feel. So, we’ll skip that right away and move on to my next symptom of the first trimester: the hunger.

The Second Pregnancy Symptom: Insatiable Hunger

Before this pregnancy discovery, I had been limiting my portions quite a bit because I wanted to reach a particular weight. I just needed to go down one more kilogram, but the scale had barely shifted in weeks.

I could drag myself till lunch with only two boiled eggs for breakfast. My lunch portions were small. I usually avoided snacking and tried to eat healthy for dinner as well.

But once the pregnancy appetite kicked in, I became miserable. Even after eating a heavier breakfast than usual, I was ravenous again within three hours. And if I ignored it, the resulting hunger felt almost impossible to tolerate. I found myself ordering a second breakfast at work, taking snacks in the evening, and constantly worrying about gaining excessive weight.

But isn’t weight gain normal in pregnancy?

Yes, but there’s a healthy version, and then the non-healthy version. And I did not want it to be the second.

I used to weigh myself on the scale every day. Even a 0.25 increase would send me spiraling. So yeah, did not enjoy those first-trimester hunger pangs at all.

The Third Symptom: Motion Sickness

Now, this one was completely new for me. When it comes to my knowledge of pregnancy symptoms (courtesy TV shows and movies), I only knew of vomiting and nausea. No one told me I was gonna develop motion sickness all of a sudden!

I was returning home from work one day (already hungry), and every jerk of the bus made me feel slightly nauseous. Now, it wasn’t enough to make me want to barf, but I didn’t like the feeling at all. 

That phase went on for a few weeks, and even though the nausea medicine my doctor prescribed helped a bit, I noticed it came back every time I was hungry.

The Fourth Symptom: Sore Breasts

I knew about this one because of my previous pregnancy tests. Every time I would be a bit too late for my period, I would keep on touching the girlies, trying to figure out if I’m sore or not. I didn’t actually know what the feeling was like back then.

Well, now I do. It was a pain to wear bras because the friction didn’t do me any favors. Still, it wasn’t something that would deter my everyday life much. 

The Fifth Symptom Nobody Warned Me About: The Emotional Rollercoaster 

I think it took me the whole of my first trimester, and a bit of the initial weeks of the second, to really accept what’s happening to me. In fact, for weeks, the pregnancy didn't even feel real to me. Perhaps the shock of putting the life I was used to on hold was a bit too much. I have always valued my independence. I’ve fought for it tooth and nail. Having a baby meant putting a hold on that. 

Meanwhile, my husband got to enjoy living his life to the fullest even after the news of my pregnancy. The unfairness of it all had really put me in one of my moods. Being left out of social situations because my friends would be drinking and smoking (and I couldn’t participate) wasn’t fun. In fact, I've already talked about how difficult it was to give up many of the little indulgences that were part of my daily routine. One such incident even led to a massive fight between my husband and me. 

Now, as I enter my 16th week, I realise perhaps my hormones had a bigger role to play than I first gave them credit for. Those initial weeks after the discovery of the pregnancy went by in a flash. Around the 9th or 10th week was when the reality settled, and I started resenting my husband a little. His life isn’t getting put on hold. His career isn’t being jeopardized. 

If giving life is such a miracle, if the entire human race’s existence depends on women giving birth, then why aren't companies, or even the government, more accommodating of working mothers?  Why do we still have to pray that our jobs will still be there once we get back from maternity leave? Why do we remain unpaid for months during our maternity leave? Why do some of us not even have the option to apply for such leave?

The equation is skewed, and while women are always highlighting the unfairness of it all, the ones making the decisions aren’t bothered in the least.

So, yeah, the whole unfairness of the responsibilities really got to me. At the time, it felt impossible not to compare our experiences. My entire life had changed overnight, while his seemed largely untouched. Looking back, I can see that frustration colored a lot of my thoughts during those weeks. 

If anyone is going through the same phase, let me tell you that it does get better. As the pregnancy progresses, you stop spending all your time focusing on yourself and your sacrifices and start focusing more on the growing life inside you.

Right now, I’m excited about the possibility of feeling my baby move around and hearing their heartbeat at every doctor’s appointment. Every time things get difficult, I remember the first time I heard the baby’s heartbeat. 

I keep checking my reflection every day to see if I can notice any baby bump. I’ve already noticed a kind of firmness around my pelvic region, which wasn’t there before. I’m guessing it's the bump in its initial stages.

Looking back, the hunger, sore breasts, motion sickness, and sleepless nights weren't the hardest part of early pregnancy. The hardest part was adjusting to the fact that my life was changing in ways I wasn't prepared for. But somewhere between the panic, the resentment, and the endless Googling, I started making peace with it. Maybe the first few months of motherhood are all about learning to let go of the life you had while slowly making room for the one that's coming.