Well, time is just flying. I’m 16 weeks pregnant today but am behind on blog posts! I wanted to get my recap of the first trimester out there now before even more time passes!
Just like with my last pregnancy, I wrote this blog post slowly over the weeks of my first trimester. I know personally I love hearing weekly updates from fellow pregnant women and I haven’t found a ton of twin pregnancy blogs to stalk (yet) so I wanted to be sure to get my thoughts out there! It was fun to read this back since I wrote it as I went.
Week 4: At the end of this week we found out the exciting news that we’re going to have another baby! It also happened to be the exact day that our offer was accepted on our new house so this was a BIG day (August 8th). I was actually kind of surprised becuase I felt 100% the same as I did the previous month when we’d been trying, yet didn’t conceive, also didn’t have the symptoms I’d had with Siena that warned me that I was pregnant even before I got the positive test. I made myself wait until the day of my expected period to test and was surprised to see a very light line! 3 tests later and I was convinced it was true. This was the week I wrapped up Shift Shop and I still felt really good! One of the reasons I did not follow the nutrition plan as closely for the final week of Shift Shop was that I knew that I could be pregnant and didn’t want to be cutting calories too much.
Week 5: I felt pretty much like my old self this week until the very end. I tried not to get too excited and waited another few days before taking another test to make sure it was darker. I finally made my doctor appointment one week after I got my positive test and it started to feel real. Running wise, I felt a bit of a slow down but I’m not sure if it was in my head or not. I had already stopped going to my Wednesday night speed workouts and just tried to keep my effort easier and give myself breaks when my heart rate got high during any runs or Beachbody workouts. Toward the end of the week I started noticing I was more tired and a little nauseous but nothing serious.
Week 6: Nausea and exhaustion set in, exhaustion being worse than nausea. I find myself crawling into bed every single day for a nap during Siena’s nap, even if it’s just 30 minutes. The nausea is constant, although worse at times than others, but still fairly mild. I want to go to bed most nights by 8:30 PM. Running starts to feel harder.
Week 7: Nausea came on strong this week (though no vomiting, which is similar to my last pregnancy) and there were days when I ate cereal or mac and cheese for a meal. Toward the end of the week I tried to eat healthier and found that my nausea was actually better when doing so. Running didn’t feel good at all this week, though it was also really humid and hot which probably didn’t help.
Week 8: We ended up getting in just after the 7 week mark for an early ultrasound (due to scheduling conflicts the doctor originally wasn’t going to be able to see me til 10 weeks). And guess what we saw at the ultrasound!? TWINS (full story on this blog post). Basically I spent this week reeling from the news – emotions ranging from terror, excitement, love and anxiety! The doctor said I could continue running as I had been so I decided I’d play my Saturday long run by ear. I ended up feeling great and ran 10 hilly miles at just above a 10 minute mile!
Week 9: This week was rough. Nausea really kicked in and was bad. It’s definitely the worst during the middle of the day and sometimes will give me a little ease by the evening. I officially cannot eat salads anymore and if I eat a vegetable its usually mixed into something or very well done, and even then I don’t eat nearly the quantity I used to. I’ve been buying chicken noodle soup because it’s one of the only things that sounds good. My saving grace is that I do feel good enough in the early mornings to workout so I’m still running 4 days a week and getting in 2-3 Beachbody workouts per week. I’ve also been able to keep up with long runs of around 10 miles at a decent pace (high 9s/low 10s). I’m still napping most days, or at least getting in bed to read for a while.
Week 10: Roughest week yet I’d say as Mike was out of town for six full days, we’re moving so I had to spend a lot of my free time packing, and my nausea was peaking. With Mike out of town I ate worse than ever, mostly eating toast (butter or avocado), crackers, bagels, pizza, teriyaki chicken bowls and french fries. Anything I crave is salty – french fries, everything bagels, chicken noodle soup and Asian food – and I do NOT want anything sweet, which is super rare for me (this made me think I was having at least one boy…). I’m still drinking coffee but usually just half a cup and it’s not as enjoyable – oh and I had three Pumpkin Spice Lattes this week. With Mike out of town, it didn’t always make sense to make myself coffee so I’d walk to Starbucks! This was the week I started to show, just a little, though most people wouldn’t notice.
Week 11: During this week a friend who is also in the first trimester told me about taking vitamin B6 throughout the day along with a Unisom tablet at night for nausea relief. I started taking it and it helped, though I’m not sure how much. Although I still feel pretty crappy overall, I feel a lot less overwhelmingly nauseous than before which is good. I was even able to eat a bit healthier this week since Mike was back in town and demanded some vegetables! Naps are still a nearly every day occurrence.
Week 12: At the beginning of this week we had our much awaited second doctor appointment. I think I was holding my breath on the fact that there were really twins in there until after this appointment (there’s about a 10% chance of “vanishing twin syndrome” even after a 7 week ultrasound). Seeing both our babies moving around with strong heart beats made me happy!
But…I am also very sick of being sick. I know it’s a short phase, but feeling crappy for two months straight is definitely wearing on me. I wonder how long it’ll be until I feel like my old self again! I am constantly some degree of tired, nauseous, or bloated and seem to vacillate between indigestion and starvation. Ugh! Hoping for a reprieve – last time the nausea was slowing down at this point but I’m not seeing an end in sight yet (common with twins for it to last longer).
Week 13: The beginning of this week was pretty awful -I suffered some of the worst indigestion, nausea, headaches and exhaustion that I have during the entire pregnancy! A week prior to the trail half marathon, I was pretty optimistic that I’d run it, but in those last days before the race, I was not so sure. I went to bed the night before the race feeling a little better and thinking I probably had a 50/50 shot of actually running it, and I’d decide in the morning. Come race morning I felt really good – almost all of my symptoms had subsided (the indigestion and headache were completely gone) and I decided to go for it. I ended up feeling really, really good during the race – it was one of the best “long runs” I’ve had during my entire pregnancy and I could tell my endurance from back to back marathons in the last year was there, because my legs didn’t really ever get sore or tired! I walked the hills and never let myself get so out of breath that I couldn’t talk. More on the race in my race report here.
The end of this week was rough again – headaches and nausea, lots of napping. I went back and read my recap of the first trimester from last time and I was definitely feeling better by now. I’m bummed it’s taking longer but really hoping it goes away soon!
Week 14: Last week of the first trimester (depending on who you talk to). This week we found out that we’re having TWO girls and we announced our big news to the world (aka social media). Having it out in the open definitely made things more exciting and it’s nice to be able to be totally open with my posts!
I’m happy to say that now at 16 weeks, my nausea is almost completely gone and my energy is back (though I’m still slower and sleeping more than usual). I’m hoping to do updates every 2-3 weeks going forward, though the next one probably won’t be til next week.
I hope you had a wonderful Halloween!
If you’ve been pregnant, how long did your nausea last? What was your favorite remedy?
So so happy for you that you are starting to feel better. The 1st trimester is so scary and hard, it’s nice to leave it behind. Congratulations again on your twin girls =)
What was your weight and height at the beginning of your twin pregnancy and then at the end?
HI Anna, I was 145 to start, 195 at the end! I’m 5’9″ 🙂