I love this picture. It makes me think of how I was feeling :).
I haven't really posted about being pregnant yet....but we are!! And having another little baby girl. We're thrilled. I'm half way through and feeling great...now!
The first 3 months were definitely tough. It's so amazing though how one day you just feel better and that is that. And you think oh that wasn't so bad. But during it...that's another story. (I'm not talking about those people who have terrible morning sickness requiring medications and medical intervention or the 9 month morning sickness....I'm not sure how they feel and I have the upmost respect for them...)
Having said all that...here are my top 10 tips for how to survive the first 3 months of pregnancy!
1. Give yourself a BREAK. Cut yourself some SLACK. You are making a human being and that takes an extreme amount of work. There were some days that all I did, literally was sit and stare at the wall. But I kept telling myself, "Hey, you're making a baby, that's not just sitting on the couch and staring at the wall." You must give yourself a break and realize that this won't last forever. You won't always feel terrible and you won't always be so tired. It will relent at some point.
2. Cancel anything you can. I cancelled lessons, appointments, play dates, dinner dates, anything I could to get by. Again, this won't last forever. Obviously there are some things you just have to do, but anything that can get put on the back burner...DO IT.
3. Let them watch TV. My kids did watch extra TV during my first trimester. I think this one is hard sometimes...that mommy guilt totally shows up and you start feeling bad. Get some good shows, you're probably not going to sit them in front of some rated R movies. It's not going to hurt your children to watch some extra movies during this time. One thing that was helpful for us was to do a sort of media "fast" once I was feeling better. This reigned in the schedule and really helped me feel not so out of control. But during those first 3 months, TV was very helpful.
4. Stock your freezer. It's ok to eat frozen meals, frozen veggies, frozen waffles, etc. In fact, it's just great to have that stuff on hand. I learned you can get lots of frozen veggie options, included potatoes that take ten minutes in the microwave and they come out perfectly ready to be mashed and they are delicious! Stouffers makes a great mac and cheese! Pair that with some frozen broccoli and you have yourself some dinner.
5. It's OK to not eat extremely healthy. This one may be hard to get over. I know for myself in particular...the mommy guilt started creeping in. But, again, it won't last forever and you'll probably feel like going back to the veggies and healthy stuff after you feel better and aren't so tired. And the kids will live. Even if they have PBJ's everyday. Canned/frozen fruits and veggies can be a great alternative to eating fresh for a few months.
6. Add some extra cash to your food budget. If possible, bump up your food budget. You're hungrier! And you want to have extra food on hand. It will also help curb the desire to go out.....although I'll get to that in a minute. This really helped me....giving us permission to buy extra food, even a few things that I wouldn't normally buy because they sounded good :)).
7. It's OK to go out to dinner a few extra times. Again, if the budget allows...go out a few extra times! no dishes and not having to cook may just be what you need. Even McDonald's. I know, it's not very healthy. But....we're talking about surviving, not a complete lifestyle change. Sometimes I let my kids get a bagel, milk and a banana at the grocery store. That's healthy and super easy and cheap and I didn't have to make it. We ordered pizza, went to dinner, I brought home subs, etc.
8. Don't read labor stories....yet. I found for myself, if I read labor stories, it just made me think there was no way I could go through it. I was pairing the morning sickness and exhaustion with the memories of contractions and pushing and it was NOT a good combo. I would just break down and think Oh gosh, I can't do this. Save the labor and delivery stories for later!
9. Ask for help. If you need help, ask for it! If it's available....take it! Ask your husband to do things, your mom, your neighbor, your friends, your older kids, etc. More often than not, people are very willing to help. And it's good for the kids to feel needed and to help out!
10. The mess is OK. I think our house stayed messy for the whole 3 months. I did rely on the older boys to keep things picked up. But really, I just had to let the major cleaning go. And some of the rooms, like the play/school room stayed messy the whole time. But as soon I started feeling better, things got cleaned up and now it's no big deal.
11. Ok, so I'm going past 10...this one is for the homeschooling moms- It's OK to move school to the couch, skip a day, declare a day off, move the whole school room to the most comfortable place, etc. Anyways, that's what we did :)). We moved the school room to the living room and set everything up in there. That way I could lay on the couch :). And honestly, there were a couple of days that I just said...."NO school today!" It is possible to make up the days later.
I wish there was a list of things you could do that would just make the yucky feelings go away. But so far...I have no such list. But....the things I listed really did help me. You know, every pregnancy I ask my husband...is it always like this? Am I always this tired? And he assures me that yes....it is. And miraculously it gets over and I feel so much better and I forget what it was like and eventually I think I can do it again :).
