THE MILK

My First Trimester Diaries Pt. 2 (Weeks 9-13) I Episode 3

• Tayla Burke • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Surprise! You're getting not one but two episodes this week :) I'm back with a pt. 2 of an inside look at my first trimester! To be completely honest, weeks 9-13 truly had nothing on the previous ones- I was hit HARD to say the least. In this episode I spill on what felt like truly never-ending nausea and crippling migraines to primal cravings and restless dreams, mixed with the small comforts that made it all bearable. All I can say is gawd bless these days are behind me & if you're in the thick of it, you are closer to the end than it feels I promise- hang in there!

More On What I Cover:
• moving through weeks 9–13 with two kids and survival mode
• acupuncture, Unisom, and what eased nausea
• belly oils and my favorite cooling pregnancy pillow
• wild symptoms from nosebleeds to bizarre dreams
• week 9 affirmations that held the mindset together
• cravings strategy and planning meals for early mornings
• NIPT testing nerves and reframing anxiety
• week 12 scan as the turning point for hope
• easing back into movement and respecting limits
• encouragement for anyone still in the thick of it.


Thank you SO much for tuning in. I appreciate each and every one of you being here with me and I can't wait for all that's to come. Feel free to hit subscribe so you get a little reminder every time a new episode is posted. If you have a couple minutes to spare, I'd be so grateful for a rating & review- it's what helps other women and moms discover the show! 

My inbox and dm's are ALWAYS open for any questions or support. I love hearing from you xx Tayla




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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to The Milk, the podcast that pours it all out, the messy, the magical, and the mildly unhinged moments of motherhood and womanhood. Real talk, honest stories, and reminders that none of us really know exactly what we're doing. And that's kind of the best part. I'm Taylor, your host, and soon-to-be mom of three. So let's laugh, learn, and milk this season of life for all that it's worth. Hi everyone. Welcome back to The Milk. And welcome back to part two of my first try diaries, where I am going through week by week everything I've been feeling and experiencing through this pregnancy. So last week we spoke about weeks four to eight. This week I'm covering weeks nine to 13. Oh my gosh, you guys, this second half of the first trimester rocked me the hardest. I definitely remember it being tough, but I don't know if it's a mixture of having two kids and going through this again or just this pregnancy as a whole. The last handful of weeks of my first trimester were seriously very, very rough. I'm actually filming this much farther in advance. I am now almost 19 weeks. So I'm like a little rusty on everything that I experienced. So I took some notes to remember when I was going through it. But now that I'm on the other side, it just feels like a blip in the past and like a very bad dream that I experienced kind of. It's like that TikTok or Instagram trend where it's been circulating, where it says, moms are like, I can't do this. And then it just goes through tons of clips of moms literally doing everything and just the absolute most. Like somehow we still just manage to do everything that we need to, even at our lowest points. So for me, it was like the last seven weeks of extreme nausea, extreme fatigue, where I felt like I just couldn't even lift my limbs after getting so much sleep and just the exhaustion of like Groundhog's Day of experiencing that every single day where you start losing hope at the end in sight. It was literally aspen as my little alarm clock around 5:30 or 6 a.m. every morning, and then bashes poopy diapers, then straight into making breakfast, packing lunches, school drop off at 9 a.m., pickup at 12:30, getting them down for a nap with the help of our nannies, and then still making sure the house is running up to our standards or at least just as much as possible. And that felt like living 10 days in the first half of every single day. It's honestly just survival mode. I mean, my kids spent more time watching TV than I probably would have liked them to. And I definitely experienced that mom guilt of, oh, I wish I could do something a little bit more educational or take them outside, but it was kind of like whatever it takes. And I felt like it was so much more time of being able to bond with them and cuddle with them. And I would much rather be doing that than having to isolate myself from them because there were times when I felt so lonely and just how I wanted to, I just wanted to show up as the best mom and the most present mom that I could be, even though I was just rotting on my deathbed. But as much as these weeks were so hard, there were also just like the sweetest memories that came out of them, getting to experience it with other kids. Aston was such a good caregiver. She would literally come in the room after she woke up with a bunch of snacks and she said, Here, Mama, you need to eat the, you need to eat this to feed the baby. And then at other points, she'd come and bring me a blanket and put it over me and say, It's okay, Mama, I'll take care of you. So it was just the sweetest thing having them kind of involved in this journey. And yes, going through pregnancy with little ones is difficult. I'm not going to say it's not, but I did, I was really shocked by how special it was, where I felt like you see your other kids as such trophies and just a reward of what's on the other side of the hardest days that it just shows you point blank in your face what you're working towards. Whereas in your first pregnancy, you're like, I have no idea what's on the other side. And now being able to look at Aspen and Bash and being like, I went through this with them and look at what God blessed me with, it was just something that like helped me get through every single day. So yes, it was hard, but I also felt like it was so much more rewarding and impactful. Also, some random things I wrote down in case anyone's interested, and just for me to be able to look back on things that I loved during this pregnancy. Um, one thing that I feel like is always asked during someone's pregnancy is belly oils. Like, which ones are you using to help moisturize and try to prevent stretch marks as much as possible? So I have always, all through pregnancies, I've kind of like interchanged with two different types of creams or oils. I go one that's more thicker, cream-based, and one that's more oil-based. There's literally no science behind this, but it's something that I felt and I've experienced a change and an impact with. So I use the Palmer's Cocoa Butter Thick Cream. It's one that I just feel like is so nourishing and I just like the way that it layers on my stomach. And then I also, this time for the first time, I have been using Summer Fridays, um, belly, I forget what it's called, um, but it's a a little more like oil-based and clear. And yes, it's oil-based, but I feel like it absorbs really well and it doesn't leave like an oily residue. Like I'll literally put it on and pull my shirt over and it doesn't stain my shirt. I feel like there's other ones out there that leave like an oily residue on your clothes and can ruin them. So I've been loving those two. And then pregnancy pillows. I have been, I can't believe I'm admitting this, I was using the exact same pregnancy pillow from when, gosh, was that 2021 that I got gifted when I was pregnant with aspen. I used it through her pregnancy, through postpartum, through Bash's pregnancy, through Bash's postpartum, through just every single night after that. It was kind of my little um barricade from Scotty trying to roll over and invade my personal space when sleeping. And so I started using that with this pregnancy, and I was like, okay, enough is enough. This is like four years of using this pregnancy pillow. I think it's time to upgrade. And I don't know if this brand was around when I first was pregnant with aspen, but Yana Y-A-N-A, I got their full body pregnancy pillow, and it is so dreamy. The one caveat, it is it feels like it's literally as heavy as a dead body. So I feel like it you take some muscle to be able to wrap it around you, but it is once you get it in position, it is so comfortable and it has this cooling material. So you never overheat. I don't know if you overheat during your pregnancies, but I feel like it's the only time that I run hot. So it's just so comfortable and I don't feel like I'm getting too claustrophobic or hot when I'm using it. And then things that helped my nausea. Not much. I mean, I feel like I dealt with it every single day, but there were definitely things I did that helped minimize it. One thing that I kicked myself in the butt for that I just completely forgot about this time until the last few weeks of my first trimester was acupuncture. And yes, it's kind of a luxury because it's like an added expense. But for me, I would rather go get acupuncture in my first trimester than get my nails done. I swear within 24 hours of my first treatment, I felt 70% better. And that lasted for a handful of days. And then just going once a week, make sure you go to someone who is well versed in prenatal care because they know all of like the different places to put the needles. One, it's just also so relaxing because I just never stop. And so it was like that time to be forced to sit there for about 40 minutes. And it really, really, really did make the biggest difference for my nausea and fatigue. And then also, I get such bad nausea that my doctor would prescribe me a certain medication. I know there's a couple out there, I can't remember which one I was prescribed this last time, but it was kind of a high maintenance one. So I didn't take it too often, but it does help because um it also has it can make you drowsy. And I was like, okay, I have to function every day. I have to take my kids to school, I have to pick them up. I can't be like drooling half asleep throughout the day. Um, so I think there's some that are less drowsy than others. This one I had to take four times a week, or sorry, this one I had to take four times a day, which just was too much for my brain to remember. There are ones that are a little less uh high maintenance that you can get. So definitely if you're struggling, feel free to ask your doctor for any like heavier prescription medication, just that that does a little bit more than like the ginger lozenges and lemon lozenges and crackers and all of that. Also, this is the first time I did this in any of my pregnancies, and I swear it made a difference. I was using unisom every single night, just a quarter. I feel like the dose, and I I think I spoke about this in the last episode, is like half to a whole, which is like that. I mean, I feel like that would just take out an entire horse, but I would take a quarter just to help me sleep. And yes, it just helped me sleep so much I'm still taking it. But I do, I think I read somewhere that unison also helps with nausea and fatigue. So taking it at night, I feel like it probably did help me the next day. Okay, the last random thing I want to talk about is just the weirdest pregnancy symptoms that I experienced in the first trimester, and some still linger now. Some of them I never experienced before, and some of them I did, and I just must have forgotten about. Number one, I definitely experienced this in the past, but how your body changes in scent. It is so disgusting. It feels like you are smelling someone else's BO. It's like you are a different person stuck in this body where I just always felt like I was smelling someone else, and I still do. And I would ask Scotty, to be like, can you smell that? And I don't think other people can smell it, but it's something that we smell in ourselves. And I don't know why that happens. I feel like I need to research it, but that is like my biggest pet peeve. This pregnancy is just every single day smelling not like myself, no matter how clean I am, no how no matter how many showers I take, deodorant, perfume. I just have this like lingering scent of someone else's BO. Also, this time, my dreams have been so wild to the point where I get pissed off going to sleep at night because I know I have to buckle up for the most intense and insane dreams of my life. Like the things that my mind comes up with, like I could probably be a billionaire writing all of these different movies because no one in their right mind could make this stuff up. Third thing, the nosebleeds. I definitely experienced this with aspen a little bit, but this actually comes perfect timing because last night I had my first one, this pregnancy. So I'm a little shooketh from it, but it was like two something in the morning, and I just like rubbed my nose, and all of a sudden, just blood came pouring out to the point where I could not even hold it in my hands. It was on my bed, it was on my carpet, it was all over the floor. And Aspen had a bad dream last night. So she woke up and came into my bed. So I was trying to be quiet and I was just hanging over the sink for at least 20 minutes, like choking on my blood in my mouth, down my nose, in my hands. It was everywhere to the point where I almost woke Scotty up because I was like, I don't know if I can stop this bleed. Like, what do you do at this point? Do you go to the hospital? Like, I had no idea. I almost stuck a tampon up my nose because I was almost out of options. Nothing was helping. So that lasted about 20 minutes. And I know that's a pregnancy symptom. I'm not sure why. I think I don't know if it thins your blood or like it makes your blood vessels thinner where you can, I don't know, hit them easier. I have no idea. But that was pretty inconvenient. I just washed my sheets, blood everywhere, blood on my carpet, which is so hard to get out. Um, but yeah, not the most convenient side effect of pregnancy. Oh, and the grossest tastes in your mouth. I don't know if anyone else experienced this. I feel like I did not experience this with my last pregnancies, but it happened constantly for the first couple weeks of pregnancy. And then I feel like it comes and goes, like I have it almost right now, where it's just the grossest, most foul taste in your mouth. And your mouth is so dry, no matter how much water you drink or how many times you brush your teeth, it just does not go away. And so it's just it makes you even more nauseous. Okay, so those are some random things I just wanted to bring up and chit chat about. So now let's dive into the weeks that I haven't talked about yet. So we'll start at week nine of the first trimester. So I thought weeks six and seven were rough. I had no idea how much worse that I was going to get. Week nine knocked me on my ass. A lot of these days I spent just rotting in bed because I just could not function. Scotty had to pick up the slack a lot and take Aspen to school for me or help make lunches those days. But they really tested me mentally, and it was the first time in my pregnancy. I guess that was what five weeks into my pregnancy, where I was like, oh, I'm actually going to spiral. Like I have been sick for so long, and it's only seeming to get worse. And so I just held myself in bed, being like, I'm about to have a mental breakdown. So I huddled up with my close personal friend, ChatGPT, and together we came up with five affirmations that I would just repeat to myself every single day to remind myself what I was going through, what my body was doing, and just to like get back on track. So I thought I'd share them just in case this helps anyone else out there. So, number one, my body is working so hard right now, it's okay to rest. This one was really important to me because I feel like I'm such an on-the-go person, and resting typically makes me feel like I'm doing nothing and I'm just being stagnant and like a waste of space. But our bodies are doing so much and all of it we can't see at this point. Everything's happening inside. So no matter how useless we feel, our bodies are working overtime. So we need to give it credit and rest when asked to rest. Number two, nausea and fatigue are incredible signs of what our body is doing. Number two, nausea and exhaustion are signs of the incredible work our body is doing. So this really helped me when I was just so sick and tired of being sick and tired, where I felt so grateful that I was experiencing nausea and I was experiencing exhaustion because all of that meant my dot my body was doing what it was supposed to do to grow a healthy human. Number three was I give myself permission to slow down and take care of myself. Especially as moms, I feel like we are always focused on taking care of everyone else that our cup gets so empty and dry as heck. So this one really helped me check myself and say, okay, what do I need in this moment? I need rest. I need a bubble bath, I need to put on a show and just binge watch it without any guilt before I pick the kids up from school. Number four, I am stronger than I feel in this moment. There's definitely moments where you feel so weak, especially in your first trimester or like even in that third trimester where you're like, oh my gosh, I can't get any bigger. When is this over? So just reminding ourselves that we are so much stronger than we feel in certain moments, um, really just was a great mindset shift for me. And five, that this is only temporary and I can get through it one day at a time. It really helped me when I just kind of decompartmentalized, I think that's how you say it, where I just focused instead of focusing on how many weeks I had left, I would just focus on day by day and literally sometimes hour by hour. And it really helped me tackle each day, and it just didn't feel as overwhelming as like looking at how many more weeks of the first trimester I had back because at that point it just feels like a battle you'll never win. Okay, so those are my affirmations. I hope you liked them. You can seal them if you want. Um, next, I wanted to talk about my cravings in week nine. It's so vile to even discuss because I look back and it makes me want to gag. It was like barbaric, where my cravings, I guess they were cravings. I've never really experienced cravings in the past, but this was like a survival mechanism where like I had to have certain types of food and I had to have them in that moment. Like my body didn't know the difference between hunger and death. And so it was the weirdest stuff that I was having to eat to make to just feel like I was going to survive that moment. And it was tricky because it was always during like the wee hours of the morning or first thing in the morning where the types of food were unavailable. For some reason, this pregnancy, my body has wanted like lunch and dinner for first thing in the morning. At 445, my body like had to have enchiladas. And finding enchiladas at 445 was close to impossible. So, again, another mental breakdown where I had to get to improvise and make sure that I was Uber Eating two meals at dinner time to make sure I had one in the fridge of something that I would assume that I would like the next morning or if I woke up. One thing that I think is so disgusting now is that I went through this in week nine where my body needed salmon bowls at 9 a.m. in the morning, maybe earlier. I think one morning I had a Zinke LaBoole salmon at 7:45. Yes, they are open at that time. And I was just chowing down an entire salmon fillet before 8 a.m. in the morning. And I look back down, I'm like, that is so disgusting. But that's what my body wanted. Oh my gosh. The other weirdest thing is I went through a phase and I still feel like I have it, but not to the point of what it was was orange chicken. I've never really needed orange chicken. I mean, I like orange chicken, but I've never really like needed it in my life. This week, I could not think of anything besides orange chicken and like orange chicken and just salting it. And so I was having orange chicken multiple times a week. And it was like my Roman Empire where I had I constantly thought about it. I would research every single rating of orange chicken in the area and make sure I was getting the best of the best. And I'm glad that all of these cravings, like now, um, you know, they've they've leveled out a lot. Um, but it was it, like I said, it was like barbaric and animalistic, where my body could not get enough of these things. Otherwise, it felt like it was completely going to shut off in the moment. So I was definitely more of like a savory cravings person. Um, I was randomly craving and eating some like sweet fruit, which I never did in the past, like watermelon and just like crunchy cold grapes were just, they would just satisfy me. I don't know if it's maybe because they're hydrating and we obviously need to hydrate so much more during our pregnancies. Okay, something I feel like we all experience during the first trimester is just no matter how sick you are, or if you don't experience the symptoms, I feel like pregnancy humbles you and just will break you down a bit in little ways. And if you don't laugh, you'll cry. So I have a funny story to show. This was during week nine where I was just a gremlin. I had not slept. I remember being in bed this day. Like my hair was a bird's nest. I was a zombie. I think it was maybe around noon where I could finally get out of bed. I ordered up some Uber Eats to my door, and I saw that it got delivered. And I came out of my dark cave of a room. And I went to go grab it from the nice older man that was delivering it. And as I was getting closer, I noticed that he was like looking very odd at me and kind of like embarrassed and was kind of made this like nervous laugh as he handed the food to me. I was like, okay, that's strange. Maybe I just like look even worse than I thought I did. But I mined my own beeswax and I head back in and I pass Maddie, our babysitter, who was helping with bash, and I say, hello, and I'm on my merry way back into my cave. And I eat the food. And all of a sudden, I'm looking down at my shirt as I'm like taking a bite. I'm like, oh, that's odd. Why is my nipple out? Um, that's strange. Hopefully, it wasn't like that when I went to go grab my food and kind of brush it off, didn't think about anything. And then later on, I go to hang out with Maddie and Bash when I'm feeling a little better. And Maddie looks at me, she's like, How are you feeling? And she's like, Oh, like, do you know that when you went to go to your Uber Eats to grab the food, like your entire nipple was out? Was like, What? Um, you tell me this now? And she was like, Well, I don't want you to want to embarrass you in the moment. Um, but it definitely was. I'm like, okay, this all makes sense why this like precious old man was looking at me in horror and just laughing and pretty much like ran away. Um so yeah, I mean, that was my very humbling story of week nine. Um, I'll never forget that. I apologize. Hopefully I didn't traumatize him too much or get a sexual assault on my Uber Eats app. So, in more serious news, um, week nine is when you get your NIPT tests, which um tests for like chromosome abnormalities and genetic testing. And it's it's when I experience pregnancy anxiety the most, or maybe the hardest, obviously, like in the first few weeks of you know, making sure that your pregnancy is sticking as it should. And then this is like almost that first wave of anxiety when it comes to testing. And so something I feel like people don't talk about it enough is that pregnancy anxiety. It's like everyone kind of thinks that once you get pregnant, um, you're in the safe zone, or at least before you've had kids, you kind of assume that. But it's something like this was the point, even though it's my third time and it is protocol, it is something that I experienced really heavy this week and just having had to distract myself and come up with new affirmations with Chat GPT to get through it. But also just reminding myself that it is protocol and every single person has to do this. And it's like, yes, they're looking out for abnormalities or things that are wrong, but like is protocol and it is part of pregnancy, and the odds are everything's okay, but it's just something that has to be checked off. Okay, week 10. So this was the week I actually flew to New York by myself. Um, my sister, my youngest sister was going wedding dress shopping for the first time, and I was definitely not going to miss that. So I definitely did a lot more in my first trimester than I have in the past. Like this was, I think, my like fifth or sixth flight because my first few were going and coming back from Europe. And so I thought by 10 I'd feel a little better because I was under the impression that your hormones and HCG peak at nine-ish weeks or 10, and then you start like feeling a little better. No, definitely 10 was again still so rough. And so I flew all the way to New York and I was out of my routine. Like before when I'm home, I can eat every few hours and I rest and I can go for a walk when I want. This I was on, you know, everyone else's schedule, and I was so excited in the dress shopping that we spent an entire day in the city and we were in taxi cabs. We went from appointment to appointment. I spent much longer in between eating. So definitely felt nauseous and weak and needed to shove food in my mouth at some points to keep going. And it got to a point, I think we started at like 8 a.m. And around 4 p.m., I was started getting the most blistering headache. And it was during the time, it was like the exact same week that Trump was talking about autism coming stemming from Tylenol, or how that their studies that have now come out that link the two of them. And so I was like, okay, I can't take any painkillers, but then there's also, you know, doctors and holistic practitioners out there saying it's false. And so the narrative was like so 50-50 that I was just too traumatized to even test it out. And so I wasn't taking anything from my headache. We went to one extra fitting, and then it was like a 45 minute to an hour drive home to Williamsburg. And I remember getting home at like 4 or 5 p.m. I got in bed and immediately got hit with the worst migraine. Like my whole body was shivering and shaking. I couldn't get warm under the covers. And I felt like I was absolutely on my deathbed after a few hours. I know, and then I, and then I definitely was like, okay, I can risk this once. I feel like I am actually going to drop dead. So I took two Tylenol and it helped a little bit. And then a few hours later, I got my orange chicken and I was able to go to the door, nipple intact, and get it and shove my face a bit, and then got back in bed. And I was literally in bed for 16 hours. And this was a quick trip to New York. So I spent a lot of the time in bed. Um, but this is your sign like, do not push your limits in your first trimester because your body will yell at you. It was the worst migraine of my entire life. So eating every few hours, staying hydrated, making sure you can rest, not pushing yourself past certain limits. I mean, there are like this was my choice. I wanted to do this, I wanted to be there for my sister, but it was a nice reality check of like, okay, I'm not invisible invincible when I'm pregnant and I still need to take care of myself. Also, when booking this trip, I did not take into account the time change with my flight home. So I was, I booked an 8.30 flight. I'm like, oh great, like I can be up by 8.30, can get to the ho I can get to the airport by 7.30 and I'll be good. Did not realize that 8:30 in the morning was 5.30 back home, which meant I had to be at the airport at 4:30 back home, which meant I had to wake up at around 2.30 or 3 a.m. back home. Worst mistake of my life. Um, that was so beyond rough getting up, and that was when I was in my peak morning sickness, was during those early hours of the morning. So I just remember pretty much crawling onto that plane and just like downing a plane bagel and with like my head in a puke bag, and I pretty much slept the entire ride home. I've never been so grateful to get home, but I made it and I survived. Okay, week 11. So your baby is now the size of a fig. This is one of my favorite this is my favorite part where it just like really starts taking shape and turning into like this little actual baby rather than just like a gummy bear. Something I experienced out of nowhere during week 11 was my skin changes. And I don't recall this happening in my other pregnancies, but my shoulders just completely got taken over by like deep cystic acne. Like they were like oily, like they they couldn't pop, but they were just like oily. And I don't know if it's my body was overproducing oil from my hormones, but it came out of nowhere and it lasts like a week or two, and some took over on my face as well. Something I just was not prepared for, where I just it was painful, and I don't know, people say that when you experience skin issues in pregnancy, it's related more to a girl than a boy, but that's an old wives' tale. So I don't know, we'll find out. We still don't know the gender. Okay, so back on the dream front. So this is week 11, I want to say. I'm still at my peak of feeling so sick. Dreams during this time, specifically sex dreams. I did not relay this information to Scotty because I didn't want him to think this was like an open invitation. But the way your hormones just wake up in the middle of the night was just like so startling. Where I was like, I don't feel good, but why am I having these thoughts? Um, if he's listening to this, he's probably gonna be like, What the fuck? How was I not let in on this little secret? Well, you weren't because the shop was not open. Okay, week 12, I feel like was my light at the end of the tunnel. One, you finally get your next scan, or typically around this, where the 12-week scan, it's just so precious because typically your last one is what, like eight or nine weeks or something, where it goes from like a gummy bear to the 12 weeks. It's like it actually looks like a whole ass baby. Yes, it's so tiny, but like you see the head, the belly, all of the limbs, you see it start moving around at this phase. It's just so rewarding where you're like almost done with the first trimester and you get to kind of reap the benefits of seeing its little body in your belly. This was also the time where I feel like my cravings and ravenousness definitely leveled out. I feel like I was eating three meals a day again and then just light snacks in between. I didn't feel like I was relying on snacking every hour or two and like shoving my face with like salty chips. The one thing that probably did change in my diet from pre-pregnancy to at this phase was I was incorporating one more like late night snack right before bed, if it was like 9 or 10 p.m., where I I don't know what it is with dry cereal in my pregnancies. All three pregnancies, all I've wanted was to just snack on cereal in bed. And Scotty always laughs at me because he's like, This is your signature move when you're pregnant. You're just chomping on dry cereal next to me as we're watching our shows. Also in week 12, this is when we took our pregnancy announcement pictures, and it just felt like the life was coming back into me. I pretty much wasn't getting dressed the the the previous weeks. So it was so nice to put on normal clothes and kind of do my hair and makeup minimally and just feel more like a human and I don't know, maybe a girl again than just some like gremlin. So if you're lacking motivation or excitement to take any pictures during this phase, no, you don't have to. But I want to gently encourage you to do so. You don't have to go all out, you don't have to dress all up, you don't have to hire a photographer. If you want to, you can, but just something to make you feel human again and just look back and remember. And it's just such a little reward, especially as you're exiting the first trimester of like what you've been through, if you've been sick, if you've been exhausted. And I just look back at those pictures and I know I'll just always cherish them. You can even set up like a little tripod on your bed. I don't know. Get a friend to take it, take them by yourself. It's just wild what a little bit of like makeup and even just brushing your hair can do for the psyche. This is when really when I felt like a mental and physical shift in my pregnancy. Okay, so week 13, I really started feeling myself. I feel like the color was coming back into my body, which actually a mom friend at school pointed out. She's like, Oh my gosh, you actually look like you have more color to your face now. Like, oh my gosh, I didn't realize I was probably just like a walking ghost. But I definitely felt like a little bit of my energy was coming back where I was so excited and grateful to be able to get back into Pilates twice a week and just walking every single other day, where before it was like I felt like I was dragging my body to do that. At this point, I felt like excited to be able to move my body like that again. Okay, the weirdest thing that happened to me in week 13 is that I had almost these pins and needles in my boobs. It was almost like when you sit on your foot too long and you just get crazy pins and needles, or when you have that milk let down when you're breastfeeding. But I just had it the entire week. It was just a tingling sensation and it was kind of uncomfortable or just like annoying because I'm like, oh my gosh, can you just like stop for a hot second? Um, but I looked it up and apparently it's linked to hormone fluctuations. Again, this is something that I've now only experienced in my third pregnancy. It's just crazy how each one can just be so different. So even though week 13 was technically the end of my first trimester. So like once you get it's confusing because it's once you get to week 14. So once you get through week 13 is when you technically graduate to the second trimester, it definitely took me a few more weeks to feel like I got all of my energy back and just the fatigue didn't hit me midday. Um, it was something I wasn't experiencing where I thought, like, oh, magically now I'm in my second trimester. I'm gonna feel, you know, as good as new. No, I think somehow week 14, 15, I felt even more exhausted than weeks 12 and 13. I don't know if it was because I like finally felt like I was getting better and I threw myself into a bunch of stuff and just exhausted my body. I think it was week 14 where I walked over 10,000 steps every single day. And then every next morning I could not keep my eyes open. And then Scotty and I finally like put two and two. We're like, oh wait, these are the days that you've been walking so far. Some days I'd walk closer to like 12,000 steps. And so at that point, I'm like, okay, I need to just tone it back a little bit. I know I'm feeling better, but still like make sure I'm not overdoing it with my body. And then after I did that, I started feeling so much better. And yeah, that's kind of what brought me to the end of my first trimester. Um, and now I am, gosh, I'm popping now. You can kind of see if you're watching me on video. Um, I'm almost 19 weeks, so I'm filming this a little bit delayed or a lot of bit delayed. Um, so I've got some catching up to do. But yeah, so hopefully that helps anyone who's struggling with the first trimester, going to go through it in the future, going through another pregnancy where we feel like we have complete amnesia and just forget about everything that we go through as women. I mean, this is my third time, but it feels sometimes like the first. I just forget what it's all about and it's very humbling. Um, but now that I'm on the other side, I'm so grateful for finding the energy and confidence and strength to just get through it. And now I'm in my favorite trimester and being able to get back to everything that I'm doing. So if you're currently struggling, I am living proof that you are very close to the end. Definitely the days feel so long, but the weeks really do fly by, and soon enough, like you'll be feeling so much better and we'll be getting back to all the things that you love to do. So hang in there if you are someone currently in the thick of it. That concludes today's episode. We will see you guys next week. Thank you so much for tuning in.

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Tayla Burke

Host