A Millennial's Pregnancy Journey: What the F - First Trimester

You know that feeling when a friend you trusted betrays you?

That's how my first trimester felt. Like as though my body betrayed me. 

I spent a week at my parents place after finding out that I was pregnant (They live just two streets away, so even in the lockdown, I could go there) Basically, this was just me Netflix and (actual) chilling at another location!

A day before I was supposed to leave, I started feeling uncomfortable. I attributed it to overeating. Duh.

I was walking around hoping that would make me feel better when my dad suggested eating a banana (the South Indian solution for all stomach problems, second only to moru with perungayam!).

The first bite and I felt better. That's when I realized the uncomfortable feeling was extreme hunger!

From then, hunger became my constant companion.

If the first bite of breakfast doesn't touch my lips at 9:30, I would feel nauseous and sick. I devoured meals and became a hunter-gatherer in my own kitchen. I was always looking for something to snack on. 

For someone who preferred sleep over breakfast and almost never snacked between meals, this was a huge change! The fam was convinced I had a baby with a monstrous appetite!

(SCIENCE: Actually, the food isn't for the baby at all, it is to provide energy for our body to work on creating the perfect environment for the fetus)

Then came the morning sickness, or in my case, the evening sickness.

I am TERRIFIED of puking. The whole food coming back up and getting into your nose and stuff is something I am disgusted by and it makes me cry every time. I have gone through my entire adult life avoiding puking in every way possible. Then I become pregnant and voila, this becomes an everyday thing!

At 6 in the evening the nausea would begin, by 9 I would puke my dinner out and by 10:30 I would get extremely hungry and fill up on Marie biscuits and water. 

I think I am done with Marie biscuits for life. 

The reason all this caught me off guard was because I never believed I would have nausea and the inability to cope with certain smells. My never-had-period-pains, never-had-nausea mom never told me! I thought she was the norm, but it turns out she was the outlier! 

Me in the first Trimester

My stomach became an Iyer mama -- only accepting sambhar sadam, thayir sadam, rasam, idli dosai.. The smell of frying onions and garlic made me nauseous. The thought of cheesy, creamy food itself was puke-inducing. The Dalgona coffee fad hit me hard; Instagram was full of pics and it did not help!

And this happens to a person who could comfortably stomach everything from road side Pani puri to Risotto Al Funghi. I almost thought that the wonderful relation I shared with food was ruined forever,

I hadn't met my doctor when I found out I was pregnant. Due to Corona being rampant at that time, she advised me not to venture out until it was time for the 8th week scan. So, on top of feeling horrible I was floating around in a sea of uncertainties. 

The only thing that made everything better was Kartik. He was with me for every puke, getting me toothpaste and making bad jokes. He listened to my every whine and even finished my half eaten Marie biscuits! 

Free Advice : Don't get pregnant unless you and your partner are unconditionally in love with each other. It isn't a bed of roses!

The longest April ever finally crawled into May. 

May 6th was to be my first scan, my first doctor's visit and what I thought would be the day I finally get some answers!