The First Trimester

Here I am, at 12 weeks on August 23, 2009. Thankfully, this is not a maternity dress. I still managed to squeeze into regular clothes, as long it's a dress...

Let me brief you on what my first trimester was like, by enlightening you on my symptoms.

Weeks 1 - 8: Extreme fatigue, sore breasts, heightened sense of smell

Weeks 9 - 12: Fatigue continued, soreness continued, sense of smell even stronger, and all these joined by extreme nausea and vomiting

I couldn't wait to get 'out of the woods', as some say, so I was patiently coping with these symptoms and gaining optimism with every prenatal doctor's visit I had. "Usually, women start to feel a lot better as they enter the second trimester," I was reassured often. Having said that, there was also the caveat, "Well, you are carrying twins, so many symptoms will be heightened in your case." Gee, thanks, Doc.

To put things in perspective, let me share some of my misery with you. The week of August 10th must have been the worst week ever. I was between 9 and 10 weeks, and could not keep any food or liquids down. Everything I ate or drank, from crackers to apple juice, inevitably came right back up within minutes. I was miserable. It was Friday afternoon by the time I decided to call my doctor for advice. I didn't want to call too soon because, again, this is what I thought was 'normal'. My doctor was not in, so I was transferred to one of the on-call doctors. I was prescribed medication for my nausea, which was called in for me and I took the first dose that night. The nausea continued...despite the medicine...but, again, it was probably too soon to take effect.

The next morning, I took another dose of medicine and waited over an hour before trying to eat, but as soon as my breakfast went down, it came right back up! At this point, I felt helpless and thought the best thing to do was go to the Emergency Room, because the on-call doctor had warned me that I could become dehydrated if my vomiting continued. My husband, Victor, took me in immediately, and sure enough I was dehydrated and put on an IV to replenish my fluids. They also gave me more medication (stronger, this time) to stop my nausea and vomiting. This one seemed to work!

Well, six weeks later and I'm still on the same medication. Without it, I can't seem to shake off the terrible nauseous feeling I get even when I am on an empty stomach. My doctor reassures me saying it might all disappear around the 16th or 17th week. Well, I'm already on week 16, so let's just wait and see...