I consider myself one of the lucky ones looking back on my first trimester. Really, I don’t think my first trimester could have gone any smoother than it actually did. I believe everyone around me has lovingly been a bit surprised by that fact as well–I know I am not the only one. If I am being brutally honest, I thought those first 13 weeks would be a sh** show, and I had realistically prepared myself (and Peter) for the shower of preemptive baby poo coming our way. My initial thoughts: First trimester horror stories + CF = I am going down. Way to have any confidence in your abilities, Janeil. ☹

The reality was I was very aware there were women who spent the first three months with head hanging over the porcelain throne. Honestly, I thought with all the morning coughing I do, I would spend my fair share of time locked in the bathroom with my supreme gag reflex. Instead, I celebrated every time I puked because I knew that was just part of being wonderfully pregnant. I thought with already underlying chronic fatigue, the first trimester would wipe me out completely. Again, that wasn’t the case either. I felt an influx of energy and used that timely wisely. I worried about making it through the first trimester with no IV antibiotics to avoid exposing my developing babe to the harsh drugs. No harsh antibiotics here (minus my necessary daily ones)! I did it! I made it through the first trimester, and I did it with relative ease and healthy lungs!

So, I consider myself extremely blessed because I know I fall into the minority group of “easy first trimesters”. Maybe the first trimester was so enjoyable because as Peter so eloquently put it, “You are used to feeling crappy”? Better yet, maybe it was all the prayers, support, and well wishes we received lifting me up to a healthier place? Either way, I truly felt great, hungry, a normal amount of tired, avoided IV antibiotics, and more excited with each passing week while baking that babe. Amen! My subsequent thoughts: I would do that 1,000 times over again!

Here’s a little more about my comfy and joyful first trimester being pregnant with cystic fibrosis:

Finding Out: I guess when you are so in-tuned with you body like I am, the benefit of having that connection is finding out you’re pregnant freakishly fast. At just 3 weeks 5 days pregnant, my body told me, “Get up out of bed and go take a pregnancy test because you are pregnant, girl!” And my body was right! Cue tears and hyperventilation.

I told Peter the next day and he was overcome by shock, just as I was. I think we both expected our TTC journey to play out differently and had our doubts we would ever be successful. The stats were not in our favor: about 1/3 of CFers need assisted reproductive technology to conceive and about another 1/3 only conceive after a year or more of trying. So to find out we made a human early on was very much our own little miracle! Overall, the first trimester felt long because we found out we were expecting so early, but it was incredibly joyful.

OB Visits: Because my pregnancy is considered high-risk due to cystic fibrosis and also cystic fibrosis related diabetes, I am being monitored entirely by a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) doctor, basically an OBGYN with extra training to handle complicated pregnancies. We decided a normal OBGYN just wouldn’t know what to do with me, and I am ok with that! The following things typically happen at my appointments: I usually get an ultrasound to make sure baby is growing correctly (it’s crazy to see the changes so far– the above ultrasound is 9w6d and 8w6d respectively), we go over my medications to make sure there have been no changes and everything is still safe to take, we go over my blood sugar numbers and adjust insulin as need, we discuss how my lungs are doing, and we discuss my weight gain. Starting at 20 weeks, I will get a growth scan at every appointment to continue to monitor baby’s growth. And from there, we see how things progress and adjust my care as needed!

CF Visits: I am also seeing my CF team on a more frequent basis to make sure I am the healthiest I can be during this time. As usual, I do a pulmonary function test (PFT) to determine how well my lungs are working, discuss my weight gain and calorie intake, adjust my medications, discuss my energy levels and other symptoms, and do a full physical exam. Surprisingly, my PFTs have gone up from 64% to 67% in the first trimester. YAY! Of course, everyone from my team comes in to see and touch my belly while asking all about my exciting pregnancy! I love my CF team so much and their constant support and detail to my care during this time is such an encouragement. I know this pregnancy feels like a huge victory for them as much as it is for me, and I hope I can make them proud by being a healthy mama!

Morning Sickness: I had a touch of morning sickness up until about Week 8 but focused on keeping my stomach filled to help with the nausea and random vomiting, and it worked! After Week 8, the sickness was gone and there were only random moments of feeling queasy. I felt my morning sickness was very tolerable and ultimately, I knew I had the skills to deal with it (vomiting isn’t really a novel thing in CF).

Appetite and Cravings: Smoothies, fast food (Chick fil A, Taco Bell, etc), pizza, tacos, fresh fruit, cheese danish, different cereals, raw carrots, and brussels sprouts were some of my cravings. Basically, any time I overheard talk about food on the radio or while eavesdropping on a private conversation, I needed said food item ASAP. Pregnancy cravings are really just a step up from my already CF-induced food cravings. Poor Peter has spent a lot of time driving me to different food establishments, but he has always been a good sport about it!

Weight Gain: From December to Week 13, I gained around 8lb (104lb to 112lb), which was very desirable since I was struggling with poor weight gain during the holiday season. My goal is to eat an extra 300- 600 calories a day on top of my minimum ~3000 to 3500 calorie demand to gain between 28 to 40lb. Geez! I just keep telling myself, “Food is fight. Food is growth.” I believe I can get there slowly and surely, and so far I have! I think my healthy weight gain has been the most shocking aspect of this pregnancy so far. Eating appropriately and seeing such fantastic results on the scale is such a foreign concept to me in my normal CF life. As an result, I am so thankful I am putting on the weight we both need to stay healthy, and I am slowly learning to love my new maternity body that can’t fit into any of my previous clothing.

Fatigue: My fatigue level from the beginning to Week 13 was very normal for me, even less burdensome than normal. There were days were I felt I had more energy than usual and was wondering when the impending fatigue would hit. There were also days were I napped and felt refreshed, and then days were I was tired. Overall, I personally feel CF-related fatigue is much more intense than pregnancy-related fatigue but that just might be me. Hopefully this energy will continue to transcend through the second trimester and beyond!

Other Pregnancy Weirdness: I had your usual cramping and twinges for the entirety of my first trimester. I now realize that all that stretching and pulling was needed because I started to show fairly quickly and developed a bump around Week 9 (and, I know it’s almost anatomically impossible at that point). People kept telling since I am petite, there’s nowhere to go but out. ☺ Who knows! I just went with the bump and embraced the congratulations and belly rubs from strangers.

With all the stretching, I experienced my very first round ligament pains pretty early on around Week 8 during hard coughs. I felt sharp pulling and tightening on the sides of my belly after coughing and then the pain would relax after a few seconds. My MFM agreed such strong coughing can definitely tighten all those muscles surrounding your belly causing sharp pains, and that I better get used to it. I am used to it at this point.

CF Weirdness: The number one CF/pregnancy question I was asked after announcing we were expecting was, “Can you still use your Vest twice a day for 30 minutes for airway clearance?” The answer is yes! It won’t harm the baby a bit and is an especially important tool to keep my lungs as clear as possible. Eventually, I will have to unclip the bottom buckles to fit my giant belly and possibly have Peter “clap” me to target my lower lobes (form of airway clearance that looks like pounding with cupped hands) but for now, it’s all Vesting. Some women even say their babies are comforted from the shaking and noises of the Vest after delivery because they were so used to hearing it in the womb. ☺

I think the baby will also be used to my coughing, or at least I hope so. On my 12 Week ultrasound every time I coughed, the baby did a little squirm, floated up, and then back down from the force of the cough. It made me laugh and feel a bit bad for the disturbing poor thing. Eventually, baby will learn coughing is just a thing mama does, along with many other weird CF things.

That’s a wrap, people! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. I am happy to report how well babe and I are doing so far. Please let me know if you have any questions about this special pregnancy and I would be happy to answer!

Sending love and light,

J and Babe