I approached my first trimester with cautions, although I must admit I am very delighted and bersyukur. Looking back on my previous pregnancy experience means I have to be extra careful in handling this pregnancy, especially the first trimester.

I had spots after picking up Day at school. My husband’s obgyn friend gave me Duphastone to be consumed for a few days. Then we went to the doctor for our first check up. I told my doctor what happened. She prescribed me Duphastone too. She also said, “Dijaga ya, ini namanya bayi mahal.”

I had the usual first trimester symptomps. First, the nausea. Thankfully it was only mild, I only felt uneasiness in my belly and a proper lie down in bed soothed the nausea. Normally, I prefer to be in an air conditioned room since I sweat easily. This first trimester, I sweated way more than I used to be. There was one night where I shivered like crazy that my husband wrapped me in blanket. It only happened once, because afterwards, I spent the rest of the first trimester complaining about the heat! Hehehe. My husband said it was the hormones and that my body was adjusting with the pregnancy. Well, aside from the nausea and over-sweating, apparently the adjustment had me producing gas a lot too. Oh and it also messed up my bowel schedule.

Along came the problematic part. My relationship with food! There were several foods that I had problems with. I couldn’t eat rice, it made me nauseous. Carb replacement for me was steamed potato or plain bread. I couldn’t eat veggies unless they were steamed or boiled, without added seasonings. So, plain potato, bread, and veggies! Fried food was also my enemy. I immediately had terrible cough whenever I ate them. I could only eat fried food if it was my Mom’s cooking or I cooked it myself. Got me questioning, was this really a problem or was this just psychological? Overly salty food got me headache too. Awww.

This first trimester had me lay in bed most of the time. If I didn’t do anything, then you could find me in bed, dozing off. I even neglected this blog for the entire first trimester! I had cramps whenever I did too many activities, even walking to the kitchen got me cramps! I stopped baking cakes and bread although it was one of my favorite activities.

A day before my second appointment to the doctor, my husband came home and brought risoles from work. I was hungry but as usual, I lost my appetite… so I ate the risoles instead of dinner. I heated the risoles already. Made sure it was searing hot. Then it happened. Around 2 a.m. I woke up and went to the bathroom. Got problem with the bowel. Half an hour later I went back to the bathroom for the same problem. At 3 a.m. I went back again for the same problem: diarrhea… but this time, I also had projectile vomit. Yes. You read that right. It was the first time in my life that I experienced a projectile vomit. I thought that kind of thing only happened to kids!

The diarrhea went on for a total of 18 times. I still had to go to the bathroom right before I went to the hospital to see my doctor. When I finally saw my doctor, she was shocked.

“Lho, kok lemes?”

“Iya, saya diare dok, udah 18x dari jam 2 tadi,” I answered her.

She immediately checked on me, made sure that the baby was okay (thankfully the baby was fine!). She then proceeded to tell me that I should be hospitalized for two days, to had me monitored until the diarrhea subsided.

Well, under normal circumstances: no Covid-19 and 3 kids to attend to at home, I would have said yes. No, there was nothing enjoyable nor glamorous about staying in a hospital but honestly I really could have a proper rest and unwind there. My husband and I negotiated. Eventually the doctor gave me prescriptions: Diatabs, and some other medicine to stop the bacteria, also told me to drink Pocari Sweat. Yeah, I love the Pocari Sweat part!

She said if the diarrhea didn’t stop until the day after, I should come to the ER.

We went home. I took a shower, ate porridge, had my medicine, etc… alhamdulillah by night, the diarrhea stopped! I recovered slowly but sure for the next couple of days!

Despite all the problems/symptomps I had in this first trimester, I felt truly grateful and enjoyed it too. I have heard about the experience many times from friends and family, now I got to experience it myself. A total wonder for me!

Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah, hopefully my baby will grow into a healthy and strong little bundle of love. Mami loves you already.