It also isn't helping I don't think that my only "real" symptom is insomnia.  No sickness, no foods I can't stand...so on one hand I feel totally normal other than I have a lot of really frustrating hours at night where I just want to sleep while I can.

Glad to hear you're doing a bit better and figuring some things out! 

When I couldn't sleep, I read my favorite books. I am a bibliophile and I ended up re-reading the entire Lord of the Rings series and The Harry Potter series while pregnant. I could fall into the story, but they didn't require a ton of headspace, so they worked really well for me.  

Good luck and lots of us are here for you to reach out to. Sometimes anonminity is exactly what a gal needs. 

I am 16 weeks pregnant and am mid-30's so we weren't trying, but not taking precautions either. I figured if it's meant to be it will happen. My first trimester was awful! I felt like I had the flu daily, throwing up at work, couldn't stay awake - thank god I carpooled so I could sleep on the drive to and from work. My horses were either hurt or sick so I couldn't ride even if I felt like I wanted to (which I didn't). Zofran has been a lifesaver for me. Now I have major pregnancy brain and can't remember anything. I have so many reminders in my phone right now! 

They probably recommended to "no riding" because you are in your 30's and pregnant which is "old" by pregnancy standards and there are higher risks of miscarrages, etc. My OB has said I can do pretty much anything I was doing prior to getting pregnant so long as your body was used to it. 

We didn't really start telling anyone until after the first trimester since it is actually pretty easy to miscarry (especially at my age they said!) until about 10-12 weeks. I felt so terrible over the holidays I know my in-laws were getting mad at me for not showing up at any family gatherings, but they were happy in the end. I didn't want to tell them too early and then have to go back and tell them something happened. As terrible as I felt I told my husband this was his only shot at me having a baby because I was not going through all that first trimester stuff again! 

I have a 5 month old and I'm 36 so I was in that "advanced maternal age" category. However, I continued to ride clear up until 38 weeks. We got pretty busy that next week and I went into labor at 39 weeks on the dot. I mostly walked and trotted after 20-some weeks and only walked around a little bit (mostly just sat on my horse and talked to people) the day I was 38 weeks. I found out really early because we were trying, but I continued to compete until between 13 and 14 weeks. At that point, my OB said riding was OK but the baby wasn't protected by the pelvis anymore so competing probably wasn't a good idea. I kept tuning barrel horses most of the summer and did a lot of the exercising for my husband, though I did draw the line at ponying his hard to handle mare. I only rode my two teenage rodeo horses, both of whom seemed to know not to do anything crazy with me. Even the one who had been fractious and on the muscle chilled out while I was pregnant.

The hormones were crazy....I totally hear ya on that part! I was lucky and didn't have a bit of morning sickness. I slept on my back until closer to the end....the last trimester I tried really hard to stay on my sides and ended up buying a side sleeper pregnancy pillow to force me to stay there. Definitely keep doing what your body is used to and I swear that riding so long made my delivery a lot easier!

My OB was fine with my riding my tried and true, solid horse. He said to do my very best to not let anything crazy happen. His daughter ran barrels, so he got it. He didn't want me running, but said it was ok for me to keep just riding since my body was used to it and baby has such a nice cushion in there. I only rode my 17 year old and only in the arena. I was super careful. Once my belly hit the horn, I quit. 

First trimester SUCKS. It was so hard. It will get better. And once that baby is here, you won't want to trade him/her. 

Best of luck! 

I can relate to you on so many levels. I had my second child 6 weeks ago. I also have a 5 year old. During both pregnancies I didn't feel myself and hated it. I didn't tell many people (because the thought of all the attention from it brought me anxiety). I also didn't want to be judged for continuing to ride my horse...which I did both times until I felt it was time to stop. I hated the process, but I dearly love my children. It is normal to worry about how you will feel. Society tells us we should have this earth shattering connection instantly with someone inside our womb that we havent met yet. I didn't have that connection until I got to hold and care for my child. It came more easily with my second, because by now I am much more familliar/aware of the love and bond between a mother and her kids.  It is just different for some people and that is OK!! Pregnancy is not much fun, but I promise you won't regret it. 

As far as your OB... Most OBs aren't horse people. They probably think you are skinning broncs when actually you are poking around on ol faithful. I didn't ask my doctor for this reason. I felt that I knew enough about horses and my own limitations to make the decision for myself.  (I was very cautious)

From my perspective, what you are feeling is normal. Just know that one day in the future, you will wonder what you ever did before your child.  Pregnancy sucks but it is only temporary. 

If you ever want to talk, feel free to message me anytime. 

 I did not read all the responses but the number one thing I would suggest is to stay off Google. It drove me mad thinking about all the stuff I could and could not eat. I ignored a lot of it to be honest. I loved Subway while I was pregnant lol. They have to give you all the information, even if it happened to 1 out of 1,000,000,000,000 pregnancies. I know plenty of people that rode horses very far into their pregnancy with no issues unless they were high risk. At 5 weeks you shouldn't have to change a thing regarding sleep habits, exercise, etc. Stay off Dr. Google!