If you’ve checked out my pregnancy announcement post already, you know that we were completely not expecting to have a baby right now, but here we are!
I felt the need to divulge some pretty valuable information about what to really expect your first trimester as there’s a lot of things I experienced that NO ONE tells you. Other than the obvious nausea, there are a lot of symptoms you’re most likely going to feel that may not be common and a TON of changes you will be making to your lifestyle. I wanted to divulge into how my first trimester was because in true EWI fashion, I like to keep it real.
All the supplements: Fortunately, I had been taking really good vitamins beforehand that contained a lot of folic acid and I was in generally good health so I wasn’t too concerned about that when I first found out I was pregnant. As of right now I take this prenatal, along with two fish oil capsules, 2 collagen capsules twice a day and extra folic acid pill (apparently no prenatal has enough). I take everything pretty much at breakfast or lunch time. It seems like a lot but the fish oil really helps replenish the oils that your growing baby is basically draining you from. The collagen is my own personal preference as I took it before pregnancy and have done research that it helps prevent stretch marks, I’ll let you know how that goes.
Nausea: I feel like it came out of absolutely NOWHERE. I was totally fine during my Europe trip, but when I got back and I hit 7 weeks I was SO SICK. I never threw up but I was constantly with some sort of candy in my mouth at work and ended up telling them at like, 9 weeks because my energy had dipped significantly and I was paranoid they were starting to notice. Typically people tell their workplace around 20 weeks but I work in a very supportive environment so I’m glad I told them as early as I did. My nausea lasted consistently from weeks 7-11 and it wasn’t just morning sickness. It literally lasted all day and was especially bad at night. What helped the most was ginger candies, lots of water and toast/crackers/cereal with oat milk at night when it got really bad. You can get a prescription for Diclectin, but I could only take one pill at night because it made me drowsy and spacey AF.
Food aversions: Even well into trimester two, I felt that food didn’t taste that good. My appetite is definitely much better now, but all I wanted for the first 3 months were “kid foods”, it was so fucking weird. I hadn’t had chocolate milk in like, 5 years and all of a sudden it was the most delish thing ever. I also could only stomach Nutella or scrambled eggs on toast, bagels for lunch and something else carby for dinner. Meat was disgusting, and I still kind of feel this way sometimes even now. Because I was completely repulsed by the thought of salad, I made myself a kale and spinach smoothie every morning to get my greens in daily.
Stuffy Nose/Cough: Okay so apparently this is totally normal but I have had it SO bad, especially at night. Like, some nights my cough was so bad that I sounded like I smoke a pack a day. Don’t even get me started if I was outside on a cold day for too long. It subsided a bit in my second trimester, but I was put on a puffer especially at night since the coughing would instantly start as soon as 9:00pm rolled around. For the stuffy nose I have been using my neti pot, Hydrasense (do not buy the Eucalyptus one, I had to return because it is not safe for pregnancy), and Vicks shower tabs/Puffs infused tissues – life changing!
Lifestyle Changes: I used to drink two coffees a day, sometimes three if I really needed it and now I am down to one in the morning only. I have completely cut out alcohol – I know, some people are okay with a glass of wine which I totally won’t judge you for. I personally do not feel comfortable drinking anything with alcohol as I have done extensive research stating that it takes your baby twice as long as you do to metabolize it, and this was enough for me to just cut it completely out until I give birth. I have also changed over my supplements – my multivitamin had too much vitamin A, and I stopped taking melatonin at night. Skincare-wise, I have switched to mostly natural products and am loving the Farmacy line at Sephora. My skin started to get super dry so I started using Avene moisturizer and my face has never looked better.
Stretch Mark Prevention: As mentioned above, I have been adamant about taking collagen to help elasticize my skin. This is especially going to come in favour when my belly really starts to grow closer to my due date. I started using oil on my wet skin before getting out of the shower and a natural balm afterwards pretty early in my pregnancy as well to keep my belly moisturized and avoid itchiness.
Swollen Boobs: This was my first pregnancy symptom, and it was so bad that I had to sleep with ice packs in my bra just to relieve the burn I felt. I can’t say that everyone will experience such rapid changes in their breasts, but it was pretty brutal and it hurt to wear bras for a few weeks.
Sleep: I was totally restless at night in my first tri and tired AF during the day. My back started to hurt early, don’t know if its because I am pretty in tune with my body or just super sensitiive but I couldn’t sleep well on my left side for the longest time as I would feel pulling and stretching at night – honestly the weirdest feeling. I got a pregnancy pillow at 8 weeks to help me get comfortable in bed, and I don’t think I will be able to sleep without it after I give birth because Marc likes it too LOL.
Overall I can honestly say that my first tri wasn’t THAT bad, just took a lot of adjusting to being pregnant, especially since I didn’t feel like I was until I started to show at 14 weeks.
Shop my favourites pregnancy products here:
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