First Trimester Recap

Everything I experienced in my first trimester of pregnancy!

So excited to share a full first trimester recap with you guys! I figured it’d be fun to look back on in the future and remember exactly what my pregnancy was like, and hopefully it’s helpful (or just relatable!) for you in some way, too.

When I share this post I’m almost 16 weeks along, but as I’m writing it, I’m almost 13 weeks. The first trimester is over at the end of week 12, so I’ve just got a few days to go! Even though there were ups and definitely some downs, I’m feeling good and happy to say I’m almost done with what’s often portrayed as the most difficult part of being pregnant.

If you missed this post on how I found out I was pregnant + my 2 week wait symptoms, that’ll give you some more background on my pregnancy up to this point. But let’s get into the first trimester stuff!

Manageable, but not fun

That’s exactly how I’d describe my first trimester experience.

Honestly, I had low expectations about how I’d feel in the first trimester, considering everything I’d heard about it prior was extremely negative. Thankfully, I can say it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. Some of the more intense symptoms I experienced definitely took some trial and error to figure out how to best cope with them, and some days were a lot easier than others. But once I got a little more familiar and knew what to expect, I was definitely able to manage my symptoms pretty easily.

So while it wasn’t the most fun few weeks of my life, I know many mamas deal with much, much worst first trimester symptoms, and I’m thankful mine were pretty low key!

Overall, I’d say weeks 6-8 were the worst in terms of symptoms. Early on I just felt tired, everything came to a head all at once in weeks 6-8, then started easing off little by little in weeks 9-12.

Another main reason it wasn’t super fun, aside from less than enjoyable symptoms, was that I decided not to tell anybody but Joe until after my first doctor’s appointment. I’m extremely close with both my parents, and not telling them was SO FREAKING HARD. But I really wanted the confirmation of a positive doctor’s appointment, and fortunately, that’s what I got, so it made it worth the wait to give my parents great news, even if I had to wait until 10 weeks.

First appointment + due date

The day I found out I was pregnant, I called my OBGYN. I knew that typically you aren’t seen until at least week 8 at most offices, but I had a new patient appointment set up for the following week, so I knew I’d have to update them on the positive test and reschedule.

They asked roughly when I thought I conceived, and from there told me they’d see me on July 2. I found out I was pregnant at 3 weeks, and my appointment was scheduled for when I would be 10 weeks. The wait felt like an ETERNITY. Honestly, this may have been one of the hardest parts of the first trimester for me, mentally.

It was extremely difficult not knowing if everything was like, okay in there, and that I wasn’t doing something “wrong” every day leading up to the appointment. Of course I’d done research and live a super healthy lifestyle anyway, so there logically wasn’t much to actually be concerned about, it was more a fear of the unknown, I guess.

In the days leading up to the appointment I was getting more and more excited, I was just SO ready to see that little babe and hopefully, hear a heartbeat. I’d say I was 90% excited, 10% nervous, and most of the nerves were just that I wasn’t totally sure what would be happening, and I had to go alone (spouses aren’t allowed because of the pandemic stuff).

At that first appointment I had a pap done first (since I was due for my 3 year exam). After that, we moved on to the ultrasound. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest, and I definitely felt like I may pee right then and there because I had eaten like 2 pounds of grapes before I went. Not the best decision, in hindsight, but no regrets.

Anyway, my doctor took a second to move around the wand and all of a sudden, I saw my sweet little babe, clear as day, with a giant head, and legs kicking like crazy. The doctor moved the wand a little more, then all of a sudden, all you could hear was a SUPER strong heartbeat, and my doctor said, “that’s the best sound you’ll hear all day!” She was definitely right.

She took a photo, then let me know what bloodwork I’d have done that day. Some was just general stuff to check my own health, but we also were able to do some to test for chromosomal abnormalities and the gender, since I was already 10 weeks at that point.

After a little over an hour I was done, and the entire experience went exactly as I’d prayed it would. I grabbed my little ultrasound photo and I got an awesome pregnancy goodie bag with like health info, coupons, etc. (not sure if they do this at all OBGYN offices for mamas to be, but it was so nice!), and I practically skipped out of there, with my next appointment set for 4 weeks later.

Oh, and the doctor was able to confirm my exact week + day into the pregnancy, which was right on target with what I had been tracking before the appointment. She also gave me my due date, January 23, 2021!

That first appointment was on July 2, which also happened to be our wedding anniversary. It was such a nice gift to be able to show Joe the ultrasound photo and tell him all the details, and that most importantly the doctor said everything looks perfect.

Symptoms

Everybody’s symptoms are different, but here’s what I dealt with in the first trimester, in order from most intense to least.

• FATIGUE
  • If you read my post on how I found out I was pregnant, you probably remember me saying how crazy the fatigue was. Like, SO dead, exhaustion like I’ve never felt before, fatigue. It was what led me to take a pregnancy test, and it was pretty hard core from when I found out until around week 9. Makes sense, I’m growing a human, right?
  • I had to overhaul my work schedule, making sure I didn’t overload myself with tasks every day, and just manage my time a bit differently to make sure everything still got done but that I was resting, too.
  • I also had to adjust my workouts, and the intensity went way down very quick, simply because I had no energy to jump around (and honestly was afraid to before I went to the doctor). I still worked out most days, but I focused on lightening up the weights and really listening to my body and paying attention to what felt good and avoiding or modifying anything that didn’t feel right. Walking always felt super good, thankfully, so I took several walks most days, which has also been great in this super sunny summer weather.
  • I found myself having to lay down for like, 2-3 hours every afternoon, which I am NOT used to. In a typical day I’m super energetic and really efficient with work and such, so this took some getting used to. In the first couple weeks I found myself feeling guilty about being “lazy” and “unproductive,” but quickly re-trained those thoughts to give myself some grace and remind myself of why I was feeling tired in the first place. Instead I really tried to focus on listening to my body and that this is a beautiful process, and to give my body what it needed in those moments, which was lots of rest!
  • This was my most intense and noticeable symptom of the entire first trimester, but fortunately I noticed my energy slowly but surely coming back around week 10.

• SLOWER DIGESTION
  • When I say slower, I mean slooooower. Like, 1/4 the rate of my normal digestion. This was a big adjustment, because I’m used to having really on point, quick digestion, which I now appreciate even more! My doctor told me that basically digestion slows a lot so that nutrients can be given to your babe, which obviously, I’m on board for. But the bloating and discomfort of being SO FULL even after so little food was really frustrating.
  • I’m very used to eating big portions, because the foods I eat are generally quite low in calories, so I eat a lot in terms of volume. I had to completely change that in the first trimester, and switched from 3 big meals + snacks to like, 7 much smaller meals throughout the day. I couldn’t eat anywhere near the portions I usually do, which was just irritating, because a lot of the time it would feel like I ate just enough to want more food, but had to stop, and if I didn’t stop, I’d be SO full and bloated and uncomfortable afterward. This was especially bad at night. It felt like food was just sitting in my stomach, not being digested whatsoever.
  • You’ll notice that nausea/morning sickness isn’t on my list, and I’m SO thankful for that. I think instead, this digestion stuff just left me feeling really “blah” most of the time, like I didn’t want to eat, but it felt bad to be too hungry, too. But I know a lot of mamas deal with intense nausea and lots of throwing up, and I’m happy and thankful that I didn’t really experience that, and never even felt like I was going to throw up.
  • This symptom was the most frustrating to deal with, because it took me a lot of trial and error to figure out what worked and didn’t, and that could even change from one day to the next. Weeks 6-8 were definitely the worst, and thankfully it eased off around week 12 and I found my appetite came back (REAL hard) and I could eat more at one time without being uncomfortable.

• CRAVINGS + AVERSIONS
  • I don’t know why, but I find this subject so fun to talk about, probably because I love food, let’s be real. It was so fun to read message board threads about what other mamas to be were craving, and seeing such a wide variety! Also I have to say, it made me VERY happy to see how many women found themselves totally disgusted by animal products – not a coincidence considering how bad they are for our own personal health, but undoubtedly baby’s, too. But anyway! Here are the cravings and aversions I experienced in the first trimester.
  • Cravings – grapes! This wasn’t super weird for me, considering I love fruit year round, anyway. But it was very specific fruits, like grapes, that I found myself DYING to have. I ate so many grapes, like a pound a day, and lots of oranges, too!
  • Aversions – I honestly didn’t find myself gagging at the thought of anything, but did have some mild aversions and definitely had foods that just didn’t sound good at all that I normally love. Nutritional yeast is typically a staple for me and that made me feel just bleh, I found it left a gross taste in my mouth afterward that I hated, but most days I put just a tablespoon on my salad anyway because it’s so rich in nutrients, and just dumped on lots of salsa to try to mask the nooch flavor. Worst of all, sweet potatoes were totally out. I think I ate maybe 2 or 3 during the entire 12 weeks of the first trimester. They just never sounded good to me, at all. I’m still not sure what it was because they always tasted amazing when I ate them, but it was almost like instinctually I knew how satiating they were, and because of the digestion issues I just mentioned before, I avoided them to avoid any discomfort from being too full. If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know how weird this is for me, I am a sweet potato QUEEN normally, so not having them definitely was a big change.
  • Basically I just had to pay close attention to not overdo it in terms of volume at one time, especially at night, otherwise the bloat and discomfort was AWFUL

• TROUBLE SLEEPING
  • I’m not sure whether this was a first trimester symptom, or more just a symptom of my emotions during the first trimester. Because you wake up a little more frequently at night to pee, I kept finding myself totally unable to fall back asleep after going to the bathroom, as early as 2am, but most often around 4am. This was the worst from weeks 8-10, leading up to my appointment, but also happened a few times even after I went to the doctor. I truly think this was directly correlated with when we were announcing to family and friends, as I would often find myself just excited and thinking about telling people, or on the worst nights, feeling anxious about whether everything was going okay in there. This was an extremely frustrating thing for me, so I found the best strategy was to just get up and watch something on my laptop. I know I know, not great for actually helping myself get back to sleep, but it was definitely better than rolling around with my mind racing. Luckily around week 12 this pretty much stopped happening.

• HUGE + TENDER BOOBS
  • I see this as a symptom on almost every pregnancy blog post or video I’ve read or watched, and definitely experienced it in my first trimester. It was especially noticeable around weeks 5-9. My boobs just felt SUPER swollen and huge (relative to me, haha, I have small lil gals normally), and so heavy. My nipples were also pretty sensitive to the touch. I’m not sure whether I just got used to it or if they got less sensitive, but the extreme soreness eased up around week 11.

• MILD MOODINESS
  • Honestly, I didn’t notice a huge change in my mood most days. I had maybe 2 instances where I totally blew up and overreacted in situations that normally would be like, slightly irritating to me at the most, but even in the moment I realized like wow what the heck why am I acting like this?! But like I said, that was extremely rare, and overall I felt really good mentally during the first trimester. I will say though, before my first appointment, I definitely experienced some anxiety over whether the baby was doing okay, and I just did my best to shift my mindset to gratitude and positivity or even just distract myself when those thoughts came up.

Essentials (for me!)

I won’t lie, I see a LOT of first trimester “essential” lists online that are like, a mile long. Personally, I always try to have a less is more attitude when it comes to buying stuff in general, and I found there wasn’t much I truly “needed” for the first trimester. Plus, I’m anticipating how much well need to buy for the little one’s arrival later on! Depending on your unique pregnancy and symptoms and what helps you deal with them, you may need more/less, and totally different things than I did. But here’s what proved worth it to buy or download for my first trimester.

• Message boards + apps: as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I downloaded the What to Expect app. I originally wanted it for daily updates on my pregnancy and all the articles + informational resources, but quickly discovered it also has a message board with thousands of other mamas to be that have due dates close to yours. Since I told nobody but Joe for the first 10 weeks, I found it SO valuable to be able to browse the message board and hear about other women experiencing similar symptoms, or to read the fun threads about cravings and baby names. I will say, though, I was very particular about which threads I clicked on. Most were lighthearted and fun, but occasionally there would be one about someone miscarrying, which only heightened my anxiety, especially early on. So I just made sure to only read the conversations that were relatable to me, or on super fun, light topics.
• Supportive bras: when my boobs started growing and getting super sensitive, I made the mistake of thinking no bra would help (I wear very light bralettes/no bra normally because I really don’t like feeling super restricted or having a tight bra cutting into my skin). In hindsight, I realize how stupid that is. Fortunately after a couple weeks I realized what I actually needed is a super fitted bra to really strap them in. Luckily I already had quite a few from Lululemon that I normally reserve for workouts (these are my favorite) that were absolutely perfect, and I just ended up wearing those most days, which helped a lot with the tenderness.
• Cocoa butter + robe: I’ve heard a lot about stretch marks and pregnancy, specifically strategies for how to prevent them. Let’s be real, stretch marks are just that – marks on your skin. They aren’t the end of the world, and they don’t make you any less beautiful. But I’ll also be honest and say that I’m a pretty small human to start, and my skin is going to need to stretch quite a bit for this little babe to grow. If I can avoid stretch marks or make them a little less noticeable, I’d like to do that! So I got this cocoa butter lotion I’d seen recommended by several mamas that I now apply most nights to my stomach, thighs, and boobs. The first night I used it, I immediately got this robe, because the lotion is ON ANOTHER LEVEL slick and sticky, like, legit oil with a drop of lotion texture. Smells amazing, feels so good on the skin, but it felt awful putting clothes on top afterward. So I got that robe with a slightly towel-like texture to put on after applying the lotion in the evening, so that it could help soak up any excess before I went to bed. This became a super nice and relaxing ritual that I highly recommend, regardless of the success with the stretch marks. It felt so nice to take a warm shower, apply the chocolatey smelling lotion, put on my robe, and chill for the night.
• Pregnancy journal: this is purely for fun + memories, but I saw this on a few pregnancy vlogs + blog posts and thought it was a great idea! This is the one I got and it has lots of sweet quotes, prompts, and pages to write about your symptoms and feelings and just all things related to your pregnancy.
• Couch + fun stuff to watch: joking, but not really. For me, fatigue was the most intense symptom I experienced, so most afternoons I found myself posted up on my couch, watching youtube videos or episodes of Friends and baking shows to keep my mind in a light + happy place and make sure I was listening to my body and resting enough.

Mamas + mamas to be: what were your first trimester symptoms?

I’d love to hear about your first trimester experience, and any words of wisdom for the second and third that you’ve got for me 🙂

If you’re a mama to be currently in the first trimester, I’d say just listen to your body, do your best to stay in a constant state of gratitude and positivity about everything, and remind yourself that you’re doing great and can get through it. Remind yourself on the rough days that the first trimester will come to an end and you’ll feel better!

Xo,

Sara