The first trimester of pregnancy is filled with so many emotions and not just because your hormones are ranging, ok maybe most ALL of it is because of your hormones. You are filled with excitement that you are pregnant, fear because holy shit you’re pregnant and you have no idea what to expect next, and you’re crying because your favourite ice cream is sold out from the store. The worse part about all these emotions is that you can go through each one of them in a span of 5 minutes. I used to go from laughing to crying within seconds or laughing to angry real quick. My husband never knew what to think, he just rolled with whatever part of the emotional rollercoaster I was on.
Not only are you dealing with a crazy amount of emotions during the first trimester but your body is also going through a wack of changes as well. And we can thank hormones again for most of this.
*this post may contain affiliate links*
What To Expect During the First Trimester
The first trimester is from weeks 1 to 12. Since you usually find out you are pregnant during week 5 or 6, this trimester feels like the shortest one — Errr sort of. Morning sickness, raging hormones, the changes happening to your body, make the first trimester feel like it drags on FOREVER. It’s totally ok if you hate this trimester and if you are feeling absolutely miserable. Do NOT feel bad. You are growing a human inside of you and that shit isn’t easy.
During the first trimester, your baby grows faster than at any other stage. Your baby goes from being a fertilized egg, to an embryo, to forming organs, bones, muscles, to having a heartbeat that can be herd, to developing into a fetus. All in 12 weeks! By the end of the 12th week or first trimester, your baby will be about the size of a peach.
Symptoms to Expect During the First Trimester
Nausea
The dreaded morning sickness. Which quite frankly they need to change the name to “all day everyday sickness” because for most woman it last all day or does not just come in the morning.
Morning sickness can be different for everyone. Some may never throw up and only feel nauseous all day, some will only throw up once throughout the day, and for the unlucky ones they will throw up all the time.
The good thing is the morning sickness should go away by the end of the first trimester.
RELATED: How to Survive Morning Sickness
Emotional/ Mood Swings
Thanks to your hormones you will feel all sorts of emotions. One minute you will be laughing and then next you will be crying. I once cried over a marching band because they were so loud that they made my insides feel happy. I’ve never been a happy cryer, but that changed during pregnancy.
Fear is another emotion during this time and very commons. Especially if you are a first-time mother. You are growing a baby inside of you that you now have to care for a raise for the next 18 years of their life. All that responsibility can be scary at first.
It’s completely normal to have fears, but you don’t want these fears to overwhelm you and stress you out to the point if it becoming a health risk. Never be afraid to talk to someone or ask for help.
Bloating
You can thank those hormones again for feeling bloated. The hormone progesterone causes muscles in your digestive tract to relax, allowing your digestive system to slow down. This is to allow more nutrient absorption for your baby. But since your digestive tract has slowed down it can cause you to feel very bloated, especially after a large meal. Try to eat smaller meals more frequently instead of eating three big meals a day to help with the bloating.
Constipation
Since progesterone is slowing down your digestive tract causing you to be bloated, this will also cause you to become constipated. The iron in the prenatal vitamins does not help your causes either.
Drinking plenty of water, eating more fiber and physical exercise can help with constipation.
Food Aversions
Could be caused by hormones, or morning sickness and can occur during other stages of pregnancy as well. Most food aversions during the first trimester are caused by morning sickness. When you are feeling like crap who really wants to eat most foods, right?
Unfortunately for some, foods that you absolutely loved may become something you hate while being pregnant. For me it was chicken wings, I love love love chicken wings, but when I was pregnant the smell of them would set me over the edge — which was also another reason for me to cry — luckily after I gave birth I went back to loving chicken wings.
Tender Breast
Your breast will start growing and becoming very tender during the first trimester. Thanks to your hormones estrogen and progesterone. Your breast are getting ready to produce milk for your baby so the increased blood flow and the build-up of fat on your breast are also to blame for the tenderness.
If you are experiencing really tender breast try buy a maternity bra without the underwire, to provide you more comfort.
Fatigue
During the first trimester, there is a chance you will feel tired most of the time. Who wouldn’t be, you are growing a tiny human inside of you! And that takes a lot of work. Now is the time to try and rest, don’t be afraid to nap, and make sure you take time to pamper yourself, especially if you are a first-time mom.
Heightened Sense of Smell
For some woman during the first trimester, they develop a heightened sense of smell (damn hormones again). This keener sense of smell can also directly relate to morning sickness. So if your new sense of smell is part of the problem with your morning sickness there isn’t much you can do except for trying to cut out the smells that drive you crazy.
Pregnancy Brain
Seriously. This is the worse. With pregnancy brain, you will probably forget A LOT of stuff like appointments, where you left your keys, what you were talking about mid-paragraph. And the worse part is, it doesn’t go away once you give birth it then becomes mom brain.
They say if you write stuff down and keep a journal it helps your memory, but I forgot that I was supposed to keep a journal, so I cannot tell you if this would actually help or not.
First Trimester Essentials
A Big Water Bottle
Buying yourself a cute water bottle will make drinking water more enjoyable. Especially if the water bottle helps keep you motivated my letting you know how much water you have already had and how much more you should still be drinking.
Pregnancy Journal
A pregnancy journal is a great way to keep track of your development through your pregnancy. You will also have something to look back on for your next pregnancy. A pregnancy journal like this one is great because it has a place for you to write down what happened at your appointments, what your cravings are, how you are feeling, plus much more.
Maternity Clothing
During your first trimester, you do not have o rush out a buy a bunch of maternity clothes to last you through your pregnancy, but it would be beneficial to buy more comfortable clothing. Especially if you are feeling extra bloated and uncomfortable. Buy yourself a few maternity bras too, this will help with breast tenderness.
Pregnancy books
Two books I really enjoyed reading during my pregnancy were Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy and What to Expect When Expecting.
Pregnancy app to track your pregnancy
Having an app on your phone that tracts your pregnancy is awesome. You can open the app, see how big your baby is this week, learn part of development your baby is going through, and how you can expect to be feeling that week.
Prenatal Vitamins
As soon as you find out you are pregnant you will want to start taking a prenatal vitamin to make sure your body and baby are getting all the proper nutrients.
RELATED: What To Do As Soon As You Find Out You’re Pregnant
The first trimester is sure a doozy but with a little help and support, you will get through it! And the second trimester isn’t as bad as the first. You will start to feel that pregnancy glow and hopefully the morning sickness will stop by the time the second trimester rolls around.
Leave a comment below with funny things you have cried over during your pregnancy or your pregnancy brain moments!
