They say the first trimester of pregnancy is the hardest, your body goes into overdrive with hormones, it’s a very worrying time as you wait for your first scan, and it’s when most symptoms rear their head.
All whilst you’re probably trying to keep quiet that you’re pregnant, although I’m not sure why there is a stigma on when you should tell people about your pregnancy, you do you and tell people when it feels right!
But today, i wanted to share the things that have helped me during my first trimester.
I mentioned in my first trimester diary, that I have been incredibly lucky with symptoms, but some days were a little bit worse than others and I soon found some things that really helped, so thought I’d share them just in case they might help anyone else.
I’d love to know your first trimester essentials in the comments!
Food & Snacks
I didn’t suffer too much with morning sickness, I had constant nausea for about 2 weeks, then it would come and go, usually worse when hungry, and would often pop up in the evenings.
From about 6 weeks onwards, I started to go off a lot of foods, everything I ate became a minefield of ‘can I eat this?’ Food shopping was like a game of ‘will I fancy this, this week?’ But I soon found that I had to stop forcing myself to try and eat what I was eating before, as it made me feel worse.
I just wanted carbs, potatoes of any kind, chips, crisps, mash, roast, baked, I wanted it with every meal.
I’m also not usually a snacker, but suddenly I was also hungry all the time, and I found that when I was hungry, I felt sick, so I had to snack to try and keep the nausea away.
I also panicked because the usual snacks I would have, which would be fruit, suddenly turned my stomach, and all I wanted was ready salted crisps, I gave in and ate a lot of crisps for about two weeks and then promptly went off those too!
Strong smelling foods like burritos went out the window, curry is just about teetering along, and lasagne is a no no for some reason 🤷🏻♀️
My go to snacks have been :
Ready salted crisps
Mini Cheddars or Cheddars (the big cracker versions)
Plain pringles (what a boring bastard)
Plain Cashew nuts
Trying to eat a different fruit each week : bananas have remained stable
Salt & Vinegar Snack a Jacks
Marmite on toast
Fox’s Glacier Mints (perfect for sucking on whilst walking Frank and feeling 🤢)
Cereal like Fruit & Fibre or Honey nut Cheerios
I’ve gone completely off sweet stuff which is so weird for me because I have the biggest sweet tooth, we have a cupboard full of sweet stuff right now and honestly I’m just like meh!
Drinks
I wasn’t a huge drinker, so I’m not really missing alcohol. However I started to find water really boring, I constantly feel like I have a dry mouth so try to keep hydrated, and although I do mostly go for water, I’ve also found that fruit juice (apple is my jam) has been good, as well as iced decaffeinated coffee (don’t buy Taylors Decaf coffee though as it’s terrible) Shloer and adding lemon to water have all helped to liven things up a little bit!
Don’t feel bad or guilty for what you’re craving, or fancy during those first 12 weeks, I felt so guilty about all the crisps I wanted to consume, but I’ve found that I just eat whatever is going to get me through the day.
Clothing Essentials
One of my worse symptoms I guess you could say, was my boobs being SO sore. I think they’ve grown by potentially 1 to 2 cup sizes, which has been amazing, I mean my boobs haven’t grown since I was 12 so I’m loving life, but holy mother of god – have they been sore.
After waking up in the night to them hurting, I’ve pretty much had to wear some sort of support 24/7.
I’ve lived in bralettes from Calvin Klein (affiliate link), and my Mum kindly got me three maternity bras from JoJo Maman Bebe (affiliate link) which have been a massive help and will be so useful as pregnancy continues and even when I have the baby. My boobs are now a lot happier!
Pregnancy V cushion
Although not much has changed apart from my boobs (or udders has Henry lovingly refers to them too) I have been really tired and needed a nap most days. I feel so lucky to have a job working from home so this is even possible. My Mum got me a V shaped cushion (affiliate link) for my birthday, and it’s transformed my nap game.
It makes having a nap on the sofa SO much comfier, and even just sitting on the sofa. Frank loves it and whenever I get up, the cheeky bugger sits on it!
Pre Natal Pilates
I was initially worried about my fitness routine when I got pregnant, but I’ve done a lot of research (and I’m actually enrolling on a pre and post natal fitness course online) in to what I can and can’t do.
For the first trimester at least, you can pretty much carry on as normal, I’ve continued with my Pump sessions, and have done other sessions such as Body Attack, Combat, BodyStep, even a gentle bit of HIIT.
But I’ve introduced pilates into my routine as I heard that was very good for pregnancy as it helps to strengthen the core and pelvic floor muscles. I do an online subscription with Zero Gravity Pilates and they do Pre Natal and Post Natal pilates online sessions, it costs £3.96 a month, and you get two sessions a week through Zoom (you can watch the recordings for up to 36 hours after the live) which I’ve been doing, and it’s been really nice knowing I’m doing a workout which is tailored to pregnancy, and will help! I’m going to try and continue with the two sessions a week, and then 2-3 pump and or 1 cardio class, for as long as I feel okay enough to do so!
It’s important to remember to always listen to your body, and that I worked out a lot pre pregnancy so think my body is used to it, I always take it easy, and keep the room nice and cool with a big fan. I also found that on the days I worked out, I felt SO much better when it came to nausea and tiredness, so that’s why I’ve been trying so hard to keep working out as normal.
Beauty
My skin has had a fair few hormonal breakouts, so my trusty Paula’s Choice BHA Salicylic Acid (affiliate link) toner has been a godsend for keeping everything under control. Over the next few weeks, I want to find a good de congesting mask and a ice facial roller, so if you have any recommendations – let me know!
And I think that was about everything, I wonder what my second trimester essentials will be!
S H O P T H E P O S T
