The first trimester of pregnancy is notoriously tough on women. As I went into this pregnancy, I knew that I needed to have a plan in place to help myself get through the tough weeks ahead. Because this is my 4th pregnancy, I have a general idea of how my body reacts during each trimester. Unfortunately, I am not one of the lucky women who don’t get sick during their pregnancies. I was really sick from about 7 weeks to 15 weeks in my pregnancy. Because of this, I have figured out what works for me to help me through the rough days and my hope is that these first trimester survival tips will help you.
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My 3 First Trimester Survival Tips
1-Naps. So Many Naps.
This might seem silly if you’ve never been pregnant before, but if you have, you know how true this is! In my first trimester this time around, I could not get through the days without napping. Most days, I at least tried to lay down and rest with my kids when they were watching a movie or something. It’s amazing to me how much effort it takes my body to create another human. And it seems that the first trimester is the most exhausting in so many ways.
I tried really hard this time around to listen to my body and rest more than I have with my other pregnancies. It made a big difference in my energy levels and also in my ability to fight the nausea that comes in the first trimester. I also didn’t push myself when it came to working out regularly. I love to exercise and be strong, but when I’m in the beginning stages of pregnancy, sometimes there are days where I can’t exercise. So I made a point to take advantage of the days I felt better and I would exercise on those days at the gym. If I didn’t feel good, I would lay low that day.
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2-Choose Foods Carefully
I’ve been really sick with all my kids. I tend to live on carbs and lifesavers hard candies. That might sound weird, but believe me, when you’re really nauseous in your first trimester of pregnancy, you just go with what works! I found that things that were easy to digest and that didn’t have a lot of strong flavors worked best for me this pregnancy. Simple carbs like bread and crackers were my main food choices. And a surprising thing I ate a lot of was dried apples. They are a little sweet, which would help keep my blood sugar up, but they aren’t too strong of a flavor so I was able to eat them when I didn’t feel great. I also drank Seagram’s Ginger Ale when I was feeling really sick to my stomach. It has real ginger in it, which is a natural anti-nausea food.
When I was feeling good enough, I would drink a protein shake before bed to help with those late night blood sugar drops that happen all too often. I like to keep crackers by my bed, too, in case I wake up sick in the middle of the night. My biggest tip? Keep food by you all the time, and eat until you feel better. Much of the time when we feel sick in our first trimester of pregnancy it’s because our blood sugar has dropped too low from not eating. It’s kind of a vicious cycle if you think about it. You feel sick, so you don’t want to eat, which makes you feel more sick. LOL. I’m so glad to be on the other side of the worst of my nausea.
3-Have a Plan For Your Day
During my first trimester, I noticed that when I would keep myself busy it would help me feel better. So, on the days when I was feeling good enough, I tried to get up and get moving. I’d either head to the gym to work out, or I’d do something fun with the kids. The days I sat around and moped I usually felt worse. It’s so good for your mental health to have a plan each day and to get up and moving in the morning. Unless I woke up feeling really awful, I tried to get up in the morning, get dressed, and do something productive with my day. In the long run, it really helped me feel better!
I’m so relieved that I’m starting to feel better now that I’m out of my first trimester. I can’t wait to be able to feel the baby start moving. It will be so fun for the older kids to feel the little kicks and somersaults that will start happening soon! If you’re in the first trimester, hold on, you can do this. Take it one day at a time and don’t be too hard on yourself. Each pregnancy is different and each person is different. What worked for me, might not work for you, but it’s important to take care of yourself however you can. You are growing a human, after all!
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Do you have any first trimester survival tips? Let me know in a comment below!
