What I've learned in my first trimester

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If you haven’t already heard….we’re pregnant!!! I’m so excited to finally announce this exciting news and it has been a long couple months keeping this a secret! Since I’m now out of my first trimester I thought it would be fun to gather up some things I’ve learned, things I bought and loved, and what I know about being pregnant so far! The fact that I now have the energy to write a blog says a lot about my first trimester haha…

pregnancy announcement

I have been nauseous pretty much everyday, all day since week 6. I have thankfully been able to keep food down, but most food really hasn’t sounded appetizing to me so finding what to eat has been difficult. I would say my symptoms have been in the middle of the road. Not absolutely terrible but not super easy either!

I think I’m pretty tough, so I pushed through it and worked full time during the whole first trimester. I took 2 weeks off at Christmas time and that was the best break ever. I felt SO much better after coming back! I have been SUPER exhausted. Which I HATE. I am always on the go, and the type of person who is pretty much always doing something. I hate sitting around doing nothing! So it was hard for me to not have the energy to clean up the house, cook dinner and continue with my normal routines. Eventually I learned to just deal with it and my husband has been super helpful around the house and helping out with things he knows drive me crazy if they’re not done the way I like haha. Interestingly, this has taught me to be more calm, let things be and everything doesn’t always have to be perfect.

pregnancy announcement

If you’re anything like me, the minute I found out I was pregnant the list of things I needed and wanted to do started growing it my head. It helps me to write everything down so I don’t get overwhelmed. At the end of the day everything has been kind of falling into place but I like to be prepared and going into my first trimester it was a lot of trial and error, unknown changes, new things about my body and lifestyle that I quickly had to adapt to! Here is everything that worked for ME and how I got organized with the early stages of this journey. I’m not a doctor obviously…so this is just what worked for ME! Talk to YOUR doctor if you have any questions!!

This book has been one of my FAVORITE fun purchases so far to help stay organized! It’s called The Bump Pregnancy Planner! You can write down and journal everything about your pregnancy month by month. It has advice, questions, and places to write your baby letters!

First things first
Here is everything I did prior to getting pregnant or right after I found out to help get organized and feel on top of this new journey!

  • Touch base with your insurance company and make sure maternity is covered and ask everything you can about your hospital visits, doctor visits, etc to make sure you are well covered!

  • After you figure out your plan for insurance, set up an appointment with your in network doctor! I had to wait until I was 11 weeks to go to the doctor, which was fine but it was a longgg 7 week of waiting to see the baby!

  • Start making a list of questions for your doctor! You can find a lot of questions online, and a lot will come to your head throughout the few weeks leading up to your appointment. Write them down and bring them with you to your appointment!

  • Start taking a look at your finances and start building up that savings account if you can!! My husband and I started putting double what we normally do into savings so that we are prepared for my unpaid time off during maternity leave. It’s good to do this right away so you have plenty of time to save as much as you can!

  • See where you can cut back on expenses like getting netflix and hulu instead of cable, paying off small amounts of debt or refinancing your car.

  • Make a plan on how to tell your family! Heres a video of how we told ours! It was so fun to keep this secret and figure out a cute way to tell them.

  • Decide when and how you want to tell the world (aka social media) I personally don’t think theres really any set rule on this. We waited until week 11 right after we went to the doctor to tell social media.

  • Decide if you want to find out the gender by blood test or waiting until your 20 week ultrasound! We choose to find out at our 11 week appointment by blood test which takes about 10 days to get in. So, I will be 13 weeks when we find out the gender! For the planner in me, this is exactly what I knew I wanted to do from day one. I couldn’t imagine waiting any longer to find out what we’re having!! We did the Panorama Test at the doctor and it is NOT normally covered by insurance. It was $290 out of pocket, well worth it to us. It also does several other types of genetic testing. I did not want to do the Sneak Peak testing you can do yourself online, I’ve heard there are been false results and I personally did not feel like dealing with anything like that. I trust the doctor more than myself with something like this!

  • If you are finding out early, start to plan your gender reveal party if you choose to do one!

  • Start to plan a workout routine. I had ZERO energy to do this until right at 11 weeks. I signed up for Obe Fitness and it’s been great! Working out and at least moving during your pregnancy is so beneficial long term!! The work outs are only 28 minutes long and they even have pre and post natal work outs! But don’t stress too much if you don’t have the energy to work out right away. Just rest while you can and when you feel up to it get moving! Even if you can’t complete a whole workout, or if you’re simply just going on walks it will help boost your energy. When I’m having a hard time working out I just think of how much easier it will be to loose that baby weight later on and how beneficial it is for the baby!

  • Start buying some necessary pregnancy items, and figure out your new diet! More on this below!

    Everything I bought for my first Trimester!

    Here is everything I bought and LOVED!

  • Pregnancy Pillow- Necessary. I’m keeping mine forever haha

  • Elemis Body oil for stretch marks- started this at week 8

  • These bras help so much with breast tenderness. I haven’t really been able to wear a wire bra for long periods of time and this helps give support too.

  • Start taking care of your skin! I started breaking out more than I ever have in my LIFE! Wash your face every day twice a day with a gentle cleanser, moisturize and don’t scrub too hard! I really like this make up eraser to help get all the extra makeup off my face! I use this facial steamer too since I can’t get hydrafacials right now! AHH I MISS HYDRAFACIALS!!

  • I like these Preggo Pops for neasuea. I honestly didn’t take them very often but I liked these much better than the Ginger drops. The thought of the ginger drops makes me want to throw up still. haha but everyone is different. These just worked better for me because they are more sweet!

  • These are the prenatals I’m taking! My doctor said they are fine and I take them at night

Books I’m reading so far!