My First Trimester

Hi everyone!

Thank you all SO much for your support, love, and prayers over baby Wagner. Adam and I felt incredibly overjoyed by your guys’ responses when we shared the big news last week. We are so blessed to have such amazing people (you!) in our lives.

In my previous blog post (our baby announcement- click here to read), I mentioned I would write a post specifically talking about how the first trimester went for me. I’ve been putting this off because it isn’t a particularly exciting topic for me, but I had many of you asking questions about it and I feel the need to share my experiences to help prepare other mamas-to-be.

Going into pregnancy, I thought I was mentally prepared for what was to come. I mean, T.V. shows and Instagram prepares us, right? NO. Not even close. I thought it would be all exciting, with a few hard days in between due to “morning sickness” and fatigue. While sickness and fatigue are a huge part, there were so many other symptoms I was experiencing on the daily from about weeks 5-12. I’ll go into more detail on what those symptoms are later in this post.

I learned that the reason I wasn’t prepared for pregnancy symptoms was simply because people don’t talk about them. Rather- they don’t talk about the hard aspects of it. T.V. and social media display it through a glamorized version of what it really is. But, I don’t want to lead people into believing glamorized versions of reality. I want to share my raw and real experiences to better prepare other ladies out there.

I think the most confusing part in all of this is that every single woman, and every single pregnancy, can have a largely different experience. Maybe this is why it’s such a hard topic for women to share and prepare others on? At any rate, I believe that even though there are differences amongst each pregnancy, there is value in sharing.

Okay, let’s get into what my personal experiences were, what symptoms I had, what I did to help alleviate said symptoms, and what products I’ve been loving during pregnancy.

Pregnancy symptoms I had during the first trimester:

1. Fatigue: I would say most, if not all, pregnant women experience this symptom (it’s hard work creating a human!)

2. Nausea: Let’s just say, the term “morning sickness” did not apply to me. I had nausea 24/7 from weeks 5-12. I had a hard time eating, and smells were extremely intensified (everything grossed me out and made me want to puke). I was in bed for 3 weeks straight during that time, only getting up to go to the bathroom. It was a very challenging time. Nothing over-the-counter or natural was helping me, so my doctor prescribed me pregnancy-safe nausea pills. They were my saving grace!

*now that I am in the second trimester, my nausea only hits in the evenings on certain nights

3. Acne: My skin was so broken out, and I felt like I was in middle school all over again. I found that only putting my moisturizer on in the mornings was helpful, since my skin was producing more oil than normal.

4. Sensitivity to heat: I kid you not, if I sat outside for more than 5 minutes under the direct sunshine, I would feel nauseous all over again. I love to be out in the sun (this so-cal girl needs her beach days!), so this was a tough pill to swallow. Staying inside for weeks on end is not my jam. With that being said, when I was outside for short periods I made sure to lather up on the sunscreen (the one I’ve been using while pregnant is linked below).

5. Food aversions: I mentioned previously that my sense of smell was intensified, so basically all food sounded bad to me. I had to force myself to eat anything I could get down. For some reason, that ended up being grilled cheese or quesadillas?? So funny, because if you know me, you know I don’t do cheese…very odd!

6. Difficulty sleeping: This is still an issue for me now. I toss and turn a lot at night because my sides get sore, my nausea kicks in, I get too hot, I have to get up to go to the bathroom, or my nose gets stuffed up and it’s difficult to breathe. I’m still trying to find solutions to this, but using a pregnancy pillow (linked below) has helped a ton and using nose strips to breathe has helped as well (also linked below).

7. Tender breasts: This symptom just goes with the territory! It’s incredible how our bodies know how to get ready for when the baby comes all on its own.

8. Mood swings: This was probably one of the earliest symptoms I had going into pregnancy. I attributed it to other emotional things I had been going through, but once we found out I was pregnant it was a dead giveaway. Getting good sleep, eating healthy, and doing little things each day that bring you joy are crucial.

9. Watery mouth: This really bothered me, because it would ramp up when I was feeling nauseous and would make it even less appealing to eat anything. I found that drinking more water when my mouth would water helped to distract me from what was happening. But, normal water didn’t quite do the trick…flavored waters helped so much! The doctor also told me to chew gum, which was really helpful too.

 Products I’ve Been Loving During Pregnancy:

To shop any of the products above, simply click on the product photo and you’ll be directed to the corresponding website.

I pray that this post was helpful for someone out there! If you have any questions, or just want to chat, feel free to comment below or message me directly. Love to you all!

xx, Lindsey