1st Trimester: Symptoms

I will admit, 1st trimester was not my favorite time. I gathered from my conversations with moms and moms-to-be that the 1st trimester is not a fan favorite for most. When someone would ask how I’m doing/feeling, my response would usually be, “Ughhhhh“. In turn, their response was, “Yup, sounds about right!” Here are my top 5 symptoms during my first few months of pregnancy.

Warning: If pregnancy is a trigger or a sensitive subject for you, please stop reading now. I will continue to share my experiences throughout my Pregnancy Blog Series and encourage you to turn to my other non-pregnancy related posts for your reading pleasure.

1. Morning Sickness

Cue the nausea! Even though I never actually vomited, I was definitely riding the nauseous rollercoaster until week 11. It would come in waves (and different intensities) throughout the day. It should really be called “Any Time Sickness” thanks to these raging hormone levels. Certain smells would be a trigger for me (bacon and bbq to name a couple) and having an empty stomach was not helpful.

My Remedy:

Eating crackers as soon as I woke up in the morning seemed to help. I would keep a few on my nightstand and eat them literally before I even got out of bed to brush my teeth. Sleepy mouth + crackers was gross to me, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Sipping on ginger tea provided some relief. I would boil some hot water with a piece of ginger and drank this when the nausea was bothersome. I also found some all natural ginger candies from the grocery story, that honestly weren’t my favorite but I snacked on them anyways. It wasn’t until my second trimester that I was told about Preggie Pops that apparently work well and actually taste pretty good (from what I’ve heard).

Honestly, sometimes there was absolutely nothing I could do to help any of it. I just tried to get through each queasy wave as it came and told myself “This too shall pass, this too shall pass“. And for me, it finally did around week 11/12.

2. Constipation
Warning: If poop grosses you out, skip this part.

Never in my life have I ever been more constipated than my 1st trimester. I didn’t actually know I was constipated until I visited my Dr. The reason why I thought everything was fine, was because I was still pooping everyday, buuuut they were low-key a struggle. I thought as long as I was pooping everyday, I’m probably not constipated.

My stomach cramps were so incredibly painful, I would curl up in a ball on the floor and just cry. I messaged my Dr. and she performed an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay with the baby. The baby was good, but she panned over to my bowels and said something along the lines of, “Wow! You are severely backed up.”

The changing hormones causes the bowels to function much more slooooowly and food can get back up in the digestive tract. AKA constipation, bloating, gas, and reaaally bad cramps that felt as if someone was tying my insides into a double knot.

My Remedy:

My Dr. recommended 2 different types of laxatives to take until I emptied out. I felt relief within 2 days and even more relief within 7 days of taking the medication. Phewfff!

I drank as much water as I could, tried to increase my fibre intake, stretched and went for daily walks to keep things moving. Because I was so tired all the time, a 30 min walk was all I had energy for (instead of my usual yoga routine).

3. Tired

This one, holy moly. I was constantly napping throughout the day, going to bed early and found it hard to get out of bed most days. I had very little energy to exercise or even shower (I did, don’t worry lol). Your body is building an entire human and their life support (placenta) so of course that would be tiring.

My Remedy:

The only thing I could do was nap. I never fought the tiredness and always rested when my body told me to. I also tried to eat small bites of food to keep my blood sugar from crushing. But I had a love/hate relationship with food during the 1st trimester. Which takes me to my next symptom…

4. Food Aversions/Cravings

I did not have an appetite for much and ended up losing about a pound in the 1st trimester. Here are the things I could eat in small portions:

  • nuts (mostly almonds and cashews)
  • avocados
  • plain toast (sometimes with butter)
  • chicken soup/ramen noodles
  • apples (and apple juice)
  • bananas
  • mashed potatoes (sometimes fries)
  • (high fibre) cereal with almond milk

I didn’t have many cravings until I got my appetite back closer to the 2nd trimester. My early cravings were:

  • McDonalds
  • watermelon
  • homemade chicken sandwiches (with mustard)
  • tater tots
  • grapes

5. Tender Breasts/Peeing A LOT

My boobs were definitely feeling sore all day for a few weeks. Bralettes hurt, sleeping hurt, and even taking a shower hurt. There wasn’t much that I could do to ease the discomfort. Except to wait it out until my body adjusted to my new raging hormones. Which it eventually did.

All the pee, OMG! As the uterus starts to grow (right on top of your bladder) and hormones increase blood flow to your kidneys, I spent more time in the bathroom peeing, than not.  It was absolutely constant- even throughout the night. Also remember that I was severely increasing my water intake to combat constipation.

Oh, and another symptom that kicked my ass for about 2 weeks straight, HEADACHES. My remedy was Tylenol (Dr. approved) and ice packs. Lots and lots of ice packs.

And also, yeast infections. I got a couple of those within 3 months. My Dr. put me on a 7-day treatment each time to eliminate the infection. So there’s that, too.

I am happy to say that these symptoms disappeared (for me) by the 2nd trimester. If you’re in your 1st trimester and struggling with some or all of these symptoms, keep fighting the good fight!

YOU GOT THIS.

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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and seek recommendations/approvals from my doctor for all pregnancy related issues/concerns. If you are pregnant, DO NOT use my approvals as your own. Always consult with your own doctor as every pregnancy is different.