Pregnancy is such a wild ride and is kind of unpredictable. I mean, it’s expected that after 9 months you will somehow end up with a baby on the outside but the in-between is so different for everyone. With my most recent pregnancy I really enjoyed the whole journey. I’m grateful that I felt pretty good the whole way through. I didn’t have morning sickness or really many other discomforts. With a previous pregnancy, that unfortunately ended in miscarriage, I didn’t feel so hot in the first trimester. I had mild nausea and major food aversions. It’s so strange to me how the body makes shifts like that but I guess you’ve gotta just roll with the punches. 

I’m lucky enough to be completely through to the other side of pregnancy now but I wanted to take a look back through the trimesters (I’m majorly nostalgic over here) and share what was helpful to me because sometimes, especially if this is your first pregnancy, you don’t know what you need, want or will regret not doing until it’s too late. My first trimester was less about how I felt physically and more about how I felt emotionally. Infertility really kicked my mental butt and created a huge cloud of doubt over the whole experience. I was constantly worried that it would all be taken away from me until at about the 20 week ultrasound. This kind of worry kind of takes some of the fun out of the process but I was determined to make my pregnancy a positive experience after such a rocky road and these items are some that helped me through. Some were necessary and some were just plain fun to help me celebrate and cherish the experience:

Technology

• Pregnancy Apps
  I, like many people who go through infertility, was afraid to jinx the process in any way and downloading and starting up a pregnancy tracker app seemed like the biggest jinx-factor of all. But I ended up downloading 5 of them early in the first trimester and I’m so glad I didn’t wait until further into the pregnancy. My husband and I would set aside some time at each new week marker and look at the changes that were happening. It was a fun way for us to connect and made each week a positive thing to look forward to. Not to mention that, many are so informational I would have regretted not knowing about the growth and different developments that happen along the way. The ones I downloaded were: The Bump, HiMommy, Ovia Prenancy, Sprout Pregnancy and What to Expect. They often had overlapping information but each is unique so I liked looking at them all. I’ll have to do a separate post sometime on these! 

Sentimental Items

• Letterfolk journal
  This was a new product that came out several weeks into my pregnancy so I didn’t get to use it the whole way through but I wish I could have. Better late than never though! It’s a little week by week journal to document your journey. Each week has a dedicated page with sections to fill out like progress updates, cravings and things worth remembering. It has fun things like the weather for the week, sleep quality and a scale of how “done” you feel. It has some breakout pages for deeper thoughts and pages for bump progress photos too. It’s super visually appealing and literally looks like a passport! You’ve got to get this, even if you’re only slightly sentimental. It’s a great way to capture little details about your pregnancy.
• Letterfolk Poet Board
  Another must for those sentimental about documenting the process. It’s a great way to document the weekly bump growth by including it in photos. We did a daily photo too, so we got a ton of use out of it. I got the small one called the “Poet” (it’s 10inx10in) because I knew I also wanted to use it at the hospital once the baby arrived and it was the perfect size for all my uses. They also have a mini size board that would also work great for a daily/weekly photo. Small letters/numbers come with the board, but they have larger letters/numbers available too so I also bought that set additionally so the weekly numbers would be larger text. Not necessary, but since I’m a designer text hierarchy becomes important to me haha. Another thing: I ended up getting the white one because I didn’t know the sex at the time but they also have pink and blue boards that are really cute. I know there are a lot of different versions of this you can find all over the internet but this one is the original and it’s really high quality and I figured I might only get to do this one so I went all out. 

Eating

• Bland food
  Like I mentioned above, one of my previous pregnancies gave me serious food aversions. I couldn’t even eat my beloved peanut butter and jelly! Bland foods were all I could handle. If you’re struggling to find foods that sound good to eat my go-to’s were noodles with butter and some parmesan cheese, pretzels, and maybe applesauce. I ate a ton of pretzels! The little stick kind were the best, not sure why but for some reason they taste better. 
• Organic Preggie Pop Drops
  I didn’t need these this time around but they really helped me when I experienced that bout of nausea. I wouldn’t say they were any kind of miracle cure but they helped when I felt hungry but couldn’t eat anything. They were easy to stomach and gave me something to focus on for a period of time instead of the barfy feeling. They come in four flavors: sour raspberry, green apple, sour tangerine and sour lemon and the ones I got were organic too! They are all-natural and contain certified organic essential oils and plant botanicals to help reduce nausea.
• Pink Stork Morning Sickness Tea: Ginger-Peach
  Again, I didn’t need this product this time around but I enjoyed it when I experienced that nausea. I’m not sure if it reduced my symptoms or not but I enjoyed it and was able to stomach it. I liked to have it first thing in the morning with whatever breakfast I could handle. I felt like it was a good way to get the day off on the right foot. It has a really mild flavor and tasted good to me. This one is ginger peach but they also have a ginger orange flavor and both are organic and caffeine free and the tea bags are biodegradable too. Ginger in general is said to help calm upset stomachs so even if you don’t like this tea but can find something with ginger in it that would be helpful. 
• Ginger Ale: Q Drinks or Bruce Cost
  This is a good way to get in some ginger especially if you don’t always love the taste of straight ginger. I like ginger ale because the bubbles are soothing and appealing on an upset stomach. Make sure and find one that’s made with actual, real ginger, not just flavoring or it won’t be effecive, it will just taste good. I like the first one linked a lot because it’s a bit spicy. I’ve never tried the second one, but it’s made with organic sugar and all natural ingredients too so would be a good choice. Obviously both are a bit high on the sugar side but when nausea hits, you’ve gotta do something!

Reading/Education

• The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth
  I really liked this book a lot! Like the title says, it is a week-by-week read so if you read it that way it’s a little less overwhelming to finish. It’s full of great information and resources to help you have as natural a pregnancy experience as possible including nourishing recipes, remedies for common symptoms, how to ditch toxins, natural pain relief options, discussion on epidurals and other interventions, what to expect and do during each stage of labor and more. I like that the format is in shorter to digest segments with quotes from real women, information from experts, ideas and recipes sprinkled throughout. The coordinating website also has a ton of good information too. This is a note for all the books listed not just this one: if you want to do some reading get the books in the first trimester. You think you won’t run out of time but I did and wish I could have read more!
• Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation
  I didn’t finish this book but I found a lot of great gems in it that inspired me and gave me confidence.  I wish I would have had more time to read it as it really gave great perspective on looking at childbirth as not just a medical event but an experience of self-discovery. There are exercises like journaling, mediation and painting that help a woman explore her feelings and wishes surrounding birth. It also has information on coping mechanisms, pain relief techniques, newborn basics and breastfeeding.
• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
  This is a wonderful and empowering read. Ina May Gaskin is a renowned and longtime midwife who has dedicated her life to helping women have the fulfilling birth experiences they deserve. The first half of the book shares all kinds of women’s birth stories which helped me understand there are many outcomes and options and that women are powerful. The second half covers the practical side of having a non-medicated childbirth from physiological aspects of birth to coping mechanisms this book is a great read to help you trust and understand your body and the birth process.
• Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood – and Trusting Yourself and Your Body
  This is one I also regrettably did not finish but had good intentions too as it’s also full of great information. It provides a comprehensive and judgment-free look at birth and the options available. It helps prepare for birth through mindful exercises, self-care, natural remedies, recipes, expert tips and practical information so you can trust the process and your body.
• The Mindful Mom-to-Be
  This was the last book I picked up and I’m really glad I did. It was a quick read, hence why I finished this one and not the others I purchased before it. It also has month by month information, advice and guides, along with checklists, recipes and inspirational quotes. It covers pregnancy, labor, delivery and the initial postpartum period including breastfeeding. I felt it had a lot of useful information and I liked the tone it was written in, down to earth and helpful. I flagged a lot of pages in this one to reference back to.

Mind/Body

• Expectful App
  I found that meditations really helped me recenter when my focus became blurry. They helped me relax when I got anxious and learn to trust when I got stressed. They also gave me a way to connect with my growing baby which helped with the trust factor too. I like this app because it has meditations for everything pregnancy related from trying to conceive all the way through motherhood. It has a specific set of meditations for the first trimester including ones for each week, some for emotional self care, being with baby, couples meditations and even for sleep. Those were my favorite because I found that was an easy time to fit it in. The voice is soothing and you can choose intervals of 5, 10 or 20 minutes depending on the time you have available. 
• Prenatal Yoga YouTube 
  I was really hesitant to workout in early pregnancy since I was so riddled with anxiety, and I’ve never enjoyed high intensity workouts anyway, so gentle yoga was all I could manage. I like doing yoga not only for the exercise portion but also for the mindfulness aspect too. It helped me refocus after the workday. It was easiest for me to fit it in at home so these are some of my favorite YouTube videos that I used for the first trimester:
  –This one is quick and easy.
  –Another quick and easy one with good hip stretches.
  –This one is good to start early on to build strength.

Clothing

• Non-underwire bras
  The first discomfort I felt in pregnancy from my body changing shape was my underwire bra becoming uncomfortable and digging into my ribs. The underwire almost felt suffocating to me and would dig in when I would bend over. I ditched those things in the first trimester and went and bought a few non-underwire bras from Target to get me through. I realize this isn’t an option for all ladies, but if you can swing it the relief is so sweet. Trust me, this is your time to embrace being as comfortable as you can and not worry about anything else.

There you have it, my essentials for surviving and enjoying the first trimester. If you have anything to add, please share. If I ever go through this process again I’d love community recommendations!