First Trimester Recap

The first trimester of pregnancy was exciting, scary, and overwhelming at the same time! It is such a weird time because you are going through major changes but usually, your partner is the only person who knows. You spend a lot of time trying to act normal and hide your excitement or pregnancy symptoms.

The first trimester is from week 1 to week 12. The thing that surprised me was that week 1 starts on the first day of your last period so you aren’t actually pregnant week 1 and 2! Here is a little recap of my experience during the first trimester.

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First Trimester Recap

I had elaborate plans on how I was going to announce to my husband that I’m pregnant. In the end, I was too excited to keep it in! I basically told him I had a feeling I was pregnant because I was a couple days late so I took a pregnancy test. After the 2 minutes were up I ran out of the bathroom yelling “I told you so” and waving the pregnancy test in his face. It wasn’t the heartwarming surprise I had planned but it was pretty memorable and funny.

The first thing we did after we finished celebrating was apply to get a midwife. In Toronto, midwives are in high demand and I didn’t want to risk not getting one. After that, we called our parents to share the good news with them.

We decided not to wait to tell our close friends because we figured if something happened we would want their support. We had so much fun slowly sharing the news with friends in silly ways whenever we saw them. Friends would offer me a drink and I would causally say “No thank you, I won’t be drinking for the next 9 months”. It was funny because sometimes it would take a while for it to click. My friends know I like to do cleanses and abstain from alcohol from time to time so turning down a drink wasn’t uncommon. My husband also liked to joke that he has a DD for the next 9 months. We also deliberately left baby books and shoes around the house so when friends were over they would see them, get a funny expression on their face, and finally ask “umm do you guys have news?”.

First trimester bump watch

During the first trimester, I didn’t really have a bump so I was able to wear my regular clothes most of the time. By week 12 I only gained 4lbs so it wasn’t noticeable. Near the end of the trimester my tighter skinny jeans started getting a little tight so sometimes I would unbutton them when I sat down or use a hair elastic to keep them up instead of buttoning them.

Favourite things about the first trimester

Being pregnant! Getting pregnant can be a long and difficult journey for some women and an impossibility for others. I am SO GRATEFUL that I am able to experience pregnancy. I always knew I wanted to be a mother and I think pregnancy is such a magical experience.

Another favourite thing about the first trimester was my husband. He was so excited about our pregnancy and super sweet. When I mentioned I was craving something, he would go out and pick it up right away. He was also amazing to put up with all of my food aversions and made me meals I could stomach because even preparing food made me nauseous.

I also really enjoyed telling our friends and family. Everyone was so excited and sometimes people became emotional over the news which made me emotional all over again.

First Trimester Exercise

My exercise regime didn’t change too much during the first trimester. I continued to walk my dog for an hour a day and went to yoga 3 times a week. Hot yoga classes were something I avoided and I made sure I wasn’t doing any deep twisting or inversions. It is really important to let your yoga teacher know you are pregnant in the early stages because there are some poses that will cause spotting and are potentially dangerous to your baby. This was really weird because my yoga family at the studio knew I was pregnant before a bunch of my friends and family members. ps, I’m not pregnant in the photo above.

First Trimester Cravings

Food aversions started around week 7 or 8 for me. Anything that didn’t make me want to barf could be classified as a craving! Around week 6 the food aversions set in. I found I could no longer eat certain foods and forcing myself to eat them anyways was not an option.

The foods I craved where:

• Pizza
• Pasta
• Veggie and hummus
• Fries
• Smoothies
• Dim sum
• Apples and nut butter
• Fruit like berries, watermelon, and pineapple

First Trimester Mood

For most of the first trimester, I was lucky to be in a really good mood. I was just so happy to be pregnant! I wasn’t overly emotional and didn’t have mood swings.

We opted out of the 7-week ultrasound so we didn’t get confirmation that there was actually a healthy baby in there until we heard the heartbeat around the 11-week mark. Every little bit of spotting or cramping sensation totally freaked me out. At first, I was constantly worrying about our baby’s health, but I got better at turning off the worrying.

First Trimester Sleep

Sleeping in the first trimester was the same as always. I could sleep in any position I wanted to and got a solid 7-8 hours every night. I did find I would get super tired around 3 pm so I started napping which allowed me to be more alert at night, especially if we have something fun planned with friends.

First Trimester Healthcare

In Ontario, we are really lucky because midwife care is covered by the government. The midwife model of care really resonated with me. I also had a bunch of friends who had very positive experiences with midwives so I knew I wanted to work with a midwife. I also wanted a natural birth at the Birthing Centre rather than a hospital. During the first trimester, we visited our midwife on a monthly basis and got to know her and our secondary midwife.

What I was happy to leave behind from the first trimester

I was SO happy to leave behind the food aversion and nausea that I experienced during the first trimester. Around week 6 I started feeling car sick sometime between 2 pm and 4 pm every afternoon and it would usually last until 9 pm. It was sheer will that I didn’t actually throw up. Some evenings I would spend the whole night on the couch groaning and hoping that TV would distract me so I wouldn’t barf. It was such a relief when this passed so I could actually like food again and to get back into the kitchen after avoiding it for 2 months.

I was also happy to leave behind super tender boobs. My boobs hurt SO MUCH during the first trimester. So much that I had to wear a bra to bed because it hurt when I moved around from one side to another. This was a weird shift for me because I usually don’t wear a bra when I’m home, which is most of the time since I work from home! It also made some yoga poses and hugs really uncomfortable.

Check out my other pregnancy related posts here.