My First Pregnancy Experience – Part 1

After my first official OB/GYN appointment where my pregnancy became official, it was time to get down to business. Being my first pregnancy, I had no idea what was coming ahead.

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First, I had to figure out what kind of diet was best for the growth and development of the baby. We all know the basics. No raw fish or undercooked meat and no alcohol. Simple right? NOT! After rigorous researching, I found out that there is much more to prenatal diet and nutrition. One thing I found surprising was the ‘no soft cheese’. These are often not pasteurized, which so happens to be a big bacteria breeding ground. You can find out more about no-no foods here.

The first 3 to 4 months were really rough. I could keep very limited items down for a limited time. In that time I lost 15 pounds. I found a combination of things that helped ease the struggle. I also found that crackers and peppermint tea, well-known foods for nausea, did nothing for me. If anything, they made it worse. Fruit was the only thing that helped. Well that and husband’s find, Preggie Pop Drops. We found these on Amazon for about $13. These worked wonders! Sometimes I would also snack on Sun Chips aside from the fruit. I think the key for me was to maintain the same steady diet and slowly integrating foods I knew I needed to take in.

Base menu schedule was:

*FUN FACT: I could not eat chicken the whole time no matter how it was cooked because I would just baarrfff! But give me Mickey D’s chicken, and I’d be ok. Weird, right!

Another thing that made me nauseous that was not food was the Tylenol for headaches and prenatal prescribed by my doctor. I had to suffer through the headaches because there really aren’t many painkiller alternatives, but for prenatal, I found a wonderful replacement. They are Prenatal One from Rainbow Light. I found them at Target for about $26 They really are great and easy on the stomach! I’m no doctor, but this is the one thing I would recommend everyone try if your prenatal is making you sick. I discovered these into mid-pregnancy and I wish I had found them sooner. Although the last 2-3 months were a bit rough too, it wasn’t as bad as in the beginning.

The next thing I had to figure out was, how to combat exhaustion. I personally thought this was a myth. I thought, ‘no way these pregnant people are tired for no reason’. HAHAHA. Oh was I naive. The struggle is real! All the changes that hormones put your body through really does take its toll. It’s even harder when you can’t load on coffee. Well, you can, but as a personal choice, I limited myself to as little as possible. Another thing that contributes to the tiredness is the hotness. Yes. Hotness. Before the pregnancy, I was someone who could not stand the cold. I was always freezing in the office while sitting in front of my space heater. Once pregnant, I felt like I was surrounded by heaters all the time. Just, HOT. I cannot stress this enough because I still cannot believe how hot one can get, like literally having a bun in the oven, except both bun and oven are inside of you. Just like laying under a warm blanket in the winter makes you relaxed and sleepy, the hotness that comes with hormonal changes, made me sleepy.

Getting up and walking around the office often helped. Which was not a problem since I always had to pee, so there was my excuse. Speaking of pee… Because I had to pee all the time, including night time, I often had very little sleep. Which, you guessed it– contributed to the exhaustion. When I was working home full time, I went to the gym. It was weird at first because of the people staring, but the exercise made me feel better at the end of the day and that was all that really mattered to me. I did nothing strenuous. I stuck to the treadmill and that was enough for me. I tried to go every day during the week but realistically I probably did it every other day.

Treadmill routine that worked for me:

The best thing you can do in this tired situation is to walk around as much as possible. You’re supposed to walk at least 30 minutes a day, so why not! Plus, it helps with no gaining unnecessary weight!

Check out My First Pregnancy Experience, Part 2: Baby Shower, Birth Classes & Hospital Tour.

Let me know in the comments what has worked for you and how you survived your 1st pregnancy experience!