Phew! My first trimester is just about done, and I am finally feeling better and more like myself. I experienced plenty of nausea, food aversions, and fatigue in this first trimester–which was to be expected based on my last three pregnancies.
If you’re on Instagram, I’ve been sharing weekly bump updates on how my pregnancy is going too!
Pregnancy Anxiety: Navigating Pregnancy After Recurrent Miscarriage
The first trimester is filled with a lot of anxiety for me because of my pregnancy losses–I can’t feel my baby moving and there aren’t any external signs that things are progressing normally. Even pregnancy symptoms are not overly comforting because in my first pregnancy loss, I had a lot of symptoms and it ended up being a missed miscarriage.
So, while I am feeling all of these symptoms that are a little comforting, I am still worried that things may not be progressing as normal. Since I can’t see anything externally to let me know things are normal (other than just trying to trust the process), I get weekly ultrasounds to monitor my baby’s growth in the early weeks.
As early as 7 weeks, I can see the flicker of my baby’s heartbeat and that is so comforting for me. It almost feels like I can take my first breath! Some folks have differing opinions on ultrasounds, but this is what helped me so much with the anxiety in the early weeks of my pregnancy.
My husband and I share more about navigating pregnancy after loss in the MamasteFit Podcast Episode 46. We share how we felt during each of our losses, how that has impacted how we approach finding out we are pregnant and navigating each milestone.
First Trimester Symptoms: Navigating Nausea and Fatigue
Every first trimester, I contemplate if getting pregnant again was a good idea. I am so nauseous that I can barely eat. New to this pregnancy was that I now throw up if I am too hungry, which is really fun. I have a really sensitive gag reflex that lasts my entire pregnancy, where I throw up shortly after brushing my teeth, which feels counterproductive.
And fatigue is at an all-time high. I barely have the energy to even think and am mostly lounging and picking activities for my kids that require little energy on my part (lots of easy-to-put-together sensory bins and movies). This usually makes me feel guilty because I don’t feel as present with my kids, and mom guilt seeps in hard.
Because of my overwhelming fatigue, I would only choose one or two activities a day to do, knowing if I did any more than that I would be overly fatigued by the end of the day.
I did find that Unisom and b6 helped me find some relief from the all-day nausea, but was still suffering from a lot of food aversions the entire first trimester. I managed to take my prenatal vitamins only because Needed has a powdered version of their prenatal multivitamin that I would mix with my juice in the morning! If you’re interested in trying out needed, you can use code MAMASTEFIT for 20% off your first order or three months of subscription.
Prenatal Workouts: First Trimester Expectations
Now, I start every pregnancy with a lot of ambition with workouts. I really think that this might be the pregnancy that I get to workout my entire first trimester–I mean we have clients that come to the gym their entire first trimester! Surely, this will be me this time.
It was not.
I did about a week of workouts as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and then nausea and fatigue hit me hard and I was on a workout hiatus until about week 10 of my pregnancy.
It was hard to accept that I needed to just take a break for right now and honor how I was feeling because the fatigue and nausea also extended to not being able to do much work and even social activities. I was mostly lying in bed or sitting on the couch very low on energy. And I felt super guilty.
Thankfully, I had a lot of reassurance that I was doing well even though I was mostly resting and feeling very unproductive. Our followers on IG said that seeing that I was NOT working out was comforting for them since they also were struggling with workouts. My family and friends reminded me that while I may not appear to be “productive,” I was growing a whole person and that was an incredible feat!
Around week 10 of my pregnancy, I started to have more energy and was able to work out. Because I had taken about a month’s hiatus with my workouts, I decreased the overall volume of my workout and intensity so I could ease back into workouts. I was still pretty sore after a few days of workouts but felt much better that I was able to move my body again!
Each week I am feeling more and more like myself, but still need to adjust based on my energy levels. Some days I can do the entire workout, and some days I need to decrease the overall intensity and volume because I’m too easily fatigued.
I am doing our 40-week Prenatal Strength Program, which syncs to your current week of pregnancy. Each workout includes strength exercises, pelvic stability exercises, and pelvic opening with pelvic floor release exercises.
If you want to check out samples of our prenatal fitness programs to figure out which option is best for you, sign up for our newsletter below for a free sample of all of our program options!
Want more?? Join our prenatal and postnatal fitness programs! MamasteFit is unique in that we are one of the ONLY prenatal/postnatal training facilities in the United States. We develop our workout programs from our experience of working with in-person pre/postnatal fitness clients and work closely with physical therapists to refine our programming. In addition, we are birth workers, so we combine our experience as perinatal fitness trainers and birth professionals to ensure that our programs actually support your birth preparation and recovery!
Our prenatal and postnatal fitness programs are offered in two formats:
- Teambuildr App: list of exercises with demo videos with options to track your weights and progress within the app!
- On-Demand Videos: full-length workout videos you follow as you workout at the same time
Prenatal Appointments and Choosing Home Birth (again)
As soon as I find out I am pregnant, I call my home birth midwife from my last two births to get on her books! She books up fast since she takes limited clients, so I wanted to secure her as soon as possible. I loved my last two home births and feel most comfortable at home. But I trust my midwife to help me know when giving birth at home may no longer be the best option for me and my baby.
You can listen to my previous home birth stories on the MamasteFit Podcast, Episodes 6 and 10!
We had our first prenatal appointment with our midwife, and we were able to hear baby’s heart beat with the fetal doppler. Our appointments last about an hour, which gives us plenty of time to talk about how I am feeling, any concerns that I have, and allow the kids to participate in gathering my vitals and checking on our baby.
I have dual care with a hospital-based clinic, in case I do risk out-of-home birth, I will transfer my care to them. But throughout my pregnancy, I will go to this clinic for my labs, ultrasounds, and any clinical tests I need such as my gestational diabetes screening and GBS. It is comforting to know that I have backup care established to make for a smooth transfer of care in the unlikely situation that I need to transfer.
If you are planning to give birth at home, establishing a transfer plan is an important part of your birth planning. While it is not likely you will need to transfer, knowing what the plan is can build your confidence for the unknowns of birth.
End of the First Trimester... Now for the Second Trimester!!
The first trimester is the roughest part of pregnancy for me, so I am so glad to be finally near the end and that I am feeling a lot of relief from those first trimester symptoms.
I am looking forward to way more energy in the second trimester, resuming workouts and feeling my baby begin to move.
My belly is definitely showing a lot earlier than previous pregnancies, which was to be expected! I have been using the Primally Pure Butter Balm on my belly the past three pregnancies (and no stretch marks yet) so liberally applying it twice a day now to see if it helps again (most likely just genetics, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to moisturize my belly)! If you’re interested in my favorite belly balm, you can use code MAMASTEFIT for 10% off your Primally Pure order!
Happy to be heading into my second trimester and that everything seems to be progressing very normally! It is tough to navigate pregnancy after losses, but I am just focusing on one milestone at a time, and one day at a time to make this feel more manageable for me. I’m sure we will be at 40 weeks before we know it! Thanks for following my journey–it’s really cool to know so many of you are on the same journey as me!
Learn the science of pregnancy and birth to take the mystery of labor away! Understand why you are feeling what you feel, and learn strategies to confidently move through pregnancy and birth!
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Workout on-demand with our prenatal fitness workout videos! Each workout is 30-40 minutes to follow along as you exercise at the same time!
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Find comfort and relief from pelvic girdle pain throughout your pregnancy and postpartum period! This program incorporates myofascial sling focused exercises to stabilize across the pelvic girdle joints.
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