1st trimester, first trimester, first trimester symptoms, my first trimester, pregnancy, pregnancy must haves, pregnancy symptoms, first pregnancy, baby bump, maternity style, pregnancy style, maternity, boho chic style, sustainable style, clean hair care, clean skin care, lifestyle blogger, fashion blogger, The Urban Darling.

A few months late, but I am finally sharing my first trimester recap! I’m currently 21 weeks into my pregnancy and life has been so busy. Luckily during a lot of my first trimester, I was able to take things slow, take naps, and meditate which was much needed because of all the symptoms I was feeling (more on that later in this post). Going into my second trimester, life got much busier! Between creating content for my social media business, researching + creating a baby registry, pregnancy symptoms, pregnancy appointments, trying to make time for self care, and making time for my relationship… my plate has been super full. I’m hoping things will slow down a little bit soon and I’m trying to focus on how lucky I am to be pregnant. Getting back to it, in this bog post, I wanted to share some of the pregnancy symptoms I experienced, things that helped with them, and my must have items for the first trimester!

Pregnancy Symptoms & What Helped

Breast Pain: The first symptom that made me realize something was up was major breast pain! I have always had breast pain during my period, but this is breast pain like I’ve never experienced. They were so swollen and growing every day! Something I learned later on is that flaxseed oil can help reduce breast pain so I started adding it to my smoothies. The breast pain started getting a little better going into the second trimester.

Nausea: After the first month of pregnancy, I started experiencing what I called a nausea headache that would last pretty much all day and during the night too, all though at least then I was sleeping lol. I am very lucky that I wasn’t vomiting which I know a lot of pregnant women experience (I finally did in my second trimester). Something that helped with nausea were Preggie Pops, although for only about an hour or so for me. I also snacked a little bit in between meals on almonds, fruit, or granola which helped a bit too. Sniffing lavender, chamomile, peppermint, and ginger essentials oils can help so that’s worth trying as well! Going on a walk in nature or doing something else active can relieve nausea too.

Fatigue: I was so tired during the first trimester, as are most pregnant women! I made sure to sleep in if I could, take a nap when I could squeeze it in, mediate, and do a little bit of yoga. I definitely tried to take it as easy as possible during the first trimester. Healthy snacks can also help give you a boost of energy!

Gas/Bloating: Another common pregnancy symptom is bloating and gas. I have never been able to burp very much so it has been so funny how constantly I am burping now! To help with digestion, I started drinking lemon water in the morning. It also helps with the nausea a bit. Flaxseed is great for digestion too!

Food/Smell Aversions: Also about a month into my pregnancy, I started getting aversions to the taste of food. Nothing really tasted very good or as it should to me. Everything and I mean everything smelled awful to me too! I had a really horrible taste in my mouth constantly and weird buildup on my tongue which can happen to pregnant women due to the pregnancy hormones. I started scraping my tongue with a copper tongue scraper an using mouth wash several times a day. I didn’t really have any cravings other than for sweets which is nothing new lol!

Another random symptom I had was congestion that led to plugged ears! After I couldn’t hear out of my left ear for several days, I finally had to use Debrox which is pregnancy safe. I did a lot of research and ended up going with the Love The Bump Prenatal from Honest Co. I’ve been using clean skin and hair care for years now, which is especially important during pregnancy, but I also referred to the 15 Minute Beauty website to make sure the products I was using were pregnancy safe because not all “clean” products are. I’ve linked a few below but I will be sharing a blog post dedicated to pregnancy safe skin and hair care soon!

Shop 1st Trimester Must Haves

Shop The Look

I have to admit the the first trimester was harder than I thought it would be! Not only because of the tricky symptoms, but because I’m naturally a bit of an anxious person so waiting to get past the first trimester to be able to feel “safe” enough to announce + waiting for the results of our genetic testing stressed me out a bit. I say this because if you are currently pregnant and feeling the same way, you are not alone! Luckily my partner Schyler did a good job of assuring me an distracting me whenever I needed to express my worries and other habits like meditation, going for a walk, etc. can really help keep your mind of things too.