My First Trimester Of My First Pregnancy- Dr. Hailey Jackson
Jordan and I are so excited to be expecting a baby boy this fall. This is my first time experiencing pregnancy, so I wanted to document my lived experience along the way. So many people have asked me how I’ve felt so far, and I am very thankful to have had minimal symptoms in my first trimester but wanted to share what I have experienced and what helped me combat those symptoms.
Symptoms I did experience in the first trimester include nausea, extreme fatigue and ironically pregnancy insomnia, horrific acne, and loss of appetite. I have always heard pregnant women say they were tired, but definitely didn’t understand the level of fatigue until I felt like I couldn’t take ten steps without needing at least a 30 minute nap.
Despite being absolutely exhausted, there were many nights in the first trimester, where I found myself wide awake from about 2 AM to 4 AM. I’ve always been a very hard sleeper and not someone that wakes up easily or often during the night so this was definitely new to me. Fortunately, my very best friend lives across the world right now, so we have been able to catch up during those waking hours. I am excited to be experiencing this less frequently in the second trimester than I did the first, but it is still occurring and I’m sure this will occur much more frequently when the fall rolls around.
I always imagined myself being someone that would care deeply about the food and quality food that I eat during pregnancy, and I still do to an extent, but with the loss of appetite that I experienced during the first trimester just getting some sort of food in my body was a win for me. I basically force-fed myself honeydew and a protein shake (as bland as possible) as soon as I woke up most mornings for about the first 10 weeks of my pregnancy to help with nausea. Once I got tired of honeydew, I switched to overnight oats. Some days opening the refrigerator made me want to vomit, and I didn’t even think about cooking meat during the first trimester. Fortunately it feels like this is behind me! Cold foods and drinks have definitely been my preference, and sour candy helped combat the nausea tremendously during the first trimester. Sour candy (specifically sour skittles & sour gummy worms) and snow cones have been my favorite treats so far during pregnancy. Atwoods has the best gummy worms in town, in my opinion!
Exercise and pregnancy — the bread and butter of my career! I tried my best to move my body six to seven days per week during the first trimester, but some weeks this didn’t happen. I stuck with 30 minute strength training workouts and walks. Some days the walks were long and some days they were short! I tried my best to listen to my body. Now that I am in the second trimester, I have gone back to CrossFit. I scale the workouts ruthlessly, and use my heartrate to guide my intensity. If it gets above a certain number, I stop and take a break. To be honest, this is the healthiest mentality I have had towards exercise my whole life. I am not working out to set a PR, get faster, throw harder, or qualify for a race. I am moving my body each day for my baby boy and the laundry list of benefits exercise has for the fetus.
Stress management has also been key. Exercise helps with this, but just remembering the everyday work/life stuff is not worth stressing about simply because of how it affects my baby. I am trying my best to consciously choose not to get worked up or stressed out about the day-to-day stuff. Thankfully, nothing has been truly emergent during my pregnancy with me or anyone close to me so far. Additionally, I truly believe everyone would benefit from a mental health therapist, and I am continuing to see and talk with my therapist during pregnancy to set myself up for a mentally sound postpartum period. But if not, I am already well acquainted with a therapist. Hopefully this sheds a little light on maternal mental health.
I am happy to say my nausea is minimal, fatigue has improved, and my appetite has come back now that I am into the second trimester. I’ll report back soon about the full second trimester!
