First Trimester Must Haves + Recap

The first tri is finally done! This was probably my hardest first tri of all 3 of my pregnancies so I wanted to share some of my first trimester must haves and a recap of my first few months!

If you missed the announcement, we’re having a baby!

The first and third trimester are the hardest for me (and most women), so I’m super happy to enter the one “easy” stage of pregnancy. But before I do that, I wanted to share a bit about how a first trimester recap with some of the products I’ve been using and things that have been happening!

Now listen, I’m sure you don’t need a step by step recount of all of the moments of nausea or early bedtimes but a quick little recount could be fun. 😉

The Hard Parts

The first trimester of all three of my pregnancies is exhausting. With Roy I was convinced I had mono, with Penelope I napped when Roy napped (and I am NOT a napper!) and with this one, I’m in bed shortly after the kids go down. It’s been a doozy.

Someone asked me recently if being insanely tired is normal in pregnancy and the answer is YES!! Overwhelmingly YES. The first trimester is so hard when it comes to being tired. One of my friends said that being pregnant is the same as digging a ditch for 8 hours a day, which I keep reminding Rishi of. 😉

My best advice is to sleep as much as you can. Take naps. Go to bed early. Do what you need to do to get some rest.

I’ve also been pretty nauseas with this pregnancy. I had this just a little bit with both kids but not to this extreme! I was pretty positive I had twins in there with how sick I was for a few weeks. (There’s clearly only one ha!) And I’ve been really constipated (tmi?). Combined has been really hard on some days.

The Good Parts

We had our first ultrasound and everything looks great! The heartbeat is strong and baby seems to be growing as it should.

We got to tell all of our friends and family (and all of you!) which is always fun.

And we actually already found out gender! We’ll be sharing soon so keep your eyes peeled for that! :_

First Trimester Must Haves

There are about 1,000 rules when it comes to pregnancy and what you can’t eat, can’t use in your beauty products and how you should be exercising. I abide to many of them within reason. 😉

Beauty Products

Belli Anti-Blemish Facial Wash

I typically don’t break out too bad but at the beginning of this pregnancy I was getting a ton of zits! So many “regular” acne face washes aren’t great for pregnancy but I found this one on Amazon and love it! My breakouts have stopped and the cleanser makes my skin feel great.

L’Occitane Shea Light Comforting Cream

I used this face cream all summer and fell in love! I picked up another jar of it when I found out I was pregnant because I loved it so much. It’s lightweight but has enough moisturizing power to keep my face feeling nourished all day and not the least bit dry.

One thing I love the most about L’Occitane is that they have set up a sustainable and fair trade partnership with the women of Burkina Faso in Africa who produce it.

L’Occitane Almond Smoothing and Beautifying Milk Concentrate

I’ve been using one of my favorite L’Occitane product – the almond soothing and beautifying milk concentrate on my belly for the first trimester. I didn’t get stretch marks with my first 2 pregnancies but it doesn’t mean I won’t for this one!

I thought I’d start with this lotion for the first trimester and as my stomach gets giant, I’ll move to something more specific for preventing stretch marks.

Vitamins/Supplements

Calm

I’m usually a very regular person but this pregnancy I’m constantly dealing with constipation! One thing that has helped tremendously is drinking Calm every night. It helps me not only sleep better but gets things moving the next day.

I never realized how terrible being constipated makes you feel! Drinking Calm and switching to a gummy prenatal (without iron) helped that issue!

Prenatal Vitamin

For both my previous pregnancies I used NatureMade Multi+DHA prenatal and they worked great! I started out with these again for this pregnancy but since I’ve been dealing with constipation so bad my doctor recommended I switch to a gummy.

Gummy prenatal vitamins don’t contain iron so they help with treating constipation and keeping you regular. Many gummies don’t have DHA, though, but I found One a Day Women’s did so I’ve been taking that! Oddly enough, I can’t find this exact bottle online. You can always take a DHA supplement if you go the gummy route!

Now that I’m in my 2nd trimester I’m going to try the pill form again so see if it sit ok.

Other Items

A Rubber Band or Hair Tie

This may sound weird, but it is a lifesaver! I started showing so early with this pregnancy so I started adding a rubber band to my jeans each morning. As my belly expanded throughout the day (my morning belly and evening belly look SO different at this point!!), I was able to unbutton my button and use the hair tie instead!

Belly Band

This is another game changer while you’re regular jeans get too tight but your maternity pants are too big (it’s the WORST stage!). I oftentimes do the rubber band AND the belly band. The rubber band helps keep your pants somewhat together and the belly band helps you to not flash your underwear at anyone.

I love it so much I have them in both black and nude!

I hope these first trimester must haves help you during your pregnancy! I’ll be sharing more tips and tricks for surviving pregnancy but in the meantime, here are 7 perks of pregnancy!

Thanks so much for reading!

Jen