8 Easy Tips to Survive the First Trimester of Pregnancy

Congrats! You’re pregnant. You’re in the awkward stage in the first trimester where you are too nervous to share the news but feeling ill, bloated, tired, and nauseous constantly.

Your due date is calculated by using the first day of your last period. If you want to count it from there, your due date would be approximately 280 days from then, give or take a few days.

Unless you’re one of the lucky ones, your first trimester can be the most awful part of pregnancy and dreaded if it isn’t your first time around. The first trimester can bring sheer exhaustion, nausea, tender achy breasts, cramping, a keen sense of smell, food aversions and cravings, and emotional changes.

After researching morning sickness, I learned that the pregnancy hormone, HCG, rises in the first trimester which in turn increases nausea. And morning sickness does not necessarily occur in the morning, it can happen at any time of the day.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure pol icy for details.

8 Tips to Help During the First Trimester

1.Ask For Help-enlist your husband or other family members to put away laundry, load dishwasher, make meals, put things away, etc.

2. Eat as soon as you wake up. Before that one large cup of coffee, eat! Some of my friends keep saltines or soda crackers near their bed. Apple sauce helps too. Do not go long periods of time on an empty stomach. I love to eat a hot breakfast right when I wake up. Check out my recent post on healthy protein-filled breakfast ideas.

Breakfast Ideas

3. Ginger. Buy the Gin Gins Double Strength Bulk 1lb bag. I also LOVE the ginger people chews if you want something a little more decadent. The major benefit of ginger is to calm the stomach and prevent nausea.

Buy Double Strength

Buy Chews

4. Stay hydrated. If you are in your first trimester, you are always thirsty. Drink as much water as possible, aim for 8 to 10 cups a day. If you want to switch it up, try Gatorade.

Buy Gatorade

5. Eat your prenatal’s in the evening. If you love candy, you will love SmartyPants prenatal gummies. You eat 6 gummies per serving. If candy overload isn’t your thing, try these Vitafusion prenatal vitamins.

Buy Here

Buy Vitafusion

6. Keep your eyes on the prize. You are making a tiny human in your belly. When a baby is born a new life is born. You’re creating that. When you see his or her little fingers and toothless smile, it’s heavenly.

7. Eat Healthy Snacks Throughout the Day-Keep small snacks with you throughout the day. I love to start my morning with eggs and eat crackers dipped in low-fat cottage cheese throughout the day. The Bump gives you ideas about 10 healthy foods to eat during pregnancy.

8. Sleep One Hour Earlier-If you can, you will feel 10x better the next day. I normally go to sleep between 10:30 pm and 11 and am up by 6:30 am. During my first trimester, I started going to sleep at 9:30 pm.