How To Survive The First Trimester: Morning Sickness, Mood Swings & More
Reviewed December 2023
The next nine months are sure to take you on the ride of your life, but the first trimester is surprisingly one of the toughest to face. You've got hormones gone wild and you're adjusting to a lot of changes all at once. You’re expecting and that’s incredibly exciting! But morning sickness may leave you feeling worse for wear, you might feel constantly bloated, and you could be experiencing a whole new level of exhaustion. It’s all part of the first trimester feels.
The most common first trimester symptoms
Your reproductive hormones (estrogen and progesterone) go on mega surge in the first trimester to get your body ready for baby. It can leave you feeling out of sorts, but knowing what physical and emotional changes to expect can help you face your pregnancy with more confidence. These are the most common symptoms associated with the first trimester, and it’s all due to hormones:
Morning sickness (nausea & vomiting)
Mood swings
Fatigue
Tender breasts
Food cravings and/or aversions
Frequent urination
Constipation
Heartburn
On top of all that, you might be keeping your pregnancy news a secret from larger social circles, which can make it trickier to manage all those first trimester symptoms. But we’ve got some tips on how you can survive — and thrive — in your first trimester.
6 tips to surviving first trimester symptoms
1. Prioritize sleep to manage fatigue
During your first trimester you may find a whole new meaning to the word exhaustion; merely walking up a flight of stairs is enough to leave you breathless (which is totally normal FYI). A little extra sleep at night or power naps through the day can do you wonders.
2. Exercise when you can to keep hormones in balance
Exercise may be the last thing you feel up for, but really gentle workouts can make such a difference in keeping hormones in balance and combatting fatigue. As long as you have exercise clearance, walking or low-impact circuits are a great place to start. Build your personalized workout plan for the first trimester today, on Baby2Body.
3. Stay ahead of queasiness by learning nausea triggers
Nausea and vomiting can strike at any time of the day and it can be triggered by strong smells, acid reflux, not having enough food in your stomach. Being aware of your triggers can help you stay a bit ahead of nausea. Eating small but frequent meals throughout the day, having a quick snack when you wake up in the morning, and avoiding noxious smells can help. For more on that, check out our top 5 foods to combat nausea.
4. Take care of your girls
If sore and tender breasts are making you straight up uncomfortable, you’re not alone. The pain is from enlarged mammary glands that are gearing up for milk production, and an overall increase in blood flow and body fluids. To get some relief, hop in the shower and give your chest a light massage. The aim is to reduce the overall swelling, and the warm water can help minimize tenderness while gentle, circular massaging motions around the breast can help to keep fluids moving properly.
Bonus tip: Now is a great time to get re-fitted for bras and pick up some wireless options, as underwire can make the tenderness worse.
5. Use yoga to destress
Feeling stressed about the changes to come is completely normal, but that daily stress is definitely tightening muscles in your neck, chest, and shoulders. That muscle tightness leads to tension headaches and increased anxiety. Yoga is a warrior at reducing tension headaches, mitigating our stress and anxiety response, and supporting the mind-body connection. Take 5-10 minutes every morning to stretch, breathe through your favorite poses, and lift your spirits with empowering affirmations to keep you feeling light and lifted.
6. Find ways to take back control
There may be days this trimester when you're feeling totally out of control. Mood swings are very real and very much driven by hormone fluctuations. One second you're happy and excited and the next you're tearing up and you’re not entirely sure why. One of our top suggestions is to make a playlist of your favorite relaxing music and keep it on your phone, so when you feel irritability start to rise, you can plug in and use the music to find your calm. We also love positive affirmations, breathwork, and mindfulness for this.
Bonus tip: Running a warm bubble bath and cuddling into a good book is always a failsafe option.
What to expect in your second trimester — it gets better!
We promise, after powering through those first three months, things really do get sweeter. Your hormones won’t necessarily decline, but they will stabilize in the second trimester, and that can make you feel a lot better. Here’s what you can look forward to…
Towards the end of your first trimester, that all-over bloat suddenly starts turning into an adorable bump and your baby starts to feel really real.
You’ll likely come out of the cloud of first-trimester fatigue, which is largely triggered by your body responding to pregnancy and hormone surges.
Nausea (hopefully) subsides in the second trimester. Researchers have just identified the hormone responsible for nausea in pregnancy (GDF15), and while this hormone level increases throughout pregnancy, as time goes on your body can grow accustomed to it. But if you’re having persistent nausea and vomiting that’s debilitating, check out this post on more severe types of morning sickness.
Your overall stamina and libido (!) should get a boost in the second trimester as well — if you (or perhaps, your partner) are lucky.
You’ll reach the all-important 12-week scan and get to an exciting stage where the risk of miscarriage drops significantly. Many women share the news with more friends and family at this stage.
The first trimester is a tough mountain to climb, but you’ve got this – we promise! What tips did you live by in your first timester? Let us know in the comments!
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