Above photo: now, 29 weeks pregnant
Originally, I wasn’t going to post anything about my pregnancy on this site. However, I had a lot of people messaging me on my Instagram with questions, and I figured this something many woman experience and something that may be helpful to post about. So, here is my pregnancy update for the first and second trimesters. Before I get into how pregnancy has been for me so far, what I have been eating, how I have been exercising, and how I’ve been feeling overall, please remember that this is just my personal experience. Follow the guidelines and recommendations given to you by your own health care provider.
First Trimester: How I Felt
For the most part: SO HAPPY and also SO TIRED. Kevin and I told our immediate family that we were pregnant right away (I called my sister and my parents literally 5 minutes after it all soaked in for Kevin and me) because I was crazy excited and I’m also terrible at keeping secrets. I know many couples choose not to tell anyone else until they are out of the first trimester, when the chance of miscarriage drops dramatically, but Kevin and I didn’t think this was the right decision for us. I knew that if something DID happen, I would want our immediate family members to know and act as a support system for us.
I was extremely tired pretty much through the entire first trimester, but I was lucky in that I didn’t really have morning sickness or nausea. I experienced a tiiiiny bit of nausea around week 8, but discovered that if I ate small snacks frequently and never let myself get to hungry, the nausea dissipated. As a result, I probably started gaining weight a little quicker than most women (more on that later), but I felt pretty good overall. I didn’t really have any cravings or food aversions, but I will say that I was definitely carb-loving and gravitated more towards things like pasta, crackers, and bagels than I normally would.
Kevin and I are using a midwife instead of an OB/GYN. I liked the idea of working with a health-care provider that is natural minded and not as quick to use interventions. I will be delivering at a local hospital, so although I am aiming for a natural birth, we will have access to everything we need should it become necessary. I had my first appointment at around 8 weeks, where I was given a due date of 4/10.
At my first ultrasound appointment, my due date got pushed back to 4/20, which felt like a little bit of a blow because we thought we were just about out of the first trimester, but then found out we still had a few weeks to go. We had already planned to tell our extended family and our friends right before Kevin’s 30th birthday (when we thought I would be 13 weeks). We still decided to announce at that time, so we ended up telling everyone when I was about 11.5 weeks.
First Trimester: My Workouts
I continued to exercise about 4-5 times per week for at least 30 minutes. I did not change my workouts at all during the first trimester, but I did move most of my workouts to the afternoon instead of squeezing them in before work in the morning since I was super tired and wanted to sleep as long as I could. My workouts generally consisted of running/jogging, yoga, and Tone It Up toning and HIIT workouts. I continued to do ab work including crunches until about 12 weeks. After that point, I didn’t want to do anything to compress my belly at all.
Above photos: 8 weeks, 16 weeks, 25 weeks
Second Trimester: How I Felt
Overall: Great! They say the second trimester is the easiest, and I would agree with that. Sometimes it is easy to forget that you are pregnant, but if you overdo it- you will know. We took a little weekend getaway to Shenandoah National Park right after Thanksgiving, and hiking up the mountain I noticed myself getting winded quicker and needing to take more frequent breaks.
The most difficult part of the second trimester for me was the weight gain. Even though I know I’m gaining weight because I’m growing a human, seeing the number on the scale climb (rather rapidly now) can be alarming. I’m also trying to stay within the recommended weight gain guidelines (25-35lbs) and I find myself getting a little obsessive over it sometimes. However, I’m starting to know my pregnant body a little more as time goes on. I think some women steadily gain over the course of their pregnancy, but I have been gaining in spurts. For a few weeks the number won’t move at all, and then all of a sudden it will seem to jump several pounds. During the moments of the “jump” I always panic a little (“how can I keep going at this rate? I’ll be over the ‘limit’ by the end!”), but I’ve come to see that it seems to even out and honestly, my body is going to gain what it wants to gain and that’s that. I’m eating healthy 90% of the time (with the exception of some extra Christmas cookies or some salty potato chips every once in a while) and continuing to exercise regularly, so there really isn’t much more I can do. I’m working on letting go of the numbers and just following my body’s lead.
The best part about the second trimester was feeling (and now seeing) the baby move. I started to feel movement around 18 weeks and it has been more frequent and much more noticeable every day since then. My husband was able to put his hand on my belly and feel the baby move at about 21 or 22 weeks, which was really cool and makes everything feel more “real.” I’m also loving seeing him do “dad” things, like painting the nursery and putting the crib together.
We had our second ultrasound at just under 20 weeks. We are NOT finding out the sex of the baby, but we were able to see the baby and how much he or she has grown since our first ultrasound. And while my “official” due date is still 4/20, after reviewing the results of the ultrasound, my midwife said “it’s looking more like 4/12 or 4/13.” April 12th is my birthday, so baby and I will have birthdays very close together- or we could possibly even share one!
Second Trimester: My Workouts
All of my workouts are modified for pregnancy at this point. I don’t do any crunching exercises and I also avoid most exercises where I am on my back for an extended period of time. I am still jogging, but I try not to let my heart rate get too high. I generally will do jogging intervals where I jog for 2 minutes, then walk for 2 minutes for a total of 25-35 minutes. I don’t anticipate being able to jog much longer though because it puts SO much pressure on my bladder (and I don’t want any “accidents” happening). I have also been doing a lot of walking and prenatal yoga. I found so many prenatal workout videos on YouTube and I rotate through a bunch of them. SarahBethYoga has been one of my favorite channels, so I signed up for a membership, downloaded her app, and do her prenatal yoga workouts a few times a week. I love how she has full length classes (45 minutes) and shorter classes (20 minutes), so I can choose what I have time for each day. She just added a bunch of new ones because she is currently pregnant with her second child. I have also continued to do some of the Tone It Up workouts, but I modify moves to avoid crunching. I really like their arm and booty workouts for toning and I will often pair the 10-15 minute toning workouts with a 20-30 minute walk outside for a more complete workout.
Healthy Foods I Have Been Loving:
- Oatmeal and overnight oats: as breakfast or a morning snack. Fills me up for hours and satisfies a craving for both carbs and (to some extent) sweets.
- Warming soups: for lunch or dinner. Loaded with healthy veggies and perfect for this frigid weather we have been having.
- Citrus fruit: give me all the oranges, grapefruits, and clementines. Luckily, these are in season right now. I have been craving things that are slightly sour and the Vitamin C boost this fruits provide is great to help prevent colds this time of year.
- Eggs in all forms: scrambled with veggies or fried on top of toast with avocado for breakfast, or hard-boiled for lunch.
Above photo: 28 weeks- first day of the third trimester
What I Have Been Wearing: Half way into my second trimester, all of my regular pants got put away and I started exclusively wearing maternity pants. My advice- don’t hold on to your regular pants too long! I can honestly say that I felt SO much more comfortable in maternity pants and they were a lot more flattering than trying to squeeze into my regular jeans or doing the “hair tie trick” to hold them up unbuttoned. As for tops, I wear a lot of maternity tank tops with regular cardigan sweaters and kimonos. It saves me from having to spend a ton of money on maternity sweaters that I will only wear for a few months. Loose, regularly-sized sweaters are also great. I did buy a few nicer maternity tops, sweaters, and dresses to wear to work or out on the weekends, but mostly I have been living in leggings, maternity tanks, and long cardigans. Here is where I have been shopping for maternity clothes: Pink Blush Maternity (they also have a great sale section!) Old Navy Target
Motherhood Maternity
I have also heard great things about H&M and ASOS maternity, but have not purchased anything from either. I attended two weddings this Fall/Winter and bought a dress from A Pea in the Pod that I love, but it was expensive and definitely not somewhere I would shop regularly.
Pregnancy Products I Have Been Using and Loving (Amazon affiliate links):
Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter
The Honest Company Prenatal
The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth
Snoogle Pregnancy Pillow
