My Favorite 1st Trimester Pregnancy Products
Hey, friends! I am so excited to finally be able to announce to you all that I’m pregnant! We wanted to make sure to tell our close friends and family before making any kind of public announcement, and now we can finally share our news!
So to celebrate, I’m sharing today what some of my absolute favorite items were during my first trimester. It’s behind me now, but I know just how valuable product recommendations are when you’re entering a new season of life, especially for the first time. It saves so much trial and error if you don’t have to figure it all out for yourself!
Clothing
If you’re anything like me, for your first pregnancy, you won’t need maternity clothes for the first trimester (weeks 1-13). However, I was pretty nauseous from weeks 6-14, and I really didn’t want clothes that were constricting across my midsection while I was nauseous. That just doesn’t make for a fun combination. My solution? To focus on elastic-waisted bottoms (both pants and shorts) and my slightly bigger jeans I already owned. I did pretty well just with these. I did buy a couple pairs of linen pants with drawstring waists and a pair of elastic-waisted shorts since most of my bottoms were too structured (read: button and zipper closure) to work very well for me. I got these from ThredUP, my favorite option for quality secondhand clothes (you can get $10 off with my link).
I didn’t need to change anything with my shirts, shoes, or dresses, other than opting for whatever seemed comfortable at the time. I did buy some larger, stretchier, more comfortable bras (and I expect to do so at least one more time). This was important for me since I wanted to be comfortable and find supportive clothing.
My current favorite maternity bra is the Sublime® Adjustable Crossover Nursing & Lounge Bra because it’s just so insanely comfortable and doesn’t shift around while I sleep, and my favorite maternity underwear is the Grow With Me collection from Kindred Bravely. I like the hipster best currently, but I imagine I’ll gravitate toward the brief as I continue to grow. I love the soft, relatively thin material and how insanely stretchy it is! (Make sure you use my link!)
I will say I got the itch really early to start buying maternity clothes because it felt celebratory, and who doesn’t like buying new clothes? Okay, I suppose plenty of people probably don’t, but I do, especially if I get to explore new brands and focus on comfy, stretchy clothes. So I do have a maternity wardrobe growing faster than my stomach at the moment. But I know it’s only a matter of time before I’m going to transition out of most of my pre-pregnancy clothes and into mostly maternity clothes. I’m planning on recording a video where I walk through that wardrobe organizing process soon, so stay tuned!
Food & Beverages
Like I mentioned, I experienced a lot of nausea in my first trimester— nearly every day in June and most of July. It made food difficult, which was sad, because I love food! I couldn’t eat some things at all (seafood, most meat), made really simple meals, and repeated meals more than normal. It was hard to find anything that sounded even a little appealing, and my appetite is just now sort of returning. I lived on potatoes, dairy- and gluten-free black bean quesadillas, gluten-free pasta and meatballs, homemade paleo pizza, and spinach artichoke toast. So much heavier on the carbs, very little meat, and a lower vegetable representation than usual. I went into pregnancy thinking I’d eat really well and keep up my veggie intake, but it’s tough to do when the thought of certain foods makes your stomach turn or makes your appetite go away.
The only thing I really craved was lemonade, but I’m sensitive to sugar, and most lemonades out there are what, 75% sugar? I went on a search to find a less-sweet option to satisfy my craving without giving myself cavities, and I found it! I fell in love with Vitamin Water Zero in the “squeezed” flavor, which is essentially lemonade. But because it’s water sweetened with stevia and filled with actual vitamins, I felt a lot better about my choice.
I also sipped on some fizzy coconut water drinks when I wanted something special (or when friends were drinking alcoholic drinks I couldn’t partake in). And I had several of Mama Natural’s morning sickness remedy smoothies on hand at all times, too.
The biggest thing I learned was to eat frequently (I thought I already did, but man, I’m eating every couple of hours at this rate) and eat small amounts at a time. It stabilized my blood sugar and helped curb the nausea. I also did the same thing with my water— too much at once could feel kind of gross in my stomach, but frequent sips were helpful.
Health
Most people know that taking a prenatal vitamin is important in pregnancy. My GP actually recommended that I start one before we even started trying to conceive, and I did some research about my options (no one who knows me is surprised that I wanted to compare my options to make the “best” choice). I wanted a good-quality supplement that provided all baby and I would need for this adventure, and I really preferred more natural sources. *Please note that these are what worked for me and what I got approved by my midwife; I’m by no means a medical professional, so check with your care provider about the best fit for you.
I ended up landing on a line of Pink Stork products, and there are several things I love about them:
the products are prayed over before they get to me, which is just really sweet and special— I so appreciate them taking the time to invest that way in their customers!
it’s a woman-founded and run company, which I love to support
the products all come with little freshness tabs in the bottle so they don’t smell funny or taste funny (I mean, they’re still vitamins, so they’re not like candy, but since you just swallow them quick, they’re tasty enough)
they have a wide range of products to help with whatever you need (*disclaimer here to always check with your doctor or midwife about what products are right for you)
I could set up a subscription to deliver to my house so I didn’t have to remember to reorder products
My favorite items have been the prenatal vitamins + DHA, the prenatal probiotic, and the anti-nausea capsules. I also really appreciated the morning sickness sweets and morning sickness tea. As long as I was sucking on one of the sweets or drinking the tea, my nausea could be kept at bay. The sweets were especially lifesavers on car rides.
I also really valued some other things that aren’t things— namely rest and sleep. I was fortunate enough to go through my first trimester during the slow season at work (summer at a school office), so I could work at my own pace and only work 4 days a week. Trust me, I know that’s a blessing not everyone gets. I had very little energy to do much after work for at least the first half of the summer, and I worked hard to give myself the grace to lean into that. I napped on the weekends and sat on the couch most nights reading or watching tv. Yes, of course, I’m sad that I didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful weather in June or even pull my hammock out once in our backyard, but the more important thing was that I was giving myself what I needed in that season.
[This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase through my links— at no cost to you! Thank you for supporting me and my work!]
