Today, we’re delving into the crucial first trimester of pregnancy, a time of transformation, care, and preparation. I’m Trish, your host, and I’m here to guide you through the top 8 things you need to prioritize during these initial and magical weeks of pregnancy. So, grab a comfy spot, and let’s dive into this incredible journey together!
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Setting the Foundation
1. Visit Your Doctor: Your health and your baby’s growth are paramount. We discuss the importance of scheduling a visit to your healthcare provider during the first trimester. They’ll monitor your progress, answer your questions, and provide vital advice to keep you and your little one healthy.
2. Start Taking Prenatal Vitamins: We highlight the significance of starting prenatal vitamins as soon as possible. These essential nutrients are a cornerstone for a healthy pregnancy. Consult your healthcare provider for the best options tailored to your needs.
3. Eat a Healthy Diet: Nourishing your body and your growing baby is crucial. We share the importance of a balanced diet, packed with fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and dairy products.
Staying Active and Resting Well
4. Exercise Regularly: Staying active can be a game-changer. We discuss the benefits of gentle exercises to keep you fit and alleviate common pregnancy symptoms. Remember, moderation is key, and always consult your doctor for safe exercise recommendations.
5. Get Plenty of Rest: We emphasize the importance of rest during pregnancy. Discover why sufficient sleep and daytime naps are essential to support your body’s incredible journey.
Managing Stress and Staying Hydrated
6. Reduce Stress Levels: Pregnancy brings changes, and stress can be overwhelming. We explore natural ways to manage stress, such as yoga and meditation, to ensure a healthy emotional state for both you and your baby.
7. Stay Hydrated: We highlight the necessity of staying hydrated. Water is essential for your body and your baby’s optimal function, so keep that water bottle handy!
Join a Pregnancy Support Group and Plan for Prenatal Care
8. Join a Pregnancy Support Group: Discover the power of connecting with other moms-to-be. Joining a local pregnancy support group or online community can provide invaluable emotional support throughout your incredible journey into motherhood.
There you have it, the top 8 essential things to do during your vital first trimester. This is a time of setting the stage for a healthy and joyful pregnancy. Remember, every step you take is a beautiful step towards welcoming your little one into the world.
Stay tuned for more empowering episodes, and until next time, take care, nurture yourself, and embrace the remarkable moments of pregnancy.
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Transcript
So I hope you enjoy this. And then we did a little Q& A at the end that we thought we would leave on here for you guys so you could listen and hear some of the questions that they were asking me during this live. So listen and enjoy.
e them down. Got myself very [:I had a lot of people ask me I don't even know when to do what or what I should be doing. And one of the very first things I recommend is to find a doctor so that you can go to your first doctor's appointment. And I really want to encourage you guys and those of my mamas who hang out with me who are farther along, I think you would agree with me that This is one of the most important decisions you can make in your pregnancy is choosing a doctor.
So choosing a [:very first beginning of your [:And if you join one of my classes in the beginning of your pregnancy, you also get my membership free for 30 days, and then it's 19 a month and you have us. All the way until postpartum, so that you have a labor nurse and a doula to ask questions, including picking out your doctor, what type of doctor I should look for, warning signs that maybe your doctor isn't a good fit.
A lot of my students switch their providers because they're just not aligning. With you, and one of the things I'm going to do when I get off of this is I'm going to link to my provider questionnaire, and it's a list of questions that we put together. It's, we also have a VBAC questionnaire, choosing a VBAC doctor, completely a different Different ballgame.
list of questions for you to [:And I always recommend that you choose a doctor by going and sitting down with them, You can have a consult with the doctor where you're not laying down with your butt in the air and naked and you're talking to them across from a desk. I think that's a good idea. And you interview them because you are hiring your provider.
You're hiring them. So this is really important and I wanted to start this out. I know I have a lot of people on here who are listening to me who are farther in their pregnancy and I know you guys would agree with me that choosing the right doctor is everything. They should be respecting you.
Their [:I worked with my provider. I should have told her. Anyway, so choosing a doctor and then having your first doctor visit. This is really important too. This is going to allow them to monitor your health, the growth of the baby. They're going to figure out all the things and in just a minute, I'm going to talk about what to expect at that first prenatal appointment.
cy, I know this can be a lot [:So if it has to be Flintstones, gummies, do it. But the better quality vitamin, the better. So once you go to your doctor's appointment and you can talk to them about their preferences, but you have so many ways to research to find a good vitamin and just try out different ones. If they make you sick, just keep trying until you find one that works for you.
For my mamas who are farther along, keep taking your prenatal vitamins. If you have to set an alarm, what have you, but it's really important because your baby is going to deplete. So once you stop having babies, that's when you start having some problems. If you didn't take care of yourself while you were pregnant with your babies, because your baby will get what it needs, but your bones, your body will be left lacking.
So take care of [:ds to have the best start in [:So make sure you're getting fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, dairy products, all of it. So if you eat a special diet, you have to be especially careful to make sure that you're getting all those food groups, because even if you don't eat those food groups, your baby needs them to grow properly.
So think about things that come from the ground, animal products, things like that try to stay away from processed foods as much as possible. We really don't know what's in some of those. So the, and I'm not this like super holistic healthy eater, but the better that you avoid processed foods, the better you're going to feel.
eat a healthy diet. Now the [:There's nothing else like it. Maybe postpartum exhausted. That's Pretty bad too. Okay. So my next tip is going to help with that exhaustion. It's going to help with your morning sickness or all day sickness. It's going to help with everything and that is getting active. Now I tell my girls inside of my membership and my classes all the time.
that. Not very athletic, but [:Pregnancy fatigue is the real thing. Morning sickness and all those aches and pains that come as your uterus grows and your baby gets bigger and puts more weight on your body and your pelvic floor. Insider tip for you guys. One of the best things you can do to prep your body for birth is to sit in a deep yoga squat.
ester, you're peeing all the [:And the third trimester, you can't get comfortable. When I say get plenty of rest, I understand that. I've been pregnant a lot. I have six children I've given birth to. Three that I've lost. So I've been pregnant nine times. So I know that getting plenty of rest is very difficult when you're pregnant, but getting enough rest is so important because it keeps your stress levels down and it allows your body to recover from the physical demands of growing said human.
Because you are growing a little person and that is a lot of work I love the memes that like where it's like the partner comes home is like what'd you do all day? And you say something like I built eyeballs today What'd you do? The truth of the matter is you're building a person and all the little person parts So you really need to take care of you.
t into postpartum. We really [:We want that to be something you guys initiate from the get go in your parenting journey, because you are so important. Part of self care is getting as much sleep as possible. Try to get seven to eight hours of sleep at night and take naps when you can during the day. One of the top ways I knew I was pregnant, one of the ways was that I could not stay awake for anything.
f us, but I want you guys to [:I want you guys to start thinking boundaries. If you're uncomfortable with boundaries, highly recommend that you read some books, you listen to some podcasts, and you learn how to create boundaries because healthy boundaries are going to help you be a healthy mom. It's very important that you reduce your stress through boundaries.
Boundaries are so important because when you're pregnant, people want to give you advice, tell you the worst stories, and all these different things while your body is doing all these changes. So One practical way that you can start reducing your stress is to create boundaries. So if there's people in your lives, there's things in your lives that you need to say no to, I'm giving you permission to say no.
rschedule. Take care of you. [:In fact a baby's A fetus whose mother is under a lot of stress, their lungs develop faster because they're under such stress, which is a good thing and a bad thing because they've gone through this stressful period and it can definitely affect your health and baby's health. So please do something like meditation, mindfulness, yoga.
next one, as a labor nurse, [:And that is staying hydrated. Staying hydrated is critical. So right now, if you just found out you're pregnant, if you're in your second trimester, if you're in your third trimester, I want you to get a special cup, a special water bottle, and I want you to purpose to staying hydrated. I was telling some of the girls we have a weekly hangout with our pregnancy or pregnant mamas.
and a weekly hangout with our postpartum mamas. But I was telling my pregnant mamas that I can't tell you how many preterm labors I've admitted to triage that all they need is IV hydration. And I'll ask them like, Hey mama, what did it's 108 degrees out. What'd you drink today? And they're like, Oh, I had a can of Sprite this morning, but I've been busy.
ou and your baby's bodies to [:And remember, I also have a free checklist bundle where you get a first try, second try, third try I think a baby shopping list and a postpartum checklist. We have a bundle for that. I don't remember the hashtag, but I'll try to find it and post it in my stories and your questionnaire for your provider.
and my team doula, who's an [:So she has a lot of experience. We have a baby care specialist or a newborn care specialist. We have a NICU nurse, we have a pelvic floor therapist, we have a breastfeeding guru who hangs out with us, we have everything you could want, and you get to hang out with us every Wednesday, face to face, to ask our questions, and we do not allow mom shaming, mom, any of that crap, because we truly feel that you educate yourself and make the decisions best for your family.
nd I have my youngest who is [:I only did this with my eight year old. It was not a thing before him So during pregnancy a lot of people will opt out of this But the NIPT testing is done in the first I think it's around nine weeks Don't hold me on that but one of the ones the one I did was the panorama and it's a test that screens for chromosomal And it can also tell you the sex of the baby.
It's very thorough, however, it only tells you if there might be a problem with the baby. If they find anything, they're going to need more tests to like, dive further. Further and you can talk to your provider about what they would do in the case of that. So the NIPT is a non invasive pregnancy testing, prenatal testing.
hich means maybe there was a [:So again, I'm not an expert on that, but someone asked me what that was. We're going to talk about increasing energy during the first trimester, but really slash all of pregnancy. And again, this is going to touch on some of my tips for everyone. But again, getting adequate sleep, your sleep, and even napping during the day is going to boost your energy levels and your overall well being.
Okay, eating healthy foods, [:All the same things that I already recommended. So that's going to help you. All right, another question that I got several questions about was the first prenatal visit. So let's talk about the first prenatal visit. Here's what they're going to do. And this usually will happen anywhere from eight weeks to 12 weeks.
your iron, they're going to [:They're going to check for things like sickle cell anemia, any other blood disorders that you might have. They're also going to check you for sexually transmitted diseases and infections. They're also going to do a type and screen to get your blood type. And then, they're also going to... either do a Doppler to check the baby's heart rate.
on who gets nervous going to [:It's not high right away. They're also going to figure out your due date and they're going to come up with your prenatal care plan for future. That is, I think I answered all the questions that you, the most top questions that I got about the first trimester. I did get some questions about bleeding during the first trimester, but that is a whole topic on its own.
There's some bleeding that is normal, but I always recommend if you have bright red bleeding. Or you have a bleeding that's making you feel concerned to always contact your provider. If you haven't chosen a provider yet, you can always go to a walk in clinic or to the ER. All right, that is my little to do about the first trimester.
Make sure just to [:Exercise regularly, even if that's taking a little daily walk. That's good. Get up and get active. Get plenty of rest. The best you can. I say that and reduce your stress. So hopefully this helped you guys with some first trimester direction. And if you have any other questions, as always, we answer all of our dms here on Instagram and our emails.
So shoot us an email info@labornursemama.com.
n Instagram live that I did. [:And as always, I will see you again next Friday. Bye for now!