Happy Friday, and thanks for hoppin’ over here!
This week has been flyyyying by, and this post was totally supposed to be up Tuesday.
Whoops!

I wanted to share a few things with y’all that helped me survive the dreaded first trimester.

Hopefully it will help some of you who are newly pregnant or hoping to become pregnant.

And for those of you who’ve had similar experiences to mine, 

hopefully it makes you feel understood.

Before getting pregnant, I always knew that when I DID become pregnant

I would make some serious life changes.

I would eat only organic, I would eat veggies with every meal,

I wouldn’t overeat and I would read every label that was either going 

on or in my body.
 Oh, and I would work out every single day, even if it was just 15 minutes of moving.

HAHAHA

Well, those were all great and beautiful thoughts….

BUT that’s not exactly how my pregnancy has played out so far.

When I initially found out that I was pregnant I was about 4 weeks.

I didn’t really have any symptoms besides feeling tired and having sore boobs.

Piece of cake, totally manageable.

I swear the MINUTE I reached 6 weeks, the nausea hit.

I am one of the lucky ones, and I never actually threw up.

But I had pretty bad nausea on and off from week 6 through week 9.
And the bloating…holy crap the bloating was on another level, and painful!
So I wanted to share with y’all a couple things that helped me manage all of the
not so fun things that come with the first trimester of pregnancy.

So not only did nausea hit me at 6 weeks, but so did food aversions.
Literally ALL vegetables made me gag uncontrollably.

I could not get a vegetable down for the life of me.

The thought of anything healthy would immediately make me nauseous.
At first, this REALLY stressed me out.
I was so worried that the baby wasn’t getting the nutrients it needed.

It wasn’t until a sweet friend of mine gifted me the book,
 “Belly Laughs” by Jenny Mccarthy that I really stopped stressing.
If you’re in the midst of your first trimester, or hell, ANYWHERE in your pregnancy.
I HIGHLY recommend this book.
It is SO freaking relatable and hilarious and will make you feel so much better
and realize that everything that’s going on with you is N O R M A L.
(including being disgusted with vegetables)

Baby boy has been surviving on ALL THE CARBS.

I was REALLY concerned about not getting enough veggies at first,

but apparently being disgusted by all things healthy is fairly common.
However, I have been taking a shot of Ningxia Red every day,
so that has definitely helped ease my mind.
If y’all are interested I’ll do another post about Ningxia
 explaining what it is and why it’s UH MAZING for you & baby.
It was something I took occasionally before pregnancy
but knew it was an absolute MUST when I actually did become pregnant!

For me, the nausea was totally random,
and if I ever let myself get hungry at all it would worsen x100.
I made sure to keep crackers with me at ALL times.
That would almost always settle my stomach and make me feel better.
Even if I wasn’t hungry, munching on them always helped!

Once week 9 hit I would get constant headaches and back pain.

I refused to take any meds in the first trimester but I did use some {young living} essentials oils.

If you’re like me and are B L O A T E D like crazy during the first trimester,

then stock up on some peppermint oil!

Whenever I was painfully bloated I would just rub a few drops on my tummy.

Whenever the headaches hit I would rub a few drops of Panaway oil on my temples.

Those really did help, But if i’m being 100% honest, 

the only thing that would FULLY help me feel better during the first trimester was a good ‘ol bath.

NOW….Baths aren’t highly recommended during pregnancy.

Some people say “absolutely DO NOT take one”, some say they are “totally fine”.

I would always make sure that the water was warm and not super hot.

During your first trimester you don’t want to let your body temperature get too high.

But I swear y’all, I would feel like I was on my death bed,

with a mixture of nausea, migraine, bloated tummy, and body aches.

As soon as I got in the bath it would ALL go away.

Baths really helped to keep me sane during the first trimester,

and as long as your smart about the water temperature

and careful about what you put inside the bath,

I say GO FOR IT.

{As for exercise, if you’ve got enough energy to work out in your first trimester,
DO IT.
I didn’t and i’m totally regretting it now.
I’m attempting to start working out again, but being incredibly out of shape 
on top of being tired and pregnant makes it kind of miserable.}

The first trimester is such a crazy time, especially if it’s your first pregnancy.
You don’t know what to expect and you don’t know what’s normal.
I was so worried all the time.
If I didn’t feel like absolute crap then I was worried that something was wrong.
{please don’t be like me and do that}
Every pregnancy is different and every pregnancy is unique.
However it is totally normal to have good days and bad days.
When you have a good day, ENJOY THE HELL OUT OF IT.
Because the bad/tough days will be back before you know it.
However, if you’ve had tough days and then start losing symptoms regularly,
and by regularly I mean weeks of feeling normal/no symptoms at all
 (after previously having symptoms).
In that case I would definitely contact your doctor, just to be safe!

Today i’m officially 14 weeks and 5 days, and unfortunately i’m still tired as all hell.
I contacted my doctor yesterday and sent him some ingredient lists to
energy drinks I found, asking him if any would be safe for me!
I’ll let y’all know what he says!
To all you pregnant mamas with toddlers running around, God bless you.
You’re the real MVPs.