The 1st Trimester is such a tricky one, isn’t it? You’re excited, nervous, exhausted, nauseous, perhaps a bit anxious and all you want to do is be able to share this with your friends and family, yet there’s that pressure to keep it to yourself. I really tried to make a commitment to my 1st trimester self care routine, as a way of nurturing myself and my body throughout this time, and this is what it has looked like.
Gentle Movement
I was actually very fortunate to be on my best friend's yoga retreat in the alps when I found out I was pregnant, so had a luxurious 4 days of self care to relax into.
You’re told not to exercise in the 1st trimester, which did come to mind immediately but I allowed myself to enjoy my yoga practice still in this time, just being a lot more mindful and enjoying a slower more gentle practice.
Back home, and throughout the rest of my 1st trimester self care was still in the forefront of my mind, and as I was teaching yoga classes still I didn’t really go to any other classes, I found myself very easily fatigued and a little shaky when I overexerted myself, so instead opted for nice gentle walks, staying active still, but making meditation much more of a focus.
Meditation
Not only is meditation such a wonderful way of keeping calm, managing those moments of anxiety that easily pop up in pregnancy and keeping yourself present (I find it so easy to get swept up in the “what’s the future going to look like” narrative when pregnant), it’s also a beautiful way of creating that natural flow of oxytocin in your body, which is so key later on in pregnancy.
Obviously haven’t a toddler around means my morning meditations have taken a slight back seat, but I am a huge fan of a walking meditation (Superhuman have some fantastic ones), as well as evening meditations to wind down, or listening to affirmation audios (Spotify has lots of these), or even just taking a few minutes out of your day to close your eyes and breathe.
I have a free guided meditation on my YouTube channel as well, which is a nice and short guided breath work.
Food
Okay, this can be a tough one and I fully appreciate this will differ for everyone.
Apart from about 3 weeks around the 7-9 week mark, I was incredibly lucky not to feel hugely nauseous, so have managed to stick to quite a healthy eating pattern, which I have noticed has the biggest positive effect on my energy levels and my mood.
The first trimester is also the most horrible time for bloating and constipation, so trying to pack in fibre and healthy food is a really good way of managing that discomfort.
But also, you’ve got to listen to your body, and if you want to eat beige food and the idea of vegetables makes you feel sick, then beige food is the way forward!
When I had those few weeks of feeling nauseous I absolutely allowed myself to indulge in endless bowls of pasta, cheese, pizza, the lot, but also tried, when I could, to make myself smoothies or juices, to try and get some fibre into my diet.
Rest
Something that has definitely been a lot harder to squeeze into my day with a toddler running around, during my first pregnancy I really allowed myself time to rest where I could and loved a good old sofa nap, but sadly that hasn’t been an option this time around, so instead for that much needed 1st trimester self care I have found myself going to bed VERY early.
When you’re pregnant, there is no such thing as too early in my opinion, so let yourself get into bed whenever you want to, and try and get as much rest as you can, whilst your body works absolutely magic growing a tiny human inside you!
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