First Trimester Tips

Oh, morning sickness! It seems like just a bad dream now that I am in my third trimester, but I vividly remember how miserable I was and how just making it through the day seemed like a huge accomplishment. I was so incredibly excited to be pregnant, but truly wondered if I would actually be able to make it through while taking care of two little ones. This week I am supposed to be giving tips on how to keep your household going smoothly while feeling under the weather for several months, but I have to be honest: I did a pretty poor job of it this summer. My first two pregnancies were not too bad, but this last one hit me much harder and really threw me for a loop. I pretty much gave up and had to rely completely on my family and friends for most of the 1^st trimester. That was really hard for me, but God taught me a lot through it. I’m going to share a few practical tips that I did learn, but just keep in mind that the biggest lesson I learned was to trust God and be humble enough to ask for help!

Random tips in no particular order:

-- If you are lucky enough to find out that you are pregnant before morning sickness hits, stock your freezer!! I usually have about 10 happy days before I am incapacitated and I try to cook up a storm during that time. As soon as I saw that blissful line on the pregnancy test, I threw my schedule to the wind, made a huge trip to the grocery store and cooked all week long: enough bread, pancakes, tortillas, and meals to last about a month. I really don’t know how we would have survived if I hadn’t because once it hit, I seriously couldn’t walk into the kitchen without gagging.

-- Give yourself a break -- I remember so many days during that time where all I did was lay on the couch or floor and read to my girls. I got absolutely nothing else accomplished. My house was a wreck and I felt like a slacker but seriously couldn’t do anything more than that. But at least I knew my girls were happy and out of trouble and I had made it through one more day. There is no reason to beat yourself up for lack of productivity when you can do absolutely nothing about it!

-- Don’t be too proud to ask for help! Your church family is there to help you through times like these and it will bless them as well! One young mother in our church asked if she could keep my girls for me one morning to give me a break. Normally, I would have declined, because the girls didn’t know her that well, but I was desperate enough to accept the help. My girls had a wonderful time and wanted to go back. They ended up going over there every Monday morning for the entire duration of my morning sickness! It started a great friendship with a young family that we hadn’t previously known that well and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! In addition, I cannot tell you what a difference it made in my mindset to know that I could start my week off easily. I had previously felt very overwhelmed on Mondays, knowing it would be so many days before I had my husband’s help again. I also had a young pre-teen girl in my church offer to come over and play with my girls. That began another beautiful friendship and she still comes over one morning every other week! The girls really look forward to her visits and I definitely do! I have been amazed at how God has used my weakest moments to form relationships that I now treasure. Please don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it! God will bless your humility.

-- Switch or stop taking your pre-natal vitamin is they are making you sick. With my first two pregnancies, I was able to take my pre-natal vitamins throughout my first trimester without any problem. This last pregnancy, however, they made me throw up. If I took them, I would spend all day in the bathroom. I decided that they were not doing me any good if I always threw them up, so I just quit taking them. I still felt utterly miserable, but no longer threw up at all. It was definitely worth it to me!

-- Ginger and honey tea can help settle your stomach. I didn’t want any of my normal favorite teas when I had morning sickness, but a simple ginger tea did seem to help a little bit. I bought fresh ginger at the grocery store and would simply cut off a few pieces and let it steep in my hot water for a few minutes. It was a very mild ginger taste and I would add just a drop of honey as well.

-- Try eating before you sit up in bed. If I sat up, I would not be able to eat anything, so my husband brought me buttered toast and ginger tea almost every morning to eat while lying down. Sometimes it was all I could manage for breakfast, but it was better than nothing!

-- Use paper plates and other disposables. I usually try to do everything all natural and “green-like,” but the first trimester is undoubtedly just a time to survive. Dishes became a huge problem for us because they completely grossed me out and made me sick and I just couldn’t do them. I really could hardly walk in the kitchen without feeling ill. My husband had to completely take over kitchen duty while I had morning sickness so he stocked up on the paper plates, bowls, plastic utensils, etc, and it helped so much! I also gave up on cloth diapers during that time.

-- Nap when the kids nap. This was hard for me, because nap time is when I get everything done! But I found that I if I did not use that block of time to sneak in a nap for myself, my body would not be able to make it the rest of the day. I would have to crash at 7:00 when I put my girls down rather than hang out with my husband. But if I took a nap mid-day, then I could stay awake to spend some time with Mark in the evenings.