Pregnancy: What to Expect in the First Trimester

The first trimester of your pregnancy begins from conception and lasts for up to 13 weeks.

It is a crucial phase of pregnancy when you conceive a new life inside you, and your future baby’s tissues and organs start developing. 

After the first trimester completes, your infant has been named a fetus and looks like a little human. Thus, this stage depicts a rollercoaster ride for you, and you get through various physical and emotional changes. 

So, this article will tell you what you should expect during your first trimester, how your body starts changing, how you should stay healthy, and much more.

What is a First Trimester?

The pregnancy stays for approximately 40 weeks, and the weeks are divided into three trimesters. The First trimester is the time that starts from your egg fertilization by sperm to the 12th week of pregnancy.

During the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy, your body will undergo numerous changes. You might frequently begin to concern about:

• What should I eat?
• What kinds of prenatal tests should I consider?
• How much weight am I gaining?
• How can you assure your baby’s good health? 

And much more. 

Understanding your pregnancy week by week can assist you in making the right decisions and being ready for the significant transformations that lie ahead.

What Happens to Your Body During the First Trimester (Symptoms)?

In the first trimester, your body will go through distinct changes. Your body releases hormones that impact nearly every single organ in the body. The first symptom you might pregnant is missing your period. Some women notify the following symptoms as the first few weeks pass:

• Fatigue 
• Stomach ache
• Excessive sleepiness
• Spitting up
• Mood swings
• Sensitivity in breasts
• Heart burning
• Weight gaining
• Headaches 
• Vomiting 
• Recurring urination
• Cravings for specific foods
• Disliking certain foods
• Constipation 

You might require to rest more or eat fewer meals during this time. Tough, it may be possible that some women won't feel any of these symptoms.

What Happens to Your Fetus in the First Trimester?

The first day of your pregnancy is even the first day of your last menses. At almost 10 to 14 days after, your egg releases and joins with a sperm, resulting in conception. 

Your baby grows continuously during the first trimester. The fetus starts to grow a brain, a spinal cord, and organs. The baby’s heart also begins to beat in the first trimester.

In the first few weeks, the baby's arms and legs begin to form, and by the end of eight weeks, fingers and toes create. At the end of the first trimester, the baby’s sex organs will develop. 

What Should you Expect From the Doctor?

Initially, when you learn that you are pregnant, you should make an appointment with a doctor to start caring for the growing baby. If you do not already have prenatal vitamins, you should start having them immediately. 

Women should take folic acid (are in prenatal vitamins) for a year before conception. During the first trimester, most women see their doctor once a month.

Your doctor will review your entire health history and do a complete physical and pelvic exam during your first visit. The doctor might also:

• Do an ultrasound to confirm your pregnancy
• Perform a Pap examination
• Analyze your blood pressure
• Examine for sexually transmitted infections, like HIV and hepatitis
• Calculate your delivery date, which will be about 266 days from the first day of your last period
• Do screening to see any risk factors like anemia
• Check your thyroid levels
• See your weight

At approximately 11 weeks, your doctor will perform a test known as nuchal translucency (NT) scan. This examination uses ultrasound to estimate the baby’s skull and the thickness of the baby’s neck. 

These measures will help a doctor to specify the possibility that your baby might be born with any genetic illness like Down syndrome.

You should ask your doctor whether or not genetic screening is required for your pregnancy. So, doctors perform genetic tests to discover your baby’s chance for distinct genetic diseases.

How can you Stay Healthy in your First Trimester?

Any woman must know what to do and ignore in their first-trimester pregnancy to take care of themselves and their growing baby.

What you Should do:

During the first trimester, you should take the following personal health precautions:

• Have prenatal vitamins
• Exercise daily
• Maintain a balanced weight
• Do Kegel exercises to boost your pelvic strengths
• Eat small, frequent meals that are full of fruits, vegetables, low-fat protein, and fiber
• Drink plenty of water
• Eat sufficient calories, almost 300 calories more than usual

What you Should Avoid:

You should strictly avoid the following things during your first trimester:

• Laborious exercise or muscle training that might cause an injury to your abdomen
• Consuming alcohol
• Having an enormous amount of caffeine (you should have not more than one cup of coffee or tea daily)
• Smoking cigarettes
• Consuming harmful and illegal drugs
• Eating raw fish or smoked seafood 
• Stop having shark, mackerel, swordfish, or white snapper fish (they contain increased levels of mercury)
• Raw sprouts
• Cat litter (can hold a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis)
• Unpasteurized milk or other dairy items 
• Deli meats or hot dogs
• Having fast food and fizzy drinks

Unusual Symptoms on Which you Should Pay Attention in your First Trimester 

In your first trimester, you must carefully monitor your body changes. So you can detect if there are any unexpected signs which might cause any disorder in the future.

Thus, it will be good that such unusual things catch in your initial pregnancy weeks. You should seek a doctor's help in the following conditions - 

• When you have vaginal bleeding 
• When you have extreme toxemia
• When your body temperature climbs above 99.5 °F/37.5 °С
• When you are experiencing vaginal discharge and itching 
• When you are feeling pain or burning when urinating 
• When you feel an exacerbation of chronic conditions  

Lifestyle Tips that you Should Embrace in Your First Trimester

• Do not visit saunas since increased temperatures can harmfully impact the fetus.
• You should wear loose, natural-fiber clothes by the end of the first trimester.
• Do meditation daily to calm your mind. 
• Try to relax more and acquire enough sleep.
• Save yourself from anxiety, and practice relaxation and deep breathing strategies.
• Have medicines only if your present doctor prescribes them.
• Try to bypass connection with people with acute respiratory illnesses.
• Avoid using household chemicals, using repellents, self-tanning, and other products that may contain hazardous ingredients.

Conclusion 

The initial weeks of your pregnancy play a significant role in the overall growth of your baby. It is a crucial time, and you should take care of your miniature to bigger things like your diet plan, exercise, work schedules, doctor appointments, medicines, and much more. 

In this phase, your baby starts to develop, so you should be careful as much as possible to prevent miscarriage and pregnancy loss. 

I hope the detailed information and tips shared about the first trimester of pregnancy in this guide will help you make the initial weeks of your pregnancy stress-free. If you have more questions on this topic, feel free to comment.