Tips for Your First Trimester

So how are you feeling? If you're like most women, the answer is exhausted and nauseous. Let's deal with the fatigue first. Do you have any idea what your body is doing right now? It is building a home that can nourish and protect that baby for the next nine months—that is, the placenta. This is really hard work. It takes a lot of energy—your energy. So stop being superwoman for once and listen to what your body is telling you. That means:

• Napping on the weekends and when you get home from work
• Slowing down at work if possible.
• Putting your feet up as much as possible.
• Turning over housework, cooking, errands, etc., to your partner, friend or a professional agency—or just letting things go for a while.

Don't worry; in your second and much of your third trimesters, you'll have energy to burn.

Now, about that nausea: They call it morning sickness, but for many women it lasts all day. You may never throw up—just feel like you're occasionally (or continually) seasick—or you may throw up every morning as soon as your feet hit the floor. Don't worry. This is normal. There is even some evidence that the nausea is nature's way of protecting the baby from potentially harmful foods.

Most morning sickness disappears by the end of the first trimester. Until then:

• Eat small meals throughout the day so you're never too full or too hungry.
• Avoid rich, spicy, greasy or fatty foods, and foods whose smells bother you.
• Eat more carbohydrates (plain baked potato, white rice or dry toast).
• Eat bland foods when you feel nauseous (saltine crackers, gelatin desserts, popsicles, chicken broth, ginger ale and pretzels). Keep some crackers by your bed and eat one before you get up.
• Use acupressure wristbands.
• Take additional vitamin B6 (25 mg three times a day), which some studies find can help with nausea.

If your prenatal vitamins make your nausea worse, talk to your health care provider about prescribing a vitamin without iron.

Pregnant Women Ask…
I'm nine weeks pregnant, and I can't keep anything down. Should I worry?

Some women experience a severe form of morning sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum. If you experience any of the following, you may have more than just "morning sickness" and should call your health care professional:

• You have lost more than two pounds
• You vomit blood (which can appear bright red or black)
• You have vomited more than four times in one day
• You have not been able to keep fluids down for more than one day

Eating Right throughout Pregnancy