first time pregnancy tips with baby bump

First Time Pregnancy Tips: How to Navigate Pregnancy

your founder, chloe

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There are so many things I can say about navigating pregnancy in general. I cannot imagine being pregnant while working a standard corporate job – solely due to the ebbs and flows of nausea or tiredness that comes with pregnancy. In this blogpost, I’m sharing my perspective of pregnancy as an entrepreneur with my first time pregnancy tips.

Throughout this post, I hope to share an encouraging word if you are currently navigating pregnancy as an entrepreneur. Maybe you are in the same boat as me – nearly 39 weeks along and anxiously awaiting baby’s arrival. It’s normal to feel scared and nervous about how this change can affect your career. Either way – these first time pregnancy tips are coming from a real, raw source who is in the thick of it with you.

Pregnancy Tips for First Time Moms

first time pregnancy tips with baby bump

As a first time mom myself, I loved any and all advice from other moms who had been through the experience before. In pregnancy, especially the first trimester, it can be very nerve-wracking to wait for ultrasound appointments. For me, even random symptoms that came up sparked a quick Google search for ease of mind!

Because I haven’t actually had my baby at the time this post is going out, I wanted to make this post for all the new mamas out there who were like me – anxious-and-google-searching. While these tips are geared for those who work for themselves (or just work at home), I hope you find encouragement that you can do pregnancy and God chose you to be the mom of your perfect little baby!

Here’s what I’ll be covering in this post:

  • Following a low-impact exercise routine
  • Navigating motivation shifts
  • Understanding nutrition education
  • Leaning into the unknown

More About My First Time Pregnancy

My husband and I will be married four years in January. Prior to our marriage, we met one another the summer before sixth grade and started dating in eighth grade 🤗 We attended the same high school and college (Go Wolfpack!) and graduated , got married all during COVID-19.

Fast forward to the end of 2023, we started chatting more about expanding our family and decided we both were ready to tackle this new phase of life. We found out we were pregnant in January of 2024 and are due the beginning of October.

As I’m sitting here writing this – I’m 39 weeks 2 days and bouncing on my pregnancy ball 🤪 but really trying to soak in all the last moments without baby. I’m resting, reading, nesting, and checking in on my team here and there. If you’re curious what my maternity leave will look like, consider reading that post here!

Before I go deeper in my first time pregnancy tips, I wanted to chat with you a tad more about how this pregnancy has gone for me:

  • Overall, I’ve had a positive pregnancy and healthy baby throughout each appointment
  • I actively listened and watched Dr. Kayla Borcher’s A Holistically Well Pregnancy Course (use code CHLOECREATIVE for 20% off!)
  • My husband and I took an in-person birth class
  • We chose to go with a midwife team that has access to OBGYN’s at the practice
  • Took the normal gestational diabetes screening test (although I opted for clear Lime flavor to avoid any color additives)

First Time Pregnancy Tips: Following a low-impact exercise routine

I kept up with my normal workout routine mostly throughout the first trimester. For me, this consisted of any combination of the following for 4x a week:

  • Pilates
  • Yoga
  • Cycle class

I absolutely loved using the Peloton app for my workouts during this time. I had been a steady Peloton user since 2020. After the first trimester, I found that the Peloton app and bike weren’t as “pregnancy friendly” as I’d hoped.

I stopped doing Pilates as it’s primarily core-focused and that didn’t feel great. And cycling just wasn’t comfy for me, either! So, at this time, I invested in The Sculpt Society after seeing a bunch of my clients recommend it for pregnancy and postpartum.

Since then, I have been keeping up with classes about 3x a week as they are low-impact cardio and birth prep focused.

First Time Pregnancy Tips: Navigating motivation shifts

One of the biggest tips I can give is to learn how to navigate your motivational shifts (because it will happen!). This is something that I’ve struggled with during the third trimester when my body is really telling me to rest as much as possible.

If you’re a type A, go-getter like me, resting doesn’t come that easy. I’ve had to learn how to navigate my motivational shifts by:

  • Changing my perspective of what my workday looks like
  • Taking breaks as needed
  • Understanding rest is productive

First Time Pregnancy Tips: Understanding nutrition education

Prior to becoming pregnant, I invested in year-long sessions with a women’s health dietitian. I originally invested in this for preconception nutrition and to make sure everything “looked good” prior to starting our family.

I highly recommend working with a dietitian to understand your overall diet and even hormone health if that’s something you are interested in! I was able to learn that I was low in a few different vitamins and other things. This was very helpful in understanding my body and how to combat these things via my diet.

During pregnancy, I’ve noticed my diet changing so much – I like food that I hated before and vice versa. I also understand more about balanced dieting and how to “make my plates” as best as possible to combat lower energy days.

First Time Pregnancy Tips: Leaning into the unknown

Last but not least, I will say leaning into the unknown is going to be key as you near the end of your pregnancy. There are a lot of opinions out there on how to feed your child, birth preparation, postpartum and more.

Understanding that you’ll need to embrace that you won’t know it all is so important. Accept help and advice from other mamas but always with a grain of salt. In the end, you are your baby’s mother and will have it’s best interest in mind!

Conclusion

As a FTM, this season of life has been sweet and filled with lots of emotions. I’m anticipating the arrival of our little one but also saddened about the life that’s “ending” with days it’s just my husband and I.

Either way, I hope these first time pregnancy tips find you when you need them most and know that you can do this!

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