12 Things to Get Done in Your First Trimester of Pregnancy (To-Do List)

The first trimester was confusing for me: I knew I was pregnant, but I didn’t look it. I didn’t have as much energy as I did before, but I wanted to go out and have fun. What was I supposed to do?

With these ideas of what to do during your first trimester, try these things I did, and pick out which are your essential to-do’s. I decided that I wanted to capitalize on enjoying myself, working out and treating myself right!

Dive into this list of things you can get done in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Go on a date

The first trimester is a great time to go on a date. For us, that usually meant sunset walks by the water, or a big “surprise day” when we’d go to a new park in Brooklyn. I knew that being pregnant meant our date days were numbered, as in, eventually… we’d need a babysitter for our little one!

I capitalized on getting us out of the house and doing fun things together, as long as my semi-nauseous body would handle it.

What to do: Ask your partner to plan a first trimester-friendly date to surprise you with. Some examples are walking in a new park, going out for tea at a new cafe, going to the movies or seeing a show.

Go to a party (don’t say no to parties)

The week I found out I was pregnant, I already had plans to go to a party on Friday. I was about six weeks pregnant, and at that moment, felt pretty OK! I knew I wanted to go to a party, see my friends, and distract myself from my own secret news of having taken a positive pregnancy test just days before.

First trimester is a great time to go to parties, and if you’re not showing (like I wasn’t), act like yourself! I thought it was a lot of fun to just act like myself, do all my usual things and socialize. I knew in the back of my head that 9 months later, or sooner, I’d be home with a newborn, so it was time to party right now.

What to do: Accept invites to parties, events and special happenings. If your experience is anything like mine, going out can help distract from nausea and fatigue, as a mood-booster.

Attend happy hour with friends or colleagues

I remember that during my first trimester, instead of dipping out of regular social events with friends and coworkers, I instead gave a big “yes.” It was saying “yes” that helped me distract from feeling a little wonky during my first few weeks of pregnancy, and doing everything that felt totally normal.

At those happy hours, I’d have a club soda seltzer with lime, or a ginger beer. If anyone asked, I would say I had workout plans and had to stay fresh. Looking for more ideas? Here’s the best of what to drink at parties when you’re pregnant.

What to do: Say yes to happy hours, as a way to get social, be out of the house and stay distracted from pregnancy symptoms, just like my advice above about parties and social events.

Learn about prenatal fitness

Working out during pregnancy may seem like it’s the same, at least in the first trimester. Starting in my first trimester, I continued with running, and biking and yoga.

I was glad that ways to work out in pregnancy weren’t so bad! The only thing about running was that I had to deal with first trimester body soreness, but that soon went away after a few weeks. (Just to be clear: I stopped running after my first trimester and traded it for biking.)

What to do: If you have a few spare minutes, go out for a walk, or sit down for a stretching class online from the comfort of home. I was always surprised at the wonders worked from some light exercise during the first trimester.

(As time went on, though, I learned that working out in future trimesters would look at lot different. For that, I recommend these best YouTube channels for prenatal yoga that started in first trimester and went all the way through full term, for staying fit.)

Eat clean and healthy

One of the hardest things for me was eating healthy during the first trimester when I just wanted carb-y snacks. Some days I wanted sweet carbs, and other days, I wanted rich cheesy carbs. I never really wanted eggs or meat, and sometimes, the smells of those things gave me strong aversions.

When I figured out how to eat healthy, I jumped right in. The thing was, I had to figure out fruits and vegetables that would go down easy that wouldn’t make me nauseous.

What to do (try these ideas I liked!):

• Frozen bananas with a little bit of peanut butter, mashed into “ice cream.”
• Diced zucchini pieces hidden in my rice bowl (not too much salt or spice)
• Berries thrown into my daily morning bowl of coconut granola with almond milk.

Sleep enough (and nap!)

I famously only took six naps during my entire pregnancy, but I have some friends who needed to nap every day. I listened to my body! I typically felt pretty high-energy and “normal” during my first trimester, but if fatigue kicked in, I called it an early night and hit the hay.

My first “first trimester nap” was after a day of seeing old friends in Central Park, doing a ton of walking in Manhattan and then being so exhausted that I just passed out on my bed at home.

What to do: Make sure to sleep enough and nap when your body tells you it’s time! If it means calling out of work, consider making a creative excuse.

Curb nausea and morning sickness

This sounds so much easier than it really is. I learned that first trimester nausea can kick in as early as 4-6 weeks in some scenarios, and for most women, it is around weeks 7 to 10 or so. It’s really frustrating. I am someone who loves food, so the fact that I was feeling averse to food and eating made me sad and disappointed.

What to do: My best ways to curb the nausea was to eat simple carbs that I could get down like morning granola, rice cakes with cheese and pasta for dinner. For everyone, it’s different, and you might start even having cravings.

I constantly craved Thai curry, but I also didn’t want to overdo it with rich foods that would make me throw up. So, I had to find balance during my first trimester and I hope you can do this, too.

Here’s a bit from Healthline on when first trimester nausea may end.

Take a prenatal every morning (or night)

If you hadn’t been taking a vitamin before becoming pregnant, it’s time to get a prenatal into the daily routine! I took a few different types of prenatal vitamins, like I mention in my list of things to do when you find out you’re pregnant, and I secretly liked prenatal gummy vitamins the best.

What to do: My tip is to work prenatal vitamins into your routine. A few days I forgot, and I realized it was because I hadn’t tied my vitamin closely enough to the thing it needed to go with: breakfast. Another tip that worked for me is to set an alarm to make sure you take your prenatal vitamin.

Start picking up a few maternity items

What was confusing for me about being pregnant but not feeling pregnant in the first trimester was that I could still wear my own “regular” clothes until about week 16. After that, I started wearing old clothes of mine from prior years that had more space, looser styles or more room in the waists.

My smart move in my first trimester was to start accepting any maternity clothes thrown my way from friends, neighbors and cousins (well, once I had announced my pregnancy).

My best success story was asking for maternity pants in a local moms group, and getting them from a neighbor in our apartment building who would later become my “mom friend!” We wore the same size pants, and the timing was perfect for her to hand them down to me for future needs.

What to do: Start asking around, as soon as you’ve broken your news (or if you can post in some type of Facebook group anonymously, if that is your style. Or, wait until you’ve announced your pregnancy.

Begin your due date countdown with an app

One thing I did in my first trimester was choose my pregnancy app (actually, I tried two, because they used different “fruits”) and reference it every week, as soon as my pregnancy had been dated with a due date from my doctor.

I would look forward to turning a new “week” every week, so that I could see the new fruit or vegetable that compared to the size of the tiny baby in my belly. In my head, I started a due date countdown that I shared with Dan!

What to do (my tip): I got the Ovia app, and the What to Expect app. They’re different, so I explored each and got to decide which set of settings worked best for my usage. I thought the weekly reminders and symptom information was helpful.

Start new traditions with your partner

First trimester is the time to start new traditions as a couple. For us, we started taking videos of things like “us together” before the baby, or “silence,” because I insisted that having a baby around meant we’d never have quiet again!

Now, we have videos to look back on of our pre-baby life as the tradition we started during my first trimester.

What to do: Talk with your partner about which types of new family or couple traditions would be sentimental for you both. Your partner may even have great ideas.

Document your pregnancy experience!

I have to admit that we failed at documenting my pregnancy, and most couples are WAY better at this! We started doing a photo of the week photo of how my belly was growing, and then we kind of just forgot about it.

Instead, we did our own thing, which was “maternity photo shoots” at several points in my pregnancy, starting around week 25 when I really started showing, to week 32 or so when we took gorgeous photos with fall foliage, and week 34-35 when we would go hiking in nearby nature reserves.

We have great pro-level photos that documented my pregnancy, and I suggest doing this in your own way so that it really is “you.”

What to do: Document your pregnancy in a way that feels comfortable for you. I like the idea of a weekly photo, or a monthly one.