41. What Pregnant Moms Want to Know Before Their First Prenatal Appointment

Before you even have your first prenatal appointment, the most critical period of a baby’s development in utero is already over. Yes, by 12 weeks! 

Today, we explore the critical first 12 weeks of pregnancy and address common concerns before your first prenatal visit. 

Here's what you can expect in this episode:

• Why early support matters, common questions, and the role of prenatal groups…
• Practical advice for surviving nausea and choosing a prenatal vitamin…
• Addressing fears of miscarriage and thoughts on spotting in early pregnancy…
• Restrictions regarding exercise, caffeine consumption, and food, if there even are any…
• … and so much more!

Thank you for listening and if you’re looking for additional education and support, no matter where you are in your pregnancy.

>> Save Your Seat in the Virtual Pregnancy Support Group starting February 21st<<  

RESOURCES

Questions to Ask Your Provider 

Pure Encapsulation Prenatal Vitamins

ACOG Nutrient Recommendations (‘What vitamins and minerals do I need during pregnancy?’)

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👋 WHO AM I?

Welcome, friends! I am Beth, a certified nurse midwife, doula, and childbirth educator. My philosophy is rooted in autonomy, informed decision making, and positive mindset to help expecting parents plan for a beautiful, stress-free hospital birth. I am here to provide value to YOU through tips and practical advice, either to guide you through pregnancy or to help you prepare for childbirth, postpartum and beyond. There’s no fluff here - only info that adds to your positive experience and saves you stress and uncertainty.

First prenatal visit, first trimester, prenatal vitamins, prenatal nutrition, pregnancy nutrition, baby boy, baby girl, pregnant mom, prenatal appointment, pregnancy preparation, pregnancy education, pregnancy support, virtual pregnancy support

Transcript

Welcome back to episode 41 where we will be talking through some of the things you probably have questions about early in pregnancy before you are even able to see your provider, since they usually wait 10-12 weeks to schedule that first visit. So I hope this is helpful for you! And then I also wanted to mention that this is officially the last episode of 2023 which has been such an incredible year. The first half was a lot of planning and businessy things, and since July when I launched by birth course, I just counted that I have supported 43 families through my birth course and coaching services, which is incredible! Not to mention the countless DMs and emails I’ve responded too with little bits of information that I can only hope help make pregnancy and birth less stressful and a whole lot more enjoyable for parents. I love supporting families in this way so much, so if you were one of those 43 moms, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your story and for supporting my mission to hopefully reach 10x the amount of families in 2024. How cool would that be?!

I just wanted to jump right in and remind you or maybe you didn’t know this yet, but the most critical period of a baby’s development in utero is those first 12 weeks! Before your first trimester is even over, all of the major organs and body systems are completely formed, with the exception of the brain and spinal cord which continue forming and developing throughout pregnancy.

So of course we want to do everything possible to have a healthy baby and eliminate the chance of birth defects or other harmful exposures to baby, but then we don’t even see our provider until maybe 10 or 12 weeks. This is a huge problem and why education and support of pregnant moms should be established early on. 

It would be great if every woman had support preconception and providers had time to inform and educate couples about how to support their bodies to be able to have a healthy baby from the start, but that doesn’t usually happen.

You’re not going to get that from your clinic, so I am so glad you are here and I would love to support you from the very start of your journey. In early 2024, I will be opening up 10 seats to my virtual coaching program that I am excited to be sharing more details about soon. I want all mamas to feels supported wherever they are in pregnancy and would love for you to be a part of our small group! So stay tuned for those details.

Okay, now I would like to talk about some of the most important information that would be helpful to know as soon as possible, so you can support your baby’s development and yourself to have a healthy pregnancy.

You shouldn’t have to wait until 10-12 weeks when a lot of the hard stuff is over, to establish care with a provider, but that is the reality. So to prove my point of this, I just wanted to list some of the things you may experience or maybe already have in your first trimester, before you even see your provider that you are questioning. 

I’d be curious to know if any of these things sound familiar:

• How do I survive this nausea?
• I can’t eat anything healthy like vegetables or protein, is my baby going to be okay?
• I can’t take my prenatal without throwing up, what should I do?
• What’s the best prenatal I should be taking? 
• Is there a difference between folic acid and folate?
• Is spotting normal? When should I be concerned?
• I am worried about miscarriage. How can I get past this fear?
• Can I exercise?
• Can I drink coffee? How much?
• Are there foods I should avoid?
• How do I choose a doctor or midwife?

Of course, I hope that once you do choose who you are going to schedule your first prenatal visit with, you will be able to get in touch with the nurses if needed and schedule an earlier appointment if there are concerns, but it’s rare to get any reassurance or support before your appointment and then when you do have your appointments, they are very short.

So I do recommend finding outside help to navigate pregnancy, outside of Dr. Google. Look for prenatal groups in your area, mom support groups, a doula may be able to help and this is actually one of my favorite ways to support moms as a doula, is as a continuous contact person to help a client navigate whatever it is they are going through. It can be frustrating and isolating to have to experience pregnancy discomforts or get personalized answers to questions if something is normal or not, and just that reassurance from someone else that has been through pregnancy themselves, like me, and helped many other moms at all stages of their pregnancy, give you the most helpful recommendations that have worked for them and the moms they’ve worked with.

And since I don’t know you and your situation yet, I did want to give you some quick tips for the above points I mentioned of things that might be happening to your body or things that you are questioning, but haven’t established care yet with your provider and have no other way to find information other than google…

So nausea or morning sickness, that in reality is all-day sickness often in that first trimester. To avoid that try small, frequent meals. Carbs are good at this point, it usually is what most moms want and then trying to pair it with a protein like nuts or cheese to stabilize your blood sugar can help. Eating something small before bed and then right when you wake up before even getting out of bed can help too. I always have graham crackers in my nightstand in my first trimesters and that’s the thing that gets me through that initial morning sickness. Make sure to stay hydrated, and consider ginger or peppermint tea or lozenges. Some moms enjoy sour candies to take the edge of their nausea away too, so it’s up to personal preference and what works for you.

And because you’re maybe feeling nauseous, you could be losing weight in the first trimester. This is normal too. I have consistently lost 5 pounds with each of my pregnancies in the first trimester and it seems to be right on track with this third baby. There is no need to worry though, because your baby is so so small and they are taking whatever they need from your body first before you even get the benefits of any nutrients. So baby is doing great, it’s just you that probably feels icky. If you are vomiting multiple times a day, everyday, and can’t keep anything down even fluids, that would be a time to consult your healthcare provider sooner and come up with a plan to make you feel better. It’s rare that this happens, but I have had patients in the clinic come in for their initial prenatal visit and tell me that they’ve been at home for the past two weeks so sick, but never called for help. So definitely don’t suffer, there are different things to try.

If you can’t take your prenatal vitamin in that first trimester, honestly just do the best you can that is all we can ask. I know for me, this pregnancy, every time I even look at my vitamins I want to gag. I’ve definitely missed several days in a row for the last few weeks, but I’m just trying to take them when I feel a little better in the afternoon or at night. I take 6 pills in total so spacing those out throughout the day can help, taking them with apple juice has helped, and just listening to my body if I really can’t tolerate it one day, it has to be okay. There was one morning it took me like 40 minutes to eat two scrambled eggs, but I did it and was feeling okay. I was ambitious and wanted to take my prenatals and feel really good about myself, and 2 minutes after taking the prenatals I unfortunately threw up the eggs that I had worked so hard for. It was a struggle of a morning, but I have since not gambled with taking pills if there is a potential of losing those calories from a healthy meal! I don’t know if you can relate, but I’m glad that is almost past me now, because it’s so hard!

As far as what prenatal vitamin I recommend, you can look up the ACOG nutrition guidelines on their website and there is a chart with all of the different vitamins and minerals and the amount recommended during pregnancy and breastfeeding too even. So comparing your prenatal to that list I think is a good idea. I use Pure Encapsulation prenatal vitamins because they match up well and also have l-methylfolate which is a more bioavailalble or easily processed form of folic acid to help support a healthy baby. You also want a vitamin that has iron in it, so avoiding gummy vitamins if possible is ideal. 

Switching gears a little bit to the common worries in the early first trimester. We know miscarriage is the most likely in the first trimester and I talked about this a lot in episode 39 about the pros and cons of waiting until 12 weeks to announce your pregnancy to family and friends. But it’s important to not ignore the feelings you’re having, because it is a real fear and can be a devastating loss for many women so it’s hard to feel excited, but guard your heart all at the same time “just in case”. 

As far as spotting occurring and contributing to that fear of pregnancy loss, it happens in about 25% of pregnancies, but does not always mean there is a problem. If this does happen, it can last for a day to a week, with some mild cramping, blood can be brown to bright red, but it shouldn’t be enough to saturate a pad. This would be a reason to consult a provider. If you do have concerns even if they feel more on the “normal” end of things, it’s never the wrong thing to do to get checked out and have that peace of mind. But it’s not always necessary to medically intervene, it’s completely up to you.

The next question, many women want to know is what restrictions do you having in pregnancy and can you exercise? You probably can continue most of what you were doing pre-pregnancy, favoring movements that are low-impact and listening to your body. There are a lot less restrictions than you probably think. I remember in my first pregnancy being told I shouldn’t lift anything heavy, and now I have a 50 pound almost 4 year old and a 30 pound ⅕ year old, these massive children to care for everyday. So of course I am mindful about how I’m moving my body, but I also feel strong enough that I am not restricted to not being able to carry them. You have to be the judge to of what feels good in your own body.

Coffee consumption is also a concern for moms who are used to a cup or several before they got pregnant. The general guideline is to limit caffeine consumption to 200 mg/day and be sure that if you are drinking coffee, to stay hydrated with water as well because caffeine is dehydrating. If you want to switch to a decaffeinated tea and limit the amount of caffeine you’re drinking, that’s reasonable too. 

So I have two more questions that this last week have come up so many times on my social media, one after posting about my Jimmy Johns sub with deli ham on it. Yes, I eat cold deli ham and raw eggs like in cookie dough. I can tell you my first pregnancy I didn’t touch it because I was nervous and wanted to reduce any risk at all, but now learning more about what I should really restrict and figuring out for myself what risk is worth taking, those are two things I am okay eating within reason. I tell expecting parents to just be smart, eat deli meat from a reputable place, don’t eat food that’s been sitting out for several hours at a party or something like that, and everything will way more often than not be okay. For me, ham sandwiches were all I could eat at one point, so I went with it and don’t feel guilty at all. The worry is listeria contamination, but there are so many other ways you can get listeria outside of deli meat including contaminated fruits and vegetables, like those mixed salad recalls I hear about often. You can never completely eliminate risk, it’s just doing the best you can really!

And the last one, is in your first trimester you’ll be deciding where you want to give birth and what doctor or midwife to hire as your provider. I have a free download to walk you through choosing a provider and basically interviewing your provider at your first appointment to be sure they are the best fit for you. That link will be in the show notes, but you can find it at bethconnors.com/questions if you’re interested.

Thank you so much for tuning in today and I hope some of your questions that you’ve been wondering, have been answered here and you don’t have to wait much longer until establishing care with your provider. That first appointment is an exciting one to anticipate and start this journey in your pregnancy, but at any point if you are looking for more information, more support, even a friend to chat with that also knows a lot about pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and babies, I would love to hear from you and for you to be one of the 10 women that joins me early next year in my virtual pregnancy support group! If you’re interested, please fill out the form in the show notes so I can let you know when the group starts and they’ll be some more information on their as well for you to think about! Thank you so much for being here and I will be back in the new year. Bye everyone!