My advice to first trimester moms-to-be

When I realized I might be pregnant, I took five pregnancy tests in the week after the first positive result. I needed confirmation it was real. The strips piled up in our bathroom trash, blue line after blue line.

Just 2 weeks earlier, I had taken a test before our vacation to Mexico. When it came up negative, I took that as license to enjoy myself. My husband and I drank daiquiris and ate ceviche.

But when we got home, I realized the test I’d taken before the trip was actually an ovulation test. It was negative, of course, because I wasn’t ovulating—I was already pregnant!

I was a bundle of nerves until my first ultrasound. At the first whooshing sound from the monitor my husband and I burst into wet, happy tears. I’m not sure I truly relaxed until we did an amnio later on.

A pregnancy misstep

Like many women, I broke the rules without knowing it but my baby, fortunately, ended up just fine. The body’s ability to successfully craft another human being is a miraculous thing. We all misstep every once in a while, but it’s more important than ever to watch what you eat and drink and start to take care of the little one inside you.

Now that my baby is here, I can sit back and wonder what I’d do differently during pregnancy. Looking back, I wish I’d taken more moments with my husband to enjoy “our little secret.” Sure, there are friends and coworkers who may suspect even before you start showing, but with a good poker face, you can deflect their advances.

My advice to you, first trimester mom-to-be? Enjoy the calm before the storm of excitement that will come when you share the news with family. Sooner than you think, your life will be utterly upside down – for the better.

By Kendra Smith

Kendra Smith is Pregnancy magazine’s editor in chief. Her son was born in December 2011 and she can hardly believe where the time went. In addition to her expertise on this exciting phase in a women’s life, she’s a big believer in all things green, from cars (she drives a hybrid) to composting (yes, even her son’s diapers). As a licensed skin care professional, she also blogs about natural beauty at theskindetective.com.