The first trimester

Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters, or three periods of time. The exact duration of a trimester and how many weeks it contains could differ by a week or so, depending on what you read. But roughly speaking, you can assume that each of the three trimesters is about three months long. So the first trimester comprises the first three months of pregnancy.
During pregnancy, the baby is actually called an embryo first, and then a foetus. But we’ve opted to write the term “baby” throughout the pregnancy.

How does the baby develop during the first trimester?

Most of the body parts that will ultimately become your little baby form in the first trimester. The heart starts beating, the spine forms, and towards the end of the first trimester, almost all of the body’s inner organs are in place. In the first trimester, the baby goes from the size of a poppy seed to the size of a plum – but most of the work takes place inside the body. From the beginning of the second trimester, the biggest risk of miscarriage is also behind you, which is often a relief.

What happens in your body?

The first trimester of pregnancy often brings with it fatigue, nausea and somewhat troubled sleep. This is because, more than anything else, the first trimester is all about hormones. Your mood may be on a rollercoaster and things that were fun yesterday might feel unbelievably irritating today. Your hormones are also behind discomforts like feeling tired, aching breasts, and constantly having to pee. But those hormones have an important job to do: they’re helping the baby and uterus develop and preparing (softening) the musculature of your body so that later, you can give birth. That said, we don’t actually know why hormones impact mood so differently from one person to the next. External circumstances certainly play a role, but not always. Nausea is very common early in pregnancy; some people feel really sick, and it isn’t unusual to lose a little weight during your first trimester.

Massage, exercise and rest

Exercising may help your mood: even if it can’t magically eliminate feeling sick or breast tenderness, being active can help with a lot of pregnancy-related ailments. However, it’s important to listen to your body and do what feels good! This is also true of massage during the first trimester. Massage releases muscle tension and is soothing and relaxing; as long as it feels good, then it is good. There is no evidence to suggest that massage during the first three months of pregnancy causes miscarriage.

So to the best of your ability, try to adjust your workouts, rest and diet to how your body feels. This can alleviate the nausea and fatigue that so many people experience during these first few weeks.

Please note that all information above is based on Swedish recommendations.