First-Time Pregnancy Tips – What I’ve Relied on up to 30 Weeks Pregnant

Written By Meghan Kemp

I sit here scribing this on the cusp of my remaining 10+/- weeks of pregnancy, preparing to embark on week 30 tomorrow.

Therefore, I am no expert on this subject matter however, I wanted to compile a resource list that I could point to for any + all of my friends for their first pregnancy (especially years after I’m out of this season of life:).

First up, when it comes to parenting (or perhaps life in general), everyone has their own opinion and I think the most sage wisdom I’ve received time and again from experienced moms is to block out the noise. It’s been of the utmost importance for me to reduce my time spent around judgmental people + friends. It’s a harsh truth, but it’s provided me so much sanity. The journey into motherhood is quickly teaching me to trust my intuition and know that I’ll ultimately know what’s best for me and my family.

With that said, it takes time and practice to learn to listen to the soft guidance of our inner voice. This is precisely why my daily meditation practice has been so incredibly crucial throughout this time. Between the books I’m reading, the teachers I’m learning through, my partnership, my family’s inquiries, and my friends’ input, taking a sliver of time every single day to attune to myself is paramount for my mental health and sustained trust in myself.

As a side note…

I’ve had several meditations throughout this pregnancy where I received such profound insight to understand what’s the best next step forward (whether that’s where to go, who to turn to, who to navigate away from, where to look for guidance, etc.). It’s so natural for anxiety and fears to amount during this transformational period of life, and meditation has consistently allowed me to remember and reconnect with my true, blissful essence. Bonus: it’s been an incredible way to connect with the wisdom of babe + the creative intelligence emerging through me.

A bit more about me…

If it’s helpful for you to understand a bit more about me and my suggestions, I just turned 34 last week, this is my first pregnancy, and while there was an ovarian cyst seen on my right ovary in my first ultrasound, everything within this pregnancy has been considered healthy. I also was someone who felt very neutral about having children – I would have taken it as a blessing to be chosen to mother a child and I would have also seen it as a blessing to shower my energy + attention on other aspects of life. Lastly, I am in partnership with this baby girl’s father and I, quite frankly, can’t imagine a better man to introduce a child into the world with.

So, with all of that said, please feel free to integrate what works for you and leave the rest. You know best.

First-Time Pregnancy Tips: First Trimester

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong—and What You Really Need to Know (The ParentData Series) by Emily Oster
    “Pregnant women are told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee without ever being told why these are forbidden. Rules for prenatal testing are similarly unexplained. Moms-to-be desperately want a resource that empowers them to make their own right choices.”

  2. Nine Golden Months: The Essential Art of Nurturing the Mother-To-Be by Heng Ou, Amely Greeven, Marisa Belger
    “There is so much noise surrounding pregnancy and birth. Countless books are teeming with information but few hold a woman through the experience, acting as an elder sister, a matriarch, or as a circle of women might hold her—with compassion, nonjudgment, and, most of all, wisdom. To the authors of Nine Golden Months, this is exactly what’s needed now, in an era of high-speed living, endless demands, and more than a little anxiety and fear.”

SUPPLEMENTS

Please note: I am certainly no doctor and would recommend you do your research + consult with your trusted medical professionals. Every body’s needs are uniquely different.

  1. Organ supplements
    Heart + Soil or Ancestral – they both get from the same supplier. My friend turned me onto Birthright’s Bloom for specific prenatal care + support

  2. Prenatal vitamin
    I ended up going with a gummy option because the capsules just got to be too much for me with the nausea

  3. Prenatal probiotic
    I took Needed

  4. Magnesium
    I did Moon Juice’s powder for as long as I could before turning to gummies

MOVEMENT + BREATHWORK

I enlisted the support of the Sattva Yoga prenatal teacher trainer, Siddhi, and met with her once a month for a recorded session that I would return to throughout the following weeks.

For those used to practicing Kundalini / Kriya, when you’re pregnant you must forgo the following:

  • No breath of fire

  • No segmented breath

  • No breath retentions

PRENATAL MEDICAL CARE

Fortunately, I had a close, health-conscious friend (Liz Smith of The Hive) who was exactly one trimester ahead of me and I got to follow her journey of choosing to work with a birthing center* + their team of midwives in Pacific Beach, San Diego. As I was nomadic at the time of conceiving (which comes with a slew of tricky health insurance coverage), I oriented around following in her footsteps and explored moving to San Diego primarily for this amazing birth center.

*The birth center in question is Tourmaline Birth and Wellness Collective and I absolutely loooved my experience with them and their support throughout the first and into my second trimester.

Full Moon Birth & Family Wellness — that tub had me at hello!

Ultimately, when my partner received a job offer in the Santa Cruz area, the first thing I did was research midwives and a birth center (hello not having a home to consider a home birth in!). That’s when I got to meet Sunshine Tomlin of Full Moon Birth & Family Wellness Center and enlist her services for the remainder of my pregnancy.

There are so many reasons why this feels like the right choice for me. Primarily, I was present for a friend’s hospital birth in July 2021 and witnessed so many interventions occur that I’d like to aim to avoid, and instead use this birthing experience as a way to connect with the primal nature of the woman’s capacity.

Above all, the thing I’ve loved most about working with a midwife throughout my pregnancy is that my appointments have been anywhere from 1-1.5 hours in length, I never feel rushed, I feel seen and heard, I learn so much, and I feel relaxed.

Unfortunately, this is a more expensive route than a standard hospital route, but I’m coming to find that the best medical care in America is the most expensive + out of pocket… Blah.

PREGNANCY TRACKING APP

Lots of apps out there, but I went with Flo + I’ve enjoyed learning + seeing the baby’s growth progress through it! It’s also great to see what pregnancy symptoms are commonly reported day by day.

LIFESTYLE SHIFTS

  • I dialed back on work as much as possible during my first trimester. I was so nauseous and fatigued from weeks 6-16 that there was very little I could effectively do for others during this time.

  • Feet on the earth and spine to a tree trunk to balance the vata storms

  • Foot baths / soaks as much as possible

  • Asked for help from others and learned to accept it in ways unbeknownst to me

  • Refined who I was in contact with predominantly and realized I wanted to ensure I was being uplifted + energized through those I engaged with — not judged

  • Mindful of time on social media and Instagram’s pregnancy algorithm—it’s wild. I swapped scrolling with reading the Harry Potter series for the first time (so good!)

First-Time Pregnancy Tips: Second Trimester

NAUSEA REMEDY

Eat 80-100g of protein per day. Preferably animal-based proteins as we don’t absorb as much of the protein in plant-based (learned this through one of my wise clients, nutritionist Meg Gerber of Grounded Nourish).

I didn’t discover this to work for me until the second trimester (when I was expecting it to naturally abide by about 12 weeks…nope! kept going strong until 16) but wish I had incorporated it in my first.

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Felt the charm to announce the pregnancy to the world via Instagram at about 18 weeks.

  1. Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
    “Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:
    • Reducing the pain of labor without drugs—and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
    • What really happens during labor
    • Orgasmic birth—making birth pleasurable
    • Episiotomy—is it really necessary?
    • Common methods of inducing labor—and which to avoid at all costs
    • Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
    • How to avoid postpartum bleeding—and depression
    • The risks of anesthesia and cesareans—what your doctor doesn’t necessarily tell you
    • The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
    • How to create a safe, comfortable environment for birth in any setting, including a hospital”

  2. The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother by Heng Ou, Amely Greeven, Marisa Belger

    “The first 40 days after the birth of a child offer an essential and fleeting period of rest and recovery for the new mother. As modern mothers are pushed to prematurely “bounce back” after delivering their babies and are often left alone to face the physical and emotional challenges of this new stage of their lives, The First Forty Days provides a lifeline—a source of connection, nourishment, and guidance.”

  3. Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster
    “Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn't always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they're ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren't necessarily geniuses), and many other topics. She also shows parents how to think through freighted questions like if and how to go back to work, how to think about toddler discipline, and how to have a relationship and parent at the same time.”

REGISTRY

  • Registry via Amazon for ease of returns + credit

    • Many people have been telling me “oh, you’ll be surprised by how many hand-me-downs you’ll get!” However, I don’t yet run with a circle of a lot of moms (or at least seasoned moms), so I haven’t been privy to receiving many pre-loved items.

    • So, I decided to create a registry for all new items on Amazon, with the intention of easeful returns (you can return an item that someone purchases off your registry for up to 1 whole year!) and then scour FB Marketplace, OfferUp, Buy Nothing, Nextdoor, etc. for people selling or getting rid of their old items. Sometimes I’m able to return the gift that was purchased for me and save those Amazon dollars for something else.

    • I know this is not the most ethical shopping platform for many reasons, but given my current situation + budget I gotta have grace and let that slide for now.

  • I used my friends’ registries as a guidepost

    • If you’re keen to see what’s on mine (or want to generously contribute!) you can check it out below.

    • My midwife also guided me that babies truly don’t need much, in her opinion the essentials are:

      • Baby carrier

      • Diapers 

      • Clothing

      • Car seat (without fire retardant on it)

      • Wipes warmer

      • Pump (can be done through insurance)

TRAVELING + RETREATING

One of the best parts of spending 10 days in silence in the desert was watching the moon swell in its fullness each night, to ultimately arrive at a full moon on the last day.

  • Vipassana (more on this coming in a separate post!)

    • I attended a 10-day silent meditation retreat in Joshua Tree and have many thoughts about this experience. It was deeply enriching and internalizing for me.

  • New Zealand

    • Daniel and I made a spontaneous last-minute decision to visit some friends in New Zealand for 3 weeks during the second trimester. I did feel remarkably better and it was so delightful to create some new international memories together as just the two of us.

    • Also, we fully explored purchasing a tiny home, giving birth in it with a midwife/doula we met there, and relocating permanently to NZ. Ultimately, we decided it was more important to be physically closer to our families in CA and MA which brought us back to the States.

MOVEMENT

  • Prenatal library on Range by Kara Duval

    • She’s brilliant with the body. The combination of prenatal yoga and Kara’s movement platform helped remedy my sciatic pain within weeks.

  • Walking

  • Prenatal yoga + breathwork as guided by Siddhi

  • Spinning Babies daily activities

    • “Spinning Babies® is a physiological approach to preparing for and caring for birth. During birth, babies descend through the pelvis by turning to fit each curve in the passage. Baby’s turns are “fetal rotation.” If fetal rotation can be made easier, birth is easier for everyone. Spinning Babies® has become a paradigm, or a new view on childbirth. By understanding birth physiology better we can help birth be easier.”

    • This includes things like calf stretches, squats, lunges, pelvic tilts, hip openers, ball squeezes, deep breathing, side-lying release, circles on ball, etc.

LIFESTYLE

  • AUM-ing 21x in the morning as part of my sadhana

    • A great way to relax the jaw (which is linked with the pelvic floor), get comfortable expressing guttural noises that will be beneficial during labor, and draw energy up from the root (A), to the heart (U), to the third eye (M)

  • Sleeping on my side became a new normal (and additional pillows / blankets / props only continue to support this journey)

First-Time Pregnancy Tips: Third Trimester (…so far)

PRENATAL APPOINTMENTS

31 weeks! Created a pillow pile to nestle myself into every night.

  • Acupuncture

    • I’m SO happy to finally be grounded in my third trimester to establish consistent acupuncture visits at a clinic.

    • To me, acupuncture has been incredibly beneficial for holistic maintenance, checking in with my physical body, allowing myself to be cared for by professionals, and carving out time for relaxation.

    • To afford to go once a week, I found an acupuncture school (Five Branches University) that has a flexible pricing model where a session can be anywhere from $35-$80 out of pocket.

  • Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist

    • On the recommendation of my friends and midwife, I just started going as a way to ease some pelvic floor discomfort I’ve had throughout pregnancy as well as to prepare for labor and postpartum recovery. This is the most pricey out of all my out-of-pocket care (at approx. $165 per visit), so my visits are spaced out with homework in between.

  • Chiropractor

    • I’ve had this as a lower priority for me, but I’m booked in with my favorite chiropractor who’s based in Nevada City, CA (4 hours from Santa Cruz) next week, so will report back on the benefits of seeing her!

  • Meeting with pediatricians (in and out of network)

    • My midwife recommended a naturopath who I fell in love with and (if we can afford her as insurance doesn’t cover her) this is who I’d love to put my child in the primary care of

    • I’ll also be meeting with one or two pediatricians who are within network as a backup option – they also came referred to me through my midwife

COURSES

  • TakingCaraBabies

    • This is, “an online class and ebook for 0-4 month-olds to help you to lay a healthy sleep foundation, set your days and nights up for success, and LOVE this stage.”

    • I’m taking this to the best of my ability now, before we actually enter the land of sleep deprivation in the first few weeks

  • Elimination Communication (Go Diaper Free)

    • Maybe I’m a bit optimistic, but this practice makes SO much sense to me. I first learned about it through Marta Wanderlust and witnessing her success with it (I also have loved learning through her motherhood journey!)

    • “Elimination Communication is a gentle, non-coercive way to respond to a baby’s natural hygiene needs, from as early as birth. Like all mammals, human babies instinctually resist soiling themselves, their sleep space, and their caregivers, and they clearly communicate about it from birth. With EC, we learn baby's signals and natural rhythms and assist them with this process until they naturally gain independence (usually by 9-18 months of age).”

    • Been reading this book and using the online toolkit as a guide.

  • Childbirth Education Class at The Circle Family Center in Aptos

    • “This childbirth class is designed to prepare families for the birth they desire in any setting and with any provider. The course happens over five consecutive weeks. We will cover: establishing your birth support team, different birth locations, identifying your birth preferences, the mechanics of birth, setting up your birth space, non-medicinal coping techniques, interventions (including a backup cesarean plan), and preparing for a successful transition into life with baby.”

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers
    I just started this and it comes off a little strong in the beginning, but I’m enjoying some of the practical tips that it’s detailing. I’ve had several new mothers remind me that “birth is a one-time event” but that your life then centers around breastfeeding following baby’s arrival.

MEDITATION

I’m positive that all of this is simultaneously non-exhaustive and more than enough. I hope that this can be helpful in one way or another + if you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to reach out to me.

Lots of love to all (and especially those moving through this potent portal into motherhood). xx mk

Meghan Kemp https://meghankemp.com
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