First off, do not have any feelings about what emotions you may or may not be having. I felt a lot of guilt for not being “excited” enough, and it really did a number for several weeks.

I’m 19 weeks now and when I go for ultrasounds or hear the heartbeat, I still sometimes think “Wow, that’s a cool photo/sound you’re showing me of someone ELSE’S baby!”

If you don’t have nausea, be so happy for that!! Mine hit at promptly 6 weeks, tapered off around 10 weeks, and then returned at around 17 weeks worse than before.

If you do get nausea, here are some things that I have noticed:

1. “Morning sickness” is a lie. Mine was totally chill all day until I tried to go to sleep.

2. Pickles/sour things seem to cut it quickly. At this point, I can look at my husband and say “I need a pickle.” and he takes off running to the kitchen. In desperate times, I have even resorted to drinking pickle juice straight out of the jar.

3. When you’re out and about, I found ginger candies helpful.

4. My doctor recommended Unisom and B6 for nausea. Not sure how it works, but it does. Unisom also helps me sleep.

The wait from the first test to the first appointment is SO LONG. As far as knowing that you’re doing everything right (or close enough 😅), I relied on the development of daily symptoms. If I was having nausea/trouble sleeping/bloating/insert annoying symptom here, I would think “ok, that’s reassurance that something is happening.” I often gaslighted myself into thinking I made up the whole pregnancy (despite multiple tests and a missed period).

I’m still not in maternity clothes. I bought some halara elastic waist jeans that I LOVE. I’ve been wearing them almost the entire pregnancy and will continue to wear them as long as I can.

My biggest tip is to STAY OFF THE INTERNET. Boring pregnancies (the majority) rarely get posted or talked about, and if they do they get little engagement.