Your month-by-month pregnancy guide: month 1-3

You’ve done it. You’ve peed on a stick and rushed to the doctor for confirmation that you are pregnant. Now what? Besides eating for two, preparing a nursery, enjoying lavish baby showers and picking baby names, what can you expect from the months to come? We’re here to break down the months, so you’ll know you are, indeed, normal when your body starts to react in “weird” ways.  Read on for the first three months:

Month One

OK, technically this month doesn’t count, because technically you aren’t considered pregnant until two weeks after your last period. And really, a full month goes by before you miss your period and discover that you are pregnant. Maybe you’ve noticed you’re a little more tired that normal during this time, but since you don’t know you’re pregnant yet, you attribute it to any number of causes. Many women may complain about being tired and feeling like they are coming down with something, including mother of three Laurie Kelly of Long Beach, Calif. “I would describe it as a ‘whole-body’ tiredness.

It was as if I had been walking around at an amusement park every day for a week. There were times I napped during the day, and, even if my nap ended up being over an hour, I’d wake up and feel like I had only been asleep for 5 minutes.”

Dr. Terri Hoffman, OB, head of a private practice at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, says overwhelming fatigue is the most common symptom in the beginning of a pregnancy. “I think of it as your body is so metabolic—like running a marathon or triathlon—that it requires lots of sleep on a daily basis to compensate.”  The good news? This knockout fatigue typically ends after the first trimester.

Month two

Movies are filled with stereotypical pregnancy tales, like the woman who doesn’t know she is pregnant suddenly cupping her mouth with her hand and dashing to the ladies room only to have her eyes open in horror when she realizes—gasp!—she’s pregnant! Because month two is when most women discover they are pregnant, this may happen more than in the movies. Month two is, in fact, when many women begin to experience morning sickness—a queasy feeling that may or may not lead to vomiting. However, the term “morning” may confuse you, as pregnant women can feel morning sickness in the afternoon, evening and dead of night.

“Nausea and vomiting are associated with the elevation of the HCG (human chorionic gonadatropin) hormone. We can treat this with pretty good medications, so it’s a lot better, but you have to tell your OB you are vomiting so she can monitor weight loss,” says Hoffman.

Another early indicator of pregnancy is more frequent urination, which occurs in the first trimester because “the uterus is growing and extending out of the pelvis and pressing on the bladder,” says Melissa Morelli-Walsh, a midwife and prenatal counselor at New York University, New York. “Many women also begin to notice their breasts feel more tender, sometimes as early as days after conception, as they grow and respond to the increased estrogen in preparation for breast milk production.”

Month three

By now, you may have gained up to six pounds and the added weight looks nothing like a pregnancy belly—it just makes you feel frumpy. The continued fatigue and morning sickness don’t help, either. And the joke about a woman’s ever-changing mood during pregnancy? Yes, that’s true, too, and kicks in right away. “Mood swings can be related to the fatigue and feeling nauseated and vomiting. Think about it, if you don’t feel well and are tired, your tolerance for other discomforts or dislikes is reduced. After 28 weeks the mood swings get worse, corresponding to less sleep and more physical discomfort,” says Hoffman.

The end of the first trimester also means increased blood circulation that can lead to dizzy spells when standing too quickly, so take it slow. And unfortunate for some, raging hormones can lead to headaches and migraines, even if you’ve never before experienced them.

“Migraines are more common in the first trimester due to hormones and again in the third trimester due to lack of sleep and overwhelming physical discomfort. Unfortunately, none of the preventive medicines are safe in pregnancy and you’re left with pain management, like Tylenol,” says Hoffman.