Congratulations!!! You just found out you are pregnant and are holding that positive pregnancy test in your hand thinking, “Now What?” You might say “I have so many questions, and I don’t know who to talk to. My doctor doesn’t want to see me for another 5 weeks. I can’t wait that long to talk to my doctor. I don’t want to tell my family or friends yet because it is too soon into the pregnancy.”
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Getting pregnant is one of the biggest blessings you will ever have in your life. A new child, a new life, will be greeting you in 9 months. And only you, mom, are able to nourish this baby to be as healthy as he or she can be. What a big responsibility! But what do I do now?
A lot of women have been in this situation. They feel so alone during the time when they need the most support. The wait between the positive pregnancy test and the first check-up is a crucial time in the pregnancy. This time frame, known as the first trimester (week 2-week 13) is the time when the baby is growing the fastest and your body is going through rapid changes. It is important to be educated and aware of what is happening to your body and your new baby.
A woman’s body is unique and made to have babies. Our bodies are ever changing and adaptable. Your body can handle the challenge. It’s amazing how much our body goes through during pregnancy in a natural way. It’s not like we have to tell our stomach to stretch or ask our blood volume to increase. We don’t have to put an extra organ in our stomach (called the placenta) by a special surgical technique. Thankfully, it just all happens naturally. How amazing! So why do so many women get so scared after finding out they are pregnant? Why are so many women worried about what’s next?
Well, it’s a pretty big deal. A new life is growing inside of you and you want to make sure you do everything right in order for your baby to be taken care of with the utmost love. Yes, our body will naturally change to help our babies grow full term, but some things are still in our control. We have to make lifestyle choices, we have to be educated on what is right and what is wrong, we have to be prepared for what is to come 9 months from now.
15 Things To Do The Moment You Get A
Positive Pregnancy Test!
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So I have compiled a list of the Top 15 Things To Do The Moment You Get A Positive Pregnancy Test. First, before we start the list, take a moment and rejoice in the wonderful gift you were just given! A new baby!!!! I am so happy for you. Celebrate, get excited, have a joyful cry and remember this moment forever. And don’t forget that you can look forward to your husband catering towards you with things like: late night ice cream runs, foot rubs, doing the household chores, back rubs, having him prepare questionably edible meals because you have certain food aversions, etc! 🙂
1. Document your pregnancy on paper or in an app
Get a new calendar, planner, journal or download the newest pregnancy app that suits your needs the best. My recommendation would be the Ovia Prengnacy Tracker app (16.5K users). It is all inclusive. It’s an easy and convenient way to track your baby’s development and growth. It provides daily small articles for an easy read, and weekly large articles with a podcast full of a ton of information you can listen to while you are driving to work. My favorite part is that it keeps track of your pregnancy progress, like your weight gain, how far along you are (how many weeks), and other helpful pregnancy tracking tips. Lastly, it has a calendar to organize and track all things pregnancy, from baby bump photos to doctor appointment reminders. This is definitely the app to get!
When you download your app, mark down some very important dates. You will need these dates for your doctors’ visits and your medical records. Keep track of the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP) and the date you had the positive pregnancy test. If you have any other dates that might be important, jot those down, too. Perhaps you had another positive pregnancy test earlier in the year (with a possible miscarriage). The date(s) you started to have pregnancy symptoms. Delivery date of previous births (your other children’s birthdates). The doctor will be asking for these dates, and to be honest, it can be overwhelming when you get to the doctor’s office and you are trying to remember all these dates by memory.
2. Call your gynecologist and schedule an appointment
You NEED to see a doctor! This is very important for two reasons. First,the doctor’s appointment is crucial in order to be properly educated about pregnancy. The second reason is to have a thorough check up of you and the developing fetus. You do not want to procrastinate on this one! Call right away when you get your positive test and they will most likely schedule you around your 10th week of pregnancy. It is typical for most women to get a positive result on a pregnancy test around 5-6 weeks of pregnancy (but not everyone experiences that). Make sure you take care of yourself and the baby by seeing the doctor as recommended.
3. Start taking Prenatal Vitamins and check to see if you need to stop taking your current medications
Start taking prenatal vitamins right away (if you haven’t started taking them already). My doctor recommended the Target brand prenatal vitamins (they are gummies). Make sure you read the label so you are taking the right dosage. I don’t know what medication(s) you are taking, but make sure you ask you doctor (or the nurse) about your current medication list. Ask if it’s ok to continue or if you should discontinue your meds. You could always do a quick search online regarding how the medication(s) you are taking could impact your pregnancy .
4. Drink lots of water
This is very important for you and the baby. You and your baby both need to stay hydrated. Your body is delivering essential nutrients (like the vitamins from your prenatals) to your fetus. You need plenty of water to do that. It is recommended for pregnant women to drink eight to ten 8-oz glasses of water a day. Water can help prevent UTI’s, minimize headaches and help reduce fatigue levels.
6. Get plenty of sleep
Sleep………………. get it NOW before the little one comes. The first trimester is a time when you will want to sleep, and sleep and sleep. You might as well do what your body is telling you to do. If you are tired, lie down and take a nap. It’s ok, no one will judge you. During your lunch break, set a 20 minute timer and take a quick snooze. When you get home from work and you are exhausted, set another 20 minute timer and close your eyes. It’s ok. Your body and you baby need rest. If you can, elevate your feet. Just 20 minutes is all you need to get the benefits of napping, such as improved alertness, enhanced performance, and a better mood. For more information about napping click here.
7. Don’t stop exercising
If you are already in an exercise routine, I applaud you. That’s great. Don’t stop. It’s ok to continue with whatever you are doing. If you are running, keep at it. It’s safe, but I always recommend you consult your doctor to clarify if your workout is ok to do throughout your pregnancy. For right now, in your first trimester, you do not need to make a big change in your routine.
However, there are some things to AVOID as you start to show a little more in your first trimester. That would include twisting motions at your core, anything prone (flat on your belly) and any new exercises that you have not done before.
One exception would have to be prenatal yoga. I am a big fan of prenatal yoga. Go ahead and find a class near you. If you have never done yoga before, again, consult with your doctor before beginning. If you have never exercised before and you want to begin now, that’s great. Please consult your doctor before beginning a new routine.
8. Research information about morning sickness
You might be someone who is blessed with no symptoms at all during your first trimester. That would be wonderful. Enjoy it! But then there are some of you who have strong pregnancy symptoms their first trimester and maybe even in the second and third. Everyone is different and there is no way of knowing. Your symptoms are not always going to follow genetics.
If you ask your mom what her pregnancies were like, you might have completely opposite symptoms, which was the case for me. My mom had absolutely no symptoms during her pregnancies and I got sick with all 4 of my pregnancies, with my symptoms worsening with each pregnancy.
So plan ahead and do a bit of research before symptoms might begin. There are some really good remedies out there that are really helpful and are important to do to prevent morning sickness from occurring.
I’ll be honest, when I was pregnant for the first time, I really thought morning sickness was just part of the package. I had no idea there was anything I could do to help alleviate it. So I just dealt with it.
During my second pregnancy, I was worse, so I decided to talk to my doctor about it. Come to find out, they had an entire pack of information to help me with my morning sickness. Definitely take the action to find remedies to help you during this pretty miserable time. Message me about your symptoms and I can definitely give you some helpful ideas.
I have been through a lot of crazy “morning sicknesses” during my 4 pregnancies. I would get sick at night instead of the morning, I would get sick when I stood up and it went away when I lied down. I would get sick with a certain smell in our house, but would be great going out to the mall or restaurants. It was so different each time. So don’t overlook your symptoms as not being the “typical morning sickness”. Seek help to overcome it no matter what you are facing.
9. Go shopping for maternity clothes
It’s going to sneak up on you. Your favorite skinny jeans don’t fit all the way around your waist anymore. Bummer. So find your yoga pants and go shopping for maternity wear. Get a jump start on this so you have some clothes on hand. Find clothes that will fit you throughout the pregnancy. Get some staple items like maternity jeans, maternity leggings, maternity cami’s and T’s. A little helpful tip I like to use is taking an elastic hair band and tying it around your button of your jeans and looping it through the hole. This will give you maybe another month to wear them. Score!
10. Avoid certain foods and start eating “pregnancy” foods
Foods to Avoid: Unpasteurized dairy and juices, caffeine, raw seafood, raw and under cooked meat, deli meat and hot dogs (that are not cooked to steaming level), raw eggs (homemade ice cream, raw batter or cookie dough, mayonnaise, Caesar dressing and eggnog), high mercury fish (shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish, tuna steak and albacore tuna, grouper, farmed salmon, red snapper, wild striped bass, orange roughy, Atlantic halibut, and blue marlin), and raw sprouts.
Foods to Eat: lean meat, lentils, yogurt, wild salmon, avocados, oats, edamame, nuts, carrots, peppers and mangoes, sweet potatoes.
11. Have fun planning your announcement and when to announce
Hop on Pinterest and look around for some fun ways to announce your baby’s due date. Tell your friends and your family the big surprise in a creative and memorable way. You could even video the reactions of your loved ones finding out. But make sure you and your partner figure out the best time to announce your pregnancy together. Some people do it right away while others might wait until the 2nd trimester. It’s up to you. Take some time to think it through.
12. Take a before picture
If you plan on tracking your growth along the journey, go ahead and take a selfie or have someone take a side shot of your figure. Capture the moment when you are looking and feeling your normal self. It’s fun to look back and to see how much your body has changed over the 9 months of your pregnancy. It’s also a good picture to have so you can show your kids when they are grown what you used to look like before they were born!
13. Start to research baby products
There is no rush to do this, but if you are motivated enough, go ahead and start to look at some of the cool new baby products out there. There are so many products; it can be a bit overwhelming. Check out my baby registry guide (coming soon) to help organize your list and to see what you really need. Read product reviews and talk to your friends about what they like and what they never, ever ended up using.
14. Read the book “What to expect when you are expecting” by Heidi Murkoff
This book, “What To Expect When You Are Expecting“, is my favorite “go-to” book for all questions related to pregnancy. It is very detailed, thorough and gives you a step by step guide to all the stages in your pregnancy. Keep this book close by throughout your pregnancy and read it to help you understand what you and your baby are going through over the next 9 months. You can get the book by CLICKING HERE. Looking back over my experiences while I was pregnant, I would not have wanted to go through four pregnancies without this book.
15. Compile a list of questions for the doctor
Over the next few weeks, you might have some questions that come to mind. Write them down, put them in the same place and take the questions with you to the doctor’s appointment. You want to make sure you are prepared and have a clear understanding about everything that is taking place right now in your life. Your doctor is there to serve you and help you. Take advantage of every appointment you have with your doctor.
NOW RELAX AND ENJOY YOUR PREGNANCY!
I hope this list was helpful and puts your mind at ease until you go to the doctor’s in a few weeks. Relax and enjoy this time. Oh, and remember to have your husband rub your feet every so often after a long day. You deserve it. Just tell him a physical therapist recommended it to you because your feet are sore from the ligaments becoming more lax during pregnancy! Ha! Go with it.
If during your pregnancy you have any specific questions, I am always here to help! I would love to hear from you. Also, comments are always welcome below!
Keep Smiling,
Dr. Jena Bradley, DPT
*It is important to always consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program and get medical clearance. Perform exercises at your own risk.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
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Supine is face up, prone is face down
Yes, you are right Aimee! Thanks for the correction and catching the error! Fixed now.
I wish I would have had this list when I learned of my pregnancies!
This is amazing! Finding out your pregnant can be so nerve-wracking, and you’re not really sure what to do.
Thank you so much for sharing!
🖤
Emily, Hopefully other women finding out their pregnant can get their hands on this list and feel more prepared than we did.
Someone actually gave me that pregnancy book when I was pregnant. Had some really good info. I love tracking my pregnancy on an app. It made it exciting to see the growth of the baby. Nice list!
Angel, I can’t say more good things about this book. I think every pregnant woman should have one. Glad you had it.
Great suggestions. I did all of these things when I got pregnant. I just sucked it up when I had morning sickness, too.
Julie, morning sickness is so hard to deal with. Hopefully this helps others to be more prepared than I was.
I remember how nerve wracking my first pregnancy was! There was so much I wasnt sure about. This is a great list for new moms who need a little guidance in what to start preparing for!
Rachel, I agree. The first time finding out can bring on so many questions. Hope this helps many women who are blessed with a positive pregnancy test.
Amazing suggestions. will definitely try!!