PREGNANCY

"I don't want to be a complainer, but I didn't know it would feel like this to be pregnant!" says expectant mother Debbie McLean. Not everyone experiences the nausea and leg cramps that have plagued Debbie; in fact, many women feel great during pregnancy. But your body must make a huge adjustment to accommodate the baby growing inside, so a few aches and irritations are inevitable.

When people talk about pregnancy, they often divide it into three stages, called "trimesters." Each three-month-long trimester has its own typical discomforts:

The First Trimester: Tell-Tale Signs
Long before your pregnancy is apparent to the outside world, your body may already be sending you some clear signals that something has changed.

Morning Sickness: So-called 'morning' sickness most often begins two to four weeks after the first missed period and lasts until you are about three months pregnant. But while it is quite common to feel nauseated before breakfast, that queasy feeling can easily recur throughout the day. Severe cases are very unpleasant: "I felt like I had the flu - except that it lasted for weeks," remembers Debbie.

One of the best remedies is to eat small, frequent meals and snacks. Allowing yourself to become very hungry, or very full, will often make things worse. Many expectant mothers keep boxes of crackers or other bland snacks beside their beds so they can eat before getting up. You may find that easy-to-digest foods such as mashed potatoes, toast, rice and fruit go down best during queasy times. Don't forget that juices can also help settle your stomach when food just doesn't appeal to you.

Originally published in Today's Parent, Pregnancy & Birth Spring 1999