If you are 8 weeks pregnant, you are probably wondering what symptoms and body changes you might be experiencing and how to manage these as well. You might also be thinking about a growing to do list and we will tackle that in this blog as well. 

As we talk about symptoms and body changes, the most important thing to know is that there's a wide range of symptoms that you can experience. You might experience all of the possible pregnancy symptoms on my list, or none of the symptoms, or somewhere in between, and that's totally okay.

The most important thing to remember is if you ever have any concerns about any symptom or change with your body, don't hesitate to reach out to your care provider. That could be your general practitioner, your OBGYN, or your Midwife.

This week’s symptom checklist is very similar to week seven , and quite extensive. Common symptoms include: 

I've mentioned fatigueas a symptom probably from the very beginning of pregnancy but let's just discuss how this might look. Before I was pregnant, I had no idea how tired you can get from growing a human. I had a pregnant coworker tell me that she got tired on the way from the couch to the refrigerator and back. I thought for sure she must be exaggerating, until I experienced this fatigue myself in my first pregnancy. This is so real, so if you are able to go to bed earlier or squeeze in a nap, please do it. It can be tough.

The changes you might notice in your body in the eight week of pregnancy are very similar to the seventh week, and some more.

• Notice that your nipples and areola are becoming darker now. This is not permanent but it often lasts through the end of breastfeeding. 

What's happening with the baby's development this week?

If your mind is racing about things that you need to think about and do, then you're in the right place. Each week we're going to tackle items you might want to put on the list, and here’s what made it to our week eight:

I've seen so many benefits of building a positive mindset that can have on pregnancy and birth. This is something that can be done daily and quite easily. I recommend writing positive affirmations in a journal on a daily basis. I also love listening to affirmations while I do other common tasks, so I put together a 4-minute short affirmation video for the first trimester .

If you haven't shared your news with your family, friends, and the world yet, you might want to start thinking about a plan now.

Be kind and gentle to yourself and do something that you would consider to be self-care. Growing a human is a lot of work, and it's hard on your body and it can be particularly tricky at this stage. You've got this!

I am thrilled to announce our first trimester sponsor, Three Lollies. If you aren't familiar with The Three Lollies brand, you might recognize their most popular product Preggy Pop Drops . The first trimester is a great time to have these on hand. I remember when I was pregnant for the first time and I didn't know when that nausea was going to hit, Preggy Pop Drops are a natural solution to this challenge.

The Preggy Pop Drops come in four yummy flavors, they're all natural and drug-free. There's sour raspberry, green apple, sour lemon, and sour tangerine.

I love that you can grab a package of 21 for just $5 on Amazon. Now this is an affordable way to be prepared for the symptoms that you might face in the first trimester. With 21 pieces that means you can have these close by when you feel that wave of nausea hit. I would probably put seven of them in my purse, seven in the car, and seven at my desk. So thank you Three Lollies for helping us in the first trimester and thank you for supporting childbirth education.

If you are following along in our healthy pregnancy book , homework for this week is to check out page number 13 . This has some really good information about lowering stress during pregnancy which goes really nicely with building that positive mindset.