1. Morning sickness

The majority of mamas-to-be (about 80 to 90 percent) will experience nausea at some point in their first trimester due to increased hormone levels. You might think you’re just queasy, but you never know when “morning sickness” is suddenly going to turn into throwing up on the subway or tossing your cookies in the frozen foods section. (Certain smells, food, etc., are bound to turn your stomach when you’re expecting.) To keep the vomiting to a minimum, try sucking on hard candy (ginger-flavoured preferably), ice chips or a lemon (lemonade can work wonders too — both have an antinausea effect on the body). If that doesn’t help, try taking your prenatal vitamins at night on a full stomach instead of first thing in the morning. Wearing an acupuncture wristband (people who suffer from seasickness wear the Sea Band to avoid nausea on cruise ships, for example) can also help.

2. Unruly gas

You might find yourself the centre of attention when you accidentally let out a big belch in a meeting at work, or turn a deep shade of crimson after passing gas in a crowded elevator. Unfortunately, gas is another one of those things that can be blamed on high levels of progesterone in the body. Progesterone relaxes the muscles in your gastrointestinal tract and slows down digestion, allowing gas to build up. Avoid embarrassing situations by paying attention to your diet and the frequency of your meals (small meals several times each day can help). Try to cut out culprits such as carbonated drinks, beans, cabbage and broccoli too.

3. Unruly hormones

Be warned —pregnancy hormones can be and often are worse than your monthly PMS moodiness. And not only do hormones make us feel more annoyed, aggravated and angry than usual, they can take us from happy to completely upset in a matter of seconds. (This is the embarrassing part!) Not only do progesterone and estrogen toy with our emotions, hormones are to blame for our strange food cravings. Prepare yourself for mood swings in first trimester and toward the end of the pregnancy (though many women experience emotional ups and downs for the entire nine months).