I love using the analogy of the four seasons to describe the four phases of the menstrual cycle.

It’s a fun way to connect with your body and understand the constant changes that are happening with your energy and emotional capacity. It’s also a built-in guide to creating a sustainable self care or even work routine that supports our overall wellbeing.

But how can we connect with our cyclic nature during times we aren’t bleeding or if we don’t have a cycle?

If you’re on hormonal birth control, I always recommend following the phases of the moon instead.

Pregnancy and postpartum are unique because they’re temporary but extremely intense times of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual change and expansion that can feel extremely turbulent because of how fast it all hits us.

How can we make sense of all the crazy hormone shifts in this extremely powerful time in our lives? If you’ve been practicing cycle awareness, losing your cycle can be disorienting.

But we can still apply the seasonal framework, placing it over months instead of weeks.

I like doing this because it’s a reminder that our bodies are doing hard work beneath the surface, and that it’s ok to feel however you feel and cut yourself some slack when necessary!

Here’s how I personally experience the energy seasons of pregnancy. Maybe this will resonate with you too!

The 4 Inner Seasons of Pregnancy

First trimester: Winter

First trimester is the epitome of winter to me. All I want to do is go curl up in a cave and hibernate until the nausea subsides and my energy returns. Even though no one else can tell you’re pregnant yet, this is the time where your body is working the hardest to create an embryo and placenta (aka an ENTIRE NEW ORGAN) literally from scratch.

If you’re in your first trimester you probably haven’t shared the news with the world yet so it can feel very isolating and lonely. It’s ok to feel like crap. You can still be grateful for this miracle inside of you while you’re miserable. There’s a tiny adorable parasite in your uterus sucking up all your life force.

My husband and I nicknamed my first trimester alter ego “Blah-na” because regular Anna was completely MIA.

Don’t try to push through, just listen to your body and future out what helps you survive each day, and remember this too shall pass. Ask for help and let your partner pick up as much household slack as possible or take on more childcare of older siblings. You are doing a great job!

Second trimester: Spring

Just like with a menstrual cycle, the transitions from season to season aren’t clearly defined even though it would be nice to divide them into weeks like the trimesters.

But in general, sometime in the second tri is when I feel my life coming back to me.

The first trimester with my second baby felt a lot harder and longer. I dug out my journals from when I was pregnant with Thomas to calculate the exact timing of when I started to feel better with him. The fog and nausea lifted literally overnight around 14 weeks so that was my lifeline this second time around!

But sure enough, every pregnancy is different, and 14 weeks came and passed with no relief. In fact, I didn’t actually throw up until I hit the second tri, thinking what cruel joke is this?? It didn’t help having a 3 year old bringing me endless head colds from daycare.

My transition out of the winter phase in this second pregnancy happened as slowly and gradually as a Midwestern spring.

But it did happen!

Ironically, spring hit me in January, where we experienced record cloudiness here in west Michigan. While everyone else was in the depths of their seasonal depression, I was lit with a creative fire inside and felt like a productivity dam had broken inside my body and brain.

You can see this shift in how I started suddenly blogging and posting about my goals and plans for the year, ha.

The second trimester is considered the golden age of pregnancy because your energy bounces back but your bump is still small enough to not cause much physical inconvenience yet.

For me, January felt like an early spring phase. I was full of optimism, possibility, and the uncontrollable urge to get organized, braindump the hurricane of ideas and plans, and schedule out my goals and business plans for the entire rest of the year.

I loved that the rest of the world was hibernating so I could buckle down and get to work behind the scenes.

Which was extremely satisfying and a convenient way to start the year!

Spring is a time of taking action and putting plans into motion, but remember your work is still in an early budding phase so pace yourself and don’t launch things too soon.

If you’re in the second trimester, maybe it still doesn’t feel real yet. Your body is animorph-ing into a whale or cow, your belly is growing, you have new aches and pains and you might have more energy but it’s ok if you still feel like crap. It’s ok if you love being pregnant. It’s ok if you hate it. It’s ok if your opinion swings multiple times a day. Wherever you’re at, it’s ok!

Third trimester: Summer

I’m currently 26 weeks pregnant and feeling my body flow into late spring towards summer. Mentally, I still have lots of creative energy but physically I’m slowing down.

If I don’t take a nap or rest in the afternoon, I hit a wall of exhaustion around 7-8pm (which is highly inconvenient since the 3 year old has decided 9:30-10pm is a good bedtime).

I’m getting lower back pain, round ligament pain, and my internal organs are getting noticeably squished by the growing baby who does jiu jitsu at 10pm (can’t wait until I can just put him in a room with his brother and shut the door so they can party together).

Fittingly, the feminine archetype of the inner Summer phase is the Mother or Goddess.

It’s a season of creative fertility, nurturing yourself and your loved ones, shining your light and being seen.

You can’t hide your pregnancy from the world any longer.

I think of summer as lying in a field or sitting on a patio with friends, soaking up the summer, eating and drinking delicious things, and delighting in the pleasure of BE-ing.

It’s not about productivity any longer. It’s about letting the seeds you planted in spring bloom and flourish.

Or in pregnancy, letting your baby pack on their baby fat as your body slows down and your attention starts to focus on preparing for their arrival.

You’ll know you’re starting to transition from summer to autumn when the nesting urge hits. This might look or feel different to you, but for me with Thomas I went into survivalist prepper mode and had to stock the freezer with meals and deep clean the entire house (actual thought: THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO DUST UNDER THE FRIDGE!).

During my menstrual cycle I usually go through a purge and declutter phase before I get my period but during pregnancy it was a whole new level.

And then it’s pretty obvious when your baby is born, and your hormones nosedive off the most insane biological cliff, triggering what society calls the “baby blues” or postpartum mood disorders.

Fourth trimester/postpartum: Autumn

All you really need to know about the fourth trimester or postpartum Autumn phase:

IT’S NOT YOU. IT’S YOUR HORMONES + SLEEP DEPRIVATION.

I highly recommend setting up a postpartum support network during your pregnancy because it feels next to impossible to find a therapist or triage your mental and emotional needs while you’re literally in survival mode, trying to keep yourself and a tiny infant alive one day at a time.

Autumn is usually associated with the pre-menstrual phase, and it’s very much hormone dependent. For me, I feel like my brain and body are possessed by a cold thunderstorm of swirling leaves juxtaposed by random glorious sunny warm days. Sometimes multiple times all in one day.

In the first weeks postpartum you’ll experience the highest highs of your life and the lowest of lows.

The deepest love and joy, and the most intense anxiety and fears.

I’m interested to see how the second time goes for me, now I have perspective that this crazy phase doesn’t last forever and more confidence in my abilities to receive support and keep a tiny human alive.

Based on your birth experience, you’ll have to give your body time to heal and recover and grab sleep whenever you can. If you’re breastfeeding, that’s a whole other project in itself as you’re establishing your supply, baby is learning how to latch and eat, and you’re physically dependent on each other 24/7.

This is the crucible of the life transition from maiden to mother, whether it’s your first or sixth time.

If we approach this phase with the reverence it deserves, maybe we’ll make things less hard on ourselves and diminish the natural “mom guilt” that comes when you’re constantly second guessing your decisions and figuring out on the fly what works best for you, your baby, and your family.

You will be rebuilt from the ashes with more strength, wisdom, resilience, and love than you ever thought possible.