5 Essential Facts To Help You Through Your Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a beautiful thing that a majority of women go through at least once in their lives. If you’ve never been pregnant before, you’re likely to hear both horror stories as well as tales about how pregnancy was the best time in someone’s life. There’s a lot of truth to that, too, as pregnancy tends to bring out some of the most painful and emotional moments, but those emotions can swing deeply into the positive side of things, too. If you’re pregnant for the first time or plan on becoming pregnant, here are some essential facts that will help you get through your pregnancy and end up being one of those women that talks about how amazing the process was.
5. Continue to Exercise
While pregnant, it’s going to be very tempting to relax as much as possible due to the aches and pains that it brings. However, it’s important to continue to exercise to make things much easier for yourself and your baby. Attempt to do low impact exercises that stretch you out, helping to avoid many of these aches. Exercise will also help make the mood swings far less severe and can prevent you from developing gestational diabetes due to the lack of excess weight gain. The biggest bonus, though, is a shorter labor time.
4. Develop a Birth Day Plan
While it could still be weeks or, more likely, months away, it’s important to have a plan in place for the big day when your baby is born. Pick out some particular clothes that you want to wear, a contingency plan for if things don’t go exactly as you wished and who you want at the hospital with you when giving birth. This will help take your mind off of some of the stress of pregnancy while also giving you a great day to look forward to, similar to a wedding.
3. Avoid the Vices
This should probably go without saying, but your baby’s health is going to be the highest of priorities, which means that you should give up smoking or drinking if you haven’t already. There are going to be strong temptations if you’re already a smoker or drinker since pregnancy tends to bring out the most stress in women. It’s important to stay strong for your baby, and it will help you too in both the short term and in the long run. Try to avoid caffeine, as well, and eat the right foods.
2. Sleep When You Want
When you’re pregnant, sleeping is going to be one of the hardest things to come by. That means whenever you have a chance, even if you’re not tired, it’s important to sleep. This is especially true in the first trimester. Your body is going to be fatigued like no other as you adjust to pregnancy. If you have free time during the day and feel like you could sleep, take advantage of it while you still can.
1. Forge Your Own Path
We could sit here all day and tell you what you should do during your pregnancy, and we’re not alone. There are going to be countless people giving you their real life experiences and letting you know what worked or didn’t work for them. With that said, it’s best to ignore the people who aren’t doctors in your life and do pregnancy the way that’s best for you. Sure, your mother in law might be judgemental, but she’ll get over it.