In Search of Bliss

Today I officially enter my third trimester. My baby is as big as a head of cauliflower, weighing just over two pounds and 15 inches long.

I’ve been blessed with a very good pregnancy: no morning sickness, strange food aversions or cravings and no major complications or discomfort other than an aching back.

I’ve been off work throughout my pregnancy, which isn’t something I planned but it turns out to have been very beneficial for my health. Without the demands of a job I’ve had ample time to sleep, establish a healthy routine, and research everything there is to know about pregnancy and parenting. I believe that this has made a huge difference to how good I’ve felt.

Here are the things I’ve found to be most beneficial for having an enjoyable pregnancy. I’m not an expert or trained medical professional, but I’ve included links to the expert resources I’ve found most helpful.

Eat Healthy and Eat Often

I’m sure you’ve heard and read all about this so I won’t beat a dead horse. I will just say – eating healthy is super important!! Of course the primary reason is for the development of your baby, but I’ve found it’s also key to you feeling good. With my ample spare time I’ve been able to observe and track the days I ate very healthy versus when I didn’t and noticed that I have more pain and stomach upset and far lower energy on days that I don’t eat well. I know this can be hard to do when you are so tired and hungry, mac and cheese probably sounds way better than salad! It’s kind of like when you have a hangover (remember those?): you crave a greasy burger and fries but your body would actually be far more energized by a cleansing salad.

Here is an awesome infographic on pregnancy nutrition and an example meal plan.

The other key thing is to eat smaller meals more often. You’ve probably already read about this, and man I wish I had embraced this concept sooner. I bloated like crazy during my first trimester and had a lot of trouble adjusting to my shrinking stomach. I was always starving so I would attempt to eat a ‘normal’ sized meal, but I would eat way too fast and find half an hour later that I’d over-eaten. I would then experience horrible stomach pain for the next couple hours until my digestive system could finally catch up. Eating small amounts frequently also keeps a steady supply of nutrients to your baby and can (apparently) help with nausea. Although I’ve never been truly sick, I do find my stomach can get a bit upset if I ever let it get 100% empty, so I keep a stash of plain Triscuits handy everywhere I go. Pretzels are also great for this.

Sleep, Sleep….and Sleep Some More

The obvious benefit of sleep is to help you cope with the increased energy demands of being pregnant, but it seems there may be a secondary benefit: it may help you avoid feeling really sick.

As I mentioned previously, I’ve been lucky enough to not be working while pregnant so sleep has never been an issue for me. Through the first trimester I slept a solid 9 hours a night and, if I’m honest, often 10. I still sleep 9 hours most nights. But my working friends have told me they notice a considerable difference in how sick they feel when they get 8 hours of sleep a night versus when they don’t. This makes me think that it’s not just genetics that have spared me from pregnancy nausea (my mom carried three girls without ever being sick) but the benefit of unlimited sleep.

So it seems that if you’re well-rested you may have more energy and feel less nauseous; which means you’ll be able to eat more; which means you’ll have better fuel to help with the next step on my healthy pregnancy plan: regular exercise.

But how do you find the time to sleep 9-10 hours a night? Well, it might mean working less or cutting back on social engagements. The way I see it you will only ever be pregnant a handful of times in your life. A tiny blip in the grand scheme of your entire working career, or a couple parties that no one will ever remember you missing, least of all you. But nothing could be more meaningful or lasting than the life that you create during those months, so it’s a small price to pay to give your baby their healthiest start possible.

Keep Active

When I first became pregnant I thought of physical exercise as a weight management tool. I wanted to keep active to avoid gaining too much weight. Once I educated myself on pregnancy health I realized that it’s so much more than that. Regular exercise (30 minutes a day) is vital to your health and to the health of your baby. Women who exercise throughout pregnancy reduce their risk of pregnancy and delivery complications, have easier deliveries and recover faster, sleep better and feel better day-to-day. And if that isn’t enough motivation there are benefits for your baby too, read more here.

Exercise has been a staple of my pregnancy since the beginning and I’ve made adjustments along the way to ensure that it’s helping and not hurting. I’ve done yoga throughout and swapped running for spin class during my second trimester. It can be difficult to find good advice on pregnancy fitness, there are a lot of conflicting reports out there on what is safe and what isn’t. I’ve found yoga to be the most frustrating area. Everyone says that yoga is great for pregnancy but there is a big risk of hurting yourself: all the extra relaxin in your body means it’s very easy to stretch too far and pull a muscle, not to mention you need to be really careful with core muscle work while pregnant and there is a lot of this in yoga. I love the Fitnessista’s blog because she is a certified personal trainer and yoga instructor as well as a mother of two and she has tons of prenatal exercise advice. I love her post on prenatal yoga modifications and this one on core modifications during pregnancy. I’ve also signed up for her ‘Post Baby Bod’ 12 week plan and can’t wait to start it once my little guy is born!

Make Sensible Wardrobe Choices, But Don’t be Afraid to Splurge Strategically

Your changing body is going to require a new wardrobe and while some may relish the excuse to shop, most of us are worried about saving money for the very expensive bundle-of-joy that’s yet to arrive. The good news is you don’t have to spend a ton of money: friends will likely offer you hand-me-downs and there are exchanges online where you can get used maternity clothes. If it’s your first pregnancy you can probably get away with normal tops and dresses for quite a while (I didn’t wear a single maternity top until my 6th month) and you can use a cute belt to turn flowy tops and dresses into an empire-waist silhouette that shows off your baby belly.

But I do recommend that you buy some of the basics new so that you get things that fit you properly and suit your style. Lets face it – not everything you get from your friends will be totally ‘you’. I believe that looking good helps you feel good and some strategic money spent can buy you happiness at a time when you may not be feeling totally confident about your changing body. So don’t be afraid to splurge for those key wardrobe staples that you wear all the time. For me that was a great pair of blue jeans, a few pairs of tights, the perfect little black maternity dress and a couple really good bras. And if you’re frustrated by seeing all the new clothes in stores when you’re trying to resist the urge to buy things you won’t be able to wear after, why not get a new scarf or some jewelry? That way you can keep up with the trends without feeling like you’re wasting money.

The one thing I never bought that I should have was a belly band for those first months. I swelled so much over the course of the day through my first trimester, but was trying to put off buying new clothes for as long as possible. This resulted in all kinds of awkward situations where I was walking around in public with my pants undone under my shirt. The hassle was seriously not worth saving the $30 on the belly band!

Embrace Meditation

I was first introduced to meditation last May while on a yoga retreat in Bali and ever since I’ve been keen to work it into my daily routine. I finally got around to it now that I’m pregnant and I think it’s the best possible time to start a meditation practice.

As much as pregnancy is a wonderful time in your life, it’s also incredibly stressful. Once I started researching in earnest I found that with more knowledge comes more anxiety (what if I can’t breast feed? how much will labour really hurt? Oh god I really hope my baby is a good sleeper…) and fear of the huge life change that’s coming. Whenever I confess these feelings to my mom she says “just relax, stress is bad for the baby!”. Which of course makes me want to throw her out a window (lucky for her my back is too bad to lift anything).

But her intention is good. Meditation can help you sort through stressful thoughts in a healthy way and bring you back to a calm state. Because at the end of the day you can’t control what’s going to happen when you give birth or become a mother, but you can control how stressed you get about it now and therefore what kind of environment you’re providing for your growing babe.

For me pregnancy meditation started out with a simple morning exercise. During the early months the first thing I would do when I woke up was reach down and run my hand across my belly. I loved feeling the little bump that was slowly becoming more noticeable as I lay flat on my back. I would lay still for a few minutes with my hand on my stomach, surrounded by the warm, happy reality of what was growing inside me. It was such a great way to start my day and remind me that those daily physical discomforts were worth it.

Recently I’ve progressed to guided daily meditation with a meditation app. There are lots of free ones out there, I have one called ‘Insight Timer’ and so far I really like it. They have specific meditations for pregnancy but their other meditations are great too.

Whatever method you choose I encourage you to give meditation a try. Not only will it help you cope with the stress of pregnancy but it will give you coping tools for those other big challenges ahead: labour and caring for a newborn.

 

Do you have any other tips for a healthy pregnancy? Share them in the comments below!