9 Months 9 Tips
Pregnancy is a time of joy, excitement,and new beginnings. While it can be one of the most memorable times in your life, it can also offer new challenges. I don’t think anyone could have prepared me for some of the things I was going to experience during my pregnancies. Thankfully I have learned a thing or two over the past three babies and I have lots of tips to share with you. These are the nine tips I wish someone would have shared with me.
Tip #1 Morning Sickness
Let’s be honest, this is really all day sickness. For a good majority of women pregnancy is marked with some level of nausea known as morning sickness. While there is little that can be done to get rid of the nausea completely, there are a few useful remedies that really do help.
Ginger- In one double blind study ginger was shown to be effective in relieving nausea and vomiting (Vutyavanich, 2014). My favorite way to take ginger is to make tea. You can either buy a tea or get it fresh at the grocery store and make the tea yourself.
Peppermint Tea- If you are not a fan of ginger, peppermint tea has also been proven to be effective in helping to relieve nausea.
One prescription drug to be wary of is Zofran.This anti-nausea drug is prescribed off-label for morning sickness, and some studies show Zofran side effects include an increased risk for birth defects.”
Tip #2 Stress
I wish someone would have told me how stressful pregnancy was going to be. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being pregnant, but it does bring a whole new world of stress with it. During the course of all three of my pregnancies I have founds some great ways to help deal with stress.
Relaxing Bath- There is nothing more relaxing than a nice relaxing bath. You can even drop a few drops of lavender essential oil to add in deeper relaxation.
Chamomile Tea-Chamomile tea is useful in relieving stress and helping to promote sleep. I often make a cup of chamomile if I need to de-stress.
Deep Breathing- A few nice deep breaths always helps me to de-stress.
Tip # 3 Massage
People often laugh at me when I tell this story, but, when I was pregnant with my son I was having a lot of sciatic and back pain and got a prenatal massage. This massage changed my life. It felt so amazing I decided to go to massage school so I could offer other pregnant moms the same relief I experienced that day. I believe that every woman owes it to herself to get at least one prenatal massage while she is pregnant. This is a great way to destress, heal sore muscles, increase circulation, and connect with your baby.
Tip #4 Yoga
Prenatal yoga is a great way to keep your body moving and to stretch all those sore muscles in your body. If you don’t want to go take a class you can always pick up a video off amazon.
Tip #5 Swollen Feet
Every pregnant woman’s nightmare! I haven’t met a pregnant client yet who hasn’t suffered from swollen feet at least a little bit during their pregnancy. While you probably won’t be able to get rid of them completely, there are a few things you can do.
Cold Water Foot Soak- In a large basin or bowl, fill it with cold water and add some ice, and 1 drop of peppermint essential oil. Soak your feet for 5-10 minutes and then elevate them. The ice bath will help increase circulation in your feet and the peppermint will help soothe the sore muscle in your feet. If you want to increase the benefits even more you can enlist someone to gently massage your feet.
Tip #6 Pregnancy Tea
Pregnancy tea is packed full of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that will help prepare your body for labor. I drank this through my whole pregnancy and always make this for all of my pregnant clients.
Tip #7 Talk to Your Baby
Talking to your baby is a great way to start bonding with you unborn child. If you have younger kids at home, have them start talking to the baby too. This a great way to get the baby used to everyones voice and for each member of the family to bond with the baby. When I was pregnant with my second child, my older son used to talk to my belly everyday. When I had my daughter Lucia she immediately stopped crying when she was held by her brother. It was really a magical moment to witness.
Tip #8 Enjoy Being Pregnant
Don’t stress about your weight, stretch marks, or how big your ankles are getting. Enjoy being pregnant and feeling your baby grow and develop. Trust me you will miss all those little kicks when it is all over.
Tip #9 Laugh Daily
They say that laughter is the best medicine and this is true! In one pilot study done in cancer patients, they enlisted 31 participants to participate in 3 sessions of laughter therapy and the results showed that laughter is effective in reducing stress and depression (Kim, Kim, &Kim,2015). Laugh daily it’s good for your health and for the baby’s health.
I hope some of these tips help! Happy Pregnancy!
Stephanie
Holist Life Coach, and Massage Therapist
http://www.primalcotton.com
Reference
Vutyavanich, T. (2014). Ginger for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: Randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 577-582.
Kim, S., Kim, Y., & Kim, H. (2015). Laughter and Stress Relief in Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 1-6.
Disclaimer-
All information on this blog is for entertainment purposes only and should not be used to replace medical advice.
PrimalCotton 