So, you're pregnant...what now?

You are pregnant! It’s time for tears of joy, a major freak-out, or celebration, any or all of the above work. For me, the second I found out I was pregnant I got down to business. RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. I wanted to knock this, creating a human thing, out of the park. You can figure out the obvious ones…get on your prenatals, make a doctor appointment, etc. But here are a few helpful hints that I wish I had stumbled across early on.

Eat well.

Make a list of vitamin rich foods and all the vitamins and minerals you want to try to consume every day. TRY being the keyword, as it is almost impossible to cram in everything every day. Let’s be honest, some days we just need a hamburger. I typed up a list and taped it up on my pantry. At bedtime, I would scan the list and choke down a huge stalk of broccoli or glass of milk (side of brownie) if I was missing out on a major category that day.

Get fit and healthy.

I started a workout regime my first trimester and worked out until the day I delivered. In the beginning, it was a chore, but towards the end, it kept me sane and made me feel SO MUCH BETTER. Delivery is the greatest workout of your life, so prepare now. Imagine what would happen if you tried to run a marathon tomorrow without any training?

Find an awesome OB or midwife.

Or both, if you can’t decide. I really really wanted to have a natural delivery, so it was very important to find an OB who was supportive of that. I will share more about my failed natural delivery in a post later. We went with a practice group with both OBs and midwives. We ended up having an OB and midwife (and doula) at our delivery, which was amazing.

Get rid of toxic products.

I went a little overboard. Ok, very overboard, and got rid of every single toxic product in our house. We had already made the switch to natural cleaning products, beauty products, and foods, so that made it much easier. But we went as far as swapping out synthetic carpets, mattresses, and throwing out every.single.candle and piece of plastic in our house. I linked my favorite non-toxic products below. Download the Think Dirty app. It’s great for finding substitutes for toxic beauty products.

Download apps.

Again, went a little overboard here, but apps are KEY. I had pregnancy nutrition apps, fetal development apps, pregnancy workout apps, contraction apps, etc. etc. BUT the very best app I downloaded was for my husband. About halfway through our pregnancy, I realized Blake was very out of the loop on everything that was going on, pregnancy wise. So I downloaded a couple men’s apps for pregnancy on his phone. He got daily updates on what was going on but with a man filter. Read, less details, more humor. It is so important to make sure your significant other feels involved in your pregnancy.

Soak it all in.

I LOVED being pregnant. Every.single.moment of it. I wish I could be pregnant forever. Document every moment. I promise you will forget those little details. I started saving my favorite pictures and memories into a folder on my phone, and in the final weeks, when I was going crazy waiting for baby, I compiled them into a pregnancy book. We gave it to BB for Christmas, so someday she can read all about the 9 months she spent cookin.

Try not to stress.

There is so much to stress about while you are pregnant. But, you cannot really soak it all in if you are stressed the entire time. Actually, high stress levels can be really dangerous for the fetus. I was really stressed during the first trimester. I read way too many books about pregnancy and tried to control everything. Some advice, skip the pregnancy books. Pregnancy has a natural progression and just works itself out. It’s figuring out what to do when that baby comes out that is the trick. So drink some chamomile tea and try to relax. I promise, your mood swings and ginormous butt will go back to normal.

Love that body.

Which brings me to number 8. Love your pregnant body. You will miss your bump when it is gone. I could not get enough of my bump. I have never taken so many mirror selfies in my life. Everyone wants that perfect bump with no effects on the rest of your body. If that happens to be you, you won the lottery. For the rest of us, enjoy your curves! Everything goes back to normal…except old bellybutton ring holes.

Think of it as a due month.

Try to think of your due date as more of a due month. According to my doula, most babies come within two weeks of their due date. When I heard this, the only scenario I planned for was two weeks BEFORE my due date. Never did it occur to me that she might keep cooking two weeks past her due date. Sure enough, BB was VERY fashionably late and did not make her appearance until almost two weeks past my due date. Save yourself weeks of misery and make some plans post-due date in case you find youself sans bebé.

If you do go past due….

If your due date comes and goes, here is a tip, nothing is going to get that baby out faster. Babies come when they are ready. We did EVERYTHING I could find on the internet to try and coax her out. Spicy food, walks, red raspberry leaf tea, primrose oil, sex, pineapple, you name it. I bounced, rocked, swayed on that damn birthing ball day and night. I even had an accupressure appointment scheduled for the day I went into labor. AND, don’t let your OB bully you into scheduling an induction. Bottom line, relax and sleep while you still can.