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The Importance of Pregnancy Support Groups

If you’re pregnant and feeling uncertain, or even if you feel great about pregnancy/childbirth, I still have an important recommendation: try to find a support group.  Not necessarily one called “pregnancy support group,” but try to find a group of other veteran, new, or expecting moms to spend time with. The support that’s offered just from spending time with others in the same boat, or who have been through it recently, is invaluable.  A lot of the weird things about pregnancy can be less alarming if you have others to talk about them with, who can say: “oh yes, that … Continue reading →

More Fun Pregnancy Symptoms: Leg Cramps

In the middle of the night a few weeks ago I woke up with a terrible pain in my leg.  I cried out about it, and immediately began trying to rub and move my leg.  My more-than-half-asleep husband drowsily watched me do this.  He watched me try to bend my leg, to rub it, to put weight and hobble around the room on it.  When I made it to the bathroom he followed me, and asked me if I thought I was just having Braxton-Hicks.  In my leg.  Now we know that if I go into labor in the middle … Continue reading →

Exercise During Pregnancy

Everyone knows that exercise during pregnancy is a good thing, if your prenatal care provider feels that you are healthy enough to exercise. Of course, when you are pregnant, exercising may not be something that you feel like doing much of the time especially if you feel nauseous or tired. I have been pregnant twice, and the first time around I did not exercise very much. The second time, I exercised regularly from the time that I discovered that I was pregnant until a week before my son was born, when my midwives decided that it was not safe for … Continue reading →

What is Preeclampsia?

With pregnancy, it is important to remember that things may not turn out the way that you had intended. I learned this during my first pregnancy, and I experienced it again during my most recent pregnancy. When I was pregnant with my first son, I developed preeclampsia towards the end of the pregnancy. I began to show signs of it before I was to term, but fortunately the symptoms did not present fully until about ten days before my due date. Preeclampsia is a medical condition where a pregnant woman’s blood pressure rises suddenly and other symptoms including protein in … Continue reading →

How to Prepare Your Body for Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a wonderful time of life with a lot of unexpected moments here and there. If you can do a little preparation before you get pregnant, you can help things go smoothly for yourself, your baby and your household. Here are some ways that you can prepare for pregnancy even before you get pregnant. Most likely, you won’t realize that you are pregnant for the first three or four weeks of your pregnancy. Meanwhile, anything you ingest could affect your baby, such as prescription drugs or alcohol. A good rule of thumb is to act as though you are … Continue reading →

Exercise in the First Trimester

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Exercise is hard regardless if you are pregnant or not. It just is. It takes commitment, will-power, and education. For pregnant women exercise is absolutely imperative. Exercise along with diet can almost guarantee a pregnancy free of major complications, manageable labor, and natural delivery. Pregnant women are strongly encouraged to engage in some form of exercise daily during pregnancy. As to the intensity and type of exercise: this depends entirely on the individual pregnant woman. If she is active and has been exercising regularly before pregnancy, she can continue her regular exercise routine until it becomes uncomfortable at which point … Continue reading →

Pregnancy Awareness Month (Part II)

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With the support of “Healthy Child Healthy Word.” P.A.M. are getting the word out about healthy pregnancy. Today’s blog will focus on what P.A.M. has found to be the Five Things Pregnant Woman Complain About. Number One: Excess Weight Gain Pregnancy plays quite the number on the pregnant woman’s body. During pregnancy a woman’s body goes into storage mode. So that pint of ice cream you could eat pre-pregnancy and burn off with a good cardio, isn’t going to happen during pregnancy. The recommended weight gain for a pregnant women with a healthy BMI is 25-35 pounds. There are many … Continue reading →

Pregnancy Awareness Month (Part I)

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May is pregnancy awareness month! In honor of the 4 million + babies born in the United States each year, P.A.M (Pregnancy Awareness Month) and O.N.E Coconut Water have teamed up to provide pregnant women with helpful tips for a healthy pregnancy. According to P.A.M., there are five things pregnant women want. Number One: Easy Uncomplicated Labor Easier said than done in some cases. I too desire and easy and uncomplicated labor. With my first pregnancy, I wouldn’t say labor was easy. Labor is hard and largely painful work. There are certainly factors that can make labor more difficult. For … Continue reading →

Working Out During Pregnancy

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With my first pregnancy, I was just in survival mode. I was working full-time, and just trying to make it through the day each day. I would collapse on the couch exhausted, and just wanted to go to bed at 7pm at night. I did not even think about working out, or exercising during that pregnancy. I was too overwhelmed with just feeling sick, or huge, or not comfortable. I survived that pregnancy just fine, and went on to have a healthy, happy baby. With my second pregnancy, I decided I would work out more. I went to the gym … Continue reading →

My Favorite Pregnancy Book

Maybe it is not anymore, but when I was pregnant, it seemed like “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” was the most popular pregnancy book out there. I wasn’t a big fan though. There were lots of questions in that book that they answered that did not apply to me. Although, there was a lot of helpful information, the format of the book did not work for me. I wanted a little more detail about how my baby was growing, along with answers to every pregnant mom’s questions. So, with my second I went looking for another book, and found … Continue reading →