Moving Past the Old Clichés

“Sleep while the baby’s sleeping!”
“Remember, you’re eating for two!”
“Enjoy this now, they’ll be grown before you know it!”
If you’re pregnant or ever have been you’ve heard these a thousand times over. They are well intended, I’ll admit. But helpful? Not even kind of. Sometimes it can even set unrealistic expectations. People are so quick to tell you the obvious, but I want to share the practical advice that I wish I had through my pregnancy journey. Let’s start with the first trimester, shall we?

1. “Morning” Sickness

What a f*cking joke. Turns out, it can happen at anytime. You might be nauseous all day and never puke once. You might be like me and only puke at night. It can go away for months, and then come back! This is one that everyone likes to tell you their home remedies for. The amount of times I was told to “Just eat Saltines!” “Ginger ale!” like it was a magic cure. Oh thanks Karen! I’ve never heard that one before! Saltines and Ginger Ale actually made it worse because they were worsening the dehydration. Then one day I got to talking with the parent of one of my students. She told me about two things nobody else was talking about: “Preggo Pops” and lemon water. There are lots of hard candies that help with nausea. The secret behind the candies is that it produces saliva. The lemon water was a game changer. If I started feeling nauseous I’d pop lemon water out of the fridge and voila! Vomit averted! The bonus behind the lemon water is hydration. It is SO hard to stay hydrated during pregnancy, and this remedy promotes hydration!

2. Eat When You’re Hungry

“You’re eating for two!” they say. It’s actually more like 1 1/2. You don’t have to double your calorie intake. Just keep in mind that it is very common if/when your morning sickness goes away that your body will try to make up for lost time. You mostly just want to incorporate more snacks and avoid binge eating. The definition of “binge eating” actually refers to continuing to eat after you’re full. Your body knows what it needs, indulge your cravings and eat till your full. Anyone who says “eat this not that” to a pregnant woman with a craving makes my blood boil. I promise you, I tried the substitutes. I was never satisfied. You’re doing a lot, you deserve a treat. If you’re hungry, eat. Even if you feel like you just had a huge meal. I recommend packing plenty of healthy snacks for day to day nutrients, but when you have a craving, go get it girl. You earned it.

3. Nothing is Normal, and That’s Normal

Pregnancy has so many weird side effects that I could never find and list them all here. Pretty much anything that goes wrong with your body during pregnancy, even seemingly unrelated things, are probably pregnancy related. When you run into a symptom, do everything you can to avoid Dr. Google. Do yourself a favor: every time you’re tempted to Google something email your doctor instead. If you absolutely cannot wait because your anxiety has you losing your mind, call an advice nurse and try to sound calm. Even if you have to fake it. Your anxiety will either scare them into sending you to the emergency room unnecessarily, or they won’t take you seriously and write you off as an over-anxious rookie.

Also, the advice nurses have a weird habit of sending you to an OBGYN for things that make absolutely no sense. I was on my way to an appointment for a nasty cough when they called and told me they couldn’t treat me. Apparently when you’re pregnant the advice nurses just send you to the OB without even thinking twice about what you’re actually calling about. Double check if it’s not a pregnancy related issue that you’re scheduled with the right type of doctor.

4. Stay as Active as Your Body Allows

I’m not a fitness person. I don’t particularly expect or care enough to go back to my pre-baby body. My job however, chasing after 12 three year olds all day, lifting them, and playing on the playground requires a pretty high level of activity. I went on lots of walks outside of work. I went to the pumpkin patch and did a corn maze two weeks out from my due date (probably not my smartest move but I’ll be honest.. no regrets. It was a great day). What I’m trying to say is I had a reasonably active pregnancy within the limits of my body and what I enjoyed doing. Be as active as you are comfortable with, and your body will thank you post partum. Recovery is rough no matter what, there’s no magic solution to make it go faster. But I did notice a massive difference in how fast I was able to get back to normal and I attribute it to my active pregnancy.

5. Navigating the Nesting Instinct

Washing and sorting Stella’s clothes was my favorite nesting activity. Now that she’s here I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Baby sizes are a LIE! I have a 9 month onsie that’s the same size as a 3-6 month in her dresser right now. Some of the 3-6 month ones are bigger than the 6-9 month ones. I meticulously sorted and folded them by the label only to have to undo it all to see what actually fits her. Speaking of folding, learn from my mistake and keep the folding simple. I tried the fancy Pintrest folds only to have to undo them during this process and have no idea which onsie was which when I went looking for my favorites.

Spread out your nesting goals and delegate as many tasks to your partner as you can. Make a to-do list for them if it helps. The end of the second trimester/beginning of the third is probably the last chance you’ll get to do a solid deep clean until… well jury’s still out on that one. Probably till your last born graduates.

6. Packing the Go Bag

We’ll get into more details post partum and a minimalist go bag in future posts, but my go bag advice for now is to keep it simple for yourself. Pack a phone charger, toiletries, and one going home outfit. The biggest thing I wish I had done is pack your own post partum care supplies. I read that the hospital had everything I needed, but I didn’t account for those things not being what I wanted. The peri bottle got gross fast and the mesh underwear sagged under the weight of the enormous itchy pad and ice pack. You’re going to bleed more than any period you’ve ever had, just go with the diaper. It’s more comfortable and more efficient than a million layers weighing down on a thin transparent fabric. Hospitals buy in bulk, they’re going for cheap not comfortable. You’re going to need comfortable. I recommend bringing a big pack of adult diapers and your own peri bottle. Witch hazel pads and ice packs are pretty much the same all over, but having diapers over the mesh underwear is a game changer.

The Takeaways

1. Morning sickness can hit you at anytime during the day. It comes and goes as it pleases. Lemon water prevents vomiting when nausea sets in and is hydrating.
2. If you’re legitimately hungry, it’s not binge eating. Even if you feel like you just ate, listen to your body. Cravings are your body’s way of meeting the babies needs, treat yourself!
3. Pretty much everything that goes wrong with your body is probably pregnancy related and most likely not harmful to baby. Advice nurses > Google. Stay calm on the phone and make sure your appointment is with the right kind of doctor.
4. Stay as active as you possibly can without overdoing it.
5. Baby sizes are a lie, just line them up smallest to biggest and see what happens. Skip the fancy folding. Delegate and do your cleaning early.
6. Pack your own post partum supplies, specifically lots of adult diapers and a peri bottle.

What is your pregnancy advice? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!