Yep that’s right… I went and got myself pregnant. I’m a little nervous and just kind of looking for advice from anyone who feels they may like to give some. Just about the pregnancy right now though. I’m about 2 months along. Anything I should expect? Any advice about morning sickness? (or anytime sickness as I get it… ugh)
Unfortunately I can’t check back too often but anything would be appreciated.
Oh and yes I am working on getting my hands on a copy of What to expect when you’re expecting. Before everyone starts recommending the book
Enjoy your time alone while you can, because soon, you’ll pray for silence and less responsibility. Oh sure, kids are great, watching them grow and learn is simply splendid, but so is sleeping late and playing video games all day.
I’d say watch what you eat and get as much sleep as you can. Exercise and try not to gain too much weight, although you may not be able to avoid some extra, of course. Not alot of advice to give other tahn be as close as you can to your partner and try a lamaze class in the later months. Don’t do the all day class, break it up in two hour intervals for a few weeks, it’s much more interesting like that.
Watch those cheesy tlc or whatever cable channel that is that shows births to get an idea on how bad it's going to hurt(ha). Don't forget the anne geddes calendars and the like, its so sweet...
I wish you well and hope it works out well for you. My daughter is almost 7 years old and my son is nine months(a huge gap eh) so I'm doing it all over again. It wasn't routine this time, maybe after 5 kids it may be, but we'll never know, two is enough. Be safe and enjoy your changing body during these months...
might I also suggest taking profile pics for your album of your belly. You’ll come to enjoy them later in life. Try a few tasteful nudes as well. My sister in law made a mold of her breasts and belly, it looked rather neat. Just a few ides…
First off, ignore about 75% of What to Expect tells you about what you should eat. They make it sound like eating a candy bar will lower your kid’s IQ and it will be ALL YOUR FAULT! I thought they were really unreasonable in that arena. Eat what you want but do exercise if you can.
For morning sickness: try peppermint. Helps some women. I’ve also seen some women swear by Sea Bands, those little accupressure thingies that you can buy that go on your wrist that people wear for sea/motion sickness.
If you throw up more than 3 times in one day, call your doctor and do NOT let them blow you off. I threw up 9 times one day and the doctor blew me off, a week later, after having kept almost NOTHING down the whole week, I ended up with an IV for 10 hours to rehydrate me. I’m not saying that if you throw up more than 3 times that this will automatically happen to you, but if you’re throwing up that much your doctor needs to know and you need to be watched.
Another thing I wish someone had told me: unless you are absolutely hell bent on breastfeeding and are 100% positive that you will not change your mind, do not leave the hospital without a prescription for a narcotic painkiller in your hand. Get it filled even though you are pretty sure you won’t need it. You never know when you’re gonna be in pain and I don’t care what the OB says, Motrin doesn’t cut it for episiotomies.
Take lamaze, take lamaze, take lamaze! I wish I had, not because I believe that breathing helps the pain, but because I wish I had gone into the delivery room armed to the teeth with coping mechanisms. I thought the epidural would take care of everything and I wouldn’t feel much pain: HAH!
Walk, too. Try to walk every day. I sat on my ass for the whole 9 months and had a really long labor. I can’t say for sure that lack of exercise made it last so long, but I know it couldn’t have helped.
Take lots of pics of the tummy because you’ll want them for later. I wish I’d kept a pregnancy journal so you might wanna think about that.
When’s your due date? Heard the kid’s heartbeat yet? We need details!
My wife is due with our 6th child in July.
Eat sensably, but don’t deprive yourself of what you may be craving.
Peanut butter my help minimize heartburn, it’s also as you probably know an excellent source of protein
Ask your doctor about taking vitamins in addition to your prenatals, specificly, B-100, Calcium and C. Together, they may help with mood swings.
Speaking of mood swings, have your SO read this:
Shewill say things she doesn’t mean. Don’t agrue with her or agree with her, just lover her and provide her with everything she needs. Always have ice cream in the house.
For starters, the What to Expect series, while great books, are not carved-in-stone, okay? They’re guidelines, with excellent advice, but every person is different, every pregnancy is different. But–if the book says you should call your OB, you should.
Don’t be afraid to ask your OB anything. I mean that. ANYTHING. You might think something weird/gross/bizarre/unheard of in the history of pregnancy is occurring, but your OB has most likely heard and seen it all, will not be surprised, and can allay any of your fears or concerns.
It’s okay to eat not-terribly-healthy stuff SOMEtimes. Don’t binge, don’t eat whatever you want whenever you want. But–you wake up at 4 am craving a bowl of ice cream once a month? Unless your doctor says don’t do it, don’t worry about it. Just eat it and go back to bed. You’ll feel better.
I highly recommend reading The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy, by Vicki Iovine. Funny and light, with some good advice. She’s not a doctor–just a woman who’s been through pregnancy four times.
Keep us posted.
Much love and luck,
Persephone
(who’s done the pregnancy thing entirely too many times…;-))
I dunno about this. I tend to think that cravings are a sign that we need something in whatever we’re craving.
Don’t eat dirt or anything nutty, though.
I ate whatever I wanted with reckless abandon the entire time and only gained 20 pounds. And before you think that I’m some skinny girl who can do that all the time anyway, lemme assure you that I was REALLY overweight at the time. Popped out a super healthy kid, too.
As long as your weight is fine, OB, I don’t see the harm in eating whatcha want.
Start looking for a good pediatrician. Ask your friends that have kids for recommendations.
You may have morning sickness, or you may not. I did not, thank god. However, after you wake, lie still for a few moments before you actually get up. I have heard that it helps.
If you have a stack of books waiting to be read, get cracking. You won’t have much time to read for the next few years.
Start thinking about child proofing your house. You don’t have to do anything yet, but start thinking about it. You have about 19 months to ponder it.
Make sure you know how to assemble/set up/unfold/unclasp all those neat little gizmos you normally get at baby showers. The time to figure it out is not when you are tired and babykins is screaming his/her head off.
Your belly button will poke out, big time! Do not be alarmed. It will go back to normal.
Find a store with a good variety of maternity bras. Ask you friends for hand me down maternity clothes and keep telling yourself "this, too, will pass.
Do not fall prey to the raging hormones and cut off all your hair! I did this with my third child. I was about 7 months preggers, got this sudden urge, and the next thing I knew, my waist length hair was chopped off up to my ears.
Oh, goody, a pregnant woman who’s not tired of advice yet! You’ve gotten some good pointers already, but I just have to throw in my two cents, just because you asked.
Let’s see…try out the car seat in every car you’ll need to use it in. Don’t discover (as I did) that it won’t fit behind the passenger seat in the rear-facing infant position when you’re loading up the toddler and the new baby at the hospital. Even if your health insurance company gives out carseats after a baby is born, be sure you have one that works in your specific car beforehand.
Morning sickness usually dies down after the first trimester. It’s good to keep some crackers by your bed so that you can eat one right when you wake up - that sometimes keeps the nausea under control a little bit. Coke syrup, as strange as that sounds, can also help, at least a little.
When a woman who’s giving you advice starts telling you about Horrible Complications of Pregnancy and Childbirth, tune her out completely. Stick your fingers in your ears and start singing “La la la” at the top of your lungs if you have to. Nothing bad is going to happen to you or to your baby, and hearing horror stories about other disasters would not be helpful in any case.
There are thousands of women out there who’ve had babies, and a vast majority of us seem to think we know what’s best for anyone who hasn’t had one yet. It’s easier to humor us than to argue. When someone tells you to have your cat put to sleep or to stop having sex by the fourth month or to quit your job (if you don’t want to) or to do anything else you don’t feel you need to or want to do, just smile and nod and go on to do whatever the hell you want to do.
Oh, and it really is possible to gain 60 pounds just by eating a few M&Ms every day during pregnancy. That’s my story, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.
You will get stretch marks if you do not put lotion on every inch of your body every day. When you go to the hospital after the delivery (if it’s a vaginal birth) you will bleed a lot. Do not take your Victoria’s Secret gown. Someone else said it already but I will reiterate…even if you think your tummy is huge and ugly “oh my god no pictures please!!!” take them anyway. You will treasure them later. My biggest mistake…thinking I could eat anything just because I was pregnant. Watch what you eat, the more you gain the harder it is to lose and it makes for a pretty bad backache. During your pregnancy you will have backaches anyway…exercise, walk, sleep on your back and do back strengthening exercises. The best advice I can offer other than all of this…please do not walk around wearing one of those awful shirts that show your belly while your pants are hugging your thighs like Rachel loved to wear in friends. I don’t care what anyone says…it’s just tacky. Cong on your news and best of luck!
Drink lots of water, every single day. I know it’s hard when you’re battling morning sickness, but it’s important.
Prenatal yoga helps a lot, with general well-being and recovery after delivery—it’s never too early to start thinking about that.
If you do get “What to Expect…”, try not to read too far ahead of the stage you’re in now. It might only overwhelm you and worry you to read what "could’ happen in month 8 while you are still in month 3. I second the suggestion re: “The Girlfriend’s Guide.” It’s a nice balance to the medical jargon and general worrisome tone of WTEWYE.
Body pillow. Buy it early. Use it. Love it.
Consider a good on-line support. I used epregnancy, which is free and you can join a group due in the same month as you. I’m still with the same ladies, now that we have graduated to the parenting support. There are others as well, so look around and see what you like.
Oh, and I’m going to mention the water one more time…drink up!
Oh, also—call your OB or midwife whenever you need to. In the first 2 trimesters, most caregivers schedule monthly appointments, and that’s a long time to wait if you have questions, even if you suspect that they are “unimportant”. There ususally is no question that’s “silly” when you’re growing another human, so ask away. That’s what your caregivers are there for!
Your belly button may disappear entirely at the end–mine did, anyway.
If you’re a person who gets stretch marks, there’s not much that will stop them.
Enjoy the kicking, and especially enjoy the second trimester, when you’ll probably feel good, be reasonably energetic and look cutely pregnant. In the third trimester, go swimming a lot if possible.
Borrow all the maternity clothes you can; it’s hard to find good maternity clothes and you’ll appreciate any variety you can get.
Read Naomi Wolf’s (mis)conceptions. It will help you take control of your own body without letting the medical business tell you what to do.
The diet in What to Expect When You’re Expecting purposefully grossly overestimates the amount of healthy food you should eat, because they recognize that women won’t want to follow a strict diet, so if you only eat two thirds of what they tell you to, you’ll still have a healthy baby.
As someone with a keen interest in classical history, I read Soranus’ Gynecology and found it fascinating (for an ancient Greek perspective). Man, did they ever know how to help a woman give birth - the midwife loosed her hair, stripped her naked, and lay her on a pile of furs in front of a toasty fire, then proceeded to massage her with warm olive oil, including her perineum to prevent tearing, and anywhere else she wanted to be rubbed down. Awesome!
Take it easy
Dont stress out
Remember advice is just that… you DONT have to follow it:D
Make the most of “honey I cant get up please bring me insert item here”
Pray the little monster doesnt sit on your sciatic nerve or crawl up under your ribs ( had one of each)
Enjoy how thick your hair is… but dont become attached to it no pun intended
Keep telling yourself “its ONLY 9 months its not forever”
Take it easy
Dont stress out
Remember advice is just that… you DONT have to follow it:D
Make the most of “honey I cant get up please bring me insert item here”
Pray the little monster doesnt sit on your sciatic nerve or crawl up under your ribs ( had one of each)
Enjoy how thick your hair is… but dont become attached to it no pun intended
Keep telling yourself “its ONLY 9 months its not forever”
