As I loosened my apron strings to make space for our growing baby-bump through my recent pregnancy, along the way I gathered together all the good advice and handy hacks that have genuinely helped me through all my pregnancies.
Hydration: Drink lots of liquids. Minimum 2L per day. My midwife advised me to drink 3.5L per day when my volume of amniotic fluid was low late in a pregnancy, and in early pregnancy I’ve found staying hydrated stops my abdomen from feeling like a sucking vortex during my morning sick months.
I drink most of my liquids as water, but also regularly include Roiboos or other herbal teas, prune or pear juice (to help soften BMs) and fresh goats milk.
Queasiness: Eat little and often is my big tip tip here. Seriously, I found a full or an empty stomach are very likely to bring on nausea, and a full bladder makes everything worse (not that ones bladder has space to get very full with the uterus hogging the space). At the first queasy sensation I ask myself “have I have eaten, drunk, and peed in the last hour?” then I fill my cup, get out my next snack, and visit the toilet. Along with my goofy sketch are the snacks I went to most repeatedly in this pregnancy’s first few months.
Here’s my current favourite slow cooker hack: I fill mine late morning when I’m most likely to feel good, then set it going either OUTSIDE away from open doors/windows or in a bathroom with an EXTRACTOR FAN on. If I don’t smell the food cooking, then I can often eat things which “morning” sickness would otherwise rule out.
If you tend to have a time of day where you feel well, that could be the best moment to do some meal prep.
Something which should probably be obvious is to stop preparing your trigger foods. The foods or smells which you suddenly can’t stand will vary from pregnancy to pregnancy, and while it didn’t take me long to switch to un-scented rubbish bags and ask hubby to take over everything to do with pet food, I persisted way too long in including lentils and pumpkin seeds in our food (because pre-conception they are some of my favourite sources of folate) then not eating the dish because it turned my stomach. My most common 1st trimester nausea triggers have been lentils, sunflower seeds, liver, garlic, and Indian/Mexican spices. “Something bland and boring” has been my request when a dear one asks about making us a meal.
At the first sign of sore hips overnight I start to sleep with a pillow between my knees and ankles and start to position myself more squarely - lying with hips stacked one above the other. As pregnancy progresses and relaxin levels increase, I find I need to stuff a second pillow into my knee-pillow-case to keep hip pain away.
Insomnia is an ongoing issue for me, but a sleepy-herb-tea definitely helps - I have a mixture of dried chamomile, passionflower, lavender, hyssop, and rose which I steep for at least 5min with a little honey in the evenings.
Constipation: drink lots - including prune or pear juice. Check no iron in supplements, if needed get a non-constipating iron supplement from a health-food shop.
Night cramps: magnesium becomes my best friend for preventing leg cramping, so I take a magnesium supplement, also homeopathic mag phos, if it’s been a long/active day I’ll soak in an epsom salt bath before bed, and my beloved husband massages any cramp-prone muscles. I keep a spray bottle of magnesium oil handy for topical relief of any remaining restless legs or cramping. Side note: magnesium oil also gives relief to growing pains when massaged into the suffering child’s shins - though a daily dose of cod liver oil seems to prevent growing pains all together in my girl’s case.
Varicose veins: I’m very grateful that all my veins have eventually gone back to normal after pregnancy, however, the quantity and severity of my prenatal varicose veins, vulvar varicosities, and spider veins has grown significantly worse with each pregnancy and the #1 top item that makes a tremendous difference to the burning, aching, throbbing pain which develops with the bad veins is SRC brand full length pregnancy support leggings which I’ve worn almost every day from mid 1st Trimester for my last 3 pregnancies. https://srchealth.com
Normally I’m an avid opp-shopper and bargain-hunter, but support leggings is something I recommend buying new in a really good brand. My recovery leggings are still going strong and I‘ll wear them every day once born, but I really should’ve purchased a new pair of pregnancy support leggings this time around as my ones needed some seams repaired after being worn through 2 pregnancies and the poor things ended up disintegrating and worn thin, often needing a pair of firm-fitting knickers to be worn on top of them to make up for their decreased elasticity (I wore the under-bump style as I’d heard the over-bump style can get tight on a big bump) but even when so worn out I couldn’t bear to be without their compressive support fit a single day so always wash/dry them overnight.
While we were moving house recently there were some very physically demanding days where even with the support leggings I was forced by the pain to stop periodically and elevate my legs, the more regularly I could sit or lie down even for just a few minutes through those particularly busy days, the more bearable standing/walking was and the less trouble I had with cramping at night. An evening leg massage become a necessity: I use a plain base oil like almond or olive or fractionated coconut with some vit E oil added and essential oils which promote circulation especially cypress oil once I’m at least 5mths along. While massaging I can see the swollen bruised-looking veins return to their usual size and colour and it is encouraging to have something so immediately helpful for them. The vulvar varicose veins can be more difficult to relieve (though the SRC leggings give them support also). To reduce vulval pain after intimacy, lay horizontally for a while beforehand to give the veins a chance to first drain to their regular size. Horizontal positions allow gravity to be your veins’ friend, rather than their enemy - and for the last few weeks when laying on one’s back often feels awful, a big pillow under shoulders OR hips can give a little bit of comfortable back-lying-time.
Weight gain: over the course of my first full-term pregnancy, I put on almost twice as much weight compared to any other pregnancy, and I think the extra kilos contributed to significant post-partum fatigue and slower recovery. Every other time, from the second trimester on I’ve cut out most sugar and processed grains and made sure to include lots of wholesome fats like avocados and butter. This has made a big difference for me.
Reflux: tends to start making an evening appearance for me around 35weeks, so I start taking digestive enzymes after dinner which I find to be a useful reflux preventative. If I do feel some heartburn coming on, I mix a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into warm water and honey (or straight into my evening cup of tea) and drink it down - usually with great effect. On rare occasions when reflux persists or wakes me in the night and diluted vinegar doesn’t resolve it, I’ll mix 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper in some warm water and drink through a narrow straw to help it down. It’s nasty to drink, but brings almost immediate reflux relief. be sure to only use small amounts of cayenne pepper during pregnancy, and as with anything else, if you have underlhealth conditions or any concerns, please consult a health care professional. I’m not a doctor and none of this post is intended as medical advice, just some common sense strategies which have personally helped me.
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