Pregnancy is one of the happiest moments in a woman’s life. And it is no wonder. After all, you’re carrying a new life under your heart. Even though it’s a beautiful moment for many couples, pregnancy requires a lot of hard work. To keep the baby healthy, you need to make sure that you’re not putting yourself under too much pressure and that you don’t get too stressed. Maintain your health with the right diet and include exercise in your daily schedule. You also need to get as much rest as possible. If you take the proper steps, you might make it easier for both you and the baby. Here is how to support the health of your baby during pregnancy.

Avoid Things That Could Harm The Baby

When you’re pregnant, you must be very careful about substances and things you might encounter. And if you’re struggling with any bad habits, now would be the best time to stop. To keep your little one out of harm’s way, you should avoid smoking and quit alcohol. At the same time, it’s a good idea to avoid caffeine in your diet. And if you feel ill and need help, get in touch with a doctor who can prescribe you medicine that is going to be safe for the baby. If you’re careful, you might be able to protect the baby from severe health problems and enjoy the pregnancy with no obstacles.

Look After Your Diet

In order to help your baby to become strong and healthy, you need to maintain the right diet. Fill your day with healthy meals, and make sure that you eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. You should also start eating more foods that are rich in calcium and get a fair share of grains. However, there are also meals that you should avoid. These include raw meats, soft cheese, unpasteurized milk, and things like liver, raw eggs, and sushi. At the beginning of the pregnancy, you should ask your doctor for any recommendations there might have. That way, you could help your baby to become as healthy as possible and go through the 9 months with no major issues.

Dive Into The Family’s Medical History

Sometimes, women might be uncertain about who the father of the baby is. In such cases, it’s important that you get a paternity test that will help you to find out the truth. With a prenatal paternity test by AlphaBiolabs, you can verify the biological relationship even when you’re still pregnant. When you’re sure about who the other parent of your child is, you can learn more about the family’s medical history. In families, some diseases tend to reappear. On top of that, such information could help you in case your baby experiences severe health problems. Then, the doctor might have an easier time developing a treatment plan that could help your little one get better.

Include Movement In Your Everyday Life

Exercise can be a highly effective way of keeping yourself and the baby healthy and content. To make the most of its benefits, try to be active for as long as possible. For instance, go for a walk and spend some time in nature. If you feel nervous about motherhood and labor, fresh air and the calmness of nature could help you to feel more optimistic. You could also try to sign up for a class of prenatal yoga. These classes are designed to make you feel better throughout the pregnancy and make your labor a bit easier. You could build up the muscles you need to deliver your baby peacefully and safely and improve your experience. But keep in mind that not all exercises are suitable for pregnancy. So, if you’re unsure, ask your doctor for more detailed advice.

Find The Best Stress Management Techniques For You

Even though pregnancy can be very beautiful and happy, you might find out that you get stressed easily. However, if you go through stressful experiences often, it might damage the outcome of your pregnancy. To prevent any negative scenarios, you need to learn how to stay calm and find the right techniques to help you. When it gets too much for you, try to spend a few moments meditating. Or you could start leading a journal and write your feelings down. Alternatively, consider doing things that you enjoy the most, at least for a little bit. And remember that there’s no shame in needing help. If you struggle, get in touch with your friends and family, who will be more than willing to offer a helping hand.

Keep Learning Throughout The Pregnancy

When you find out that you’re expecting a baby, it’s important that you learn as much as possible. Sometimes, books aren’t enough, and you could benefit from live classes. There, you could learn how to take care of the newborn when you bring them home for the very first time. And if you sign up for a first-aid class, you might be able to protect your baby better. Motherhood is not easy, and you might not feel ready for the real thing. But if you keep learning, you might make the experience a bit more peaceful.

Pregnancy is a beautiful miracle in progress, one which should be as painless and stress-free as possible. Unfortunately, any woman who’s ever been pregnant will tell you it’s anything but painless and stress-free! Pregnancy is nine months of almost nonstop nerve-wracking anxiety about the future coupled with the physical burdens that come with having a baby growing inside your body.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. While nobody can completely eliminate stress and anxiety from their pregnancy, pregnant women can do a number of things to mitigate the negative aspects of pregnancy. The following are 6 ways to make pregnancy as stress-free as possible.

Consult your doctor

There’s no reason to live with fear and uncertainty regarding your pregnancy. Doctors are there to answer questions and provide expert advice. But the stress-reducing value of licensed physicians is only as good as your willingness to consult them. Book an appointment as soon as possible, commit to follow-up appointments, and take what your doctor says seriously. While they might not be able to respond right away, have a way to reach them if you have any pressing questions or concerns between appointments. In doing so, you alleviate the stress and anxiety that comes with uncertainty while benefiting from the uplifting nature of reassurance and support.

Bond with your unborn baby

Bonding with your unborn baby is easier than most people think. While the conversation is admittedly one-sided, simply talking to your baby throughout the day is an effective way to grow closer. You can also use an early-detection gender test and at-home fetal doppler as a way to get to know your baby better. Pay attention to when your baby kicks to see if it correlates with certain noises or environments. It could be an early indicator of their personality. These and other ways to bond with your baby will help alleviate the stress and anxiety that comes with the uncertainty of pregnancy.

Get plenty of sleep

Sleep deprivation is one of the easiest ways to feel stressed and overburdened throughout the day. While quality sleep is hard to come by the farther along you are in your pregnancy, doing what it takes to get a minimum of seven hours of sleep each night is essential for making pregnancy as stress-free as possible. Consider ways to improve your sleep environment, such as temperature changes, more comfortable bedding, or increased measures to keep light out in the early morning hours. Given the importance of sleep in reducing stress as well as maintaining health, achieving quality sleep should be the priority of every pregnant woman for the duration of their pregnancy.

Avoid triggers

The physical burden of pregnancy is plenty of stress imposed on your body and mind. The last thing you need is more stress coming from outside sources. With this in mind, take steps to avoid known stress triggers in your life. Avoid toxic individuals who always seem to bring drama with them. Limit the amount of cable news you watch to prevent the weight of the world from getting to you. While running away from your problems isn’t the answer, limiting your exposure to unnecessary stress is key to making your pregnancy as stress-free as possible.

Eat right

A healthy diet has been shown to help individuals reduce stress levels and increase overall happiness. With this in mind, pregnant women should stick to nutritious foods high in vitamins and minerals. While the occasional craving for something decadent is one of the fringe benefits of pregnancy and should be taken advantage of from time to time, your overall diet plan during pregnancy should be one that promotes brain health, heart health, and overall physical health.

Talk about it

The stress we bury inside never really goes away. Instead, it festers within, culminating with what is often referred to as a mental breakdown. Rather than let yourself turn into a ticking time bomb with a baby on the way, make a point to talk about what's bothering you to your partner, close friends, family, or a licensed therapist. While you don’t want to burden your loved ones with frequent venting, taking the time to talk it out in a calm and rational manner will go a long way in reducing your overall stress levels during pregnancy.

The miracle of pregnancy is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, it also takes its toll on the body and mind. While it’s impossible to completely eradicate stress from pregnancy, there are plenty of ways to reduce stress as much as possible.

Julie Steinbeck is a freelance writer from Florida. She enjoys covering topics related to business, family, and travel.

It’s official! We welcomed our baby boy, Justice to our world on March 28, 2020, 2:49 pm. Justice came 4 days early weighing at 6 lbs and 8 oz. We were so thankful that the delivery was a smooth one and Justice was born healthy.

As a first timer, I was nervous and worried about giving birth. After hearing all the experiences and horror stories from people around me, I wanted to skip the delivering process entirely. And I didn’t think I would ever be ready for it. But time just flew by. The day came before I was prepared. And I learned that I was a lot stronger than I thought.

Birth Story of Justice

I took my maternity leave from work a week before my expected due date of April 1st. I was hoping that our baby would come after April and I’d have enough time to rest up and relax. Lucky that I took time off early, I started to feel pain in my lower back just shortly after my maternity started. At that time, I had no idea those were contractions. I just felt uncomfortable and they happened infrequently throughout the day. But as the week progressed, the pain had gotten stronger and soon I found myself unable to sleep because of it. I looked up the pain and started tracking the frequency of the occurrence. It was not a consistent 5-1-1 frequency so I wrote them off as Braxton Hicks.

When I went into my weekly check up with my OB, she told me my cervix was still closed but wouldn’t want me to not call the hospital if I continue to feel pain. I managed to live through the pain for another 2 days but it had gotten so frequent and strong that I could barely do anything at home. So I called the hospital twice and both times I was told that it was still not time to come in yet and I should call again if my water breaks. That night after my shower before bed, I felt some leakage. The leakage was minor but enough for me to change my sanitary pads a few times within few minutes. I thought that must be my “water breaking”. I called the hospital at around 11:30 pm and finally they asked me to come in for assessment just in case.

We grabbed all our hospital bags and baby things and arrived to the hospital past midnight. But because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Will was not allowed to go in with me and had to wait in the car. I asked the hospital security to escort me in a wheelchair to the triage center located on the 4th floor. I wasn't able to walk by myself with the intermittent pains.

The nurse checked me with a swab at around 1:30 am and confirmed that my water was indeed broken. My cervix was also 3 cm dilated! I called Will and told him I was in early labour. After we settled in the birthing room. I tried to walk around the floor to speed up the dilation. But the pain had gotten a lot worse and I could barely walk with amniotic fluid gushing every step of the way. I spent the rest of the night lying down on the bed where Will helped me with the breathing and tracking the contraction frequency. An hour later, the nurse checked my cervix again and I had progressed to 4 cm dilated. The nurse then reminded me that if I wanted to take the epidural, she could call the doctor now to do so.

Worrying that the pain would be unbearable later and that I would miss the deadline for the epidural to be effective, I agreed to taking it. This was something unplanned for, but it ended up being the best decision I had made. It took another 15 minutes and a few more contractions before I was placed with an IV. I had to curl up like a ball for the doctor to inject the epidural into my spine. It was hard for me to stay put especially when contractions were still going simultaneously. After a few minutes, the pain was a lot more tolerable. I could still feel the pressure but at least I could finally breath normally again.

The night had gotten easier after the epidural for the both of us. I was able to take my mind off from the pain before delivery and Will was able to take a nap after having to work an early morning shift. The nurse came in to check up on me few hours later and said that my dilation was progressing slowly. The doctor had to come in and help break the rest of my water sack to speed up the process. Few hours later, I was still at 6 cm dilation, so we proceeded with having oxytocin to get things moving. The nurse who helped me at the beginning had now finished her shift. Another nurse came in and told us we could start pushing. It took me a while before I was able to control the right muscles to push during my contractions. The nurse told me the baby was still in a sunny side up position and we needed to help him turn. Thankfully, with the help of the birthing ball, the baby did end up in an anterior position. After pushing for an hour and a half, a team of staff came into my room including the delivery doctor on duty. Things had gotten more real. I wasn't sure if it was distraction or motivation but when Will told me he could see the head down there, I pushed harder. The final push was intense. I kept staring at the reflective panel at the ceiling to see what was going on. Then I heard the nurse telling me, “You can look down, his head is coming out!”.  As soon as I looked down, I immediately saw my baby’s face and his whole body coming out of mine. The nurse placed him over my chest right away while wiping the fluid off his body, I burst into tears. It was an emotional moment for both Will and I. The entire process took about 15 hours in total.

Will was only allowed to stay in the hospital with me for 2 hours after birth. And I had to spend the rest of the night alone with the baby in the hospital. But for some reasons, I wasn't afraid or worried. I love staring at his cute little face and doing skin to skin with him. It was amazing what a human body could do.  I’m so thankful to have a team of professional doctors and nurses to guide me through my first delivery and making it much smoother than I had imagined. It still feels surreal to look at my baby that was inside me for 10 months.

Welcome to the world, Justice!

Check out my other pregnancy posts!

Our Baby Nursery Room Reveal
Our Baby Gender Reveal Party! (DIY Party Decor)

How to Look Stylish During Pregnancy

Ways We Saved Money on Baby Stuff
Pregnancy Journal: Third Trimester (Week 28-36)

Pregnancy Journal: Second Trimester (Week 14-27)

Pregnancy Journal: First Trimester (Week 1-13)

I can't believe I'm already in my third trimester. Time just flew by so quickly! If you haven't been following, Will and I are expecting our little bundle of joy this Spring! I started documenting my journey from my first trimester. You can read it all here.

Here's what my third trimester looks like:

Glucose Tolerance Test

I was asked to take a glucose tolerance test at around 28 weeks. The lab technician handed me what looked like a bottle of orange soda drink. I was asked to finish the drink in one seating and refrained from walking around in case I burned the sugar off. I waited for an hour before the technician could take my blood. I actually felt drowsy after drinking the soda and passed out at the clinic. Luckily, the result of my test was positive.  My sugar level was optimal but was found low in iron. Besides needing to eat more iron-riched food, I'm now adding iron supplements to my growing list of supplements and vitamins.

Taking Our Prenatal Classes

We took our prenatal classes just shortly after the New Year. And boy, there was so much information to take in in mere 2 days. We were taught about the delivery process, the type of medications to ease pain, how to prepare for labour and baby, and what the support person could do to help while in labour. We also watched some real video clips of birth mothers going into labour. Needless to say, it was very graphic. I wasn't prepared for that.

I do think the class has helped us understand what will be involved and better prepare ourselves for the little one. We even practiced wrapping diapers, bathing and burping a baby the proper way on a baby doll.

More Leg Cramps

Even though I didn't get much swelling and back pains but I did experience more leg cramps than my previous trimesters. I would wake up in the middle of the night because of leg cramps. I had to put up a fort of pillows to support my growing belly and lift my leg up to ease cramps.

Chiropractor Visits and Massage

Because of the leg cramps, I started regular chiropractor visits and continued with my massages. My chiropractor friend even recommended me to visit every week so she could help open my pelvis up to allow room for the baby to turn its head down.

At around 35 weeks, I also started feeling more upper back pain. I didn't think that has to do with my pregnancy at first until my chiropractor told me that the muscles were working hard to balance the weight of my belly. I kept feeling tightness in my neck and shoulders area.

Setting up the Nursery Room

I had a lot of ideas on what to do for the nursery but I didn't want it to be gender-specific. I wanted the room to be bright, airy and inviting. After all, I would be spending a lot of time in the room with the baby. Will painted the room white with a grey accent wall. We got a crib from a friend and bought a recliner glider chair for the room. I just need to add some wall arts and cute cushions to make them interesting. Stay tuned for the reveal!

Heart Palpitations and Discomfort

When I was at 32 weeks, I started to feel uncomfortable sitting at my desk during work. Something seemed to be always poking inside me at the strangest spot and I could never get comfortable. I also noticed my heart beat faster after consuming certain things like a cup of bubble tea. While my OB told me it's sometimes normal, I had to make sure I keep counts of my heart rate regularly.

Perhaps the next time I contribute to this journal would be after the baby arrives. How does your third trimester looks like? Would love to hear your experience as well!

Check out my other pregnancy posts!

How to Look Stylish During Pregnancy

Ways We Saved Money on Baby Stuff

Pregnancy Journal: Second Trimester (Week 14-27)

Pregnancy Journal: First Trimester (Week 1-13)

Towards the end of my first trimester, my energy level had gotten back up. I could carry on my regular activities a lot more easily. I didn't notice much difference or changes in my second trimester. Sometimes I even forgot that I was preggo and had a baby growing inside my body.

Regular Exercise and Yoga

I still continued with my regular habit of exercising but started to take yoga classes. Yoga was said to help ease pains and help with delivery. I was careful with the different moves. I avoided moves that work out my abs and core. I also stopped doing the overhead press.

Going on a Babymoon

Will and I booked a trip just shortly after I passed my 3 months and after I got a clearance from my doctor. It took us a while to decide on where to go. The destination needed to be pregnant-women friendly and safe from Zika virus. We ultimately decided on Europe for a more tame and relaxing babymoon since I wouldn't be able to do anything adventurous like this and this.

I bought pregnancy compression pantyhose to help with my flight in case of leg cramps or swelling. Even though our trip was supposed to be relaxing, we were ambitious and visited Paris, Strasbourg, Colmar, Dusseldorf, Koln and Amsterdam all within just 2 weeks (post to come!). Despite going from places to places in a short period of time, it was still manageable. On average, we walked about 30,000 steps each day and I still felt great! My belly started to show a little bit but I was still able to hide it inside my regular clothes.

Eating was tough in Europe, especially in France. Although I had gained back the appetite that I lost in my first trimester, there was a lot of food that I needed to avoid. I couldn't eat any of their cheese, wine, deli meat, beef tartare, escargot -  basically most of the things that France was known for.

Keeping the Gender a Surprise

At about 20 weeks, my doctor was able to tell me the gender of my baby. But I really wanted to keep it as a surprise and do a gender reveal. What's more important for me was the baby's health and growth. Besides, I was so entertained whenever someone guessed the gender and shared me their theories.

Will and I also started keeping a list of names for both genders. But it was difficult to find a name that we both liked, not taken and worked well for our culture. We had fun picking out a few nicknames though.

First Flutters

I wasn’t sure when I actually felt my baby’s first flutters. I couldn’t tell if it was my baby kicking or just me feeling gassy at first. But when I started feeling it more frequently, I knew that must be it. The baby kicks that I was so curious about. It was really a special feeling. They felt like big bubbles or something was twitching from inside my belly. The flutters would occur in the middle of the night or when I lied on a certain position or when I ate a certain food. I thought maybe my baby was trying to tell me something.

Growing Out of My Clothes 

During this time, my belly was always itchy from the winter dryness. I had to put more bio-oil and moisturizer to soothe the skin. My clothes no longer fit me anymore. My go-to jeans would not buckle. So I had to start wearing maternity jeans and leggings and more dresses. Eventually, I was more comfortable wearing a more fitted silhouette and shape to embrace my growing belly.

Other than getting the occasional leg cramps, my second trimester was indeed a smooth-sailing like most people said. I was able to do so much and go everywhere with ease.

How was the second trimester for you? Did you enjoy it more than other trimesters?

Check out my other pregnancy posts!

How to Look Stylish During Pregnancy

Ways We Saved Money on Baby Stuff
Pregnancy Journal: Third Trimester (Week 28-36)

Pregnancy Journal: First Trimester (Week 1-13)

If you read my latest post, Decade in Review, you might know that Will and I have a baby on the way for 2020!  I wanted to document this entire journey and share with you my experience throughout the trimesters, starting with the first one.

Low in Energy

I still remembered the feeling when I first found out my pregnancy blood test result was positive. It was a mix of feeling skeptical, surprised, relieved and joy. I couldn't believe we were finally expecting our newborn after months of trying. The thought of being pregnant didn't hit me until I started feeling extremely tired. I would be doing absolutely nothing the entire day but would still feel like I had no energy and just wanted to nap. I was also expecting to experience some morning sickness or nausea. But I actually didn't experience any (so lucky!). This was probably why the pregnancy felt surreal to me. And in the back of my head, I was afraid the joy would be short-lived. So I had been extra cautious for the first 3 months and declined invites to activities like skating, snowboarding and lazy tubing. I didn't want to take any risks.

Lost in Appetite

I did, however, lost my appetite. As you know, I had always been a food lover. But I noticed during this time, I had lost interest in eating. I turned away from the food that I used to like. As a result, I actually lost some weight.

Cautious of Food

Speaking of food, I had to be extra careful with my diet. I cut down the bad food items that were not recommended by doctors. And these included all the soft or unpasteurized cheese, honey and milk, deli meat, salad, raw meat, runny egg yolks and sushi! It was a lot harder than I thought. I had to google every time before I put food in my mouth. On top of that, in my culture, I was told to avoid certain fruits and shellfish. They believed that eating shellfish would cause the baby to have allergies. And fruits like papaya, banana and watermelon would cause miscarriage or early birth. So that limited me on what I could eat. I also started to take more vitamins and supplements after each meal. But with what they called a "baby brain", I sometimes forgot if I even took them.

Cautious of Chemicals

I started replacing my regular skincare and beauty products to products with natural ingredients, just to avoid chemicals and fragrance that might harm the baby. At one point, I even wanted to swap out my shampoo to something that is meant for pregnant women. But I had been told that was a bit extreme. There were two things that I missed doing: getting my nails done and dying my hair :(

Dewy Skin

Even though I might not get to doll up like how I used to, I noticed my skin got more glowy, dewy and soft. The hormones or estrogen might have been a contributor to this which I won't complain about.

My First Ultrasound

I had my first ultrasound when I almost hit 6 weeks. They showed me an image of a marble-looking shadow inside my belly. I didn't know what it was. A gestational sac? I had no clue what that even means. It sure didn't look like a baby to me.

At my second ultrasound which was about 8 weeks, the sac had gotten bigger. By my 12-week scan in which Will was able to join me, the baby was all formed! We could see the profile of the baby very clearly. Everything seemed more real at this point. Will even told me he got a bit emotional when he saw the image of our baby for the first time.

As soon as my doctor said everything looked fine and normal, I started thinking about travelling. I needed to travel one more time before the baby arrives!

My parents completely opposed that idea though. They thought I should take more rest because this was my first pregnancy and I should be very careful. But I was a rebel. I'd prefer travelling now than after the baby is born. Besides, my tiredness had gotten a lot better towards the end of my first trimester. It convinced me that I would be physically capable to go on a trip with Will together one last time, just the two of us.

Now that I finished writing this post, I felt very grateful that everything was so smooth and easy for me during my first trimester. I couldn't imagine how it would be like to suffer from morning sickness and nausea throughout the first few months.

What was your first trimester like? Would love to hear your experience.

Check out my other pregnancy posts!

How to Look Stylish During Pregnancy

Ways We Saved Money on Baby Stuff
Pregnancy Journal: Third Trimester (Week 28-36)

Pregnancy Journal: Second Trimester (Week 14-27)