I can't stress enough how important taking time to take care of yourself during pregnancy is! It's so easy to overlook when you have so many other baby related things on your mind!
Taking the best care of myself has made such a big difference in how I've been feeling about pregnancy. Like so many others, My first trimester was not fun, I felt nauseous all the time, the thought and smell of most foods, especially meat, made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't even brush my teeth in the morning without getting sick. Worse than that was my energy level; or complete lack thereof. It would take everything I had to make it through the work day without falling asleep at my desk (one time I actually did! haha), when I would finally get home I would curl up on the couch, fall asleep, maybe wake up to eat something but be back in bed for the night by 9:00 p.m. at the latest. It was hard on me, my relationship and just not any way to live, and it really made me wonder if I ever wanted to be pregnant again.
Luckily, the second trimester came and like a light switch my nausea was gone and my energy started to come back. With this though, came the cravings. I started cooking again, but was eating a vegetarian diet since the idea of meat still made me sick. I went a couple days of eating a lot of mac and cheese and giving into my sugar cookie cravings (sweet Jess), with the mindset that I deserved it after close to three months of feeling permanently hungover. While it was nice to indulge, I didn't like the way the processed and sugary foods were making me feel and I wanted to give Miles better nourishment.
Exercise
I started by getting into a routine of walking after work. At first I would just do a couple laps around my neighborhood, then eventually I was walking a giant loop that was about 3.5 miles, and doing this 4-5 times a week. After a few weeks of walking I started to incorporate weight training at the gym every other day. Switching between a weight day and a cardio day keeps me from getting bored. Of course there are some days where I don't have the energy and/or time to walk or go to the gym, so I look up pregnancy yoga videos on Youtube. The stretching makes me feel so good and relaxed. After I started exercising regularly I not only noticed increased energy and better moods, but the lower back pain I have been experiencing from the beginning of my pregnancy went away completely!
Diet
Exercising always encourages me to eat better. I have no problem eating healthy as long as I keep junk food out of the house and plan my meals for the week. This takes some extra time and preparation but it is so worth it. I usually make my grocery list every Friday when I have free time at work. I have about 5 months worth of weekly grocery lists and meal plans saved to my computer so I often look at those for ideas, but also like to search Pinterest for new, healthy recipes as well. My rule of thumb is to make meals that only use fresh ingredients, none of our meals come from a box. Also, make sure you are drinking a TON of water. It's so good for you, that there isn't any reason to drink anything else.
Below is an example of what my typical day of healthy eating looks like:
- Breakfast: Healthy Breakfast Smoothie (I started adding a scoop or two of peanut butter to this and it's SO good!)
- Morning Snack: Banana
- Lunch: Sweet Potato Scramble (sweet potato chopped into bite size pieces sauteed until soft with eggs, onion, apples, cinnamon, and lightly salted)
- Afternoon snack: Apple and 1-2 slices of Cheddar Cheese
- Dinner: Roasted Garlic Carrots with Sesame Peanut Ground Turkey
Relax
Almost every night after dinner I take a long bath. I'll shut the bathroom door, dim the lights, light my favorite Anthropology candle and either read, watch Youtube videos, DVR'd episodes of Super Soul Sunday, or just drink tea and unwind from the day. I love my nightly baths so much that I went out and bought some new products to make it even more special. I stocked up on Lush bath bombs, bath melts and bubble bars and went to Ulta and bought a new seasonal soap and salt scrub.
After I get out of the bath I'll put on aloe body lotion all over, and then Burt's Bees Belly Butter or Burt's Bees Body Oil on my growing bump. I've been really good at doing this so hopefully I won't get stretch marks, but we'll see!
By the time I'm ready to go to bed I am so relaxed and feel so GOOD that I fall right to sleep.
Hair, Skin & Nails
My hair has never grown so fast or been as thick as it has throughout this pregnancy. I was never great at getting regular haircuts, and would often just trim my ends at home every month or so. Just recently I went and got my hair cut and added layers to it. Not only is it more manageable, which saves time in the morning, but I can style it better because it's not so heavy. I'm already looking forward to go back for another trim in a couple weeks. I'm telling you, if you're in a slump because your body is changing and your clothes aren't fitting the same, get a haircut! It will make you feel pretty again :)
My entire life I had the worst habit of biting my nails, but these prenatal vitamins have made my nails grow so fast and strong that it just became too much work to keep biting them haha. I picked up some new nail polish (Target carries a brand called Sinful Colors, that come in fun colors and only costs around $2.00!) and paint my nails every week to keep them looking fresh. Having nice nails makes me feel so put together and happy!
Pregnancy hormones have changed my skin a lot, and I was getting a lot more breakouts than usual so I decided to totally change up my skin care routine. I wash my face twice a day (once in the morning and once at night) with Aveeno Positively Radiant Cleanser. It removes my makeup without drying out my skin, plus it smells and looks so pretty! I started using Ponds Cold Cream Cleanser (oldie but goody) to remove my eye makeup. It does a great job and leaves the skin around my eyes moisturized. I also use my Clarisonic Mia to deep clean and exfoliate once a week. I have very sensitive skin so I find that it causes me to breakout if I use it much more than that.
Indulge Responsibly
All this exercise and healthy eating talk does not mean that you shouldn't give into those pregnancy cravings every once in awhile. I don't know what I would do without my weekly Menchies fix! I try to balance out my indulgences and not give in to them every time. The other day I could not bring myself to eat the healthy lunch I packed because I was craving M&M cookies and that's all I wanted. I went to the grocery store and got one cookie and made a healthy salad from the salad bar. I was able to give in to my cookie craving and balance it out with a salad without feeling like I totally failed for that meal.
So take some time from registering and planning the nursery to focus on YOU, because right now the best thing you can do for your baby is to take the best care of yourself- Mind, Body & Soul!
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