When you are pregnant, there are a million and one things to do. You feel like the list is never-ending and are always being told different things by different people about what you should and shouldn’t be doing. Being pregnant is a magical experience and something that most people enjoy. However, this is not the case for everyone. Some people struggle when they’re pregnant with illness and mental health conditions as they may have to stop taking medication due to being pregnant, so You must do what is best for you and your circumstances. There are important things that you do need to do during your pregnancy regardless and here are some tips to help you get ahead so you don’t feel so overwhelmed by everything that you need to do.
During your pregnancy, you will be surprised how quickly it goes after the first trimester so once you are starting to feel a bit more yourself as long as you have no other issues and you start to get your energy back this is the Prime time for you to start planning and preparing things for when you are a new mum. You don’t want to be doing it during your first trimester when you’re constantly feeling sick and nauseous and adjusting to your new body and the pregnancy.
Getting The Nursery Room Ready
One of the biggest tasks will be to get the Nursery ready, even though the baby won’t sleep in there for a long while it’s important to have a space for them. Decorating the Nursery is easy if you know it’s a boy or a girl you can choose colours suited towards that and if you want to keep a surprise you can go from one neutral tone and then add decor items more towards their sex if you want to after. Giving the room a paint-over is the first port of call but also you can add a layer of anti-mould paint so you don’t have to worry about dampness and mould in their room when they’re very young.
The bigger furniture is something you want to have now as a baby is very expensive and you don’t want to struggle to get these things once you’ve given birth. The bigger items you want to look at are wardrobes and a chest of drawers, the crib and the crib mattress, a nursing chair if you plan on breastfeeding as well as an area for books and toys and things I’ll enjoy once they start crawling around.
Another thing to make sure that you’re aware of is the room temperature. Does the room get particularly cold in the winter or does it struggle to have a cold breath during the summer? You want to address these concerns early on and get a solution ready for them when the baby is sleeping in that room. You can get a lot of safety devices to help you with the baby like movement maths and video baby monitors so you’re always able to watch them, but the temperature is a big one that you want to look at.
Looking After Your Health
During your pregnancy, one of the biggest things you want to prioritise is looking after your health. You are the vessel that’s carrying this child to bring into the world. Things that you do directly affect the child that you’re carrying there was so much guidance on it so it is important that you are fully aware of what you can and can’t eat or not take very hot baths and other things that you may not be able to do. It is important to be cautious so that there is nothing that you do that can negatively affect a baby. Be sure that you’re taking all of your pregnancy vitamins to give the baby all the vitamins it needs and to give you all the vitamins you need to have a healthy body through the pregnancy. Although it may be difficult to eat during the first trimester, it is important to try and get something in as much as possible And give your body some nutrients. Exercise is also important during pregnancy. Some people take a step back and it is important not to push yourself too hard but you can do things like pregnancy yoga walking and running as long as it’s comfortable and pregnancy exercise classes. There are also hundreds and thousands of pregnancy exercise videos on YouTube so you don’t even have to pay to go anywhere to do a workout.
Keep Your Partner Involved In The Whole Process
When the baby is here, your partner will take a big role in feeding the baby, looking after them and doing everything that the parent should. However, during the pregnancy part, they can feel alienated as they don’t have much they’re able to do apart from caring for you. However, this is still very important and something that they should be doing. Keep them involved when making sure they come to appointments so they are aware of what’s going on and what the plans are.When you feel the baby move, try and get them over as quickly as possible so they can feel it too and feel their baby moving around inside your womb. If there’s a Father’s Day during the pregnancy, you can also make it special and get them at Dad‘s to be present as well. Make sure they are involved in things like choosing the colour of the Nursery and buying clothes for the baby, if they like a particular football team, you could get a baby top for their team or if they’re a game you could get something related to that just to help them feel more involved in the pregnancy and get them excited about the arrival of the baby.
Telling Your Friends And Family
One of the important things you need to do and consider is who and when you are telling people. The guidance is to wait until after 12 weeks in case there are any issues but if you trust someone enough like your own parents you can share it with them. Telling friends and family can be a very big deal especially if you have been actively trying for a baby for a while and they are aware of this. You could try to tell them in a fun way or video their reactions as a keepsake. You could also have a gender reveal party which is a very popular thing to do at the moment. It is like a baby shower but you have a party to announce to everyone if you are having a boy or a girl. You can have fun games and see what everyone’s guesses are before announcing it. The thing to be aware of is that you may not always get the reaction you want and that is okay. As long as you are happy that is all that matters. The people who matter to me are happy and supportive of you. Another thing to be aware of is that when people find out you are pregnant it can make them happy and reminisce so they will want to share their stories of motherhood and pregnancy. Some of those stories might sound scary but everyone’s experience is different.
Make Friends With Other Pregnant Women
Pregnancy can be a very scary experience for some and sometimes you just need someone you can rely on and talk things through who is going through the same things as you at the same time. Pregnancy takes over your whole life just as motherhood does so it does become one of your go-to topics of conversation. People who aren’t going through it may not know what to say or not want to talk about it so having people you can relate to is important. It is someone you can become friends with and also then go on baby play dates with and catch up and talk to about the exciting newness of motherhood. One of the main complaints from new mothers is that they experience losing a lot of their friends or don’t get invited out anymore as they have children now. This can affect the mental health of a new mum who is navigating life changes and as someone in an already vulnerable position. It helps give you that community and village feeling of raising your children with friends and your babies being able to socialise as well.
These are a few of the things you should certainly be doing during the pregnancy but the list is so long that you will want to do your research as well. You will also want to make sure you talk to your midwife and get professional advice from them in each of your trimesters of pregnancy how it will affect you and how the baby will change and grow. Pregnancy is a wonderful gift and gives you all of the love in the world.
Thank you for reading.
