I far from claim to be an expert on pregnancy, in fact I feel like I've barely gotten by for most of it. But if I could give my future self one single piece of advice for any future pregnancies, it would be this: move as much as you can, whenever you can. Why? Because you never know when the nausea, extreme fatigue and dizzy-ness monster is going to rear it's ugly head at you for a period of days, weeks, or months (or as I like to call them, weeks 6 - 18.5 of my pregnancy).
As sick as I felt for the first five months of my pregnancy, I can honestly say that the hardest part for me (thus far) has been the mental aspect. I have no problems watching my body change with pregnancy, it's actually been fun, but it's a much different feeling to watch your body get bigger and bigger when you've spent a few months on the couch in your pyjamas. I don't feel like myself when I'm not being active - add that to the general weirdness of pregnancy and you've got an antsy mama-to-be.
I don't feel that there's anything I could have done to change those feelings or my activity level at the time, as I think I did a good job of listening to my body, even if I didn't want to. Now however, the temperatures have definitely dropped here in our little part of SwitzerFrance, and though it's still warmer than I'm comfortable with, I've been trying to live this advice as much as possible, and most importantly, as much as my body feels ok with. Last week I walked a little over 6 miles, and this week so far I've walked a little over 7. The change for me mentally has been huge, and I think it's definitely helping with some of the aches, pains and weirdness that carrying around a little tenant for 9 months can cause.
So that's it, that's my one piece of pregnancy advice to myself, and anyone else who may be interested. Don't just move because you should, but move because you can. It's no fun being the only kid who can't go out and play, so get it in on the good days so that the bad days can joyfully be full of Netflix marathons, snacks and relaxation.
A la prochaine friends...
Honey
Honey, take your own advice when baby arrives as well. I made a permanent groove in the couch those first months.
ReplyDeletegood for you! the fact that you're moving around is so healthy, it would seem. being active is so important, and you're taking charge :)
ReplyDeletealso - just a thought: you might not feel it but your life sounds so glamorous right now. i know, i know. but think: you're going to soon have a little one, living the dream in SwiterFrance (i like that term, haha) and that in itself is pretty awesome. you're going to have a beautiful sound-of-music baby. (ok, that's austria, right?) you know what i mean :)
sending you positive thoughts and a big hug!
taylor
@aRBe: That's a great point! I'm looking forward to crisp walks in late fall with a little one to snuggle up to! I'm hoping by then the dent in our couch from earlier in my pregnancy will have evened out!
ReplyDelete@Taylor: Thanks for your sweet message, it's nice to be reminded of how great things are sometimes. :) And you know what's funny - I've never seen "The Sound of Music" - which is like a crime living where we live. (And yes, it is Austria, but a lot of our landscape could pass for a set on the movie.) And I love the term "sound of music baby"! Ha! I did buy two Heidi books at the flea market in Geneva, so I think we're well on our way!