Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Healthy Pregnancy


Its hard to believe, but I'm already to the half-way mark of this pregnancy. Today is officially twenty weeks! I'm feeling great, over most of the first trimester nausea, and am really working on maintaining a healthy pregnancy. I absolutely love having a midwife this time around and her overall focus on nutrition and health. After my last appointment I decided to type up a little reminder note for myself of all of the things I need to be doing daily to stay healthy. I laminated them on top of some cute paper and stuck them in places where I will see them constantly.


Here is what I included:

- prenatal vitamins: I take Rainbow Light prenatals. My one complaint is that they are huge and get stuck in my throat or feel scratchy going down. I chose them because they are all natural and are made from whole foods (as opposed to synthetic vitamins). I did just see on their website that they have a prenatal petite that looks like its three smaller pills, I'll have to check into that.

- DHA pills: I am taking Nordic Naturals DHA upon my midwife's recommendation. She said that these aren't fishy tasting and are a great high quality. I'll admit that I've only started taking them recently, but they didn't taste fishy to me. The pills are also small enough for me to swallow without a problem. (I was pleasantly surprised, I thought they'd be huge.) I've read a bit about fish oil helping with mood swings especially after the baby arrives, so I'm interested to see if these make a difference.

- Red Raspberry Leaf tea: I'm drinking one cup per day of this tea, infused for two hours. I don't like tea in general, but I add lemon and honey to this and drink it cold so its not too bad. Red Raspberry Leaf tea has many nutrients in it that are wonderful for pregnancy. Its been called the pregnancy tea for many generations. Helping to stop bleeding after birth, organizing contractions and making them effective, promoting muscle tone and healthy organs, and imparting calcium and magnesium are just a few of the benefits.

- drink plenty of water: My midwife reminded me to keep drinking water all throughout the day in order to stay hydrated and healthy. Dehydration can lead to early contractions and even nausea. I am constantly pouring myself a glass of water!

- eat lots of fruits and veggies: I'm loving being pregnant in the summer when we have so many fresh fruits and veggies available at the farmers' market here. The girls and I love snacking on fresh fruit and we have plenty of veggies to eat as well, thanks to our CSA. If I haven't had enough fruit on a given day, a good way to get some in is to make a quick smoothie with fruit from the freezer.

- yoga/ exercise: After watching several yoga, pilates, and exercise dvds I finally found one that I like. It has a workout that is easy to follow, but still gives a good stretch. The voice-over on the dvd tells you when to switch positions in a timely manner and I also like how the instructor tells you the benefits of certain stretches (this helps with digestion, this tones a certain muscle, etc). I also like that the dvd has a gentle relaxation section so that if I don't manage to fit in my yoga time during the day, I can still do it after the girls are in bed without waking myself up too much.

- Kegel exercises: With our second daughter, we took Bradley method courses and they really emphasized doing Kegel exercises throughout your pregnancy. I need to remember to do these and prepare my muscles for giving birth.

Note: none of the products mentioned in this post are for official product review, I'm just sharing what works for me. Thanks for stopping by!

(I did make too many of my little reminder cards, so if anyone wants one, leave a comment and I'll choose a winner in a week - Sept 2 at midnight.)

7 comments:

  1. Hi! It's nice to meet you today! We have a lot in common... I'm due in late December and am very interested in health and whole foods... I drink red raspberry tea and do my kegels... but I have four kids instead of two.

    Hope your pregnancy remains healthy!
    Amy Ellen at Health Begins With Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi! I saw your post on WWFMW and I'm also pregnant, due in Jan. I'm interested in that tea. So if you drink it now it helps with all of those things or keep drinking it even after delivery?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Activity Mom - I'm not sure if I'm supposed to drink the tea after pregnancy or not? I have heard that my midwife ups the recommendation to three cups a day near the end of pregnancy, but I'm not sure what she says for afterwards. I think that drinking it on a regular basis now supplies your body with minerals and good things that it needs and helps prepare your body so that when delivery time comes, you are in optimal health. When are you due? I'm Jan 15ish. :)

    Amy Ellen - thanks for stopping by and congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a great idea!! And by the way, you look adorable!! Congrats on your pregnancy!
    ~Jenna

    ReplyDelete
  5. what a great idea! I wish I had thought of those laminated cards!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just found out that we're pregnant with our first! I'm pretty sure I found your blog through Groundswell's emails, and have been reading it in prep for motherhood (we've been trying for awhile). So I think it'd be great to have little reminders around the house for being healthy. I'm going to be pretty busy with lots of reading for more tips. Thanks for all your suggestions!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bethany,

    Congratulations! Send me an email and I'll get you one of these cards. I can't access an email through your blogger profile...

    ReplyDelete