Womb to Bloom - Maternity & Beyond

You know that maintaining healthy eating and exercise habits while you’re pregnant is better for your growing baby and will help you get your pre-baby body back faster. Nearly every woman starts out with lofty goals in these areas. And nearly every woman falls off the wagon. It becomes virtually impossible to avoid giving into the siren song of salty French fries and the lusty advances of chocolate cake. There are many bumps along the way to delivery, and every one of them has the potential to derail your intentions. Here are some strategies for real women facing everyday obstacles.

First Stop: Morning Sickness
Pregnancy is no longer a time when women are encouraged to eat for two. Most doctors recommend eating only an additional 300 calories a day and keeping your weight gain to between 25 and 35 pounds. The stick turning blue is not a license to hit Baskin-Robbins twice a day. In fact, any weight gain during the first trimester can’t be blamed on your baby. When you go in for your first ultrasound, you’ll realize that little kidney bean isn’t the cause of your five-pound weight gain over the last two weeks.

Many women actually lose weight in the first trimester, however, because of the dreaded morning sickness. Depending on how severe your morning sickness is, you can run the risk of dehydration, putting both yourself and your baby in danger. Even if you can’t stand the thought of food right now, make sure you sip water throughout the day. Your baby will take what it needs nutritionally from your body, so don’t worry if you can’t keep food down. But the baby can’t get water from you if you don’t have it to give. If your morning sickness is making you miserable and putting you at risk for dehydration, talk to your doctor. There are some new medicines available today that can help alleviate your symptoms.

Cravings can start as soon as your first trimester, and a lot of times, women are surprised at what they want. “I love sweets of any kind, so I was thrown when just the thought of cookies and cake turned my stomach,” says Jamie, 34. “Instead, I craved things like potato chips and steak for the first time in my life. It was kind of fun to explore that side of food for a while, and I tried to satisfy my cravings in sane ways - more chicken than Doritos. And before I knew it, I was back to scarfing down ice cream sundaes.”
Jamie has the right idea (maybe not the sundae part). It’s better for both you and your developing baby if you can figure out healthier ways to calm those cravings. Salty cravings can usually be handled with lean protein, while sweet cravings can be tamed with fresh fruit. But don’t beat yourself up if you indulge in what you really want every few days.

Because of intense fatigue or morning sickness, you may find that you barely have the energy to lift the lid on the toilet before you throw up, let alone walk two miles or dance along to an aerobics tape. If you feel like something the cat coughed up, there’s absolutely no need to push yourself to exercise. Focus on taking care of yourself and doing what you can to sneak in bland food whenever the nausea abates for a brief period.

When the spirit does move you to exercise, this is the trimester when you have the least amount of restrictions. You can still do abdominal work on the floor, and you can pretty much continue your pre-pregnancy workout. Your doctor will talk to you about keeping your heart rate down and other factors to keep in mind while working out, but overall, not a whole lot needs to change. Enjoy this stage because when you’ve gained 30 pounds and your center of gravity has changed substantially, you won’t be running around the water tower at the same speed.

I Could Eat a Giraffe
Usually sometime in the second trimester women settle into the “bliss” stage of pregnancy. Morning sickness is gone, your energy is back, and your baby bump is still small enough that it doesn’t interfere with your comfort. One day you’ll look around and say to yourself, “I’m so hungry I could eat a giraffe.” Monica, 33, had that experience during her fourth month of pregnancy.

“I remember distinctly the day that I knew my morning sickness was gone for good,” she says. “It was 4:30 p.m. on a weekday, and I was just getting off work. I got into my car and realized that I wasn’t going to make it to the end of the block without eating something - anything! I pulled into the nearest fast-food drive-thru and ordered the largest burger, fries, and milkshake on the menu. Keep in mind that normally, I couldn’t eat a fourth of what was stuffed into that take-out sack, but I had it all demolished within 15 minutes. When I got home, my husband had dinner ready, but I told him that I wasn’t hungry because I had grabbed a snack on the way home. It took me a few days to admit to my husband what my ‘snack’ had consisted of. He was torn between horror and amusement. That wasn’t the last that fast-food place saw of me, either.”

In between these giraffe binges, try to eat as sensibly as possible - both for your baby’s sake and your scale’s. Remember to keep healthy snacks on hand for when the hunger monster strikes. Things like mixed nuts, dried fruit, and granola bars can be stored anywhere - your desk, glove box, purse - so you’re always prepared.

Your exercise routine will begin to change this trimester. Your doctor will advise you to avoid lying on your back either at the start of the second trimester of halfway through it, which means that sit-ups are no longer an option. If you want to keep doing ab work - which will make labor, and recovery easier - try using an exercise ball. Just make sure you can balance well enough to avoid falling off of it.

This is also a great time to look into pre-natal exercise videos. There’s a much larger selection now than there was even a few years ago, so you can choose whatever gets you off the couch and moving - dance, aerobics, weights, yoga, etc. An added bonus is that the people on the video will be pregnant, and it’ll make you feel better to see other preggos getting their groove on.

Ding - Turkey’s Done
By the third trimester, the honeymoon period of your pregnancy will gradually draw to a close. You’ll be cranky, uncomfortable, and probably retaining fluid like a sponge. You may also realize that your “free ride” of eating whatever you want is drawing to a close and decide to take advantage of it while you can. The third trimester is when most women put on the vast majority of their pregnancy weight, and the growing baby is only an excuse for a few pounds of it.

If you find yourself overeating or choosing foods that are less than stellar nutritionally, cut yourself a break once in a while. But the rest of the time, try to clean up your act as much as you can force yourself to. You’re in the final stretch of this pregnancy marathon, and your baby needs as much healthy stuff as he can get right now.

Other expectant moms find that eating in the third trimester is as tricky as it was in the first - not because of morning sickness, but because the baby is squishing your stomach. So you may be hungry every 20 minutes but only able to eat a few bites at a time before you feel full.

“My husband got so annoyed with me towards the end of my pregnancy,” says Sheila, 30. “I was constantly starving, so he’d run out to get me something or whip something up in the kitchen, only to watch me eat four bites and declare myself stuffed. He threatened to go on strike, so I brought him into the doctor’s office with me and had her explain what was going on physically. He was much nicer about it after that!”

Mini-meals are your friend during the third trimester. Every couple of hours, reach for a combination of protein, carbs, and a little fat. An apple or whole grain crackers with peanut butter, yogurt with some granola, baby carrots dipped in hummus - all of these things give you calories and nutrition that you need, while keeping portions do-able.

As for exercise, aim for low-impact activities such as walking and anything that takes pressure off of your body. Swimming or water aerobics are optimal because you don’t have to worry about balance, coordination, or aching feet and legs. Plus, it helps keep you cool during a workout (you’ll probably be sweating like a pig just walking around right now).

Lastly, water is important throughout your pregnancy, but it’s especially important at this stage. Lots of women mistakenly believe that because they’re retaining water, they need to cut down on fluid intake. Wrong. Downing more water will actually help alleviate fluid retention, so drink up!