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Menampilkan postingan dari Maret, 2012

Surviving pregnancy brain

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Have you ever heard of pregnancy brain? It is a real thing that happens to us pregnant ladies. Our minds are filled with thoughts of juggling family, work, chore, bills, and our cute unborn baby while our body has extra hormones raging through us. Maybe you go grocery shopping and forget to buy half the things on your list or you blurt out "T igers love to tug on purple ducks" as you walk past the duck pond.  You can control this pregnancy brain by making new and realistic expectations of yourself and staying focused on one thing at a time. That way, you can complete one area of your life and be present in your current area. How can you do that report at work if you mind is still thinking about those dirty dishes that you left at home and how you will have to juggle 10 things when you get home from work. Write down what you have to do to get it off your mind then go back to work and put your full attention at your work.  Take breaks and go for walks as often as you can. Of co

Morning sickness cures

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Some women get it and and some don't.  Some women get physically sick and others have nausea.  Some women have it all day and some just have it in the morning.  Here are some things that I learned to help morning sickness: Keep your toilet clean.  There is nothing worse than puking into a dirty toilet! Stay in bed for 10 minutes after you wake up without moving.  Eat a few saltines or other bland and simple crackers (depending on what your stomach allows) that you keep on your nightstand.  If I did this in the morning, I usually would not have to vomit and would have less nausea throughout the day. This was really hard for me this third time around because I often have older kids crying for me in the morning and they keep eating all of my crackers! Eat small simple meals.  Basic carbs worked best for me and I snuck in some hidden protein, fruit and veggies to make sure that I was staying balanced.  I never feel like cooking in the first trimester so I find easy foods that nourish

Tracking your weight gain

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I highly recommend that you track your weight gain for your entire pregnancy.  I am normally not a fan of weight tracking but rather being happy in your body.  Pregnancy is my exception.  The reason is that caregivers really know what they are talking about when they advise you about how much you should gain (some people are advised to lose weight).  The reason is that there is a magic number range*.  If you gain more than this amount then you are gaining more than the baby needs and it is pure weight that you will have to lose later.  If you gain the recommended amount (25-35 pounds for a single baby normal BMI) then you will have very little weight to loose after pregnancy.  PREGNANCY IS NOT A TIME TO EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT AND NOT WORRY ABOUT WEIGHT GAIN!  You need to eat nutrient dense foods that your body will use to nourish the baby and not store as extra fat.  At the same time, part of the recommended weight gain incorporates your body's need to add an extra layer to protect

Announcing your pregnancy

Who knows that you are pregnant?  Before you should decide to tell anyone that you are pregnant, there are a few things for you to think about.  There are two main reasons why it is suggested to wait until your second trimester to announce your pregnancy to the public. Testing for problems If you choose to do any tests to check that the baby is healthy, you will need to think what you would do if the test results show potential issues.  Yes, all of these tests are optional even though many caregivers forget to tell their patients that.  Personally, I have not had any sort of blood test or the down syndrome ultrasound done on my pregnancies because I had already thought through that I would not terminate the pregnancy if there was an issue.  Other moms want the test results so they can prepare themselves if there is an issue.  This is something to really think about.  I know other moms who have waited until their test results came back okay before announcing the pregnancy. Miscarriage M

You are pregnant!

Congratulations if you are pregnant.  From the day you find out that you are pregnant, life changes.  There is a whole list of things that you are not supposed to eat and if it is not your first pregnancy then you will probably feel your body changing immediately.  Below is my top list of what needs to change and some useful tips on what to do/use. Prenatal Vitamins made from Whole-Foods These are more than just multi-vitamins and it is best to start taking them before conception.  They are higher in folic acid and often contain omega-3s or other useful ingredients to pregnancy.  Most vitamins are made from  synthetic chemical isolates that are hard for the body to identify and absorb properly.  There are a few brands like New Chapter and Nature's Plus Source of Life that make the vitamins using whole-foods so the  phytonutrients  appear in the vitamin the way your body is used to seeing nutrients in food.  You and the baby will better absorb your nutrients and you do not have to

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog!  I am 16 weeks pregnant with my third child and am filled with a lot of information that I have learned formally and casually. This blog is for my natural and holistic minded friends who are trying to find the information that they are craving about pregnancy. This blog is meant to talk casually about those gaps that you will not find in traditional pregnancy books. So here I go, ready to chat about all sorts of personal topics. I am going to back-track to early pregnancy and soon I will be caught up with my own pregnancy.  Feel free to comment and suggest topics for me to cover!

Are you trying to get pregnant?

There are so many women out there trying to get pregnant and I know that some will stumble on this blog so I am throwing this one post here for these women. I spent time cleansing my body before trying to get pregnant.  I read more and more and even signed up to become a Health Coach at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition . My body became the type of place that I would want for a new baby. It meant doing things such as changing my diet to whole/non-processed foods, eating healthy fats, avoiding hormones in meats and dairy by buying organic and grass-fed, avoiding medicines, and I avoided things such as preservatives and artificial food coloring.  I have also heard many wonderful success stories of "infertile" women becoming pregnant after prolonged acupuncture and/or following a blood type or metabolic type diet. I started paying attention to my body in a whole new way. I read Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth