Sunday, September 8, 2013

What I would tell my pre-pregnant self...

Since becoming pregnant, I have received great advice and spent a lot of time reading and researching, asking questions, and reading more. There are a few things I wish I'd known and before I have a babe in arms and forget all of those things, I wanted to jot them down. This is more for my own documentation than for anything else.

When rooting through clothes to give away last spring before the move, DON'T get rid of the clothes that make you "look pregnant." Those may be the only clothes that would have fit you during the third trimester. Now you live in a few that can still stretch over the belly and are ones that you liked. You could have stretched the old ones and they COULD have gone into a maternity bin to save for later.

You're going to be starving and nauseous throughout most of the first trimester, often having to get up for food once or twice during the night. The feelings of hunger will be bypassed and you'll skip straight to nausea. Make sure to eat every hour or so, even when you don't think it's necessary. Second trimester will be a breeze and flies by! Third trimester you will start to be quite drowsy and hungry again. Make sure to eat a protein-rich snack right before bed throughout the entire pregnancy!

Try not to eat anything you wouldn't want to feed your baby. There can be exceptions, but this should be the general rule of thumb ;)

At six weeks pregnant you'll have to get your first pair of maternity jeans. Crazy, I know!

Don't worry and fret over whether or not you need more things on the standard baby registries. You will go through a time during the second trimester when you feel like you have nothing ready... that's okay. Babies don't need much and certainly only need you and diapers. Choose a few items that are really necessary to research, read reviews, and then purchase. You can still make it to a store (or Amazon) after the baby is born :)

READ REVIEWS! Fortunately, your pregnant self did do this, but I'll tell you to do it again. We almost purchased a stroller with the back of the seat made out of formaldehyde! Supposedly it wreaks like this for months. Yuck. Others had issues with the wheels just coming off while jogging. You name it, it happened!

Write, write, and write. Write about what you're thinking, feeling, looking forward to. The pregnancy journal was written in a lot throughout the pregnancy, but it doesn't have enough space to really document everything. Get a journal that you'll actually like and want to write in! Write about the little things that nobody but you will want to remember in days to come. The baby journal will be for the baby and doesn't need all of that stuff!

The nursery will come together! It took until the eighth month, but it came together and you love it.

Feeling the baby move is absolutely amazing, just as everyone says it is! At first it will feel like a rolling pin is spinning inside, but then the kicks and thumps start, and eventually it feels like a human being is shoving, kicking, and somersaulting inside! You will love it.

You will gain almost one third of your previous weight. No joke. You ate healthily, so that wasn't the culprit. It just happens!

Drinking water all day won't quench the thirst at night, as they say. So, drink all of the time. Drink when you're thirsty and drink when you're not. At night, go ahead and take a few big gulps... let's be honest, you'll be getting up to use the bathroom multiple times anyway!

The pregnancy pillow kidney bean will be your best friend. Don't sleep anywhere without it! You'll regret it.

Wear sunscreen, as you always should! Your freckles from middle & high school start to come back.

Walk, walk, and walk. Hike as much as you can! Exercise while you have the energy boost, or cross those things off of your to-do list. 

Commit to doing more prenatal yoga and your Kegel exercises! Both were spotty areas and could have been better.

You'll get up three to five times during the night to use the bathroom. Surprisingly, it won't bother you as much as you'd think. Just keep reminding yourself that it's preparing you for waking up to feed your baby through the night.

Your pregnancy only lasts 9 months, so take the joys out of each moment that you can! Sleep often.

The overwhelming excitement you'll feel at arriving at 37 and 38 weeks will make you almost desperate to birth your baby! This excitement soon turns into peace, as you savor these last few days and dream of holding your baby soon. I only hope that this feeling remains until the baby's born.

Yup, that's what I'd tell pre-pregnant Käthe.

Our birth class!

1 comment:

  1. I love catching up with you and your thoughts through this blog!
    Love, Dad

    ReplyDelete