1. as far as clothing, invest only in things that you'll wear every single day and that make you feel really good about yourself. for me, it was a great pair of black and denim skinny jeans because i not only wore them every single day, but i felt incredibly comfortable in them, which, made me feel better about my expanding-by-the-day body. the only thing i would've done differently is to have bought a few good cotton dresses from brands like splendid or velvet. an easy black or grey cotton mid-length dress is easily dressed up or down and can even been worn after pregnancy. (this one and this one are easy choices.)
2. don't waste your money on expensive oils and creams which all claim to miraculously prevent stretch marks. it's a bunch of crap. i slathered myself in raw organic virgin coconut oil from trader joe's ($8 a bottle) and never got a single stretch mark (except on my girls when my milk came in. nothing could've prevented it- boobs aren't meant to stretch five cup sizes in twelve hours. kid you not.) i did, however, splurge on a great body scrub to use at the end of the day. my muscles ached by the time i got home from work and giving my limbs a good scrub always helped.
3. drink as much water as you can stand. i was a total camel and couldn't get enough of the stuff. and although it mostly has to do with genetics, i never got puffy and my skin glowed. i credit a lot of that to how much water i drank and avoiding any liquid that contained sugar or alternative sweeteners. toting around a cute water bottle doesn't hurt matters.
4. try to work out or walk every other day. at the very least, do some light stretch or yoga to get your blood circulating. i wasn't as good about it was i hope to be next time but when i felt up for it, i walked my pregnant ass off. i think staying active helped my body bounce back after pregnancy, too. (nursing did not so there's your warning. it took almost a year for me to put the weight on and almost exactly the same amount of time to take it off.)
5. try not to read too many books. the truth is that one can become incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of information out there. i found it helpful to only read one or two books that resonated with me while ignoring the books that discussed every single hypothetical situation that can occur during and after pregnancy. the result was much less anxiety and a generally laid back attitude.
6. towards the end of my second trimester, my stomach needed support. muscles were being pulled in odd directions and i was pretty uncomfortable. a sweet co-worker gave me her tummy tube to use and it make the world of difference. i wore it all day long with the exception of while taking a shower, of course. i recommend it to every single pregnant woman i come across.
7. be gentle with yourself. sleep when you need to sleep. relax when you need to relax. eat when your body tells you that it's hungry. your body knows what it's doing so just let it. don't try to fight the changes because they're going to happen regardless.
j brand mama j super skinny maternity jeans | bringing up bebé | real food for mother & baby | DL1961 angle ankle maternity skinny jeans | BKR glass water bottle | new chapter perfect prenatal vitamins | new chapter wholemega prenatal | laura mercier almond coconut milk body scrub | raw organic virgin coconut oil | tracy anderson the pregnancy project | the tummy tube |
1 comments:
Last pregnancy I didn't buy any maternity pants...next time around I might have to relent!!! Great ideas!!
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