How to cope with being pregnant
10 tips to relax in pregnancy
Tommy's PregnancyHub
It’s natural to get a bit stressed when you’re pregnant. Here are some ideas for how you can relax and look after your emotional wellbeing.
You’ll probably have a lot on your mind during pregnancy. Coping with your symptoms and changing lifestyle, as well as everyday life, can sometimes be overwhelming.
Your mental wellbeing in pregnancy is just as important as your physical health, so try to take care of your mind as well as your body. Here are ten tips to help you relax in pregnancy:
1. Take time out for yourself every day
Do something you enjoy that’s just for you. Take a warm bath, chill out to some music, close your eyes, gently massage your bump – whatever makes you feel peaceful.
2. Talk to someone you trust
Getting things off your chest and talking your worries through with an understanding and trustworthy friend, family member or work colleague can make all the difference. Talk about how you’re feeling.
3. Stay active every day
Exercise releases endorphins that will lift your mood. You don’t have to do aerobics classes or hit the gym. Just try to make staying active part of your everyday life. For example, you could go for a walk or do some office exercises. This can reduce stress and it’s good for your unborn baby, too. Find out more about exercises you can do when you’re pregnant.
4. Rest when you need to
It’s hard to feel cheerful if you’re exhausted and uncomfortable, so make sure you take time to rest when you can.
5. Ask for practical help from family or friends
Can they cook you a meal, help with the shopping, or look after your children? Family and friends are there to support you, so don't be afraid to ask for help.
6. Be realistic about how much you can do (whether at work, at home, or in your social life)
We are all be guilty of taking too much on for fear of letting someone down. Saying no can be tricky, but now you need to take care of yourself.
The people around you will understand if you need to say no.
7. Eat well
A balanced and varied diet will keep you healthy and help your baby grow and develop. Find out more about eating well in pregnancy here.
8. Be informed
If something’s worrying you, talk to your midwife or doctor about your options and where you can get support. You can talk to our midwives too! Join our Facebook page or email us at [email protected].
9. Meet other pregnant women or new parents at local groups or on online forums
Ask your midwife or children’s centre what’s available locally. Sharing your feelings with other people having similar experiences can help you feel less isolated.
10. Don’t believe the hype
It may seem like everyone else is happy and coping all the time, but everyone will be facing their own challenges. Lots of women feel low in pregnancy or after the birth, but a lot of people hide their real feelings, especially in public. Find out more about mental wellbeing in pregnancy.
When to get help
Feeling emotional during pregnancy is common because of hormone changes. But it’s important to ask for help if you are feeling sad more than you are feeling happy.
Talk to your midwife or GP about how you feel if you’re feeling low for more than a couple of weeks. They can help you find ways to look after your emotional health, including getting extra help and treatment if needed.
Review dates
Reviewed: 18 October 2018 | Next review: 18 October 2021
This content is currently being reviewed by our team. Updated information will be coming soon.
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Coping with an Unplanned Pregnancy | Hopeline PRC
You weren’t expecting this; the pregnancy test is positive. You’re feeling so many emotions all at once. Where should you go from here?
Did you know, half of all pregnancies are unexpected, so it is natural for many women to wonder how to cope with an unplanned pregnancy.
Like any big decision, it’s important to take time to process, accept, and decide what to do next.
Here are six steps that can help you cope with an unplanned pregnancy:
1. Acknowledge that you are in shock, and that’s okay
Unplanned pregnancy is shocking. It is not something you expected, planned for, or likely even thought about. It might take a few days for you to accept it, and that is okay. Give yourself time to process and take it in.
2. Allow yourself to be emotional
Let yourself feel the emotions as they come: anger, excitement, frustration, confusion, and all the others. Write down the emotions you experience, so that in a few days when the intensity has subsided, you can review them and figure out what you still feel about the pregnancy.
3. Face your doubts
Most women, whether their pregnancies are planned or unplanned, experience doubts about themselves and their ability to make a healthy pregnancy decision. It can be easy to let fears and doubts overwhelm you, but it is important to realize that those initial feelings are not enough to base your decision on.
Acknowledge those feelings, but don’t let fear make your choice for you. Remember, you do not have to make a decision right away.
4. Visualize the different options
Take a step beyond fear and visualize each of the options you have. Imagine yourself at home with your baby. Picture grocery shopping and the routine parts of each day.
If you choose abortion, what emotions do you think you’ll feel a week after the abortion, a month after, when you hold your first child? If you’re considering adoption, can you picture yourself going through the process? How would that make you feel? Each of these decisions are difficult in their own way. Reaching out to a trained options counselor may help you navigate through this process.
5. Don’t let finances be your top concern
Finances are important, but they shouldn’t be the only factor you base your pregnancy decision on. There is a lot of help available to you. Hopeline offers resources and referrals to help women and men facing pregnancy decisions.
6. Find non-judgmental support
People have many thoughts and feelings about an unplanned pregnancy. It’s important that you find people who will offer encouragement and help if you need it. If you aren’t sure where to start, Hopeline can help you with free and confidential support throughout your pregnancy.
Hopeline has been serving pregnant women with no-cost and confidential care for over 30 years. Our staff is experienced in helping each woman who walks through our doors to cope with an unplanned pregnancy. Schedule an appointment at Hopeline and let us help you through your next steps.
6 Psychological Problems to Solve
Books about pregnancy often present it as if you didn't even exist before conception, and life just started now. In fact, of course, you are not carrying a child in a vacuum, but in the midst of all that chaos that is called human life. But, despite all the accumulated experience, the emotional state during these months can literally change every second.
This is what many learn during pregnancy.
Vita Zorina
Tags:
Health
Pregnancy and childbirth
Books
Psychology of Personality
voice tips
GettyImages
1. How to lower the bar
Most women have an idea of what a mother should be like. For example, a happy life, with a house, a car, a job, yoga classes, a crowd of friends... and peace, only peace. But when you try to adapt to this ideal, you find that it does not work out very well. And most importantly - it is not necessary! The main thing is to live without substituting yourself into the standards invented by someone.
2. How not to forget about yourself
At the beginning of pregnancy, many people are more concerned about the health of the child inside than their own.
Nevertheless, thinking about yourself is very important, because if something goes wrong with you, it can also affect the child. An example is antidepressants, when a psychotherapist suggests lowering the dose, and you feel negative consequences - and the dose becomes the same. You have to choose what is best for both of you.
3. How not to scold yourself for everything
Pregnancy is sometimes compared to standing at the foot of Everest and about to climb to the top. You start to worry that you spend a lot of money, you live in a small apartment, you think a lot about all sorts of nonsense. But it is important to remember that pregnancy takes quite a lot of time, during which you can do a lot. And that you are not obliged to become an ideal in all respects at the time of the birth of a child, so you better relax!
4. How to find like-minded people
Many women find it helpful to communicate with those who are also expecting a baby.
And if they turned out to be, as they say, on the same wavelength, this communication can eventually develop into friendship. Even if you are not too contact, it does not hurt to try.
5. How to get to know yourself better
Before pregnancy, for example, you can be body positive or have a neutral attitude towards your body. And then many are surprised at how quickly and strongly the body changes. You can't deny these changes, so try to get used to them. Especially since it's temporary.
6. How not to be afraid of your emotions
Many pregnant women feel their moods change and there is nothing they can do about it. And you don't need to! During this period, hormones jump in such a way that, with all the desire, it is difficult to remain emotionally impenetrable. Give free rein to your emotions... and don't forget that soon everything will pass by itself.
5 life hacks to survive the cold
Reviewer Kovtun Tatiana Anatolievna
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September 15, 2021
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Ask accomplished mothers what time of the year is more comfortable to be pregnant, and you will not hear two identical answers.
Some believe that the ideal time for pregnancy is summer, while others feel hot in summer. Still others will say that it is most difficult for a pregnant woman to walk in winter, and the fourth will say that pregnancy is good in any weather. We are leaning towards the latter option.
It doesn’t matter what season the months of pregnancy fell on, it’s important to know the “life hacks” that will help you safely and comfortably carry your baby in one season or another.
Rules for comfortable wintering
Winter can create some difficulties for the expectant mother. In addition to the fact that you will have to additionally purchase warm clothes for pregnant women, there will also be a need to lace up your boots and overcome snowdrifts ... Additional difficulties are associated with weather conditions: heavy snowfalls, icy conditions, lack of sun ... How to cope with all this?
- One of the main problems in winter is the lack of sun and short daylight hours.
It's time to find something you love and enjoy yourself. If there are no contraindications, then after consulting a doctor, you can purchase a subscription to water aerobics for pregnant women. Start preparing your baby's dowry, including photo albums and hand-knitted booties and hats. - It can be hot and stuffy for a future mother. So we take the fashion from Japanese women and switch to layering, so that you can easily take off a couple of extra blouses indoors. Winter walks in good weather are a great pastime! Fresh frosty air works wonders. Just do not forget about a warm scarf and gloves.
- In winter, not only the weather changes, but also the diet, as the availability of seasonal vegetables and fruits decreases. Dried fruits can serve as an excellent alternative, as well as fruits that can be kept fresh: apples, carrots, beets. So we cook vinaigrette, bake apples with cinnamon and raisins - and enjoy.
However, do not forget about the recommendations of your doctor: if you need to limit the salt content in food, then do not get carried away with pickled tomatoes and cucumbers.
And one more thing: winter is not the time for diets, especially for an expectant mother, so do not forget about cottage cheese, meat, fish and other protein foods (unless your doctor recommended limiting protein in the diet).
- If in the summer it is rather difficult to refuse offers to go for a walk, referring to one's position, then in winter it is easier to do so. "There's sleet on the roads - I'd rather sit at home, you never know."
You can lie in bed for your own pleasure and read books about caring for a baby, raising independence and other literature for young parents. After the birth of the baby, you will have little time for this. And also - watch movies, listen to music, learn foreign languages, cross-stitch and do whatever your heart desires. - In the cold season, people especially want warmth in relationships. In addition, a “maternal dominant” is formed in pregnant women, which allows a woman to prepare for an important event in her life.
