Ways to prevent and/or manage pregnancy discomfort

We all know the pregnant body goes through some MAJOR changes, right? Well, duh. When I'm at the doctor's office every week now, I tend to just stare at the two posters in front of me... one showing a non-pregnant body and it's internal organs and things, and the other showing a full-term baby inside. Let me tell you, the one with the large infant inside looks all kinds of messed up! Organs are shoved around and squished, your spine is bent all out of whack, and it just makes perfect sense as to why I feel the way I feel.

BUT also let me say, that I actually feel pretty darn good most days, all things considered. Yes, my bladder is being sat upon by another human and my stomach only holds about 3 bites worth before I'm dying, but my body feels strong, and I barely waddle! (Promise!) Call this pride, but I think you can tell what kind of shape a pregnant woman is in-- for the most part-- by how she carries her belly. For example, about a year and a half ago, I was doing a demo in a Publix for my stepdad's company, and I noticed a woman grocery shopping who was very, very pregnant. I remember thinking she looked like she could just have a basketball under her shirt for as easy as she made carrying that belly look. She had to be in her 9th month or so, but I just remember being shocked at not seeing her trudge around, holding her back, with that miserable look on her face that so many of us carry around once we're ready to evict this tiny person. She had visible muscle on her arms and shoulders, so I could only assume she was active and intentional about her body. She just made pregnancy LOOK easy, and that clued me in that it was possible to be strong and pregnant, not just miserable. Side note: my sister also made pregnancy look like a breeze, but I swear her belly barely EVER popped out, so she is an anomaly in my eyes!

So based on my experience, I'd love to share what I think has helped me prevent some discomforts and what has worked for me when dealing with the ones that do strike. Some of these are important to pay attention to and work on before you ever get pregnant, just to make things easier.

Before getting pregnant:

Once pregnant, there's all sorts of factors that could physically affect you-- morning sickness, dehydration, fatigue, etc.-- so let's focus first on the things you should tackle pre-embryo.

1. Focus and develop functional core and back strength. This does not mean do 1000 crunches everyday. Your core's purpose in your body is to stabilize. If you're standing on one foot, your core is activated and helping you to balance. For this reason, any exercise that requires stability is good for and is working your core. Yes, you can work your core with resistance and contraction-based moves, but it is best to focus on what a muscle's primary job is. I.e. planks trump crunches all day. Having a strong core and back (core technically entails your lower back) sets your body up for holding that pregnant belly in... even though most women spend half their pregnancy wishing for that beautiful belly, it's better for your back if it isn't out of muscular control.

2. Be in some sort of decent cardiovascular shape. Whether you enjoy running, spinning, swimming, HIIT sprints, jump roping, speed walking, or Shakira-style belly dancing, you want to be able to maintain a moderate level of exercise for 20+ minutes. Your heart grows during pregnancy because of increased blood volume, so you want your heart to be as strong as possible before getting pregnant so that it can better manage the extra liters it'll be pumping through you to baby. Pregnancy-induced hypertension is pretty common and is probably pretty avoidable in a lot of cases, so do what you can for your ticker and blood pressure ahead of time. This will also be a huge factor in the type of exercise you'll feel comfortable doing once you are pregnant. Considering I was in marathon training-- pretty much the end of it-- when I got pregnant, I was able to maintain a high volume of running for a knocked-up lady. I wouldn't recommend that a non-runner suddenly start running, although it's never to late to start a fitness regimen, even during pregnancy.

3. Go ahead and start taking a prenatal and fish oil. I'll do a different post on my supplementation, but a prenatal is really just a multivitamin. Yes, a multivitamin makes your pee more expensive, but it ALSO fills in nutritional gaps. These nutritional gaps are much more important to think about when you're trying to conceive a human! A human whose neural tube will possibly be completely formed before you even know it's in there. That early neural tube formation is the reason you want the B vitamins in a prenatal before you conceive. Plus B6 and magnesium can help with morning sickness, so maybe your first indication that you're expecting won't be rushing to the toilet with your hand over your mouth.

During pregnancy:

Once you know you're expecting, there's all sorts of things you can do to continue to prevent the potentially-looming discomforts, and of course there are some great ways to manage them once/if they do hit ya.

1. Keep constant focus on your posture. Ok, maybe not CONSTANT cause you've got plenty of other things to think about, but be in the habit of checking yourself throughout the day. Early on, do you find that you're maybe enhancing that sway back a little to try to look pregnant? Look, I get it, I spent the first 22+ weeks wishing I looked pregnant and not just bloated, but it's important you don't let that pelvis start to tilt until you just can't help it. Every so often, especially while running, I focus on tucking my tailbone under and drawing my belly button towards my spine. Currently, my belly button is so far from my spine that this is pretty impossible, but you want to be able to control that pelvic tilt. This comes down to core strength.

2. Continue working out normally through the first trimester. If you weren't active before, don't fear! Take up walking or swimming or elliptical for 10-15 minutes at a time, and gradually get used to getting your heart rate up and stretching those sessions out. Studies show that babies born to women who ran during pregnancy are better self-soothers and usually sleep through the night sooner, and it's thought that the adaptions in the womb of their heart rates adjusting to mom's workout intensity is where those perks come from. If you were lifting weights prior to pregnancy, continue! I mean, I wouldn't recommend maxing out, but strength training can make such a huge difference in how effectively you can push baby out and preventing back pain. Once into the second trimester, especially 20ish weeks and beyond, modify moves that have you flat on your back. It's not that you CAN'T EVER get on your back, but it is possible that blood flow to the uterus and lower body are compromised if you stay on your back. I took this way too seriously and woke myself up pretty much every night stressing about finding myself sleeping on my back. Chill, baby's fine. This recommendation is relatively new but just a precaution.

3. Stay mobile throughout the day. There was a few weeks after we moved that I spent most of the morning on the couch because I was sleeping so poorly. This led me to not being as tired at night, and it fed a cycle of poor sleep. Now, don't get me wrong, my sleep is pretty poor most nights! But I find my body, especially my back, actually feel a lot better if I'm up and moving around most of the day. This probably differs person-to-person and depends on what your work/home life are like, but for me, mobility is huge for not getting stiff and uncomfortable.

4. Be on top of water intake! This one is such an annoying catch-22, but believe me, the benefits far outweigh how much you are going to pee. Just become best friends with the bathroom, and get over it. Eight servings of 8 ounces of water a day is not enough for ANYONE, much less a preggo. The updated recommendations are something like 96 ounces for women, and even more when knocked up! For lots of folks, this seems impossible. But if you're not filling up that thirst with sodas and juices, then really it's pretty easy to drink a lot of water. Since I'm up around 6, it is super easy for me to drink at least 1 liter-1.5 liters before 10 AM, and that's usually goal #1. If upping water is new to you, aim for 32 ounces before 10 AM. That gets you off to a really solid start. Water is crucial-- please don't make me do an entire post on how important water is. Seriously. Just drink it.

5. With your newfound love for water, your body also needs tons of electrolytes. No, this does not mean reach for the Gatorade. And no, not G2 either. If you are the least bit active during pregnancy and ever breaking a sweat, you need plenty of extra sodium. Don't go too light on the table salt while pregnant. Truly, your body needs it to keep up with the extra blood volume and to absorb the million ounces of water you're going to drink. If you just drink a bunch of water and not electrolytes, you're likely gonna feel pretty crumby and set yourself up for hyponatremia. Bad news bears. You want oodles of potassium and magnesium as well, and these two come in strong in my fave afternoon snack-- dates and almonds! I'm already a big almond eater, but later in the third trimester, I started having 6 dates every day alongside the almonds. Early in pregnancy, I'd just munch on a Lara bar (~2 dates/bar). My pre-bed snack or dessert is often a banana with peanut butter, and it packs some magnesium and potassium as well. Your electrolytes being in normal ranges can prevent leg cramps, lightheadedness and fatigue, and possibly restless legs, although I'm pretty sure they have no clue what really causes the dreaded restless legs.

6. If your back is achy, no worries, you've got lots of options! My favorite escape from an achy back has been the pool. I'm so lucky to live in a small townhouse complex with a pool that I usually have to myself. It is not unheard of for me to be out there 4-5 times a week, just listening to a podcast or puttering around in the water. The relief from gravity and Rhett's punches is phenomenal! I feel a little too large for the bathtub at this point, but if you have a decent-sized tub, this would serve you the same. Have you ever used Biofreeze? This stuff ROCKS. IcyHot does not do it for me, but man oh man, does Biofreeze permeate. It has a very strong menthol smell that gets my dogs to sneezing, but it feels so great on my back, too. Don't forget real ice as well. I have a long, slender ice pack that stretches all the way across my lower back, and that really knocks out a lot of discomfort as well. 20-30 minutes with an ice pack, and I'm usually a happy camper.

7. This one seems like an afterthought since I was pretty morning sickness free, but GINGER! I keep giant bottles of ginger capsules around for nausea or motion sickness anyways, but these are clutch. Approve it with your doc first, but yeah, so easy. I got my sister a ginger tea when she was pregnant, but the smell was too strong for her. They also make ginger candies that are great stomach soothers as well, if you like the taste.

That's all I got for now! (A novel, I know). Anything you would add?