Tips – Taking Care of Yourself During Pregnancy

Taking Care of Yourself During Pregnancy

This post is sponsored by ViaCord

I am a mother of 4 and what I have realized is that the healthier and happier I am, the better Mom I am.  It sounds obvious but it is not always easy to take care of yourself as a mother.  More than ever, I understand that how we feel both physically, mentally and emotionally really effect how we parent perhaps more than we’d like to admit.  In most other walks of life you can hide how you feel or how tired you may be but its not that easy to do when you want to be a really good parent.  However, being a parent, the one I know you want to be, takes lots of energy, focus, creativity and patience among many things.  Not to mention the fact that these beautiful eyes are starring back at you, looking at you as their role model and so it is important to be quite simply how you would want them to be as much as you can.  It would be nice if this taking care of yourself began before pregnancy but for most of us it really starts during pregnancy, when motherhood truly begins and when you are literally growing a baby that is affected by how you feel, what you eat and the things that you do on a level that will have effects for their whole life.  I am not trying to scare you but I do want to emphasize the importance of a healthy and happy mom for a happy baby.  You’ll hear it over and over because it’s true!

The simplest step to taking care of yourself is to only eat and drink the things you would be okay with your baby eating and drinking.

The next step is to appreciate just what an amazing, and not always easy, thing you are doing and be kind to yourself.

As you think about exercise, think about the act of labor and the energy you will want to have to give to your baby as they grow.  This type of energy comes from being active so exercise hopefully feels less of a chore and more a way to make yourself feel empowered and able to handle all the things your body will be doing.  Exercise can mean a lot of things to different people and it is important to do what is right for your body.  For some that may mean running but for others it may be yoga.  We get different things out of different activities and for many the thoughtfulness of yoga provides a holistic health that really helps prepare for the physical but also the mental challenges ahead.

As a mom, everyone will tell you that you will be selfless and your children will come first in a way that you probably can’t truly understand until you find out you are pregnant, or you feel your baby move for the first time or for some, when you finally get to hold your baby in your arms.  Every mother I know as they held their baby for the first time made a promise whether they realized it or not, to always protect and love this wonderful human being.  When I made this promise, at first I thought that meant being selfless and I think many women do, and with taking care of myself came guilt.  However, I have since learned that in order to keep that promise I must also take care of myself. So start in pregnancy, you are everything to your baby, take care of you to take care of them.

If you are looking for more information on prenatal yoga as an option for both physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, click here to check out a 3 part series on the topic.