7 Best Ways to Take Good Care of Yourself During Pregnancy

Picture 1: Eating 5 portions of fruits such as bananas is a good way to take good care of yourself during pregnancy

Finally, you are about to start your family. Congratulations for being pregnant!

Yes, you’ve had a talk with your doctor or midwife. But as an African proverb says, “Preparing soup with a lot of meat does not make the soup taste any worse.”

So, in this article, I want to give you more pregnancy tips and info to help you take care of yourself during pregnancy and what to do to ensure that you have a healthy pregnancy so that you can give birth to the next George Clooney or the next Michael Jordan.

Now, here are the things you must do.

1.    Food

Figure 1: Eat a lot of carbs to help give you energy

Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet will help to keep you healthy and strong, and that will increase the chances that you will give birth to a healthy baby.

Carbohydrates

The World Health Organization recommends that to get the energy that she needs, a pregnant woman should eat these foods daily:

• At least 6 slices of bread; or
• about 4 or 5 cups of cooked pasta; or
• at least 4 cups of rice or oatmeal; or
• about 9 cups of dry cereal; or
• at least 600g of potato (6 medium-sized potatoes).

Fruits and Veggies

Eat at least 5 portions of fruits or veggies every day. Fruits and veggies are packed with fiber, which will stimulate your gut and make it easy for you to defecate without straining.

When you can move your bowels without straining, it will help you to avoid hemorrhoids, or the development of varicose veins in the anus, which affects some pregnant women.

Fish

Do your best to eat at least two portions of oily fish, such as salmon, every week. Oily fish is packed with omega-3 fatty acids, which will help to keep your heat working well.

Additionally, eat catfish and tuna, and avoid swordfish, shark, and king mackerel because they contain a lot of mercury, a chemical that can poison your body.

The FDA recommends that pregnant women eat up to 12 ounces of fish in a week.  

Fatty Foods And Sugary Foods

Reduce your consumption of cream, chocolate, crisps, pastries, sodas, soft drinks and other foods that contain a lot of fat and/or sugar.

These foods will increase the amount of cholesterol in your blood. That can increase the likelihood that you will put on weight, which can increase the risk that you may get pregnancy –induced hypertension, a condition that can be fatal.

2.    Limit Your Caffeine Consumption

According to Steven Meredith of John Hopkins University School of Medicine, caffeine is a drug. It can increase your anxiety and make it difficult for you to sleep soundly at night.
Moreover, it can increase the levels of sugar in your blood  and increase the risk that you will get diabetes.

So, limit the amount of caffeine you consume. The Food Standard Agency in the UK recommends that a pregnant woman should drink no more than 200 mg of caffeine a day. That is equivalent to

• four cups of coffee;  
• two mugs of coffee;
• two cans of energy drink; 
• four  50g bars of plain chocolate; or
• eight 50g bars of milk chocolate.

Figure 2: Hypertension cases in pregnant women in the US  increased between 1993 and 2014. Smoking is one of the risk factors for hypertension. 

3.    Don’t Smoke

Research has established a link between smoking and heart disease. Smoking can increase your risk of developing heart disease. Furthermore, smoking can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as getting hypertension.

Smoking also has implication for the health of your baby. Smoking can reduce the amount of oxygen that your blood will supply to your baby. Consequently, your baby will find it difficult to breathe.

So stop smoking during this period, if you are a smoker. And if it is hard for you to stop, you may use these tips to help you stop smoking.

Figure 3: Pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia (problems with the liver, kidneys etc), and eclampsia (seizures during pregnancy), increased substantially between 1993 and 2014.

4.    Don’t Drink Alcohol

Drinking alcohol can cloud your judgment. Consequently, you may make mistakes that can make you have accidents at home (falls), which can make you suffer injuries, and which can expose your baby to harm.

Furthermore, according to Professor Derek Llewelyn, an Obstetrician/ Gynecologist, women who drink more than three standard drinks of alcohol a day (or 30g a day) may give birth to babies which are smaller than expected, or they may give birth to babies which are mentally retarded.

The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence(NICE) also cautions pregnant women against drinking alcohol in the first trimester of pregnancy because it can increase their risk of having a miscarriage.

5.    Do Prenatal Exercises Regularly

Prenatal exercises can help you in these five ways:

1.       It will help to boost the strength of your heart so that your heart can pump oxygen more efficiently to all your body organs for you to stay healthy and fit.

2.       It can help to increase your awareness of your body.

3.       It can help to increase the flexibility of your muscles and your joints so that you will not suffer body aches often.

4.       Exercising can help you to reduce some of the discomforts of pregnancy such as backache and listlessness.

5.       It will help you to burn calories so that you can manage your weight.

Exercise Precautions You Must Observe

However, when you exercise, ensure that you do not exercise until your body heats up because an elevated body temperature can increase your risk of having a miscarriage.

Additionally, don’t exercise to the point of exhaustion. Obstetricians assert that in early pregnancy do aerobic exercises for about 15 minutes three times in a week is good enough to keep you healthy and strong.

You may increase it to 30 minutes of exercise, four times in a week, if there are no complications, and if your doctor feels you can do more exercise.  

6.    Wear Gloves When Handling Your Cat’s Poop

Avoid getting rid of your cat’s poop yourself. This is because the feces of cats contain a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, which can causes toxoplasmosis. So, make your other children or your hubby dispose your cat’s poop.

If you live alone and have no other choice, ensure that you protect your hands with gloves before you get rid of the poop.

Figure 4: Quick Fact. Deep vein thrombosis rates dropped between 1993 and 2014

7.    Move Your Legs Often When You Travel

If you can, avoid travelling long distances in the last three months of your pregnancy. That’s because taking long journeys at this time can increase the risk that you may develop deep vein thrombosis (DVT or blood clots). Blood clots can increase you risk of getting a heart attack or having a stroke.

If you have no choice but to travel in the last trimester of your pregnancy, make sure you drink a lot of water during the journey to ensure your body stays well hydrated.

Furthermore, whilst in the plane, train, or car

• move your legs every 10 minutes to improve circulation;
• alternatively stretch and flex your legs at the knees every 10 minutes;
• flex your ankles for one minute every 10 minutes; or
• alternatively lift your feet off the ground and lower it every 5 minutes.

In Wrapping Up…

To take good care of yourself during pregnancy so that you can stay healthy, eat about 5 cups of pasta each day, reduce your consumption of cakes and jellies, and drink at most four cups of coffee. Furthermore, avoid alcohol and smoking altogether.

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