During pregnancy, a lot of changes happen in a woman’s body. Right from the time you get pregnant, various things like morning sickness to increase in body weight and getting stretch marks and swelling.
All these changes happen to a woman’s body during the nine months of the pregnancy. These changes if not taken seriously causes a permanent effect on a woman’s body.
So, it is very important that a woman takes care of her body and mind during pregnancy to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. Here are some tips on how to take care of yourself during pregnancy.
Table of Contents
How To Take Care Of Yourself During Pregnancy
Prenatal visits
Prenatal visit to your gynecologist is highly necessary and very important. During the first prenatal visit, the doctor will check for the family history of any disease. The doctor will take your weight and take your blood pressure.
This will be done during every visit to the physician. During the first prenatal visit, the doctor will perform a pelvic exam to check the size of the uterus.
The urine and the blood tests are performed. The urine test is performed to check for the presence of sugar in the urine for gestational diabetes. The protein level in the urine also indicates high blood pressure or preeclampsia during pregnancy.
Sometimes during the pregnancy the doctor will also advise to go for a 3D color doppler test and genetic screening to know if there is any physical, mental or genetic defect in the developing fetus.
Healthy Diet
You should eat a healthy and balanced diet. You should make sure that the food you eat should be properly cooked. It should not be half cooked or parboiled. The half cooked food might give you gas or stomach ache.
If you eat meat and fish, then make sure that you do not eat more than two servings of fish per week. Certain fishes like mackerel, tile fish, shark, etc have high levels of mercury and you should try and avoid these fish.
You should eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and a minimum of four servings of dairy products. This will help maintain the calcium needs of you and your baby. You should have only one to two cups of coffee or tea per day.
You should also take your prenatal vitamins and folic acid tablets regularly and without fail. These tablets are given to maintain the vitamins and folic acid content in your body and helps in preventing any long term defects in your body as well as your fetus.
Exercise
Exercising provides a great momentum to our body and blood vessels. Exercising during pregnancy is very important. If you did not exercise before then you should start with walking. Start with about 10 minutes of walking and then increase slowly to about half an hour of walk twice a day.
You can also start with yoga classes and exercises. Yoga is a very good form of exercise during pregnancy. You can also join prenatal classes. Their they provide exercise classes and give you guidance on your diet and the process of birthing and how to handle it.
Massage oils, body butter creams, and bath washes
You can apply massage oil after the shower to reduce itching and stretch marks due to the protruding belly. You can also use body butter after a shower. The body butter is very soothing and decreases stretch marks and itching. It also prevents the skin from getting dry.
Companies like The Moms Co and Himalaya provide good quality massage oils, body butter creams, and bath washes.
These are the few ways which are necessary to follow to take care of your own body during pregnancy. Remember in order to bring a healthy baby into this world you also need to be healthy and happy.