Pregnancy self care

I have had many stressful hurdles to jump through during my pregnancy. Thankfully none of these hurdles have been related to the development of my little girl but the effects have no doubt affected her and that is something I am very conscious of.

I’m currently 36 weeks pregnant and during my pregnancy I have had to deal with all kinds of stress.

Physical stress from constant colds in my second trimester and right now with this horrible, painful cough I have. Not to mention moving house when I was 32 weeks pregnant (and apparently this is something a lot of pregnancy women do!)

Emotional stress from relationship strains and issues with my husband who had to change his antidepressant prescription, to just dealing with hormones. There was one day I was changing the bed sheets but put the doona cover on the wrong way and just sat in a heap crying into all the sheets!

Mental stress from a restructure at work that started with a change in desk before a change in my role which is going to change again while I am on maternity leave. And financial worries – that moment I put my maternity leave in with work was scary because it meant we were going be down to one income very soon.

Throughout all of this the wellbeing of my growing bub has been my priority. And because she is in the comfort of my womb that has actually meant that my priority is myself.

How often do we actually make ourselves a priority? Put ourselves first for a change. And not feel guilty or selfish for doing so?

Self care has been an important part of my daily routine since I was suffering with adrenal fatigue last year. I made changes to my mindset (goodbye control freak) and starting loving myself. I got out in nature more often, enjoyed the sunshine, got into yoga and tried meditation.

With all the stresses I have dealt with in my pregnancy I knew I needed to keep my stress levels down. And this meant upping my self care game.

Baths
Regular Epsom salt baths to relax and recover. After a Thermomix demo I always made sure I had an Epsom salt bath or at the very least an Epsom salt foot bath. And after the HBF run I used the Lush Big Blue bath bomb which was so amazing!

Affirmations
I have affirmations for different areas in my life – relationship, career and of course baby. Kathy from Whole Health and Wellbeing helped me with my first baby one which was:

I loved saying this affirmation out loud as I rubbed Sukin Wellbeing Oil on my bump. It felt like a great bonding moment. If you want help coming up with affirmations Kathy also gave me this great link with pregnancy affirmations which should help you come up with your own :)

Meditation
I still haven’t made meditation a part of my daily routine but I have started the relaxation technique of ‘letting go’ thanks to this book Mediation for Motherhood. And now that I am officially on maternity leave and have almost finished settling into the new house I can make meditation part of my morning practice. I am even downloading a new app as I write this. The team that developed smilingmind have released a new app called Mind the Bump which has different practices depending on what stage of pregnancy or post birth you are at. I can’t wait to start using it!

Sleep

During my first trimester I embraced napping and during my second trimester I bought a Snoogle (which my cat loved more than me!) to help me get comfy with my growing bump. I was expecting the fatigue to hit again in the third trimester but instead discovered the joys of pregnancy insomnia! While I was still working full time all I could do for now is make sure I go to bed early and try to catch a few extra zzz’s on the weekend. It didn’t really happen and some nights were worse than others. There were even 2 nights where I had restless legs which really compounds the frustration! All I could do was get up and walk around the bed, or make a snack to eat, or try reading.

Chiro
Seeing Kirsty on a fortnightly basis at A Labour of Love has helped with lower back and hip joint pains. And I have finally stopped cracking my neck! Kirsty is so lovely and uses a range of techniques that not only align my body but also help give bubs room. I got to that stage where we were going to track the fetal position so she can try things if bubs ends up in breech position. At my midwife appointment earlier this week I was happy to find out that bubs is head down but she’s posterior – spine to spine. This means a long and painful delivery. So I am glad I am seeing Kirsty on Monday to see what she can do plus I have so many tips from Gaby’s Labour of Love book and  Childbirth Education workbook to try and get baby girl to roll over.

Yoga
Yoga is about all the exercise I do these days and it is a great way to unwind at the end of the work day. I signed up to a 6 week pregnancy yoga course at Barefoot Babes Yoga in Manning and loved learning different stretches and moves to modify my yoga practice. The best thing with the course was the discussion time afterwards and the info sheets Hana would email us after class. Hana also had a library of pregnancy books and DVDs we could borrow on a weekly basis. This was an absolute goldmine!

Reading
I love reading but actually haven’t read a book just for fun in a long time. I was reading lots of personal development books and now I’m reading books about pregnancy and labour. Not only have I found this empowering it also gives me a bed time activity to help switch off instead of watching TV or scrolling through social media on my phone which just keeps my brain stimulated.

Journaling
As much as I love blogging and writing there are some things that are private. I love this pregnancy journal and the process of writing a weekly update to my little girl has been good for my soul. I hope she loves it as much as I have loved writing it.

Pregnancy Massage
My friend Donna from Halcyon Massage Therapy has started doing pregnancy massage and asked me to be her guinea pig for her assessment. I love helping people practice their skills and who can say no to a massage?! I did have visions of a massage table with a hold cut out for my bump so I could finally lie on my front but that wasn’t the case. I lay on my side with lots of pillows and towels to prop me up and keep my body at a 90 degree angle while Donna worked her magic. Remember that insomnia I mentioned earlier? I slept like a baby that night! Unfortunately that didn’t last long and I didn’t have my second appointment until earlier this week and it was just as heavenly. I definitely need to book in again before Baby Q arrives!

So there you have it. All the things I have trying to practice self care during my pregnancy. With less than 4 weeks to go I now have the time to relax and rest up and will make self care my priority to hopefully keep me as calm and well rested as possible for the birth and life changing arrival of my baby girl.

If you have found any of these self care tips useful I would love to know. Please comment below. And if you have any other tips please let me know xx

My Healthy July

I can’t believe we are half way through the year! I’m still working on my New Year’s resolutions. Some of which I didn’t even start. My priorities shifted and I let go of them. What I didn’t mean to do was put on more weight than I started the year with. There are many contributing factors for this, the main one being my sugar addiction.

I have learnt that when I am emotional, tired or stressed I turn to chocolate and other comfort foods. A week before my period is due I have uncontrollable cravings for chocolate. Being aware of how and why I have these cravings is a good sign. It would be better if I used this knowledge to stop eating sugar but usually the craving is that bad that I will justify it to myself that I do need it. Then I feel guilty for giving in because it wasn’t worth it. Does this sound like you as well?

So what is going on inside this vicious sugar cycle? Well for me it’s all about hormones – insulin and cortisol to be exact. All the food we eat (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) is broken down during digestion into proteins, micronutrients and glucose. The body uses glucose as its basic fuel which is carried by the blood stream into cells. The pancreas makes and releases insulin in response to increases in blood glucose. It’s job is to restore glucose levels to normal by facilitating the transport of blood glucose into muscle and fat cells. Insulin is also often called the ‘storage hormone’ because it promotes the storage of protein, fat and carbohydrate. Insulin can store nutrients for later use and it can stop the body from breaking down protein, fat and carbs for fuel. This means insulin can stop your body from burning fat and at the same time encourage the storage of fat.

Happiness in the eye of the beholder

2014 wasn’t the best year for many people I know, myself included. I was not happy with where I was at and regretting many choices I had made. I managed to move past my resentments and started making changes and choices for a better 2015. I just re-read my New Year, New You blog that I posted in January and it’s funny that I’m not doing all the things I intended to. I’m not saying that in a bad way. My priorities have shifted. My intentions have changed with each lesson I have learnt so far this year. I still can’t believe we are already half way through this year!

While I was sick last month I felt really flat and started feeling depressed. This brought up past feelings of resentment and questioning the choices that were made. I am dealing with stress due to my current circumstances and while I thought I was managing it, it was obvious I wasn’t when my body gave up. My circumstances aren’t going to change anytime soon but they are on the path to improving so I just have to keep moving forward. The struggle is trying to maintain a positive mindset and managing stress levels. And that is why I just love this print I downloaded from The Daily Guru because it is so perfect for me right here, right now!