Whether you’re about to welcome your first child to the home, or you are ready to introduce your fourth new family member, the ten months you’ll spend awaiting the arrival of your new addition can be quite exhilarating.
Fortunately, thousands of individuals and couples have been through this exciting journey before you, and many are willing to share their experiences to help you have the healthiest pregnancy possible. By knowing what to expect throughout your pregnancy, you’ll be better prepared for the ups and downs when expecting a child.
Understand the Effects of Hormones
Before you or your partner became pregnant, it is likely you experienced a broad range of powerful, baby-related emotions. You were probably excited about the prospect of growing your family. You may have also felt nervous or anxious about the IVF procedure while trying to conceive. At the same time, you may have been apprehensive about the challenges of becoming a parent.
Although these mixed emotions can easily keep any of us up at night, there is one upside: they’ll prepare you for the emotional roller coaster that is pregnancy. Throughout each trimester of your pregnancy, you will produce hormones that make your body a comfortable, safe, and healthy place for your baby to grow. These hormones, however, can be tough on many aspects of your life.
Stay Ahead
To stay healthy both mentally and physically during your pregnancy, it is important that you and your partner acknowledge these hormonal changes, and thoroughly understand how they can affect your relationship.
Read up on hormones early, and be prepared to recognize them when life gets stressful. If you and your partner are having a lot of disagreements, or you’re just feeling sad and unmotivated, acknowledging that it could be hormonal changes can help you better work through your emotions.
Even if you’re using a gestational carrier to start a family, knowing about hormones can help your family have a more successful pregnancy. By understanding that hormones can create difficult feelings, you’ll know how to help your gestational carrier stay mentally and physically healthy. The more you and your partner stay involved in the pregnancy, the stronger your bond with each other and your child will be.
Nutrition
It is important to remember that while you are pregnant, how you eat impacts your baby. This means a well-balanced diet is crucial while you are pregnant. The nutrients you take in will help ensure your child does things like develop healthy teeth and bones, and can also help reduce the risk of neural tube birth defects.
While the adage says you are eating for two during pregnancy, the reality is that you only need to consume about 300 calories more daily to support a healthy pregnancy. Focusing on consuming these calories from protein, calcium, iron, and folic acid rich sources ensures your baby is getting exactly what they need. If you are using a gestational carrier, offering to make home-cooked meals is an excellent way to enhance your relationship during the pregnancy while helping her stay healthy.
Look ahead
If you are pregnant or are the parent of a young child, it is important to actively minimize stress. Stress can contribute to unhealthy pregnancies, and can be detrimental to developing minds. If your pregnancy has you feeling stressed, remember all the exciting milestones you have to look forward to after your baby is born. The next ten months may be tough on your body, and at times your spirit, but take a look at your growing belly and think of all the great things to come.
As you and your partner embark on the exciting journey called parenthood, you’ll find that it is rarely easy – and this is just the beginning! Just remember that you are not alone, so start with a good attitude, reduce your stress levels, and do all you can to support a healthy pregnancy. Do this, and you’ll look forward to your pregnancy with excitement rather than apprehension.
