11 Top Tips On What To Do And Not To Do During Pregnancy

After tying a knot with the person a woman loves, the next memorable yet awaiting moment is to get news of becoming a mother. No doubt, it’s the most beautiful event in every woman’s life when she is expecting a baby. But, there may be some unfortunate women who don’t enjoy these moments to the fullest and have to suffer a miscarriage.

Yes, pregnancy time needs a lot of care, attention, and caution. It requires people in the surroundings to take care of the mom-to-be so that she can remain healthy and give birth to a healthy child. If you are one of these women who faced a miscarriage and again blessed with the news of pregnancy, then you should be extra careful at each and every step of the entire 9-month period.

In order to sustain your pregnancy and ensure smooth delivery, you will need to leave some activities, avoid some foods and adopt a healthy lifestyle for the little one inside your womb.

Just after confirmation of your pregnancy, you should consult with a gynecologist and start taking different nutritious drinks and foods.
 

• Eat lots of fruit, veggies, low-fat or free-fat dairy products, and protein foods
• Take items with less saturated fats, sodium (salt) and added sugar
• Avoid starches and grains present in white bread, snacks, and cookies
• In case of sickness, eat whole-grain crackers or whole-grain toast

Pregnancy doesn’t require your body to take extra calories. All you have to do is to fulfill its regular diet intake according to each trimester.

• First trimester: No need to take extra calories for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy
• Second trimester: Increase calories to 340 calories in a day between 13 and 26 weeks
• Last trimester: Take 450 calories each day after 26 weeks of pregnancy

Other diet-related necessities include:

• Folic acid to prevent spine and brain issues in the baby
• Iodine and iron for better health of mother and baby
• Seafood: 8 to 12 ounces, particularly shellfish and fish

Being pregnant means that you cannot hide your emotional and physical changes any longer. Everything starts to become visible over time. When a fetus grows, your abdomen will also become prominent. Throughout your 40-week pregnancy, you will have to deal with numerous emotional and physical changes. So, make yourself prepared for everything accordingly.

The fetus starts to grow from the first month of pregnancy while it becomes noticeable in the 4^th month. This growth is responsible to bring actual physical changes in your body. It expands with the baby’s growth and goes down to the kidney area. It causes body organs to leave some of their spaces and adjust to a smaller one. It also leads to more urination, lower back pain, reduced appetite and decreased lung capacity.

Here, you should remember one thing that you cannot stop these physical changes with your body. The blood capacity and hormonal changes also increase during this period and therefore, your blood capacity may go higher between 25 to 40 percent in order to meet the blood requirements of the body’s vital organs. The baby also feeds on your body’s blood so be sure to maintain its level.

There is a common belief that emotional changes bring hormonal changes in the body. But when it comes to pregnancy, things are completely different.

You might be more attentive and focused towards the baby in your womb than the unborn fetus taking up the place in your body. It doesn’t matter when you are about to give birth, fetus always needs attention. Even, you have to care for it after delivery but obviously, a baby takes up all your attention and you just simply forget about it. This vindictive process may look nothing in the beginning but, you may suffer a lot of emotional changes. You may feel depressed after delivery.

So, what you have to do is to be careful about this situation during your pregnancy and keep in touch with an experienced obstetrician. Post-partum depression and other emotional changes are quite common during this 40-week phase and therefore, you should be taking the right steps at the right time.

Now that you are aware of pregnancy precautions, below are some tips you should always be concerned about:

The first three months of pregnancy involve lots of risks due to fetus development. Since the body is changing skeletal tissues, limbs, organs, and facial features, you may experience different fetus issues leading to serious birth defects. While you can’t have control over most of them, below are some risks you should pay attention to:

Around 20 percent of diagnosed pregnancies end up in miscarriage due to carelessness and improper nutrient intake. You should be really careful for the first 13 weeks and make sure your body doesn’t suffer chromosomal abnormalities. Although they are not preventable, you can give extra attention to your body in order to fight against its effects. Normally, a miscarriage is caused by a blighted ovum in which, the gestational sac and placenta grow but the embryo doesn’t develop. This abnormal condition is the result of illegal drugs alcohol intake and smoking.

Usually referred to ask pregnancy implanted outside the uterus. It occurs in 1 out of 100 pregnancies and commonly found in a fallopian tube while it could be implanted in the ovary, cervix or abdomen. Endometriosis, tubal ligation reversal, and pelvic inflammatory disease also increase the chances of ectopic pregnancy and therefore, you should monitor fetal disease in the uterus. The best way to keep a check over your condition is to go ultrasound.

Fetus growth can lead to birth defects from 8^th to 13^th weeks of pregnancy. Avoid exposure to hazardous substances like toxins, alcohol or drugs as they may cause serious birth defects like cytomegalovirus, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, rubella and occasional chicken pox. So, protect yourself!

During your pregnancy, don’t try to lift heavy weights or else your pelvis and back would strain. Negligence of this activity may increase the risk of prolapse, where uterus loses its place and slips into the vagina. In case of the need of lifting anything, keep it closed.

 Hot bathtub or sauna can be relaxing but, when you are pregnant, it increases the risk of infectious ailments and birth defects. Warm water temperature can leave adverse effects on your body.

A workout is good for maintaining good health but, there is no need to start new jogging or running routine after hearing your pregnancy news. The best you should do is to walk for half an hour or so and reduce your chances of getting into a problem.

Although there is some evidence about the benefits of massage and acupuncture during pregnancy, you should avoid it until your gynecologist recommend it. You can’t identify when is the right or wrong time to do it. So, never do it for the first three months of your pregnancy.

Just like massage, there are limited pieces of evidence allowing pregnant women to dye their hair. However, some studies mentioned the adverse effects of hair dye chemicals causing serious harm to the bodies. In case you still want to do that, wait till your 12 weeks are completed.

It is not safe to take alcohol in any way. You should avoid it while planning for a baby or breastfeeding as it can harm the baby in one way or the other.

The next thing to consider is to find out what food items are beneficial for your body. Considering the fact that your mercury level should remain in control, you can’t take all types of fishes during pregnancy. It’s necessary to figure out which kind of fish to eat.

• Catfish
• Herring
• Oyster
• Canned light tuna
• Cod
• Trout
• Tilapia
• Shrimp
• Salmon
• Shad

Other than that, here are a few food items you shouldn’t take during your 40-week pregnancy:
 

• Unpasteurized milk or juices
• Rare (undercooked) or raw (uncooked) shellfish or fish
• Raw or rare eggs, poultry or meat
• Soft cheese, like goat cheese, brie, feta
• Row sprout, specifically mung bean sprouts, radish, alfalfa, and clover
• Prepared salads like chicken, seafood or ham salad
• Hot dogs, deli meat, smoked seafood
• Avoid using sugars and caffeine in high quantity

Now that you are aware of everything to keep your pregnancy safe and healthy, you can plan a baby right away. Just be sure to enjoy every single moment with your partner.