Tired of the ‘usual’ pregnancy narrative? The incessant dogma around pregnancy mood swings, exhaustion, and incessant aches that seem to continue unto eternity? You may be wondering whether being pregnant can be fun. The answer is, yes it can! Pregnancy can be a time of wonder, enjoyment, and peace. Here’s how you can make the most of this spectacular time.
Of its own, a plus size pregnancy can present a few hurdles – the drastic hormonal changes, morning sickness and the gradual changes to your body can be a tad overwhelming. Being plus size and pregnant means that you will be carrying around a lot more pounds for the consecutive months. This may cause additional strain onto your skeleton frame, thus hampering ease of movement. However, the challenges cannot surmount the sheer joy and honor of bringing someone into the world and thus the process should be celebrated and not tolerated. The realization and acceptance that during this period things will not continue as normal, is the first and most important step in the journey to enjoying your pregnancy days.
Often, soon-to-be mothers obsess over the wellbeing of their child. Are they growing healthily? Are they under-weight? Should they be kicking by now? Is their heart rate okay? On and on the questions go. What most forget is that pregnancy is also a time to take care of and adorn themselves. Carrying a pregnancy to full term is no small feat and neither is delivery or raising a child. Therefore, equal effort should be expended in making this time preparatory, meaningful, wonderful and enriching for both you and the child in your womb.
Here are 10 ways to make your plus size pregnancy great
1. Custom – Make your Pregnancy Diet
Having the right diet is crucial to any successful and stress-free pregnancy period. The right diet facilitates the following:
- Body growth and repair processes
- The adaptability of the body – your skin and muscles can stretch to accommodate and adapt to the presence of a child in the womb
- Minimizes aches, pains and muscle cramps
- Sustains your energy level
- Regulates drastic hormonal imbalance
- Facilitates the growth and healthy development of your child.
- Easier body recovery after delivery
During pregnancy, your eating patterns, cravings and appetites are bound to drastically change. It is no surprise that continuing with your usual diet regimen will be bound to fail. Additionally, your body will have new nutritional demands or require a higher or lower intake of minerals and nutrients. It is prudent to tailor-make your ‘pregnancy diet’ to factor in your nutritional needs and adequately provide for them, round the clock. Preferably, consult your medical doctor on the same. Your new pregnancy diet should be fun and include:
- Multiple food options– this helps to minimize boredom and make things fun when it comes to mealtime.
- Multiple eating times – you cannot just stick to the 3 main meals a day, also plan to have 3 to four healthy snacks that are properly spaced out throughout your day.
- Flexibility – you can have room to revise or alter your meal plan every 1 or 2 months
- Occasionally, treat yourself to the foods that you love– if you are a sweet tooth you can mark out a day or two in a month to indulge your taste buds.
Ideally, during pregnancy, your body requires more proteins and fats. Protein is essential to the development of your child and fats help give you the requisite energy to move around and attend to your day to day activities. Both protein and fats have high satiety properties which help you feel fuller for longer. This will help control your multiple cravings and enable you to maintain a healthy diet throughout your pregnancy.
2. Indulge in the Exercises You Love
Exercise need not be strenuous or difficult to be effective. You don’t need weights or the gym to get into it! You can work out from the comfort of your home, using only your body weight and get the desired results. Staying fit by continuously exercising is paramount to help you build or maintain muscle tone. The benefits of exercise are innumerable.
For starters, it helps you get off the couch and be active both mentally and physically. Secondly, it helps build your strength and resilience thus enabling you to easily attend to your basic house chores, gardening and other responsibilities. Thirdly, it helps you develop the right posture which enables you to walk and sit upright. This is particularly of help as it minimizes the pressure you put on your tummy when you slump, which can be unhealthy for the growth of your child. Lastly but most importantly, it adapts and trains your muscles thus reducing muscle aches and also labour pains when you go into delivery.
Incorporate the exercises you love into your fitness plan. If you love being outdoors, you can maximize your afternoon or evening walks for fitness gains. If you love swimming or bike riding, you can do that as well. Make sure the exercises are not strenuous as this may be counterproductive. Always seek the opinion of a fitness expert or doctor if you are not sure of a particular exercise.
In choosing an appropriate training program, pick those that are tailor-made for pregnant women to acquire additional perks that you can enjoy. A majority of pregnancy fitness training incorporates breathing and relaxation techniques. These movements and techniques can be practiced anywhere at any time of the day. They do come in handy when you go into labor
3. Love Yourself – a Lot
Loving yourself is highly subjective and dependent on your personal preference. You can choose to take yourself out for a movie, a massage, spa treat, or for some fine dining. Alternatively, you can stay at home and cook your favourite meals, watch your favourite TV show or read an interesting book.
To do this, you should intentionally carve out some ‘me time’ where you are away from the hustle and bustle of work, friends or family. During this time appreciate yourself. Be your biggest fan. Think of how far you have come since pregnancy, the changes you’ve made and encourage yourself to move forward with strength and determination.
Make it a habit to dress up – do your best makeup, put on your stylish clothes, have your hair done, and confidently strut your stuff – even on your usual errands to the grocery store. This will help you feel and look adorable, confident, and proud to be with the child. Wear clothing that is not too restrictive and which flatter your body. Whenever you can, always look cute. No pressure intended, the bottom line is, if it makes you feel good – wear it.
4. Listen to Your Body
Many times you may think you already know everything that you need to do when it comes to handling your body. However, it is important to always listen to what your body tells you. If you have some severe aches or feel nauseated, instead of forcing yourself to finish the exercise set, you can take a break and return to the same once you feel better. If you feel hungry – eat. If you feel tired – sleep. Don’t try to force your body to do something it doesn’t want to simply because – you have to.
This is not to say that you dine, exercise or relax only on impulse. Ideally, you should be guided by your regimen or daily schedule. However, you should maintain some level of flexibility and not be too hard on yourself when things don’t go as planned.
5. Ensure You have Quality Sleep Time
Having quality sleep can help lessen stress, anxiety, and relax your muscles. Your body is rejuvenated from a peaceful night rest and you wake up feeling energetic, well-rested, and charged for your day. It’s not the length of sleep that determines its quality but rather the practices before sleep time and incidentally your activities during the day. Advisably, sleep for 8 to 10 hours a day. If this is too much to do at a go, preferably, schedule some sleep hours for night time and squeeze in a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Come up with a personalized sleep time routine that best works for you. You can incorporate some stretches, deep breathing and cut back on the hours of watching TV and using your phone some hours before sleep time. For those who jerk out of their sleep in anxiety wondering if they switched off the TV, closed the door or kitchen tap, you can have some sort of checklist that you check off just before you go to bed. This will help you ascertain whether everything that needed to be done, is. It will also minimize any unnecessary interruptions as you sleep, by fellow family members requiring something. So check off your list whether you have placed the cereal bowls where your kids can find them, or that the laundry is folded and assigned to everyone’s respective rooms and the like.
6. Journal like a Pro!
Journaling is like therapy! It helps you appreciate your pregnancy journey better and become more self-aware. Whether it’s about how you feel, how your day was, what you are learning or the changes that you are experiencing, journaling helps you process your day to day life, come to terms with things, address particular emotions and sentiments.
Effective journaling can help you mitigate or altogether avoid stress. When you write about your experiences, you can see them for what they are and in some instances, you may notice you are just being overly anxious or that it is not such a ‘big’ deal as you had thought it to be.
7. Have a Strong Support System
Everyone will need some assistance at some point in time. Don’t feel like it’s a crime to ask for help every once in a while. Having friends, family or a partner who you can talk to and air out your concerns, fears, or even irrational sentiments can be soothing and comforting. Do not embark on your pregnancy journey alone – you may end up feeling like the whole world is on your shoulders! Have someone or people you can confide in, those who are positive and supportive enough, and those kind enough to pick up your late-night calls, give advice, and give you a shoulder to lean on.
8. Focus on being Whole
Not only are you to take care of your body but also your mental, emotional and physiological wellbeing. Avoid destructive habits. Habits such as weighing yourself or continuously teasing yourself because of the weight you gained are detrimental. Speak kindly and affectionately to yourself. Be more accepting of the changes in your body and seek to enjoy the ride. Interrogate your thoughts and feelings; only entertain that which profits you and not that which will drain you.
9. Plan to Succeed
As you start on your pregnancy journey, make the requisite plans. Set out your goals and aspirations. Preferably do this in the morning, when you are fresh out of bed and your day is about to begin. Take some time to outline what you would want to achieve professionally, relationally, or as a person. This will help give you a sense of purpose and initiative throughout your day. Say goodbye to boring long days that you spend in bed all day.
10. Make Time for Friends
Being expectant, especially when you are far along, may make you introverted. You may want to minimize outdoor activities, cut down on the workload, and just be around the house for the most part. This is normal. However, you should do your best to maintain a vibrant social life. This helps you to stop overly obsessing about the pregnancy and shift your attention to other matters. Make time for a girl’s day out, whether they be weekend visits or phone calls. Always make a point to maintain healthy relationships and communication with those closest to you.
This will also help them in feeling part and parcel of your pregnancy journey and the memories and laughter shared will be worthwhile.
Final Thoughts
When all is said and done, the most fundamental thing to do is invest in your personal wellbeing. Any investment to your body, mind, and emotions will always make handsome returns. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to all the things stated above, so be creative with how you plan your day, your meals, and also how you spend time with loved ones and yourself. Choose to enjoy this period, do not expect the worst but the very best. I hope this gives you vibrant expectations for this beautiful journey that lies ahead. Being pregnant can be fun!
