Pregnancy has been very interesting so far, and not entirely what I expected. To be honest, I was expecting the physical challenges to be the most difficult, but after the first trimester, it’s really been a major mental game. Physically, I feel pretty normal. Other than not being able to do certain workouts or bend forward, my body feels fairly normal, even if it doesn’t look it!
The mental challenges seem to come from a lot of outside forces. I talked about this a bit in my post on mom-shaming, but my greatest struggles have come from second-guessing and stressing out based on comments or judgment from others. It’s tough when you’re feeling all kinds of emotions and someone tells you that what you’re doing could be hurting your baby.
I’ve come to learn that it’s important to narrow the number of opinions you consider (I trust the advice of my doctor) and practice pregnancy self-care as much as possible.
Here are a few key elements of my pregnancy self-care routine.
+ Body Care // I’ve been using the HATCH Belly Oil to prevent stretch marks and the HATCH Down, Girl Lotion to soothe my sore muscles. I’ve only been using these products for a few weeks, but it feels good to be taking care of my body throughout this process.
+ Prenatal Massages // Before pregnancy, whenever I would get a massage I would ask for lots of pressure. You can’t really do that when you’re pregnant, but I’ve kind of come around to a more relaxing massage now! I also usually ask for the RMT to focus on my neck and shoulders, but it’s been nice to give my legs, back and arms some attention as well.
+ Leaning on my support system // Pregnancy would be way more difficult without my support system. While I tend to focus on advice from my doctor, I lean on Kirby, my immediate family and my best friends, Shayla and Meghan, for a lot of mental support. Kirby takes the brunt of the responsibility and talks me through all of my stresses and second-guessing. He’s been the absolute best partner throughout these first 25 weeks, and I can’t wait to see him become a dad.
+ Lots of hot showers // Hot showers have been my jam lately. Whenever my body hurts or my mind hurts, I just step into a hot shower for a little while. It’s peaceful and warm, and I feel like I can relax a bit. I definitely sing to Blob in the shower and I feel like I’m at the spa when I use my Nécessaire Body Wash.
There has been a learning curve to pregnancy self-care, but it really has become very important for me. As we get closer to meeting Blob and growing our family, I know it will be even more important.
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