5 Things I’m Doing Differently This Pregnancy
We’ve reached the 20-week mark! Yah! I know everyone says time flies the second time around but so far that hasn’t been the case. Not saying that’s a bad thing! But I’ve just been reminded that pregnancy is long!
With every week that passes I’m more and more grateful for the tremendous gift of carrying another child. Yes, there are many changes that are less than ideal. But the gift of another life wiggling and kicking in my womb is truly breathtaking.
With this pregnancy came many unexpected though. We had a little trouble getting pregnant and once I was pregnant I had dangerously low progesterone that required me to get on supplementation right away. I’ve had to change my diet drastically to maintain healthy levels of nutrition to keep the baby and have altered other things in this pregnancy verses my pregnancy with Eric.
Here’s what I’m doing differently!
1. Stopped Eating Sugar
” Oh, that’s nice.” I would think when I heard people say when they told me they don’t eat sugar. I’m sure your a miserable person to be around and you cry into your pillow at night. But sitting across from a medical professional and having them tell you ” You’re going to get gestational diabetes if you don’t stop eating sugar” is a very sobering experience. My nutritionist has been an absolute God-sent in so many ways and has been such a massive support to me throughout this pregnancy. So no sugar for me. No tropical fruits, dried fruits, maple syrup, honey, bananas. Nothing. ( Side note- this has not helped keep weight gain under control! LOL!)
2. Added Zinc
Zinc was a completely foreign nutrient to me 5 months ago. Now, it is one of the most vital nutrients for me to consume to help me maintain this pregnancy. Low zinc levels often lead to low pregesterone and can cause so many other symptoms. So I have added multiple forms of supplementation for Zinc as well as increased my food sources such as beans, red meat, and seafood!
3. Opted Out of an Ultrasound
We found out the gender of this baby ( still haven’t announced it publically yet!) with blood work instead of an ultrasound. We had an ultrasound with Eric and it was so much fun! But since we already knew the gender at 10 weeks we’ve just opted out for now unless a reason comes up for one. I’ve also read and heard from midwives that there seems to be some controversy on the safety of ultrasounds ( especially early ones via vaginal) for the baby. I don’t really know what I think about them or what my solid conclusion on them is, but until then I think we’ll just opt-out.
4. Regularly Seeing a Chiropractor
This was something I never really did with Eric. I had maybe 2 adjustments with Eric toward the end of my pregnancy when my back pain got really bad and ultimately it didn’t really make much of a difference in my opinion. This time around we have found an amazing chiropractor that my whole family loves and uses and I’m seeing them regularly and so far I have minimal to no discomfort or pain.
5. Strengthening my Core Muscles
Exercises and training your core muscles may seem counter-intuitive during pregnancy but let me tell you when you go to push that baby out of you, you are thankful for every ounce of core strength you have! Not only does good core connection and engagement help improve the effectiveness of your pushing it also helps tremendously with any lower back aches and pains. I’ve been loving this core workout on youtube!
Until Next Time,
-Carrie 