First, congratulations on your pregnancy! You may be feeling a whole range of emotions right now, and that’s totally normal. One thing you might be feeling is some discomfort from all the changes that are happening in your body. It can get pretty uncomfortable at times (especially when you’re pregnant with multiples!), but there are things you can do to make yourself more comfortable. In this blog post, we’ll go over 7 common uncomfortable things that happen during pregnancy and what you can do about them!
1 MORNING SICKNESS DURING PREGNANCY
One of the first symptoms of being pregnant is morning sickness. The funny (or really, not so funny) thing about this symptom is that it can happen any time of day – including at night! My most nauseas times were always during the evening. Typically morning sickness should pass by the end of the first trimester, here are some tips below to help you make it through.
- Eat smaller meals or just snack throughout the day. Feeling too full can make the nausea worse.
- Use some peppermint oil. Peppermint is one of the things known to help with nausea, you can diffuse some in the air or even snack on some Junior Mints (my personal favorite choice!)
- Take a break. Sometimes the nausea is telling you that you’re doing too much, use this sign to get some extra and much needed rest.
- Munch on saltines. Remember when your mom would give you saltine crackers and Sprite when you were sick? Turns out that it actually works! They’re going to be your best friend.
- Keep drinking water. It’s so easy to get dehydrated, this is going to make things much worse not only for you but also for baby!
2 FATIGUE DURING PREGNANCY
Your body’s doing a lot when it grows and nurtures the human you’re carrying. You can’t help but feel tired, even though feeling lazy is frustrating especially with other kids to take care of. Luckily most pregnancy fatigue only last for a few weeks at the beginning and end – just make sure that before those two times pass by, your partner takes on more responsibility around the house! Here’s some additional things you can do to combat that fatigue.
- Get the rest you need. Your body is tired for a reason, try to get some extra shut eye when (or if!) you can.
- Keep exercising. I know it seems like you want to do the opposite, but even going for a 20 minute walk can give you a little more energy to make it through the day.
- Check your sleep habits – used to staying up late? Try going to bed a little early and making your room more sleep friendly.
- Let yourself be lazy. Getting pregnant when my other baby was only 6 months old wasn’t my best idea, sometimes you just have to lay on the couch and watch them play and that’s okay! They won’t remember this time anyways.
3 MOOD SWINGS DURING PREGNANCY
Here are some handy tips on how to handle these mood swings during pregnancy. For those who experience them, you’re not alone! Mood swings can happen suddenly and sadly all the way through your pregnancy-all thanks to a hormonal imbalance that will be eventually corrected after baby arrives.
- Talk to your spouse and family about what’s going on. Your family can be pretty understanding once they know you’re pregnant and all of the changes that are happening.
- If you’re feeling upset, take a break. It’s okay to admit that you need some time to calm down, go in another room and take a breather for 5 minutes.
- Make sure you’re keeping a healthy diet. I know you’ve already heard it, but what you eat can actually affect your mood. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water and keeping a healthy diet.
- Get a good night’s sleep. Sometimes easier said than done, I notice a dramatic change in my mood when I don’t get good sleep.
- Don’t forget to eat. Being hangry is a real thing, especially during pregnancy! Keep plenty of snacks on hand for when the hangriness strikes.
4 CONSTIPATION DURING PREGNANCY
Constipation during pregnancy is a very real thing that unfortunately happens while you’re pregnant. And it can make your already uncomfortable feelings even worse! Your hormones and weight gain are the main culprits for this, but luckily there’s some things you can do to avoid it.
- Drink even more water. During pregnancy you need even more liquids to help keep things flushing.
- Add more fiber to your diet. Guys, I know this is basic stuff but sometimes we need to be reminded of it, right?!
- Take a hike. Okay you don’t literally have to go hiking, just taking a walk around the block for at least 20-30 minutes every single day will make a HUGE difference!
- Ask your doctor for meds. Yes, you can actually take some mild laxatives during pregnancy. Make sure to check with your doctor before getting too antsy.
5 HEARTBURN DURING PREGNANCY
On top of everything else, now you have to deal with heartburn during pregnancy. Get pregnant they said … it’ll be fun they said … I don’t know who thought it was fun but at this point you’re feeling pretty miserable. Sometimes there’s no way to avoid the heartburn, but there are a few things you can try to make it less miserable.
- Eat smaller meals and SLOW! Easier said than done right, you just want to scarf down that pizza!
- Keep chugging that water. Again, slow. We’re not in a race here.
- Sleep with your head elevated. Heartburn seems to hit worse at nights, the only thing that gave me relief was sleeping with my head elevated.
- Eat these foods to help relieve heartburn: Bananas, melons, plain yogurt, gum, almond milk.
- Avoid processed, fast-food. This is the biggest culprit of heartburn. Remember to listen to your body, if you keep getting heartburn after eating a certain meal you may want to avoid it for the time being.
6 SLEEPING DURING PREGNANCY
I didn’t realize how uncomfortable you could be just trying to sleep! It was bad enough during the 2nd trimester when I had trouble getting comfortable in bed. During my 3rd, it got worse: by then, all of a sudden there were three people (your belly counts as 1 person at this point) sleeping on one queen sized mattress and nobody was sleeping with me trying to get comfortable all night. Sleeping can be tricky, but here are some tips for actually getting some ZZZ’s…
- Get a pregnancy pillow, now. This is the only way I can get comfortable sleeping in a bed.
- Use a fan. Pregnancy tends to make you feel like you’re having a heat stroke, a fan can make a world of difference.
- Take up residence on the couch. I finally gave up sleeping in a bed and took up residence on the couch, that way when you’re wide awake at 4am you can also turn on some Hulu.
- Take naps during the day. Getting your sleep is so important during pregnancy, this may be your only saving grace.
7 FEET SWELLING DURING PREGNANT
Sometimes during pregnancy you’re going to feel like a whale. When your feet start swelling is one of those times. Not only is it uncomfortable but you start having people look at you different and you know that all they want to do is tell you to drink more water. Unfortunately, water doesn’t always fix it. But some of these tips below can.
- Wear compression socks. I know you feel like you’re in your 80’s, but they seriously work.
- Keep moving throughout the day. The more I sat the more swollen I got, get up every half hour to hour and walk around to make sure your legs and feet stay circulated.
- Stay hydrated. If you’re not drinking water then this could definitely be contributing to the swelling.
- Elevate your feet when you can. Gravity is pushing everything down to your feet making them swell up.
These 7 common, uncomfortable symptoms are just the tip of the iceberg. There may be many more that you will feel during your pregnancy journey. Remember: it WILL end and in time you’ll feel back to normal again! That’s why people keep having kids – we forget how crappy our own experiences were because they become eclipsed by all the amazing joys like holding a sweet baby for the first time or teaching them something new every day!
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