Pregnancy anti-stress program

There are definitely so many women who handle stress well. They use it like an additional energy that lets them perform better. I am not sure whether they would have problems in their pregnancies, due to stress. Well, and I guess I am not among those. Stress stresses me.... :) . I can't take too much of it, but there are also situations where I'd say I am fine and others are stressed. So, whether you feel well or feel stressed seems to be a highly individual quality. Nevertheless, I think that some kind of stress relief is very important, like in extremely very important, for pregnant women. It cannot be good for her and her baby to feel tense or strained over prolonged periods of time. I haven't done any research on this, let's say it is a sort of gut feeling. Therefore, I have my list with ideas to relieve women with a baby bump from stress.

1.  Identify what stresses you. Otherwise you cannot get rid of it. Once it is identified, try to change something to reduce the problem.

2. Sleep it away. Easy for most women in certain periods of their pregnancy. I for one could have solved the problems of the world by sleeping two weeks in a row.

3. Take your time and relax. E.g. by declaring your day of cozy or by having a pleasantly warm bubble bath. But don't make it too hot. My doctor advised against hot baths.

4.  Talking about water, go swimming. I still do walking, but am not jogging any longer. Swimming has become a lovely alternative for me by now. Besides, the effect of moderate physical exercise is positive throughout. You can virtually work the stress away and afterwards feel like you have accomplished something, as well. 

5. Eat. ... Not for two, but healthy and take your time with that. I have had trouble with eating later in the evening during the first trimester, but that has changed. Haha, if I wanted to, I could eat all night now. According to the doc, several small meals a day are good. If you have morning sickness, eating little snacks might be easier too. Eating is not meant as a ventile for frustration. This is about good, healthy food, meant to nourish baby and you well. If you are in a hectic job and forget about eating because of that, baby will cry. Therefore, try to take your time and eat healthy. Avoid much sugar, if you can, btw. It can feed yeasts in the most unlikely places. Yes, there too.

6. Blog. Come on, I am not even close to using my blog here to its full pregnancy potential :). But since every now and then, blogging citizens of Smacking Bottom do vent online, I think this is a great way for pregnant citizens, to do the same. 

7. I have listened to my friends and Sara's recommendation of writing a journal about my pregnancy. In it I can write whatever I want to, hopefully baby will not have the impression that I am too focused on bodily functions, because I do use it to express my joys and sorrows there as well. I can recommend this to all expectant mothers. This is very personal, well, more like intimate and not meant for all to read, but for baby, when she is grown up.

8. Read a book, sew, draw, do something that relaxes you. Rumours are that sex could help to relax and forget what stresses you, at least for a while. :)

9. If the job is the problem, then you have a problem. As a housewife I don't have much of that problem anymore.  Well, and currently hubby doesn't even allow me to climb a ladder because I could fall, so my job is safe and not stressful. Maybe that will change when baby is there, though definitely not in this negative way.
So, what about  moms-to-be who have a job and an employer who is less understanding? I have no real idea, and definitely no advice. But since the stress will increase when your baby is born, you might consider all options for your job career now. Tricky, I know.

10. Paint pictures on your bump when it is big and round. I haven't done this yet with my own belly, but I remember when my older sister and I did that with mom's, while we were waiting for our younger sister. This was real fun, for our mom as well. She enjoyed it endlessly. This was real quality time.

There are more good ways of reducing stress levels, and even though I know that not all stress can be taken away, I think it can only help mom and child, to reduce stress. And since stress often is highly individual, it might just be that you are doing fine the way life is. In that case, I hope you don't know the pictures from the fun section, so that I could at least make you smile a little bit.

pregnant fun-section