PREGNANCY TIPS AND PRODUCTS THAT HELPED ME

As you have already noticed, my last several posts have been all pregnancy related and pregnancy updates. When you are expecting, so much of your life revolves around the life growing inside - your eating habits, your thought process, and your lifestyle. I found myself always googling all sorts of questions and pregnancy tips and products I was curious about. As we are preparing for our baby to arrive, I wanted to share my experiences for any mom-to-be or momma-to-be who are in a similar phase. 

Best Pregnancy Books

• What To Eat When You're Pregnant

It's difficult to figure out what to eat when pregnant and create a pregnancy meal plan for nine months. I mean you know what nutrients you need to focus on and all the healthy pregnancy food out there. However, knowing what to focus on weekly makes life much easier. This book provides a week-by-week guide on what to eat during each stage. Although I didn't try all the recipes, that's also included, I found it tremendously helpful to know what food-of-the-week to focus on for the target development. It just helped narrow down the overall list of food to eat when pregnant. I also loved learning and being aware of how my baby was growing each week and how the food was effecting the growth.

• Brain Rules for Baby

 This book is quite insightful and educational. I really enjoyed reading this book and learned some valuable and fascinating information. Dr John Medina is a developmental molecular biologist and a dad, who draws examples from scientific studies and neuroscience research and facts, as opposed to mere opinion.  

I have six other pregnancy books here, but I'd be lying if I said I read them all.

Pregnancy Constipation Relief​

I know it can be embarrassing to talk about such a topic, but it's important because constipation in pregnancy is real and inevitable. It's also something that's much more difficult to deal with when you have a baby in you. Some women struggle with this from the beginning of their pregnancy. I had to face this one time during my third trimester when I missed my high fiber meal, and I couldn't imagine having to go through this for months. Natural remedy for constipation worked like magic for me, and I didn't have to face it again. I just got lucky though. You should check with doctor. My relief:
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• Bran Cereal High in Fiber - I used Raisin Bran Cereal and ate with fruits and milk. It has some sugar in it, of course. Since I hardly eat sugary products (besides rice or pasta: my favorites), it’s not a problem for me.

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• Regular Oatmeal with bran and flaxseed - I bought these from Whole Foods’ bulk food container section, that way I get only as much as I need and mix my own. I mix one cup of oatmeal with a tea spoon of bran and a tea spoon of flaxseed. No extra sugar. I add fruits.

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• Veggies high in fiber - this is where South Asian food was amazing! I love Bangali veggie dish and my mom often made those and send them over. I also made fried or boiled veggies at home often to munch on.

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These natural remedies might not work for you, and you might need to ask your OB to suggest something else, or something over the counter. I am keeping MetaMucil handy as well per my OB’s suggestion.

Pregnancy Skin Care

I don't use a lot of products on my face (mainly because I don't know enough or I'm lazy), and I hardly wore makeup during my pregnancy. And whenever I did use products, I wanted to make sure that I was using pregnancy safe skin care. In other words, I focused on more natural products for my SPF day cream and my night cream. For body lotion, I used what I have been normally using right after shower on damp skin: Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil. There are various skin care products out there which might have the best lotion for pregnancy listed. Please do your own research before using any products, because what works for me might not work for you.
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• CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser - this was recommended to me from the doctor’s office. It’s super gentle and keep my skin feeling clean and fresh (this could also be due to my pregnancy hormones which did magic on my skin)

 

• Plantscription SPF 25 Anti-aging Oil-Free Cream - I love this product. I got this because it's free from Retinol (which you should avoid during pregnancy), oil-free, and is super soft and hydrating. It’s paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, talc-free, petrolatum-free, and mineral-oil free. It doesn’t feel heavy or visibly whitish, and I need just a little bit to cover my whole face unlike other sunscreens, so it lasts me a while. You can find this at Sephora (if you want to sample out) or order through Amazon here as well. 

 

• CeraVe Eye Repair Cream - I love this one too and it has a pretty good price tag on it. And since CeraVe product was recommended to me, I went with CeraVe eye cream as well.

 

• Kale + Spinach Green Tea Hyaluronic Acid Cream from Youth To The People - this superfood moisture cream is really hydrating and one of my favorites I've been using. They have a face cleanser as well that's pretty gentle to the skin. You can find these at Nordstrom or Sephora. 

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• ViVa Naturals Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil ​- I could swear by this product, in terms of hydrating my skin, keeping it free from toxic ingredients, and taking care of my pores or bumps on my skin. I use this every single day! And now that I have a baby bump, I simply use this instead of any other stretch mark cream for pregnancy. Not sure about the effectiveness of it, but so far, I haven't noticed any significant marks (although I heard the marks are more visible after delivery. I'll be sure to update you on this).

Comfortable Shoes

Wear comfortable women's shoes! Heels are hard to bear during pregnancy. At least, it was in my case. Also, my mom was pretty convincing (adamant) about me not wearing heels for as long as I’m pregnant. I'm not sure if there are any pregnancy shoes or maternity shoes specifically, but sneakers were my best friend and the best shoes for pregnancy. By the end, you'd probably want the most comfortable shoes you can find. I don't feel like showing my Nike Free sneakers here since they now look crusty from overuse, but I'll share a few similar options below that I'm admiring (click on the images below if you want the links). I wore low heel sandals occasionally, and whenever I did, I kicked them off my feet after an hour or so. Couldn't tolerate them for too long as I got bigger. If you saw any picture of me wearing heels, I'm pretty sure it didn't stay on my feet longer than the shutter speed. I wore my oxford shoes as well since they are flat and comfy.

Yoga

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much of a gym person... at least, not anymore. So, when flexibility and pelvic movement becomes the focus with your growing belly, yoga comes to rescue. I looked for pregnancy yoga near me, but I couldn't find any classes. So, I've been watching prenatal yoga videos on youtube and they help me tremendously and almost instantaneously. Simply search prenatal yoga, and it'll give you a lot of options. You can search by trimester as well.

​I hope you find these tips helpful. Let me know if you have tips and tricks up your sleeves for pregnancy!