Ease During Your Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a time of planning and preparing. A time of excitement, apprehension and wonder. It’s a time of nesting, learning, growing, overwhelm, and exhaustion. Just as in life, the pregnancy journey is full of a multitude of thoughts, feelings, experiences and emotions. Your pregnancy will be unique in so many ways, even if you’ve been pregnant before, this time will be similar and different than any other.

With all of this in mind, how can you find more ease and grace while you await the arrival of your baby? How can you ride the waves more smoothly and with more grace? I believe you can do this in two key ways: through planning and ease. More specifically, planning with ease.  Here is what that could look like for you:

PLANNING

Without being too rigid, it’s important to plan. While you plan, be willing to make changes and adjustments as you go. This is especially true for your Birth Plan, if you choose to create one.

Planning your day. Planning what you’ll have for dinner, and planning for your birth experience are all ways to create more ease in your day to day life and during your pregnancy journey. How many times has 5:30pm rolled around and you’re scrambling to decide what’s for dinner? (One too many times for me.) If you take some time to plan out your meals and your weekly schedule, you’ll find more ease in your day-to-day activities.

Plan for your birth experience. As a mama of two little girls, I know what it feels like leading up to their birth days. In most cases, the day is a big surprise. Unless you have a scheduled C-section or induction date, you most likely will have no idea when your little one will make their big debut. Despite not knowing when the big day will come, there are still several things you can do to plan and prepare for this special day. Here are some simple ways to plan for your baby’s birth:

-Place: Decide where you will give birth and know how long it will take to get there.

-People: Know who will be there, when they will be there, and who won’t be there. I didn’t want visitors in the first few days after my girls were born. I wanted that sacred special time with them. You may want a big party with your entire family. Either way, decide what would feel best for you and make your wishes clear with your family and friends.

-Pack: Make a list or pack your bag and put it in the corner of your closet. Have your favorite things or must-have items ready for the big day. When my labor began with my youngest daughter, my husband was scrambling last minute getting his things together. Since it was a long labor and delivery with my first, he assumed he’d have a lot of time to get ready. However, the second time around was much faster. It was about five hours from my first contraction to holding her in my arms! You never know how long your labor and delivery will be, so get things ready early.

-Birth: You may want to create a Birth Plan. It doesn’t have to be a big official document, it could be a list of what you want and what you do not want during your labor and delivery. It’s important to know the various factors involved with labor and delivery and decide what would feel best for you. The most important part of this plan is to know it is flexible. Regardless of what you decide, sometimes it’s necessary to make changes and adjustments. Knowing this ahead of time will create more ease in the moment.

Making plans like these will give you more confidence and ultimately, create more ease during your pregnancy. With that in mind, the best way to create more ease in your pregnancy is to take it one day at a time. Be flexible knowing that each pregnancy and birth is unique. Having rigid ideas, expectations, and even plans, will only leave you feeling more tension and stress. Take a deep breath, make a plan, know the plan is flexible and subject to change, and ultimately do what feels best for you in each moment of your journey.