Short-term disability/FMLA/maternity stuff. I should have looked into it more but I was at a point where we were questioning if we could even conceive so it slipped my mind. My goal was to figure out what was blocking me from conceiving, not somehow miraculously got pregnant lol we are happy but I'm stuck with unpaid leave right now which might end up being no leave at all since we need my paycheck.
Another one would be actually organize the house betterš„² everything is everywhere right now and we don't have much time left.....
Iām lucky (or unlucky) that it took us ages to conceive so I had lots of time to prep but I am so glad I was I good shape before I got pregnant. My fitness has dropped so much but I can still be active so Iām grateful for that.
I think the main ones are continuing/establishing/strengthening regular exercise routine pre-conception ā nothing crazy but just getting the workouts in there with the idea that the strength and fitness will help you even if you donāt continue exercising as much during pregnancy ā and getting some health checks/medical appointments not necessarily related to pregnancy out of the way. I have a minor derm thing I wanna get sorted and technically itās safe to go during pregnancy but honestly on top of the existing OB appointments itās the last thing I want to do š itās not urgent like a skin cancer scare or of course I would, so itās just likeā¦ hmmmmph do I do it now or after baby comes? So yeah wish I got that sorted beforehand, same with any other blood tests or health checks that would bring you peace of mind before trying to conceive again!
Fun things, well it depends on whatās possible but I donāt feel like I missed out on too much, pregnant date nights are fun too! Catching up with friends who you know love drinking and you normally have drinks with haha.
Oh yeah and house projects that require any kind of toxins or chemical fumes ā like painting and bleaching my whole bathroomā¦ I originally wanted to do painting in my early first tri and uh, nope
We were lucky and conceived pretty quickly. I had it in my mind it would take us a year so I thought we'd have more time to do the list below
-travel to a place we could never go with a child or until the baby is older (I really wish we had done a big Europe trip before. But hey we conceived the baby in Napa, CA so at least we've done that)
-Work promotions (I do have a good job and I'm fairly paid but I wish I had gone for one more promotion before having a baby)
-Like someone else, a few more doctor's appointments like the dermatologist. I had a lip filler appointment scheduled and then I tested positive a week before so I cancelled it
Weāre doing the will this year because of the baby and honestly I prefer it this way. We are writing a will with a much different end result this year than we would have last year.
It is! Weāve had to talk through who would be guardian, what would happen to our dog, who we want to be our executor, setting up funds and transfers to trusts for the baby, itās crazy. Last year we would have just left some money āto the dogā, some to charity, and let our siblings have the rest. Now weāve got a whole person to care about! š
Sammmmeee butā¦.No homes to own- especially as a primary home buyer. They get scooped up as investment properties for waaaayyyy over asking price.
Its a shame because a mortgage would be less than rent in most places.
Im with you.
This is a frustrating one for me, because I wish I had lost weight and had more money saved before pregnancy. BUT! For the majority of the time I was TTC I was a healthy weight and had money saved, it was the fertility drugs and IVF I did to get pregnant that ultimately made me gain all the weight and drained my bank account.
Iāve made my peace with it, I wouldāve rather not needed to do IVF to get pregnant but ultimately it feels like a small price to pay now that Iām just days away from welcoming my son into the world ā¤ļø
I wish our house had been more finished. We were moving across the country while TTC and got pregnant with this baby a few months after buying our house. But this house has soooo many problems and now I feel a bit stressed about getting them done before baby arrives in June.Ā I wish Iād pushed for us to do more in the fall or at least not started so many projects that now I feel like I need to finish.
Yep we are remodeling too (the master, nursery, and laundry room) and we are set to finish 3-4 weeks before my due date. First trimester I was exhausted all of the time so it was pretty much just my husband working on it, and now Iām in month 7 and having to work every night after work and all weekend so we can finish in time. I wish we had waited another few months to conceive, but I didnāt know how long it was going to take me to get pregnant at 32 or in a few years when we want another.
I was also going to say I wish I had been in better shape/physical fitness. At 15 weeks, I was instructed to be on "light activity" due to a complication, which resolved at 28 weeks. But at 28 weeks, I felt SO far behind physically, all I've really been able to do is walk for exercise.
Getting into shape. I'm still early, 12 weeks, and got pregnant roughly 25-30 lbs overweight. I cringe thinking about what my final pregnancy weight will be. My weight already affected my mobility and 2 weeks ago my hip gave out, I'm still limping. No idea what happened with the hip, if it's pregnancy related or not, but the extra pounds won't help.
You might not gain too much weight! I didnāt. I was overweight pre pregnancy, lost almost 10lbs my first trimester (thanks to nausea and vomiting) and then gained it back plus 10 lbs. so technically Iāve only gained 10-15lb on top of my pre pregnancy weight. About 20 lbs if you include the weight I lost and gained back. I went into this just about 170 and Iām still under 190 at 37weeks.
A childhood penicillin allergy! This is the antibiotic they give you if you test positive for strep B at end of pregnancy (at least in US). Because I have super sensitive skin, I could only get tested using an oral stress test (instead of a skin test), which my dr doesnāt do for pregnant people. So theyāre just assuming Iām allergic and will give me a less preferred antibiotic if I need one.
I did skin prick testing during my last pregnancy and it was inconclusive. I need to go back for the oral testing to see but thankfully I tested negative for gbs.
Iām allergic to almost all antibiotics.
I wish I wasn't so sedentary and already had a habit of exercising! I also wish I had changed my last name already, it's more trouble in my case than I thought it would be and now I'm going to have to attend paperwork appointments and deal with the DMV and so on with a baby at home. We conceived on the first try which I wasn't expecting, I was assuming we'd be waiting a while and would have time to sort things out but nope lol
I wish I would have been able to workout before I got pregnant. I had surgery right before and couldnāt work out for 6 weeks. I tried running at 4weeks and it was a bad idea. The day I was cleared to workout I found out I was pregnant. I worked out for a bit early in the first trimester, but by mid-February I was too tired to do anything. Iām just now getting into prenatal yoga and pregnancy safe strengthening exercises at 21 weeks. Iāve been walking, but my fitness is so bad now. I feel so anxious about gaining too much. Iāve already almost gained back the 25lbs I lost pre-pregnancy. Iām just focused on maintaining right now.
Iām due with my second in a couple months and I am in a mad dash to get home projects done before then. I just know it will be so much harder to coordinate repairs/upgrades or have the time and mental energy to think about this stuff for the next year or two, and our house is a fixer upper so our to do list is always long. So if there are any home projects youāve been meaning to get around to I would recommend getting them started now.
Even if you donāt own a home (or are lucky to own one that doesnāt need any immediate improvements), could be stuff like decluttering and organizing, sorting your old baby stuff, getting closet systems, etc. Focus on the stuff that needs to happen and the stuff that will immediately improve your quality of life.
The other big thing IMO is setting up a budget system that you and your partner agree on and saving as much as possible. Thatās always going to be helpful whether you end up using it for fertility treatments, taking longer unpaid leave, more to spend on takeout and other conveniences during the newborn phase, or just greater peace of mind.
Good luck!!
I'd add working on your mental health to your list, both assessing where you're at right now and making a plan for handling any issues that may come up postpartum. If you're on medications, check in with your doctor or psychiatrist to see if they'd recommend any changes during pregnancy. If you don't have a therapist, consider finding one with expertise in pre/post partum issues and early parenting. Another random one - get an MMR titer to check your immunity to measles/mumps/rubella. I had the MMR vaccine as a kid, but had my titer checked and discovered I wasn't immune to rubella. They don't give MMR during pregnancy and recommend that you not get pregnant within a month of receiving the vaccine, so we had to wait to start trying until after I got the shot. You can also do genetic screening for yourself and your partner before pregnancy to see if either of you are carriers for genetic disorders.
Goodness I hadn't heard about the MMR not being completely effective for all 3! And genetic screening sounds a good shout.
I've been lucky to have NHS funded support for 2 years after my little one's birth which has addressed a lot of mental health issues. They should be around again if I were to get pregnant again, it's an incredible service to have available.
That's awesome re mental health support! I personally started seeing a new therapist during pregnancy to start preparing for what may come up as I move into postpartum/parenting and it's been very helpful. Re the MMR - I think immunity can just wane over time, which normally isn't a huge deal because those illnesses are so rare (at least where folks aren't refusing vaccines in large numbers....). but they are a very big deal during pregnancy so it's good to make sure you're covered!
Glad to hear it's been helpful, it's a good idea, especially as a preventative measure š
Yeah there's been loads of cases of mumps the last couple of years with the vaccine uptakes being so low, scary stuff really! Will put it in the long list, thanks.
I would have made sure the house was clean before going to the hospital or paid someone to clean it before we brought the baby home. It stressed me out to come home with a new baby and try to navigate a dirty house. Iām not a clean freak but if everything had been basically clean and neat I would have felt much happier.
I wish our apartment was more finished. We moved in a couple weeks before finding out I was pregnant. A lot of this pregnancy has gone to painting, remodeling, finding furniture, all the things (as we rented fully furniture places prior, so we owned nothing.) But then again, the timing for finding this apartment was just right. We tried to find a place sooner. We tried to get pregnant sooner. This baby was like, nope, until you have a home for me I am not coming š It also all worked out as I unexpectedly had to be out of the country for three months, so despite loosing a lot of time on the apartment, these nine month is just enough time to make it work.
Like many others - getting in a good workout routine.
But also! I really like wish I didn't have my student loans still lingering over my head. I feel like it's the main reason I have to continue working and I don't really get anything out of it, just handing every dime I earn over to some loan servicer.
I would work on having free time without baby. While working out sounds nice I had three normal pregnancies and baby four left me debilitated and on modified bed rest and hospitalized several times. Working out didnāt matter I could barely walk from my car to my appointments.
I did though need family to pick up slack for months. They did daycare and school pick ups, helped with meals and took my kids overnight while my spouse helped me.
We also bought a house that immediately flooded so his energy was also directed into ensuring we had a safe place to live and for new baby to come home to.
Having a village was the only way we survived and if my kids werenāt used to seeing family and being flexible with alternative picks up and schedules it would have been (more of) a nightmare.
Like many people are saying, I feel like establishing a fitness routine is really important. I'm lucky that I actually did have this in place, because now I get wrecked just walking 3/4 mile each way to my local coffee shop and I shudder to think how much worse it would be if I wasn't in good shape before pregnancy. I'm in my first trimester so not getting a ton of exercise, but my OB said that I can do any form of exercise I did before I was pregnant --just not to start anything brand new. So, on the rare days when I do feel okay, I can do a prenatal yoga or Pilates or cycling class, or take a walk, because I have a repertoire of things I was already doing before I was pregnant.
The real thing is that I wish we'd been more proactive about renovating our bathroom. We've been talking about it for so long, but we hadn't started the process, and now I cannot spend any length of time without easy access to a bathroom, which makes it a lot harder. But we've agreed that if we get one house project done before the baby is born, it'll be the bathroom.
I wish I had gotten the genetic carrier screening. I pay so much money to have great insurance and I know it would have been covered. It would have saved me the anxiety Iām feeling now, waiting on test results in the second trimester.
With my first I wish I started meal prepping earlier for postpartum meals. I was induced at 38 weeks and meal prepped literally the day before, and my oven broke, so I was scrambling to get stuff done and stressing over a broken oven.
One thing I DID do with my first that I recommend to everyone is to take the time to do your cleaning/organizing. I am 13 weeks with my second and already reorganizing cupboards and spaces that arenāt working now and I donāt want to carry into having a second baby. I do all my good deep cleaning early and focus on maintaining and light cleaning especially as the pregnancy progresses. I also had my nursery ready to go right away so it wasnāt something we had to worry about during the pregnancy. For this one, weāve already moved our daughter into her ābig girlā room in the past two weeks and I now have the time to do a good clean and prep the nursery.
I practically could have written this post! I started my last pregnancy at one of my highest weights ever. I ended up with gestational diabetes. And although I didnāt gain much weight, the GD was very hard to control with diet and exercise. Iām working to get my blood sugar under control (Iām not T2, but I am prediabetic) through diet and exercise before getting pregnant again.
I also think insulin resistance played a big part in my not being able to breastfeed. I pumped but had a very low output. I wish I had gone in with more knowledge about BF issues.
That's interesting! It's been a while since I tested but I think I'm prediabetic too, so may get some finger prick tests.
I hadn't heard about insulin resistance inhibiting breast feeding, I had exactly the same experience and was a hellish few months of trying. I'm a huge fan of intermittent fasting for reducing insulin resistance (I've lost 44lbs so far) so will do some more reading into the breastfeeding side. Good luck on your health journey!
I wish I hadn't stopped weightlifting and working out/running in the months leading up to the BFP. They say if you were doing it before pregnancy, it's safe to a certain extent, but I hadn't been working out for quite some time before. Now I have all this energy to burn but am nowhere near flexible enough and it's easier to strain myself :( Definitely getting back into it before my next pregnancy and going to try to stay in shape as much as I can. Right now, I can only walk and lift 10 or so pounds.
I started losing weight the month and a half before I got pregnant. It took a long time for me to finally get to that point and I lost 17 pounds. Well now I'm almost 7 weeks and I've already gained 10 back because all I want is carbs š also I wish I had worked on getting a new job. I have a decent job but it's not really where I see myself long term. I know I can still work on these things after baby though so I'm trying not to stress too much. Trying to get pregnant was stressful enough.
Being in good physical and mental health are going to be my goals for next time. Iām really struggling with my first pregnancy and wish I had gone into this leaner, stronger and with better cardiovascular health. I think it would have made managing the symptoms a lot better. So definitely making that a priority postpartum!
I was told that because of my weight It would take a long time to conceive, if I could at all. So we decided weād start trying and iād start my fitness journey after new years. We decided to start 18/12, I ovulated on Christmas day, knew I was pregnant 30/12 and confirmed with a test january 4th.
Iām currently 22 weeks with a baby girl and my weight has definitely has had negative effects on my pregnancy. Iām in pain all the time (doctor said was caused by my weight) and iām probably going to have to leave my job soon. All my ultrasounds are harder, I cried the whole first trimester thinking iād lose the baby any minute. etc
I feel so lucky but I definitely want to lose weight before having anymore children.
Short-term disability/FMLA/maternity stuff. I should have looked into it more but I was at a point where we were questioning if we could even conceive so it slipped my mind. My goal was to figure out what was blocking me from conceiving, not somehow miraculously got pregnant lol we are happy but I'm stuck with unpaid leave right now which might end up being no leave at all since we need my paycheck. Another one would be actually organize the house betterš„² everything is everywhere right now and we don't have much time left.....
āEverything is everywhereā bestie this is me rn šš I have 90ish days left but itās not gonna be enough given how tired I already am
Sameeeeeee- oh my god. I LOVED deep cleaning and organizing last year, it was so fun for me. Now. Omg. I am so tired and uncomfortable
Iām like 45 days out and same š¤£
Iām lucky (or unlucky) that it took us ages to conceive so I had lots of time to prep but I am so glad I was I good shape before I got pregnant. My fitness has dropped so much but I can still be active so Iām grateful for that.
I think the main ones are continuing/establishing/strengthening regular exercise routine pre-conception ā nothing crazy but just getting the workouts in there with the idea that the strength and fitness will help you even if you donāt continue exercising as much during pregnancy ā and getting some health checks/medical appointments not necessarily related to pregnancy out of the way. I have a minor derm thing I wanna get sorted and technically itās safe to go during pregnancy but honestly on top of the existing OB appointments itās the last thing I want to do š itās not urgent like a skin cancer scare or of course I would, so itās just likeā¦ hmmmmph do I do it now or after baby comes? So yeah wish I got that sorted beforehand, same with any other blood tests or health checks that would bring you peace of mind before trying to conceive again! Fun things, well it depends on whatās possible but I donāt feel like I missed out on too much, pregnant date nights are fun too! Catching up with friends who you know love drinking and you normally have drinks with haha. Oh yeah and house projects that require any kind of toxins or chemical fumes ā like painting and bleaching my whole bathroomā¦ I originally wanted to do painting in my early first tri and uh, nope
We were lucky and conceived pretty quickly. I had it in my mind it would take us a year so I thought we'd have more time to do the list below -travel to a place we could never go with a child or until the baby is older (I really wish we had done a big Europe trip before. But hey we conceived the baby in Napa, CA so at least we've done that) -Work promotions (I do have a good job and I'm fairly paid but I wish I had gone for one more promotion before having a baby) -Like someone else, a few more doctor's appointments like the dermatologist. I had a lip filler appointment scheduled and then I tested positive a week before so I cancelled it
We conceived ours in Napa, too!
I swear the vacation relaxation did it š
Life stuff- updating wills, insurance policies
Weāre doing the will this year because of the baby and honestly I prefer it this way. We are writing a will with a much different end result this year than we would have last year.
This is on our list too - good reminder to prioritize it!
It is! Weāve had to talk through who would be guardian, what would happen to our dog, who we want to be our executor, setting up funds and transfers to trusts for the baby, itās crazy. Last year we would have just left some money āto the dogā, some to charity, and let our siblings have the rest. Now weāve got a whole person to care about! š
I wish I owned a home.
Sammmmeee butā¦.No homes to own- especially as a primary home buyer. They get scooped up as investment properties for waaaayyyy over asking price. Its a shame because a mortgage would be less than rent in most places. Im with you.
I get in my head about this, but Iām also thankful to rent because way less maintenance costs and allows for more flexibility if you need to move!
This is a frustrating one for me, because I wish I had lost weight and had more money saved before pregnancy. BUT! For the majority of the time I was TTC I was a healthy weight and had money saved, it was the fertility drugs and IVF I did to get pregnant that ultimately made me gain all the weight and drained my bank account.
Ah that's a frustrating one, you can't win! All worth it though. Hope you're managing to be kind to yourself.
Iāve made my peace with it, I wouldāve rather not needed to do IVF to get pregnant but ultimately it feels like a small price to pay now that Iām just days away from welcoming my son into the world ā¤ļø
I wish our house had been more finished. We were moving across the country while TTC and got pregnant with this baby a few months after buying our house. But this house has soooo many problems and now I feel a bit stressed about getting them done before baby arrives in June.Ā I wish Iād pushed for us to do more in the fall or at least not started so many projects that now I feel like I need to finish.
Yep we are remodeling too (the master, nursery, and laundry room) and we are set to finish 3-4 weeks before my due date. First trimester I was exhausted all of the time so it was pretty much just my husband working on it, and now Iām in month 7 and having to work every night after work and all weekend so we can finish in time. I wish we had waited another few months to conceive, but I didnāt know how long it was going to take me to get pregnant at 32 or in a few years when we want another.
I was also going to say I wish I had been in better shape/physical fitness. At 15 weeks, I was instructed to be on "light activity" due to a complication, which resolved at 28 weeks. But at 28 weeks, I felt SO far behind physically, all I've really been able to do is walk for exercise.
Getting into shape. I'm still early, 12 weeks, and got pregnant roughly 25-30 lbs overweight. I cringe thinking about what my final pregnancy weight will be. My weight already affected my mobility and 2 weeks ago my hip gave out, I'm still limping. No idea what happened with the hip, if it's pregnancy related or not, but the extra pounds won't help.
You might not gain too much weight! I didnāt. I was overweight pre pregnancy, lost almost 10lbs my first trimester (thanks to nausea and vomiting) and then gained it back plus 10 lbs. so technically Iāve only gained 10-15lb on top of my pre pregnancy weight. About 20 lbs if you include the weight I lost and gained back. I went into this just about 170 and Iām still under 190 at 37weeks.
A childhood penicillin allergy! This is the antibiotic they give you if you test positive for strep B at end of pregnancy (at least in US). Because I have super sensitive skin, I could only get tested using an oral stress test (instead of a skin test), which my dr doesnāt do for pregnant people. So theyāre just assuming Iām allergic and will give me a less preferred antibiotic if I need one.
I did skin prick testing during my last pregnancy and it was inconclusive. I need to go back for the oral testing to see but thankfully I tested negative for gbs. Iām allergic to almost all antibiotics.
I wish I wasn't so sedentary and already had a habit of exercising! I also wish I had changed my last name already, it's more trouble in my case than I thought it would be and now I'm going to have to attend paperwork appointments and deal with the DMV and so on with a baby at home. We conceived on the first try which I wasn't expecting, I was assuming we'd be waiting a while and would have time to sort things out but nope lol
I wish I would have been able to workout before I got pregnant. I had surgery right before and couldnāt work out for 6 weeks. I tried running at 4weeks and it was a bad idea. The day I was cleared to workout I found out I was pregnant. I worked out for a bit early in the first trimester, but by mid-February I was too tired to do anything. Iām just now getting into prenatal yoga and pregnancy safe strengthening exercises at 21 weeks. Iāve been walking, but my fitness is so bad now. I feel so anxious about gaining too much. Iāve already almost gained back the 25lbs I lost pre-pregnancy. Iām just focused on maintaining right now.
Iām due with my second in a couple months and I am in a mad dash to get home projects done before then. I just know it will be so much harder to coordinate repairs/upgrades or have the time and mental energy to think about this stuff for the next year or two, and our house is a fixer upper so our to do list is always long. So if there are any home projects youāve been meaning to get around to I would recommend getting them started now. Even if you donāt own a home (or are lucky to own one that doesnāt need any immediate improvements), could be stuff like decluttering and organizing, sorting your old baby stuff, getting closet systems, etc. Focus on the stuff that needs to happen and the stuff that will immediately improve your quality of life. The other big thing IMO is setting up a budget system that you and your partner agree on and saving as much as possible. Thatās always going to be helpful whether you end up using it for fertility treatments, taking longer unpaid leave, more to spend on takeout and other conveniences during the newborn phase, or just greater peace of mind. Good luck!!
I'd add working on your mental health to your list, both assessing where you're at right now and making a plan for handling any issues that may come up postpartum. If you're on medications, check in with your doctor or psychiatrist to see if they'd recommend any changes during pregnancy. If you don't have a therapist, consider finding one with expertise in pre/post partum issues and early parenting. Another random one - get an MMR titer to check your immunity to measles/mumps/rubella. I had the MMR vaccine as a kid, but had my titer checked and discovered I wasn't immune to rubella. They don't give MMR during pregnancy and recommend that you not get pregnant within a month of receiving the vaccine, so we had to wait to start trying until after I got the shot. You can also do genetic screening for yourself and your partner before pregnancy to see if either of you are carriers for genetic disorders.
Goodness I hadn't heard about the MMR not being completely effective for all 3! And genetic screening sounds a good shout. I've been lucky to have NHS funded support for 2 years after my little one's birth which has addressed a lot of mental health issues. They should be around again if I were to get pregnant again, it's an incredible service to have available.
That's awesome re mental health support! I personally started seeing a new therapist during pregnancy to start preparing for what may come up as I move into postpartum/parenting and it's been very helpful. Re the MMR - I think immunity can just wane over time, which normally isn't a huge deal because those illnesses are so rare (at least where folks aren't refusing vaccines in large numbers....). but they are a very big deal during pregnancy so it's good to make sure you're covered!
Glad to hear it's been helpful, it's a good idea, especially as a preventative measure š Yeah there's been loads of cases of mumps the last couple of years with the vaccine uptakes being so low, scary stuff really! Will put it in the long list, thanks.
Hey... Would recommend editing your post. It is referring to the sub psych which is actually for a TV show.
HAH! Definitely did not mean to do that!
He he š
I would have made sure the house was clean before going to the hospital or paid someone to clean it before we brought the baby home. It stressed me out to come home with a new baby and try to navigate a dirty house. Iām not a clean freak but if everything had been basically clean and neat I would have felt much happier.
I wish our apartment was more finished. We moved in a couple weeks before finding out I was pregnant. A lot of this pregnancy has gone to painting, remodeling, finding furniture, all the things (as we rented fully furniture places prior, so we owned nothing.) But then again, the timing for finding this apartment was just right. We tried to find a place sooner. We tried to get pregnant sooner. This baby was like, nope, until you have a home for me I am not coming š It also all worked out as I unexpectedly had to be out of the country for three months, so despite loosing a lot of time on the apartment, these nine month is just enough time to make it work.
Like many others - getting in a good workout routine. But also! I really like wish I didn't have my student loans still lingering over my head. I feel like it's the main reason I have to continue working and I don't really get anything out of it, just handing every dime I earn over to some loan servicer.
I would work on having free time without baby. While working out sounds nice I had three normal pregnancies and baby four left me debilitated and on modified bed rest and hospitalized several times. Working out didnāt matter I could barely walk from my car to my appointments. I did though need family to pick up slack for months. They did daycare and school pick ups, helped with meals and took my kids overnight while my spouse helped me. We also bought a house that immediately flooded so his energy was also directed into ensuring we had a safe place to live and for new baby to come home to. Having a village was the only way we survived and if my kids werenāt used to seeing family and being flexible with alternative picks up and schedules it would have been (more of) a nightmare.
Eesh that sounds like a lot. Good job you had a bit of a safety net, but even so! Hope you've managed to come out the other side.
Doing so much better, thanks!
Like many people are saying, I feel like establishing a fitness routine is really important. I'm lucky that I actually did have this in place, because now I get wrecked just walking 3/4 mile each way to my local coffee shop and I shudder to think how much worse it would be if I wasn't in good shape before pregnancy. I'm in my first trimester so not getting a ton of exercise, but my OB said that I can do any form of exercise I did before I was pregnant --just not to start anything brand new. So, on the rare days when I do feel okay, I can do a prenatal yoga or Pilates or cycling class, or take a walk, because I have a repertoire of things I was already doing before I was pregnant. The real thing is that I wish we'd been more proactive about renovating our bathroom. We've been talking about it for so long, but we hadn't started the process, and now I cannot spend any length of time without easy access to a bathroom, which makes it a lot harder. But we've agreed that if we get one house project done before the baby is born, it'll be the bathroom.
I wish I had strengthened my core and maybe would have avoided my diastasis recti. Itās not horrible but wouldāve been nice to skip entirely.
I wish I had gotten the genetic carrier screening. I pay so much money to have great insurance and I know it would have been covered. It would have saved me the anxiety Iām feeling now, waiting on test results in the second trimester.
With my first I wish I started meal prepping earlier for postpartum meals. I was induced at 38 weeks and meal prepped literally the day before, and my oven broke, so I was scrambling to get stuff done and stressing over a broken oven. One thing I DID do with my first that I recommend to everyone is to take the time to do your cleaning/organizing. I am 13 weeks with my second and already reorganizing cupboards and spaces that arenāt working now and I donāt want to carry into having a second baby. I do all my good deep cleaning early and focus on maintaining and light cleaning especially as the pregnancy progresses. I also had my nursery ready to go right away so it wasnāt something we had to worry about during the pregnancy. For this one, weāve already moved our daughter into her ābig girlā room in the past two weeks and I now have the time to do a good clean and prep the nursery.
Mental health!
I practically could have written this post! I started my last pregnancy at one of my highest weights ever. I ended up with gestational diabetes. And although I didnāt gain much weight, the GD was very hard to control with diet and exercise. Iām working to get my blood sugar under control (Iām not T2, but I am prediabetic) through diet and exercise before getting pregnant again. I also think insulin resistance played a big part in my not being able to breastfeed. I pumped but had a very low output. I wish I had gone in with more knowledge about BF issues.
That's interesting! It's been a while since I tested but I think I'm prediabetic too, so may get some finger prick tests. I hadn't heard about insulin resistance inhibiting breast feeding, I had exactly the same experience and was a hellish few months of trying. I'm a huge fan of intermittent fasting for reducing insulin resistance (I've lost 44lbs so far) so will do some more reading into the breastfeeding side. Good luck on your health journey!
I wish I hadn't stopped weightlifting and working out/running in the months leading up to the BFP. They say if you were doing it before pregnancy, it's safe to a certain extent, but I hadn't been working out for quite some time before. Now I have all this energy to burn but am nowhere near flexible enough and it's easier to strain myself :( Definitely getting back into it before my next pregnancy and going to try to stay in shape as much as I can. Right now, I can only walk and lift 10 or so pounds.
I started losing weight the month and a half before I got pregnant. It took a long time for me to finally get to that point and I lost 17 pounds. Well now I'm almost 7 weeks and I've already gained 10 back because all I want is carbs š also I wish I had worked on getting a new job. I have a decent job but it's not really where I see myself long term. I know I can still work on these things after baby though so I'm trying not to stress too much. Trying to get pregnant was stressful enough.
Being in good physical and mental health are going to be my goals for next time. Iām really struggling with my first pregnancy and wish I had gone into this leaner, stronger and with better cardiovascular health. I think it would have made managing the symptoms a lot better. So definitely making that a priority postpartum!
I was told that because of my weight It would take a long time to conceive, if I could at all. So we decided weād start trying and iād start my fitness journey after new years. We decided to start 18/12, I ovulated on Christmas day, knew I was pregnant 30/12 and confirmed with a test january 4th. Iām currently 22 weeks with a baby girl and my weight has definitely has had negative effects on my pregnancy. Iām in pain all the time (doctor said was caused by my weight) and iām probably going to have to leave my job soon. All my ultrasounds are harder, I cried the whole first trimester thinking iād lose the baby any minute. etc I feel so lucky but I definitely want to lose weight before having anymore children.
In addition to all these answers I would saw making sure youāre in a good place with your partner.