5 simple ways to survive pregnancy (that includes pillows)

The life-changing news struck you like a bomb; you’re about to have a baby!

The most glorious moment of your life will happen soon, and your family is going to expand. It may feel like the longest and the most beautiful yet anxious 36 weeks of your lives.

For many, this time can come with a lot of challenges as well. The side effects have the potential to be fairly extreme (around the clock nausea, anyone?), not to mention the emotional adjustment of realising you're going to be a parent.

It can be an exciting, daunting, revealing, trying, and lonely time all at once, and for some people, it seems like these long months will never end. After a while, the excitement starts to wear off and your pregnancy starts to impact your everyday life. The physical and mental changes are happening throughout the process, and you will have to change, adapt, and deal with surges of emotions, nausea, pain, discomfort, constipation, a lot of fatigue, and sleepless nights, followed by pains. That’s a lot to deal with, especially if you’re a first-time mom.

So in order to help you through your pregnancy woes, we’ve come up with a survival guide for pregnant women.

1. Prenatal Yoga For Your Mind and Body

Prenatal yoga can prepare your mind, body, and spirit for motherhood. Back in the day, our grandmothers and mothers remained active and on-the-go during their pregnancy through extensive household chores. Rarely did they complain of back and stomach aches.

The new trend of prenatal yoga keeps mommies-to-be energetic and flexible during pregnancy. It plays a vital role in strengthening the spine and other core muscles of the body. It even supports mindful breathing and ensures they keep stress at a bay. No wonder mommies who sign up for prenatal yoga are better equipped to cope with these changes.

2. Pregnancy Pillows Have Got Your Back!

Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult when you are pregnant; from constant toilet trips and leg cramps to pregnancy insomnia and overheating, the advice to sleep now before the baby arrives might not be the most well-received!

Women really struggle to get the quality rest their body requires. This adds pressure to the spine that is left hanging like a wire between the shoulders and pelvis region which causes horrible backaches.

To soothe this pain and support the back, pregnant women need special pregnancy pillows that can be used multiple ways; under the lower back, between legs to support the knees, as a rest to sleep on sides, and a rest for the bump can keep the aches and pains out of the window. Moms-to-be love the pregnancy pillows due to their practical uses.

3. Treading water

When you’re carrying upwards of 10ish extra kilograms, the last thing you may be in the mood for is exercise. However, bobbing weightlessly in a shallow pool, feeling both lighter and more limber, can be a real treat.

In fact, light swimming while pregnant just is the perfect activity for expecting women, offering not only the benefits of exercise but also relief from a number of common pregnancy aches and pains. A few consistent laps help decompress the spine and activate muscles of legs, arms, neck, and back, in the first trimester.

4. Maternity Belt

Absolutely popular with the Gen Z mommies to be, a maternity belt is helpful in abundant ways. They are designed to support the lower back and abdomen during pregnancy. These flexible support garments may provide many benefits to active women who are pregnant, especially during the second and third trimesters. You will put on weight in unpredictable ways. In case all the weight gets added on to the bump rather than being distributed uniformly across the midsection, the maternity belt substitutes for the core muscles and avoids the pain that comes with an exaggerated curvature. It is recommended for you, especially if you work, and can easily be purchased from a maternity shop or online.

5. Comfortable Footwear

The importance of the right footwear in pregnancy cannot be undermined. As your body grows and changes shape, your center of gravity changes too. This affects the way you walk, and your back, ankles, and feet. Swollen and aching feet, ahhh!

Therefore, it is imperative to opt for comfortable and flat footwear in pregnancy to help distribute the body weight as evenly as possible. High heels look and feel great but they also amplify the curvature of the back creating more pressure and ache. Getting in a few pregnancy shoes that are flexible to accommodate feet swelling is the smartest thing to do.

So, there you go, our short and sweet guide with some rather unconventional means (to have fun), and get you through this phase that doesn’t have to be daunting. Also, grab a pillow while you're at it!