Navigating a new phase of life is a very exciting time but it also means learning about a whole new category. There is an abundance of pregnancy advice out there that was definitely helpful to me. I also learned things along the way that I had never read about. In this post, I share my top 13 pieces of pregnancy advice that I learned for myself along the way. They are practical things I will definitely follow next time around!
13 Pieces of Pregnancy Advice You Haven’t Heard Before:
1. 0% alcohol or non-alcoholic doesn’t exactly mean that.
This piece of pregnancy advice is very intentionally near the top of the list. This is something I learned very early on and definitely something I did not know. In those early days of pregnancy, it is likely you are still socializing and are not quite ready to share the news.
A go-to for concealing early pregnancy is to discreetly swap a regular bottle of your favourite bubbly with a non-alcoholic version. But, you do have to be quite careful here. The majority of wines, beers, and champagnes that state on the label they contain 0% alcohol, do in fact contain alcohol.
But don’t the labels say they are non-alcoholic?
Generally, yes, they do state that. In most countries, any drink that contains 0.5% alcohol or less is legally allowed to state they are 0.0% alcohol or non-alcoholic – when in fact they are not. The likes of Nosecco and Heineken 0.0% Beer actually contain 0.5% alcohol. 0.5% alcohol is a very low amount, however, throughout pregnancy, it is recommended to drink no alcohol.
If you are looking for a good cocktail substitute early on and throughout your pregnancy, Seedlips is a great option. This true, no-alcohol gin can fulfill those cocktail wants throughout your pregnancy while ensuring you are drinking absolutely zero alcohol. If you’re looking for a bit of bubble but don’t care to find an alcohol mimic, Bubbly has been one of my go to’s during pregnancy.
Top takeaway: read the back of the label carefully!
2. Start a journal – early!
A piece of pregnancy advice I received very early on was to start a written journal to document every aspect of my journey. Looking back now, I am so happy that I did this.
Every weekend, I committed to spending 15 minutes recapping the previous week. I captured things like what symptoms I was experiencing, how I was feeling, any big changes or milestones, sharing the news, as well as daily life-related things that I would never otherwise would not have noted down.
What has been extremely convenient about having this journal is that I have been able to go back and see what I experienced in certain weeks. When someone asks me when I experienced my first kick or when I finally popped, I have that all written down. At the time, I thought “oh, I will 100% remember the exact date and moment I experienced my first kick and will for forever” – and well, let me tell you, 4 months later with a whole host of other changes, I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what week or what month I experienced that kick!
I recap all the other helpful ways I tracked my pregnancy here.
3. Keep all notes in one spot.
This is the one bit of early pregnancy advice I would tell myself 100 times over for next time. Keep all notes in one spot. And commit to that spot early on.
I was taking doctor appointment notes in my work notebook, midwife appointment notes in my phone, and prenatal class notes in my email.
This was a disaster!
In the third trimester, I spent about 3 hours consolidating all notes into one spot on a google doc for easy access.
Top takeaway: commit to one spot early on and take all your notes there!
4. Take weekly bump pictures.
I share my top 4 recommended ways to track your pregnancy, and one thing I did that I loved was to take bump pics early on. This is a memory I love looking back on.
5. Use myregistry.com to keep organized (and as a registry).
Myregistry.com is an amazing site I came across when trying to create an international baby registry. Having a baby abroad, I wanted to make it easy for my family & friends at home to have access to international product listings.
Originally, I had only intended to use this site as a registry, but within a few hours, it ended up being my go-to organization tool for all things newborn prep.
I downloaded the chrome extension and every time I was on a site or found a product I did not want to forget about, I added the item to my registry. I then went through and marked certain items private. These were personal items that I didn’t see as being gift friendly, but items I did not want to forget about.
Myregistry.com kept me entirely organized and up to date on newborn essentials that had been purchased and was a constant reminder to me what was still on my prep list!
You can also easily integrate other registries into your myregistry.com registry making it even easier to keep everything in one spot.
6. Do your pelvic floor exercises, starting in the first trimester.
That is it really. Just do them. And early. As the baby grows, the exercises become more challenging to do!
HOT TIP: set a daily, silent timer to remind yourself to do them.
7. Drink water. More than you think. In all trimesters.
That journal I mentioned earlier – this was a very common and recurring theme in there. I must have written down drink more water most weeks! But really, drink more water than you think.
This is a good read on all the reasons why and how much water to drink while pregnant.
I also found having a large water bottle on my desk, always full, helped make sure I stayed hydrated. This one also helped me stay motivated!
8. Educate yourself but be mindful of where you’re getting your information and pregnancy advice from.
There is so much to learn and so much you are curious about as a first time mom or parent. The amount of information out there, though, can be a bit (okay, a lot!!!) overwhelming. The internet is full of opinion pieces, horror stories & everything in between.
Consider how the information you are consuming throughout your pregnancy is impacting your mental health. And consider your sources. I found myself signed up to a plethora of digest emails and was getting lost in conversations that were putting me on edge rather than educating me. I found social media apps to take me down a similar path, so ended up limiting my usage significantly.
What I became aware of was how my body & mind were reacting when consuming information and was really cautious to cut out sources that I found to be negatively impacting my thought process.
9. Find more than one way to stay fit & active during pregnancy so you don’t get bored.
I was extremely fortunate to have a very low risk pregnancy. This allowed me to continue exercising from the first trimester right up until giving birth. I did want some variety in what I was doing to ensure I stay committed, so I searched around for different ways to do this.
Here are my 3 best recommended ways to stay healthy and active throughout your pregnancy.
10. You can learn to DIY anything during pregnancy.
If there is one thing I learned from being in a lockdown for almost a year in England while pregnant, it is that you can DIY anything! In this particular case, I mastered the art of DIY maternity photoshoots.
After 3 canceled photoshoots, all due to COVID restrictions, I knew I had to get creative. Not having maternity photos was not an option for me. I wanted to cherish these memories for a long time and I am so glad to have them.
11. Learn how to organize your old photos.
This is pregnancy advice and also just general life advice. Growing up, I loved looking at old family photo albums and watching home videos. As I scrolled through the thousands of photos on my phone and a couple hundred videos, I realized that I wanted a better way to be able to revisit these memories. And I don’t mean just not “losing” them – yes they’re in the cloud (I think?!) but my goal was to preserve these memories and create something shareable and watchable for the future.
How I used iMovie to organize my photos & videos
What I ended up doing was using the iMovie app built into my Mac to make a compilation of photos and videos throughout the years. I created a new “project” within iMovie for each year of the last 5 years and chronologically added photos and videos to it. I had to play around with the settings a bit until I got the speed and transition settings correct, but once I did it became an easy (although not quick, I cannot lie!) task.
Once my projects were complete, I then converted them into files, saved them to the cloud and as well as to an external hard drive.
This is something I wish I had done 15 years ago, as I know I have tons of memories sitting on old laptops, before the cloud was a thing!
The second reason why I did is this is because I want to make sure I preserve as many newborn memories as I can, in photo and video form. And I wanted to learn HOW to do this before the baby arrives. As the digital native general, we are so quick to take a million different photos, we rarely take meaningful videos and then we do nothing with them! I want to make sure I can capture and share with my little one all the special memories.
12. Get advice on when to stop, or scale back, on work from a medical professional.
One thing I will admit is that I did not seek out enough pregnancy advice from a medical professional throughout my pregnancy, especially near the end. There are some common things I had heard time and time again when it came to first time pregnancies:
“It’s your first, you’re definitely going to be late.”
“Why start maternity leave early, you’ll want more time at the end.”
“Work until the very last second so you don’t get bored!”
I took all of this advice to heart and planned to work right up until week 39. That was until I found myself hooked up to an ECG and heart rate monitor in week 38 because of stress levels. Although work was not stressful, anything that isn’t just doing nothing does have some element of stress associated with it. I am not one to not show up 100%, so I was giving it my absolute all until the moment the doctors advised as soon as this heart rate monitor came off I was to wrap up my work and start my maternity leave that day.
What I would have done differently is asked much earlier what advice they had for me in terms of slowing down or stopping work and at what particular week. The decision, I understand, is up to me in the end, but had I taken my own advice of listening to the right sources, I would have sought out some medical input on this particular topic.
13. When someone sends you a card or gift – take down the return address.
This is a pandemic-relevant piece of pregnancy advice – but also good for any new parents welcoming a newborn abroad. When someone sends you a card or a gift, take down their address! Add it to their contact information on your phone, to an existing address book or make a spreadsheet of all addresses.
Having this on hand makes sending out your thank you cards much quicker. Also – ordering cards well in advance so you can whip up a quick thank you as soon as you receive a gift will keep you very on track for sending them out in a timely manner.
There is lots of information out there to help navigate the different phases of pregnancy. These 13 pieces of pregnancy advice were things I hadn’t read anywhere else and learned for myself along the way. They are definitely things I will keep tucked away for next time.
If you have any other great, unique pieces of advice, I would love to hear them. Send them my way.
OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT FIND HELPFUL DURING YOUR PREGNANCY:
How to DIY Maternity Photoshoot At Home
Help! How to Pick a Baby Name
What to Pack in Your Hospital Bag and Why: A Realistic Checklist
My 14 Most Used Newborn Essentials in the First Month