How did you prepare your body for pregnancy?

[mikala]

We're talking about TTC #2 soon and I'm thinking of things to get my body ready for pregnancy again.

Aside from healthy eating, basic exercise and your prenatal vitamin how did you prepare your body for pregnancy?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I didn't really do much but I was in good shape. I was exercising 4-5 days/ week with weights and cardio. During pg I kept those up as much as I could and added yoga. The stretching and toning that were taught in my prenatal yoga class were so beneficial. I just ran into that instructor the other day (1st time I've seen her since ds2 was 3 months old) and told her again how grateful I was for her class. I had a calm, controlled, unmedicated birth with ds2 using things I learned in there. Also, it was really nice to take time out of life 2 nights/ week to focus on that pregnancy and baby. When you are pg with your first, your life revolves so much around that pregnancy and baby. But, with the 2nd you are busy tending to the 1st and the btdt attitude towards pregnancy can make you not take time out for it. It was just a really nice thing all around. :)

Get a birthing ball and use that to sit on more than a couch or chair in the last weeks of pg. It helps with aches and helps baby get in a good birth position.

Beth

[Serepta]

I stopped drinking anything with caffeine while TTC, and actually held myself to a very strict diet. I'm not overweight, but due to a diagnosis of PCOS I was struggling with being able to get pregnant due to lack of ovulation. We went through 3 years of trying, and during that time I cut out all alcohol, caffeine, MSG, and refined sugar. I drank spearmint tea every day, which supposedly helps to stimulate ovulation. I also exercised every day and tried to make sure I slept enough each night (tough because I was very worried about not being able to get pregnant). Under my Dr's suggestion I also began meditating and yoga to try and reduce stress. Probably a little excessive, but I was willing to do anything to try to get pregnant at that point. Ended up having to have surgery and go through 3 rounds of fertility drugs, so I'm not sure if all of my food restrictions and stuff actually had an impact or not, but probably made me healthier overall.

[HIU8]

I cut out all caffeine (READ: stopped all carbonated drinks), started prenatal vitamins and that is about it (I was already exercising).

[BabbyO]

The first time...I was exercising on a regular basis, but other than that...well, not much. We weren't trying, per se, just not preventing.

With #2, I just continued to take my pre-natal (had just finished nursing DS), watched my alcohol intake (not that I drink much or often) and tried to keep my stress level down. I don't worry about caffeine because my only caffeine intake is from chocolate, occasionally.

Interestingly, I think I needed to gain a little weight. I'd lost quite a bit (15-20 lbs) because I was on a very restricted diet when DS was nursing due to his allergies. We tried for 3 or 4 mo to get pg with #2 and it didn't happen until I was closer to my "normal" weight. Maybe I'm wrong...

[AnnieW625]

All three times I got pregnant I was doing 3 to 5 days a week of exercise (cardio, weights, occasional aerobics, and jogging) including at least one day a week of yoga. I wasn't really do anything special except I was taking a multi vitamin. We didn't do anything special while TTC and we weren't really trying either. I don't drink much caffeine because coffee gives me jitters so that wasn't a huge thing, and honestly I didn't see the harm in an occaisional beer or glass of wine because we had really no plan on when we were going to have kids. With DD2 I had planned to lose about 20lbs before we started trying again (after the loss of the other baby), but we got lazy one day and didn't use protection.