Your pregnancy may be a turbulent and exciting time; while the end result is something you’re likely looking forward to for more reasons than one, the road to getting there can feel anxiety-inducing at times, and it’s hard to find a sense of equilibrium. Therefore, it’s natural that you’d like to do as much about this as possible.
Sometimes it’s just about making yourself more comfortable, both mentally and physically. Peace of mind can go a long way, and if you’re sure that you’re doing everything that you can to achieve that, you can reduce the impact of the more tumultuous parts of this journey, letting you focus on the end result. Nine months can feel like a long time, but it doesn’t have to.
Getting Hold of the Right Help
If this is your first pregnancy especially, you might find yourself especially concerned with the individual details and whether or not certain moments and happenings are to be expected or not. This is natural, but some people are going to worry more about them than others, perhaps based on what they know to expect through research or second-hand knowledge.
If you do get regularly worried about what might happen and so forth, it might be advisable to consider enlisting regular help around the house so that you can have a professional on-hand to ease your concerns or let you know what you should do in any given situation. While this might seem like something of an extreme step to take, it can do wonders for your peace of mind, and if that’s the case, then it wouldn’t be extreme at all.
What this might mean for your next step is that you spend some time researching the different options that you have for a professional, or maybe consider what you’re looking for in a potential candidate. You might be looking for someone who has completed TWU’s online post-master’s FNP certificate program, as this qualification should give your prospective candidate a full understanding of your needs and have the appropriate ability to offer you comfort should you need it.
Alternatively, you might find yourself in a situation where this qualification is something that you’re seeking in case you eventually want to go on to provide the kind of quality care you’re seeking during your pregnancy. In any case, having someone around during these times to reassure you can go a long way to helping you relax. Being relaxed, after all, is something that can have a positive impact on both you and your child.
Doing the Research
As mentioned before, some of the knowledge that you’ll have about pregnancy going into it might be information that you’ve gathered through other sources (such as friends who have already given birth) or through research that you’ve done yourself. You might find it valuable to do this kind of research at some stage, just so you know what to expect and what you can do to make the experience as a whole one that is as positive as possible.
Websides
While you might have a list of book recommendations from people who you asked for advice on this topic, you could always take the more cost-effective route of simply doing internet research through medically reliable websites.
When you’re looking at information regarding things that you can do during pregnancy, it’s important that you ensure your sources are valid; otherwise, you could end up doing something that could cause harm or damage to you during this delicate time. If you’re ever unsure, it’s better to be safe than sorry and simply ignore what you’ve seen.
Books
The same is true of books, of course, and it’s important that you check that these books are from reliable publishers. Again, if you’re unsure, it’s better to be safe than sorry, but you can do further research by investigating the individual books online.
In combination with this, it might be more casual and easier for you if you simply want to discuss your feelings with your doctor, as you can then ask all of the questions that you need to know during these appointments.
Friends
On a more casual basis, asking your friends and family members who have gone through pregnancies might alleviate some of your concerns or highlight areas of knowledge that you feel you need to know more about. This need to fact check can add a layer of pressure that might mean that this process becomes more stressful than it needs to be, so it might be worth starting off by simply finding one source that you know you can trust and picking up advice from there, be it a particular book, website or perhaps just your doctor.
Additionally, the task of doing all of this research by yourself as well as undertaking the actual pregnancy might be something of a daunting task. In this case, you might find it more appealing to involve your partner or a friend in this aspect of it, learning together so that you feel as though you have someone to talk to throughout. Not only might this make the whole process of doing research slightly fun, but it might also help you to remember it, as the discussion between you about what you’ve seen might provide a more memorable moment than the research itself.
This might be the mentality that you decide to go with throughout your pregnancy for things like this, learning all the information that you need and all about what you need to do at the right times, but doing it in a way that feels more relaxing and collaborative than it does like learning. If you feel like you’re simply revising for an exam, you might start to feel some of the same stress that is often associated with those situations, which is something that you likely don’t need on top of everything else.
There’s a lot of information out there, so just take it one step at a time and try your best not to get overwhelmed. If you ever feel like it’s too much, you can just stop what you’re doing and come back when you’re feeling ready to start again.
Get Your Partner Involved
Different people will be in different situations throughout their pregnancy, and some people won’t still be with their partner with whom they’re having the baby; in this case, you might prefer to substitute them with a close friend or a family member. This was something mentioned previously when discussing how to make researching more of an action that you can enjoy, but it can be applied beyond that to almost any stage of the pregnancy.
Since it’s something that you, yourself, will be shouldering, it can often feel like you’re in it alone. While this might be true in a physical sense and may cause you some deal of frustration at times, it’s important to take the offer of help when it’s offered to you by those you trust. There’s no need to be uncomfortable or distressed if there’s something that someone around you can, and is willing to, do something in order to make your life easier.
Again, it’s something that may vary with anybody’s given situation, but you aren’t in this alone, and there are often people who would like to help you where they can – they aren’t usually just offering for the sake of making the offer.
There may be classes and lessons regarding exercises that are important for you to attend. This is a prime example of where it’s good to get your partner involved, not only for your peace of mind but so that they have a better understanding of the situation as a whole. While it might be you going through the pregnancy, it’s a situation that involves both of you, so that responsibility needs to be shared where it can.
When the time for you to give birth is drawing near, you want to be comfortable and safe in the knowledge that your partner knows what to do and what to look out for. While having a professional on-hand to deal with these situations can be a massive comfort, it’s something that might make you feel a certain level of unease due to the situation being relatively unnatural compared to your usual living situation.
If your partner is well-informed enough and has been through as much of the journey with you as possible, you’ll know what knowledge is shared between you, and that might be enough to give you a great deal of comfort.
When you’re talking about personal comfort, it’s something that’s going to vary greatly from person to person, so it might be that things on this list will provide you with the solace that you need in a somewhat difficult time, but you might have a different, clearer idea of what you need.
There’s no real wrong answer, but it’s important that you have the right support network to help you when you need it, even if that help is someone just doing some research with you or a professional to visit you when you need it.
Check also these 5 myths about pregnancy diet.
