- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
January 2016 Moms
Ebiejay
member
Best and Worst Pregnancy Decisions
Ebiejay
member
Since we're nearing the end, or are already there, what decisions have you made this pregnancy that were your best and worst? What would you tell yourself 9 months ago?
For those moms whose babies are here, include some of your delivery decisions too!
Best decisions: ~ Buying bigger underwear
~ Nightlight in the bathroom
Worst decision: ~ Joining a pregnancy fitness group on Facebook. Seeing everyone's pictures of their perfect bodies and tidy baby bump have been less motivating and more depressing for me!
For those moms whose babies are here, include some of your delivery decisions too!
Best decisions: ~ Buying bigger underwear
~ Nightlight in the bathroom
Worst decision: ~ Joining a pregnancy fitness group on Facebook. Seeing everyone's pictures of their perfect bodies and tidy baby bump have been less motivating and more depressing for me!
Re: Best and Worst Pregnancy Decisions
Worst decision: Spicy food... thought hey let's see if we can get baby going NOPE and I HATE spicy food because it just makes my insides burn...
Worst: caring too much about social peer pressures. I cared too much about what other moms thought about me and my choices. It guilted me and put me into several breakdowns.
Worst decision: Joining TB in my first trimester. While it was helpful later on, at the beginning everybody else's stories of loss and their paranoia about symptoms made me more stressed out than I could have been if I remained blissfully ignorant
Best Decision: Investing in a pregnancy pillow, being open minded about how my pregnancy could/would go, and to not have a 1 way tracked mind about it. I was hoping that it would be a piece of cake and I'd be that happy pregnant lady. I lucked out and truthfully had an amazing pregnancy and loved being pregnant, but I was pretty cool, calm, collected to not stress when I had some not so good days.
Worst Decision: Not being as prepared as I could have been, knowing that DS could have came early, (which he did...6 weeks early, that is). I had a lot of things in place and set up at home and work, as I was starting to wind down the last few weeks, but I never considered he'd come that early. More on the work end of things. If we go for baby number 2 I'll only hope I am a little more prepared in the event I go early. My OB told me that I'd be considered high risk next time and my chances of delivering preemie again could increase.
(1) being flexible at delivery and getting the epidural but I'm glad I researched and prepared for a natural birth in case I had decided to go that route
(2) sticking with breastfeeding - it got so much easier towards the end of the second week - I almost quit after every session week 1
(3) asking my parents to come stay and take care of me the first week baby came home despite my husband not wanting his in-laws living with him. Sometimes I just need my family
(4) sending baby to the nursery while in the hospital so we could get some sleep at night
Worst decision:
(1) assuming baby was coming late after I had made 0 progress at all my appointments so not having everything cleaned and ready for her
(2) not taking time to do something special and romantic with my husband to really soak in the fact that it was the last time it would just be the two of us
(3) eating too heavy a meal so close to my due date! Spent the first 6 hrs of labor throwing that up
(4) wishing pregnancy was over and baby was here and not living in the moment and enjoying it
~Staying active and keeping fit throughout pregnancy, I think this has contributed to my babe being so deeply engaged and in the perfect position getting ready for labour.
~Getting a midwife over an OB; ! feel so much more involved and have developed a much more intimate relationship before labour even begins
~Going off work @ 38 weeks, so glad to be able to relax
Worst Decisions:
~Sending my BFF who lives in another a city (and is nowhere near having kids/being pregnant) bump pics only to have her tell me how huge I am every time.
Worst decision: Skipping exercise in the first trimester due to morning sickness. I was legitimately SO sick, all day, every day, but by the time I felt better, around week 15, my body had a really hard time adjusting to exercise while pregnant and it was really difficult for me - horrible muscle cramps and spasms, huge lack of stamina. I think if I had forced myself to even do light exercise 3x a week in the first tri, I would have been in better shape throughout.
Edited to add: going on a babymoon was definitely one of the best decisions! Even though it was only a Saturday and Sunday and an hour and a half from where we live, it was really, really nice to just relax and get away.
-blogging about my pregnancy, taking bump photos, and keeping a journal so that I have everything documented to look back on
-going on a date any chance I got with DH
-doing a maternity photo session
-making tons of lists, reading endless articles, and preparing like it was my job
-going on maternity leave before my due date to relax and enjoy my last bit of time
Worst:
-never taking a sick day even on my worst morning sickness days or when I broke my tail bone. I pushed too hard and paid for it
-worrying and obsessing about everything and googling way too much
-not carrying a water bottle with me 24/7 until third tri. Once I did I had fewer BH, felt better, and wasn't constipated. I should have been doing that since day 1!
Worst: Definitely not staying active & not eating healthier. I wish I would've had a "fit pregnancy" cuz now I feel like getting my pre-baby body back is going to be hell. Also, I was really bad at taking my prenatals, so for my next pregnancy I need to figure out a system to make sure I get baby the nutrients they need.
Worst: not exercising this pregnancy while it didn't make a difference on delivery I had a way tougher time physically with this pregnancy.
Best: team green!
Worst: had expectations about what pregnancy would be like. When my body didn't react the way I thought was normal I would freak out and stress. I learned that some women love pregnancy and others don't, and it's OK if I'm in the later category. It doesn't mean I love my baby any less.
-Going with midwives instead of an OB. Their non-invasive approach is fabulous and I feel 100% in control of my pregnancy. (It horrifies me when women say their doctors "make them" get induced by X date. Your doctor shouldn't be making anything except recommendations.)
-Working until right before my due date; I've been off 6 days and still no baby...! I would be nuts by now if I had taken off early.
-Not letting pregnancy be an excuse too much of the time when I actually can do something myself.
Worst:
-Impulse buying a second hand stroller first tri. I still spent a couple hundred bucks and I'm not sure I even like it anymore. I wish I had just saved up and bought a different new one.
-Volunteering at my stepson's bottle drive at 39w4... I temporarily ruined my lower back and would have been in really bad shape if I went into labour during the next couple days.
Best:
- 4-day babymoon to a tropical location with just hubby (left 2 year old home)
- Putting in a work-from-home request to cover me for those days at the very end of my pregnancy when I felt terrible and couldn't imagine driving the hour to and from work
- Working up until the end of my pregnancy so I'll have more time at home with the baby
- Allowing myself to be more relaxed about my labor decisions. (Last pregnancy, I had a very set-in-stone all-natural birth plan and was very disappointed when things didn't go as planned. This time, I'm trying for a VBAC with the realization that there's a good chance I'll end up with a repeat C-section. I'm also being open about the idea of an epidural - figuring I'll labor naturally for as long as I want to and then I'll ask for an epidural if/when I feel like getting one. So much less stress this way!)
Worst:
- Buying a house and moving while pregnant (didn't know I was pregnant when we started the process of buying the house. Packing and moving during the 1st trimester while feeling sick was awful.)
Worst: Skipping lactation classes, and thinking the one method the LC taught in the hospital should work, and not try anything else.
* Having my best friend (who is an amazing artist) paint a mural of a tree in the nursery (we went with a woodland theme). It looks SO awesome and it's really touching that LO will grow up with her artwork in his room.
* Making sure that I was well-educated on pretty much every facet of pregnancy, labor/delivery and childbirth - I made sure to do all my research, went to all the classes offered by my hospital and looked up so many great sources. So now I feel SOMEWHAT mentally prepared.
* Continuing to work my somewhat-physically intensive job (I'm a vet tech at an animal hospital so lots of walking, being on your feet, lifting and carrying dogs (although I said my weight limit was around 30 pounds). I feel like it's gone a long way towards making sure I didn't gain TOO much pregnancy weight (see below about my bad eating habits during pregnancy...) and also just helped me feel more sane. I love my job and if I had decided to switch to being a receptionist at the hospital rather than continue working as a tech, I would have been really sad.
- Worst -
* Definetely not eating as well as I should have. I got hit with cravings BAD right off the bat in the first trimester, and I had the kind of nausea that only went away after I ate (therefore I promptly gained about ten pounds). Right now I'm 38+3 and up 36 pounds as of my last appointment, so I know it could be worse, but I feel like a lot of that weight gain isn't necessarily from LO but rather from my butt and thighs getting fatter due to my poor diet!
* Freaking out about every. Single. Thing. I've never used Dr. Google so much in my entire life! I realize that a lot of this is due to being a FTM who knew literally nothing about pregnancy going in, but I feel like I could have just relaxed about so many things. In the first trimester, I was worried about miscarrying. Second trimester, I was worried about not showing as much as I feel I should be, and my bump being too small. Third trimester, I'm worried about feeling him move and knowing that he's still healthy and thriving in there.
Either way, pregnancy has been one crazy, emotional, hormonal roller coaster! Nothing like what I expected it would be, but at the same time so much better and amazing than I ever could have anticipated. I'm just so ready to be holding LO in my arms.