Some pregnancies are planned and some come as a complete surprise and yet there is no amount of planning or prepping that will make your experience 100% perfect. But looking back on my pregnancy journey over the past year, there were a few things that I did before and during to get me ready for this amazing life change!
Before pregnancy
Optimal Health: One of the first things I did to start prepping myself and my body was to get myself into the best shape (physical and mental) before trying to get pregnant. About 6 months before getting pregnant, I booked an appointment with my family doctor for an annual checkup and was happy to hear that I was in the best shape I had ever been in. I had worked hard to lose some weight and got myself into a healthy workout and eating routine.
Stop taking the birth control pill: Although my doctor told me it was perfectly safe to get pregnant right after stopping the birth control pill, I wanted to give myself at least 5-6 months to “cleanse” it out of my system. Having been on the pill for about 8 years at that point, I felt like I wanted to give my body some time to get back to normal. Be careful though, I’ve heard that you’re your most fertile the first month you get off of it, so simply switch it up and use a different method of contraception.
Prenatal Vitamins: When I got off the pill, I started taking daily prenatal vitamins instead. I did this for about 6 months before trying to get pregnant to build up my folic acid and then continued to take them while pregnant. While there are many brands, I went with the super affordable Kirkland brand prenatal vitamins (verified and okayed by my doctor).
Talk with hubby: This might sound silly, but the hubby and I had quite a few conversations before we decided to start a family. You want to make sure that you are both on the same page before taking such a giant leap. Are we actually ready for kids? When do we want to start trying? How many kids do we want? Who will stay home for parental leave? Can we afford it? Which room will we use as the nursery? What will we do if we have trouble conceiving? It’s important to discuss all of these things before you actually get pregnant as you don’t want any surprises along the way.
Travel: The one thing I wanted to do before having babies was to take a giant Europe trip – so that’s exactly what we did! A month or so before we started our family, we took a 3 week trip through Barcelona, Marseille, Florence, Abruzzo, Naples and Calabria. We definitely plan on travelling with baby in the future however I knew I wanted one more crazy trip before having to pack a suitcase full of diapers.
Stopped dying my hair: Let me start by saying that nowhere does it say you can’t dye your hair while pregnant. This was completely my choice. I went in to get my hair dyed one more time to try and get a brownish to blonde balayage style in August before getting pregnant in an attempt to have a look that would still look great with 9 months of growth. I will most likely go back to my blonde hair after this little one is born but I’ve enjoyed the hassle-free (and more affordable) way of maintaining my hair.
Stopped doing my nails: There is also nowhere that says you can’t do your nails while you’re pregnant. Once again, this was something I decided to stop doing simply because I didn’t want to smell all of the acetone every time I went to re-do them. I did, however, get two pedicures while being pregnant. So I definitely caved a little with this one!
Once I was pregnant
Sign up for daycare: We are so lucky in Quebec to have the option of affordable daycare! The first thing I did when I found out I was pregnant, before I even announced the news to the hubby, was put myself on a waiting list for daycares in my area. Everything is centralized now on one website called La Place 0-5, so I simply needed to create a profile online and pick the places I wanted to be added to. This doesn’t guarantee I’ll get a spot, but the earlier you put yourself on a list, the better!
Stopped drinking coffee: My doctor laughed out loud when I told her I stopped drinking coffee and asked if I was insane. Apparently, you can still drink a cup of coffee a day while you’re pregnant but I decided to try to cut out as much caffeine as possible. While I do still enjoy a caffeinated soft drink every now and then, it felt good to cut the dependant habit of my morning cup of joe. The first couple of months were definitely rough, but switching to decaffeinated coffee wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
Downloaded baby apps: Although I didn’t obsessively google every single thing about pregnancy, I did like having a few apps to get weekly updates on baby’s progress in the womb. The main apps I referred to were: BabyCenter, OviaPregnancy and The Bump. I used 3 different ones because I felt like they all gave me a bit of different (but not conflicting) information and they all used different images to convey how my baby was growing (ie. one app would say my baby was the size of a pumpkin while another app would say it was the size of a mini-watermelon).
Bought a new car: We had no choice for this one. Hubby and I both had small Fiat 500 hatchbacks and there was no way we could comfortably fit a car seat in there. So, we started shopping and decided to invest and upgrade to a 2018 Nissan Murano! We definitely could have done without this added car payment, but we did our research extensively and bought a demo model which helped us significantly save on the price of this new car.
Got more sleep: For those of you who know me well, you know my schedule is usually packed and my sleep would usually range from 5-6 hours a night. Once I was pregnant, I made a conscious effort to get to bed earlier (wasn’t hard to convince myself since building a baby is tough and exhausting work) and managed to boost my sleep time to 7-8 hours per night.
Looked into our insurance/provincial benefits: Once pregnant, I took some time to research online and call around for information on what would be covered by our insurance and what we would be eligible for according to our provincial benefits. This helped us plan better in terms of deciding how long I would stay home and when I planned on returning back to work.
Vaccinations: While my doctor had confirmed that I was up-to-date on all of my regular vaccinations, I did get the flu shot as well as the whopping cough vaccine while I was pregnant. The hubby also got the flu shot and I was told that if my baby would have been born in the winter, the grandparents would have also been highly recommended to get it. Good info to know!
CLSC prenatal classes: Did you know that the CLSC offers free prenatal classes? Offered in both English or French, a quick phone call to my local CLSC gave me all of the info I needed to sign up for these four free classes. While I did already know a lot of the information, I definitely learned some new stuff (and I can guarantee that the hubby did too!). Information that was covered included what to know about pregnancy and how to best prepare, information on breast feeding, what to do once baby is born and so on.
University classes: I told myself that if I didn’t get back into a classroom now, I probably never would. Already having a university degree, I decided to go back to school during the winter semester to take two classes that I was simply interested in. There was no pressure to complete them for any real reason and I was simply doing it because I wanted to. Was it hard to get back into the study groove? Of course. But I am so proud of myself for taking on this challenge while pregnant and I look forward to taking more classes later once baby is born.
Swimming classes: I’m going to be honest and say that I definitely didn’t work out very much during this pregnancy. My two favourite sports (soccer and skiing) were off limits now and I had no interest in starting something new. What I did do though, was sign up for prenatal swimming classes! I found this great program through Physiothérapie Mère-Enfant where the classes were given by a fantastic physiotherapist. This meant that receipts were issued so my insurance pretty much covered the entire cost of the course! Being around so many other pregnant women was so nice and I even made some amazing friendships. The great thing about this course is that it not only focused on getting you moving but it mainly focused on building and strengthening your pelvic floor which is something that is super important for pregnancy and not discussed very often!
So there you have it, everything I did before and during pregnancy in preparation for this little bundle of joy! Did you do anything specific to prepare for your little one? Comment below!