Three (easy) New Year’s resolutions for pregnant women

I like the idea of making a New Year’s resolution – but I have the same problem as everyone else and struggle to keep it for the entire year. I think smaller, more focused resolutions are much easier to keep and can have a positive impact on your health.

For pregnant women, I would like to suggest three simple New Year’s resolutions. Not only will these proposals be easy to keep, but they will also make your pregnancy more manageable and enjoyable.

1. Reduce your internet time

Resist the urge to Google every pregnancy symptom and question you have. I’m making this recommendation not because I want you to have less knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth, but because I don’t want you to be inundated with a lot of inaccurate or scary information.

Instead, find a couple of good resources and stick with those for your questions. Dig out that pregnancy book from your doctor’s office and read the chapters that correspond to your gestational age ahead of time. That way, you’ll feel prepared and know what to expect when you reach each stage of pregnancy.

It’s also a good idea to ask if your provider has a secure way to send questions to his or her office. You’ll save time not playing phone tag with the nurse or other staff members and create an easy and reliable way to get answers to questions as they arise during your pregnancy.

Feel free to continue visiting websites to check out baby names or gender-reveal party ideas! But when it comes to your pregnancy, stick with expert sources to ease your mind and receive the most accurate information possible.

2. Take things one week at a time

Don’t create a master plan for your entire pregnancy as soon as the home pregnancy test turns positive. It is difficult – and often impossible – to predict how you will feel or what’s going to happen over the next nine months.

When you create goals too early in pregnancy (like deciding you won’t take any medications during pregnancy or wanting to go through labor without an epidural), you set expectations for yourself that may turn out to be unrealistic. If plans change, you may be disappointed or feel guilty for not keeping your original goal – even if it turns out not to be best for you and the baby.

Wait to create a plan until you have more accurate information from your provider and a better sense as to what might be right for you at each particular stage of pregnancy.

3. Be selfish

Your body changes a lot during pregnancy, and your life will definitely be different after the baby comes. Getting used to these changes takes time, so give yourself the space to adjust.

You can do this by allowing for plenty of “you” time and time with your partner. Plan a babymoon. Feel free to say “no” when asked to volunteer for something. Don’t listen to horror stories about labor that friends and family want to share. It’s important to spend your time how you want to spend it right now, before your baby starts calling the shots.

This year, you can make sure your pregnancy experience is as easy as possible by sticking with these three resolutions. You’ll be better informed and hopefully feel ready when your baby arrives. You can do this!

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Your Pregnancy Matters: Reflecting on 2016

Here at the Your Pregnancy Matters blog, we are reflecting on the last year and making our own resolutions for 2017. Our goal, as always, is to make sure you have a reliable source for all of your pregnancy questions.

In 2016, we worked hard to bring fresh, relevant, and varied content to you every month. The top three most-read articles in 2016 were:

1. “4 things to consider before inviting guests to a baby’s ultrasound”
   
2. “Why to avoid ‘keepsake’ 3-D and 4-D ultrasounds”
   
3. “Is dark chocolate healthy for mom and baby during pregnancy?”
   

It was always fun to see what topics really appealed to readers. The post on who to invite to your ultrasound had more than 33,000 page views the month it was published – and almost 10% of visitors to the page were from outside the country!

We also strived to make sure information was up-to-date. We revised our post on Zika and pregnancy when Dallas had the first case of sexually transmitted Zika infection in the United States and advocated condom use to our patients whose partners had travelled to areas with active Zika infection days before the CDC made the same recommendation.

Thank you, readers, for making 2016 the most successful year for this blog yet. We more than doubled our readership, with almost 20,000 unique readers each month. We also expanded our reach on social media and used more video and interactive media content. You seemed to have liked it – more than 30,000 people watched the gentle C-section video alone!

Revving up for 2017 

Looking ahead to 2017, Your Pregnancy Matters will continue posting quality content that is both interesting and informative. We will also focus on growing our readership to reach an even wider audience. With this initiative, we hope to give even more women a source for credible, interesting information about pregnancy.

You can help us keep this resolution by sharing Your Pregnancy Matters with friends, family, and coworkers in need of an expert pregnancy resource. Email us with questions or suggested topics, and stay tuned for more timely and interesting articles about your health and all things pregnancy!

For more information about pregnancy, labor, and delivery, sign up to receive Your Pregnancy Matters email alerts when we publish new stories. You can also make an appointment to see one of our specialists by calling 214-645-8300.