Top 10 early Pregnancy Tips

A little birdie told me a good friend is expecting and is due a few months after me. Since she will be the first friend to be pregnant after me, I finally have someone to share my pregnancy advice with. I’ve been waiting for this day for months. I already told her to just let me know when I’m being annoying, but I couldn’t help but share my top 10 early pregnancy tips with her (and you).

1- Take belly pics NOW. Like right now this minute before you forget and two months pass. I am so thankful to have pics from those early days so I can compare each week’s current belly with the early ones. I thought I was so big early on, but I really wasn’t.

2- Write in a pregnancy journal. Every time a thought comes to you related to your pregnancy, whether it’s good or bad, write it down. I just have a simple Word document where I write my random thoughts. I draw from that for these blog posts and I love going back to read my earlier thoughts. It’s amazing how quickly you forget things.

3- Invest in good bras as soon as you need them. I forced myself to wear too-tight bras for weeks and I dreaded leaving my house. I did two steps with pregnancy bra buying- first I bought my favorite underwire bras in a bigger size. Then, when I outgrew those, I switched to the Bravado nursing bras on the recommendation of a friend. You can buy them from Target. They are inexpensive, don’t have underwire, are super comfortable and have some give so you can wear them even if you grow a bit more.

4- Invest in good clothes as soon as you need them. I was too embarrassed to buy maternity clothes too early on, but I should have. I would have been a lot more comfortable and would have had a greater range of outfits to wear to church and out with friends. It is important to feel beautiful!

5- If you don’t have any complications, get monthly prenatal massages. For my mother-to-be day present my husband bought me 5 gift certificates for prenatal massages. I was so grateful I cried. Prenatal massage feels so great on a sore pregnant body, and it is worth the splurge if you can make it work.

6- Join your Babycenter birth club. Babycenter has a great community, and the birth clubs are a personal favorite. The women in your club are going through the same things you are, so there is a built in group there who can relate to exactly what is going on with you in that moment. It is especially great for those first 3 months where not everyone knows you are pregnant but you have lots of questions. I am on my birth club daily.

7- Schedule in a daily nap. I didn’t think I’d need naps early on, but every couple of days I would suddenly feel so tired I’d begin to fall asleep wherever I was. I started scheduling in an hour of down time when I could, and knowing that nap time was around the corner helped me stay productive.

8- Don’t be afraid to say NO. I had a tough time with this and still do. It is ok to decline social invitations if you need rest or are feeling nauseous. Your friends and family will understand.

9- Spend a little time each day talking about life’s upcoming changes with your partner. My husband and I would naturally spend about 10 minutes each night talking about the baby and how things would be different and how excited we are. It helped us to bond early with our baby (I already feel like he is part of the family). It also helped us grow stronger as a couple.

10- Confide in at least one person in the first three months. If you choose to wait until the first trimester is over to share your news with the world, I highly recommend telling at least one person early on. My husband had to go through the crazies with me, and it would have been a lot easier to have a veteran mom to talk to about pregnancy worries/strangeness/etc.

What Are the Signs of Miscarriage?

Signs of a possible miscarriage include

• vaginal bleeding or spotting
• severe abdominal pain
• severe cramping
• dull, lower-back ache, pressure, or pain
• a change in vaginal discharge

These signs may be caused by a condition that is less serious than miscarriage. But you should have a health care provider check you to be safe.

What Causes Miscarriage?

If you've had a miscarriage, you've probably wondered why it happened. Some women even blame themselves for miscarriage. But miscarriage is rarely caused by something the pregnant woman did. Having sex, exercise, a mild fall, and most medications do not cause miscarriage.

It may be difficult for health care providers to know what caused a particular miscarriage. But we do know some things that make miscarriage more likely in general:

• The embryo or fetus has a chromosome that causes it to develop abnormally. This is not usually a sign of a condition that could cause problems in future pregnancies. It usually happens by chance when the fertilized egg divides and grows. This problem causes at least half of miscarriages.
• A woman's risk of miscarriage increases as she ages.
• Severe chronic illness — such as poorly controlled diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus — can cause miscarriage.
• Severe trauma and very serious infections also can cause miscarriage.
• Abnormalities in the uterus, like scar tissue or uterine fibroids, can cause late miscarriages — after three months.
• Smoking, the use of alcohol or cocaine, and heavy caffeine use have all been tied to miscarriage.
• Women who are underweight or overweight have a greater risk of miscarriage than other women.
• Women who have had two or more miscarriages in a row are at a greater risk of having future miscarriages.

Perfect Pregnancy Pick-Me Ups

Pregnancy leaves some women glowing. Others of us have an occasional, or not so occasional day when we might be best described as wilting.

You wonder how you'll get out of bed, much less make it through the work day.

You could be asking yourself why you feel so unhappy when you'd planned for and prayed for this baby.

You might feel nervous, like you need to get out and do something, anything.

Whether you're the type of person who relaxes best from the outside in -- an evening out with friends, heading out shopping or planning a get-together, or a person who finds peace best by focusing inward and staying in the minute, finding beauty treatments for your soul takes a priority during pregnancy.

We've gathered ideas for all personalities and most situations. Read through these ideas and pick out a few to give you a lift during those challenging pregnancy days.

Pregnancy Pick-Me-Ups

Your changing body, surging hormones and added responsibilities might seem overwhelming. Your energy level and your to-do list could be at war. What's a mom to do? Reach into that "pregnancy pick-me-ups" bag and treat yourself with a customized cure.

Eat an Apple

I can hear you thinking, "Really! The best tip you've got for me is to eat a stupid apple?" I can even see you rolling your eyes. I understand your hesitation.

Trust me. If you're feeling a little low or blah, changing your menu could change your outlook. Some moms find that their moods fluctuate right along with their blood sugar levels.

Apples contain natural sugars to help give you a boost. Because of their high fiber content, those sugars are slowly released into your blood steam, helping maintain stead blood sugar levels and smooth, even emotions.

Write It Down

The car keys mysteriously disappeared again? You head to the store for a loaf a bread and come home with everything but. You start to write down that neat thing your baby did, but can't remember just what it was.

Putting a pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) can expand your memory, allow you to stash ideas and thought, and enable you to enlist a sense of humor.

Plan an Escape

Do you need to get away, just for a few hours? How about a girls night out? Not your cup of tea (or should that be mocktail)?

You might be happier escaping with a good movie and a bag of popcorn or taking a favorite book to the nearest coffee shop, snuggling in a comfy chair and imbibing in it and a cup of your favorite java?

Some moms prefer nature retreats. Yours might mean a walk along the beach, a hike on a wooded trail, an hour digging in your garden or a lavender-scented foot bath.

Get Silly and Play

Be childish. It's good practice for life with kids. If you already have a toddler or preschooler, play with them. Can you imagine your child's expression if you were to glide down the slide?

Drawing, playing with modeling clay and other crafts connect you with your creative side. Sketch out your dream nursery and include those silly critters you've saved in a file.

Do you enjoy your kitchen time? Cook up some fun and invite a friend to come over and test out your culinary spree.

Reach Out

See another's hurt and needs can be the perfect antidote to a pity party. Look around and see who feels as miserable as you. Can you make a dinner for your elderly neighbor or send an email or card to a shut-in?

Your kindness helps them, but it gives your a boost, too. The act of being kind floods your brain with happy chemicals.

Ditch the Guilt

"If they're feeling down or bad, pregnant women should do something to improve the situation!"

Have you bought into that philosophy? Step back a minute, take a breath and decide if your expectations put unfair pressure on your pregnant self.

Everyone has a down day, sometimes. Be gentle with yourself. You're accomplishing great things -- building a beautiful baby -- even on those less than productive days

How to get Pregnant (4 Tricks)

Maybe you're just really eager to get pregnant, or maybe you want your baby's birth to happen at a specific time. Here are six tricks to make it more likely that you'll conceive soon after you start trying.

(You'll dramatically reduce the risk of certain birth defects if you begin taking folic acid at least one month before you start trying to conceive. Find out what else you can do ahead of time to give your baby a healthy start.)

Trick #1: Figure out when you ovulate

The biggest secret to getting pregnant faster is knowing when you ovulate (release an egg from your ovary). Think of the egg as a bull's-eye and the sperm as arrows. One of the arrows has to hit the bull's-eye in order for you to get pregnant.

Ovulation Calculator

Find out when you're likely to ovulate– and boost your chances of conceiving.

Since most women release an egg once each menstrual cycle, there are only a few days out of each cycle when sex can actually lead to pregnancy. Knowing when you ovulate means that you and your partner can identify the bull's-eye and then aim for it, instead of just shooting a bunch of arrows and hoping the target happens to be there.

You can figure out when you ovulate using a few different methods. Our article about predicting ovulation walks you through them.

If you notice that you have irregular periods over the course of several months, pinpointing ovulation could be difficult. Ask your doctor for advice.

Trick #2: Get busy at the right time

Once you know when your egg will be released from your ovary, you can plan to have sex during your most fertile days: from three days before ovulation through the day of ovulation. (Starting a little sooner can't hurt; some women have gotten pregnant from sex that happened six days before they ovulated.)

You have a range of days for baby-making sex because sperm can survive for five to six days in your body. (Your egg survives for only about a day.) That means if you have sex on Monday, sperm can survive in your fallopian tubes, waiting for an egg to float by, until around Thursday – or maybe even as late as Sunday.

If you're not sure when your fertile period will be, here's an easy rule of thumb: Hit the sheets every other day. Having sex this often means you'll have healthy sperm waiting in your fallopian tubes every day, ready to spring into action whenever your egg gets released.

(If you want to have sex more often than every other day, that's fine. It won't help you conceive faster, but it won't hurt, either.)

Another tip: If you and your partner are waiting to have sex until your most fertile time, make sure you haven't gone through too long of a dry spell beforehand. Your partner should ejaculate at least once in the days before your most fertile period. If he doesn't, there could be a buildup of dead sperm in his semen when it's go time, and dead sperm can't get you pregnant.

Trick #3: Lie down on the job

For a long time, no one really knew whether lying on your back after sex (to prevent sperm from leaking out) would help boost the chances that a sperm would successfully reach and fertilize your egg.

Now there's reason to believe that staying horizontal can help. In 2009, researchers in Amsterdam found that women who lay flat for 15 minutes after being artificially inseminated (that is, a doctor inserted sperm into their uterus) were 50 percent more likely to get pregnant than women who got up right away after the procedure.

While we can't be sure that the same is true for intercourse, this study suggests that staying put for a bit after sex could help your partner's sperm along. In any case, it doesn't hurt to try.

Trick #4: Enjoy the process

If you're in a rush to get pregnant, you might find yourself feeling anxious about it. While that's totally normal, you actually have a better shot at conceiving if you aren't stressed out. The hypothalamus – the gland in the brain that regulates the hormones of ovulation – doesn't function as well when you're stressed, which means you may ovulate later than usual or not at all that cycle.

So do whatever you can to enjoy the process of getting pregnant. Having fun with your sex life (instead of a "must conceive now," Type-A approach) will actually boost your chances of success. And if you're looking to keep things spicy, good news: No single sex position is more effective for baby-making than another