Category: Taking Care of Yourself (Mid-Preg)

When things are outside your comfort zone, what tools do you intuitively use to re-centre? Box breathing, recognizing thinking traps, treating yourself kindly. If you want to add more tips and strategies, check out our reliable resources to support you further. While nurturing emotional resilience and sound mental health is always important, this is even more critical during your pregnancy journey. If you’re in tune with your feelings, it can be helpful to understand your triggers and how you can safely and effectively deal with them. Remember, seeking support is a sign of strength. In addition to our trusted resources, your maternity care provider is well-positioned to help you manage any bumps you face along your pregnancy journey.

By choosing a balanced and healthy diet, you can actively fuel your baby’s growth — particularly during this phase when your body requires extra calories to do this important work! At this time, some women also begin to experience heartburn. Thinking of what and when to eat can minimize these discomforts as well. If you’re a fan of Indian cuisine, consider recipes that include palak (spinach), daal (lentil), methi (fenugreek), matar (peas) and gobi (cauliflower) to garner the important vitamins and nutrients that nurture growth. Exploring similar foods with new flavours can enhance and expand meal times and perhaps even offer conversation starters at the meal table! Checking in with your maternity provider with respect to healthy weight gain in pregnancy can also be valuable so that you’re getting the appropriate information for your situation. If you’re curious and want to get a sense of what might be recommended for you, check out Health Canada’s Pregnancy Weight Gain Calculator. Find these and other ‘food for thought’ resources here.

While there is no safe amount of substance use during pregnancy, total abstinence can be challenging for some individuals. If you’re struggling with alcohol, marijuana or other substances, it’s important to be as transparent as you can be with your provider for guidance and support. They can help you work with your goals and/or discuss safer alternatives that you could consider. Pregnancy offers a special opportunity to take stock — are you perhaps ready to consider other choices you might not have been ready for until now? If you’re looking to take a plunge into making some positive changes, or need more support along the way, check out these reliable resources. Any change we make in life (or that happens to us) will likely cause some bumps along the way. Since a change in this area can impact not only you, but also others as well, we encourage you to tag team with your provider. Here’s to a healthier more resilient you, your little one and all your loved ones!

You’ve come halfway! As you look back and reflect on your pregnancy journey so far, perhaps you were able to do all your ‘usual things’ and as you look ahead, have you considered the ways in which things may change? For example, perhaps you’ve been fine sleeping on your back until now, but recently, it seems like you prefer being on your side. As your baby grows, sleeping on your back puts more pressure on the vessels that supply blood to your uterus, so sleeping on your side is a quick fix. Of course, your maternity provider can provide more insights and tips as you begin to round the bend to late pregnancy! Check out these resources on late pregnancy that we’ve curated for you for your next chapter.