Dear my pregnant self,
First of all Congratulations for the bundle of joy who has just planted inside you and will stay there for the next 38 weeks. Your first reaction when you found out that you are pregnant must be a happy one but soon you will become anxious and scared for the future. When God created women, he kept the process of childbirth in mind and your body is capable of producing children without any issues. And if there are any problems in your pregnancy, remember, science and technology are at your disposal.
Do not adhere to all the advice
As soon as your family and friends know that you are pregnant, they will bombard you with list of do’s and don’ts. Follow only the ones you feel are relevant. You can walk fast, climb up the stairs and dance too.
Sleep as much as you can
I know the frequent urge to pee , backaches and the strong kicks at night wont let you sleep well but please sleep during the whenever you can. Once the baby is here, you wont be able to sleep well at all.
Don’t give in to your cravings
Pregnancy doesn’t mean that you can eat a pizza for dinner every night. Remember more the weight you gain, more the time you will take to shed it. Do you know if you gain weight quickly you might have lots of stretch marks too?
Do not google each and every symptom
If you do, it will leave you worried and stressed. Google does not answer all your questions. If you feel something is wrong, call your doctor right away. Or check with your mommy friends.
Spend quality time with your spouse and go for a baby moon
Don’t be scared of travelling because this is your only chance to spend some quality time with you better half because one your baby is here, the ‘our’ time will go for a toss. Please please please go for a baby moon. Buy beautiful dresses and take lots of selfies.
Get a professional pregnancy photoshoot
Don’t listen to the ones who say you may doom your pregnancy with the photo shoots. You will cherish the pregnancy pictures all your life.
Take deep breaths
Whenever you decide to give up, take deep breaths and start all over again. Also, when you reach the time to deliver trust your body. It will take care of the whole process.
You will be okay
There will be tough time in your pregnancy. In those times just trust God and keep your calm. Even after you have the baby, life will throw lots of challenges at you. Don’t give up at any point and remember, you are a good human being and a few parenting failures shouldn’t hamper your spirit. Pray hard when it is the hardest to pray !
Yours,
The mommy self
I am taking part in The Write tribe festival of words # 6. You may read the rest of my posts here
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I heard so many weird and crappy advice during my pregnancy. When a woman is pregnant in India, people just consider it their moral obligation to advice the woman, even if the person has absolutely no idea. Good post dear.
I wish someone would give this advice to all pregnant women. Well written. ?
I agree with Balaka. Pregnancy is a very special moment in one’s life. Enjoy it and make the most of this beautiful phase of life. This is to be treasured. Lovely post, Anchal
Great pointers, dear !!! Professional Pregnancy Photo Shoot is the one liked the most.
One of the most special moment in a woman’s life. I love to see all those pregnancy shoots now out there. There’s so much love and warmth in all those pics.
This is such a sweet letter 🙂 Do write one to me too when my time comes 🙂 great points, and especially about buying dresses and enjoying. Sad to learn that it isnt a time for freedom of eating as you please 🙁
Hey Anchal, that’s a really sweet one to yourself. Going to baby mooning is something I was not aware of when I was pregnant.
I wish someone had given my pregnant self this advice too. Especially the first part that our bodies were made for this and we have science and technology at our disposal too. Very well said.
Sweet and practical letter from you to you, before the baby came.
That’s a very sweet letter. All the advice seem so relevant now. I wish i could understand all this, then!
I can totally relate to the post. A lot of times I desire to get pregnant once again just to avoid the past mistakes this time & pamper myself better.
So true about the eating. It is not a pig out fest time rather it is a time for healthy eating.
I love this! I wish I had done so many things differently with my pregnancies. A professional photo shoo would have been amazing.
Love it! Don’t adhere to all the advice is a good one. I remember at my sisters baby shower everyone telling her what to do and how to raise her yet to be born baby and me whispering to her that she will figure it all out, and if she needs help, she can ask for it. Everyone wants to help but geez it can be overwhelming
This is a fantastic post. I wish I would have realized just because I was pregnant did not mean I should be eating as much as I did in the beginning. I was always so hungry I could not help it.
Having been pregnant 3 times, I would recommend your advice. I got so nervous toward the end thinking about delivery that I really stressed out. I should have take deep breaths.
I am currently expecting my third. I would tell myself the first time around to be even more relaxed than I was. Pregnancy is natural and normal and usually turns out fine.
I am envious of you, hahaha! I hope I also wrote this to myself when I was a new mom back 198…. Congrats!
Haha, I enjoyed reading your letter! Congrats to you and to your hubby!
Lovely letter! I am only a girl student so far; thus becoming a wife and bearing some kids is not what I have taken into my consideration, to be honest. Though, your sharing absolutely gave a rounded view of pregnancy for me and many others, especially those who are and will be bewildered and overloaded by people’s advice, even more that advice is wrong sometimes. I am not sure whether I will be a parent in the future but I hope this post will be helpful for me one day, either for myself or my sisters and friends.
Loved the most and the way you presented it. Babymoon and do not search Google for every symptoms are my favorites..:-).
Great comments & still laughing about “don not Google …” as there was no Internet when I had my kids. Good luck!
Being pregnant today is so different from when I had my three kids “in the dark ages.” We didn’t have the Internet to run to every 5 seconds. I agree- sleep is essential.
Awww…beautifully written. I enjoyed every moment of both my pregnancies. From the baby-moon to the pampering to the photoshoot, we’ve had our fill.
What a nice post. I had three pregnancies, all of which were different, but pretty easy. Sleep is the most important thing after we have the kids!
Beautiful and an awesome post. Loved your idea of writing a letter to your pregnant self. In fact, this made me think of the time when I was pregnant and how the mommy me would feel about that time. This is a true inspiration and some day I would love to write such a letter to myself.
That’s so well written to your pregnant self, Anchal, or for any pregnant woman. All of then are very relevant. Ignore the unwanted advises, enjoy as you can, photoshoot, babymoon, all.of them are much needed. Good one, Anchal.
I could have used a similar letter when I was pregnant! I think the advice on not googling every symptom is great advice!
I missed out on baby moon & pregnancy shoot too. But I had a stress free pregnancy . So I am just glad that I didn’t have to go through difficult times. Though I had many sleepless nights after delivering my daughter so I second that one should catch up on sleep and enjoy every moment of pregnancy without feeling stressed.
I loved reading the letter you wrote. Honestly we all have experiences and we keep sharing it with others. Same happens in pregnancy phase as well we get so many advices. but, one must thing and follow. thanks for the lovely post.
I wish I could have actually done all this..my sister kept on telling me but the anxiety and curiosity completely took me over hope if I plan second I will be much more relaxed
That’s such a sweet letter!! How I wish we would have invested more time on us before we got on Mommy Board ??
This is such a awesome letter. I rather google and read every article available on earth ?.
I so agree with you on all the points dear 🙂 .. I wish I had done some of them myself .. Would love to forward it to all my friends who are expecting ..
I feel awful for not being able to get a professional baby photo shoot or pregnancy photo shoot. I had a budding professional photographer friend who was equally excited to do it but the ‘nazar lag jayegi’ phenomenon ever left me 🙁 I still regret it!
Beautiful letter I have ever read. Great tips and totally agree with you.. Very well written and very useful for new moms.