Top 5 Things That Helped Me Through My Pregnancy

As soon as that pee stick turns blue you spend the rest of your gestation period anxiously waiting its beautiful bloody end with a gorgeous baby. Which is why I find it kind of strange that I have certain moments where I miss being pregnant. I miss having an excuse for being fat. I miss being treated like precious cargo. I miss wondering what my baby will look like (for the record Eloise, I am very pleasantly surprised).

So as I've been thinking back on my pregnancy I thought I'd offer my Top 5 Things That Helped Me Through My Pregnancy:

1. Dream Genii pillow. I hated not being allowed to sleep on my back. In the third trimester I couldn't even if I wanted to, because the shooting pains lying on my back caused in what I can only assume were my ovaries were right up their with the worst of the worst of contractions whenever I was on my back for even 3o seconds. This pillow helped me stay off my back and made sleeping on my side that more comfortable. I'm now using the pillow while breastfeeding, so it's certainly been put to good use. (Thanks Mom!)

2. Goldfish Crackers. Making sure that I always had some food in my stomach was the best way for me to ward off that lovely misnomer morning sickness. My first trimester I was training a few of my colleagues and hadn't let the cat out of the bag about being pregnant. I brought goldfish crackers to the training sessions under the guise of being a good hostess to my trainees. I of course ate the majority of them. I also had to make different excuses for the numerous bathroom breaks.

3. Boursin Cheese. The food restrictions are a tough one to swallow (ha!) and I missed my goats cheese and Roquefort (not to mention the accompanying wine). I only wish I had found out earlier in my pregnancy that Boursin was pasteurized. It helped me through some rough times.

4. Walking. Obvious, right? Exercise is good for pregnant women. I just didn't realize what a great thing my daily walks were until the final days when Eloise was pinching nerves in my legs making it near impossible. Being able to put in my iPod and walk (waddle) as far as I could manage was great for clearing my head and feeling independent - which is key when you have to ask people to tie your shoes.

5. The NHS. Ooo look at me getting all political. Now I haven't had a baby in any other country than England, so I have nothing to compare it to. I'm sure there are better (Hej Sweden!) and I know there are worse, but I was beyond impressed with the service I received here. A dedicated midwife to go to for check-ups throughout my pregnancy (with 2 home visits after the birth), access to physical therapists for my pelvic pain, and a lot of options from the hippy dippy natural home birth to the plug that epidural in as soon as I enter the hospital birth. And then there's the appendectomy. A week in the hospital, fantastic treatment, and I leave without paying a thing. And the actual birth of course. My midwife massaged me with aromatherapy oils for over an hour. An HOUR.

I would love to hear your dealing with pregnancy tips. I might be crazy, but I plan on going through this all again at some point. And having to deal with little Miss Eloise while being pregnant - I'm going to need all the help I can get when that bridge gets crossed.