5 Simple Tips for Preparing your body for pregnancy

Hiking Mount Everest? Running a marathon? Signed up for your local Tough Mudder? Chances are you wouldn’t do any of these things without first preparing your body for the challenge it is about to face. Whilst I am not directly comparing pregnancy and childbirth to any one of these things (there is no comparison to growing another human being inside of you!), my point is that we all know that when we take on a demanding task, it is in our best interests to prepare ourselves, physically, mentally and emotionally for the challenge ahead, giving it the respect it deserves and well…pregnancy deserves a lot of respect!

Growing and birthing a baby, whilst a beautifully natural process, is a mammoth task! One that requires preparation. And whilst not all pregnancies are planned, preparing your body several months in advance can help to boost fertility, ensure that you have all the reserves necessary to provide for both yourself and your baby, reduce the chances of experiencing common pregnancy ailments and promote a swift postpartum recovery. With the overwhelming amount of information out there on pregnancy, I wanted to give you five simple and easily implemented tips to prepare yourself for pregnancy.

Stock up your reserves
To ensure you have enough of the raw materials to keep yourself healthy whilst also providing for your growing baby, you will want to ensure there are no nutrient deficiencies prior to conceiving. Whilst we should all be aiming to get as many of the nutrients we need from a healthy, balanced diet full of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and pulses, sometimes modern life can leave us falling short. Taking a prenatal multivitamin which is specifically designed to provide the most important nutrients for pregnancy can provide a safety net for any gaps missing in the diet. Start taking the multivitamin 3 months prior to conception or as soon as you find out you are pregnant. Ensure the multivitamin has the methylated forms of folate and vitamin B12.
Watch your fats
Healthy fats are a key component to the optimal functioning of every cell in our body. They are also fundamental to hormonal balance since our sex hormones are made from fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are particularly important for the baby’s brain development, whilst also boasting a whole range of further health benefits such as lowering inflammation, reducing depression and anxiety, targeting autoimmune disorders and reducing symptoms of metabolic syndrome such as diabetes and heart disease. In general we want our omega-6 : omega-3 ratio to be about 2-3:1, however the average western diet contains anywhere from 15:1 to 25:1. The optimal way of re-establishing a balance here is by lowering your intake of omega-6 and increasing your omega-3 whilst also including healthy monounsaturated and saturated fats. An easy way to lower omega-6 intake is by avoiding processed foods such as crisps, baked goods, cakes, pastries and fried foods, which are often laden with rancid vegetable oils and trans fats. To up your intake of healthy fats think avocado, walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, olive oil, coconut oil and oily fish such as salmon and mackerel.
Love your bowels
Perhaps not the first body part you think about loving but your bowels are worth some extra care and attention. Prior to conceiving, improving bowel function plays a fundamental role in hormone balance as excess hormones need to be efficiently excreted. If bowels are sluggish then metabolised hormones get reabsorbed and re-enter circulation, wreaking havoc on your endocrine system.
Now that there is more and more research on the microbiome (the community of microorganisms living in and on your body - namely bacteria, fungi and viruses) and its role in a person’s immune function and overall health, people are beginning to understand the important role that the mother’s microbiome plays in the establishment and development of the baby’s immune system. Whilst this is a massive topic to cover, it is important to know the basics. A baby is born ‘relatively’ sterile and it is during a vaginal birth that these organisms from the mother’s birth canal enter the baby through the eyes, nose, ears and mouth as well as covering the skin. These organisms form the basis for the baby’s microbiome and research shows that this initial colonisation can have a direct impact on the short and long term health of the baby. Put simply. you want to make sure that your microbiome is full of health promoting microbes so that these are passed on to your baby in order to establish an optimal functioning immune system. Many factors can contribute to an imbalance in the microbiome or dysbiosis such as stress, antibiotics, a diet high in processed foods and sugars, lack of fibre and environmental toxins. Help to get your microbiome in balance by including plenty of fibre in the diet (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds), probiotic foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir, avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics and limit exposure to environmental toxins.
Get moving
I think we can all agree that exercise is a key player in your overall health and during pregnancy is no exception, however pregnant women are often told not to start any exercise they haven’t previously been partaking in. So what happens when your pre-pregnancy exercise regime was non existent or involved many hours sat in front of a computer screen with the odd 30 minute HIIT workout thrown in once a week for good measure? The key is to get a sustainable exercise regime going prior to pregnancy so it is easily maintained throughout. When exhaustion hits in the first trimester, the last thing you are going to want to do is some HIIT training (nor would it be recommended!) but some gentle aerobic exercise like walking, swimming or short home workouts will get the blood pumping and lift your energy. Being physically active in pregnancy reduces your risk of conditions such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis as well as having the psychological benefits of reduced fatigue, stress, anxiety, and depression.
Find your zen
Stress. Whilst undoubtedly a part of our lives, and a necessary one at that, is a serious drain on your resources when chronic in nature. Having high or continual levels of stress depletes the body of vital nutrients such as magnesium B vitamins and vitamin C. Cortisol also competes with progesterone in so much as they are both made from the hormone pregnenolone. When the body feels it is under threat (as it does when the sympathetic nervous system is fired up in response to external stressors), it prioritises the production of stress hormones over sex hormones as these are what get us out of danger. They get blood pumping to the muscles in order to run away, energy is diverted away from other bodily processes such as digestion, reproduction and detoxification in order for us to have all available energy to get us out of danger. Whilst this is excellent in a short term dangerous situation, it is not ideal in the long term - hello job you hate, your daily commute on a packed train, ever expanding to-do list that you can just never seem to get through, children screaming for your attention, the perfect outfit you need to find for that dinner next week…..
Whilst everyone’s stressors are different, keeping cortisol in check is imperative to balanced hormones. When cortisol is constantly being pumped out we can find low levels of progesterone which can result in a short luteal phase, sub-fertility, miscarriage and early labour. So acknowledge your stressors, think of ways you can remove, avoid, replace or work with these so that you can lower your daily levels. Write a list of all the things that bring you joy, no matter how big or small, and then carve time out of your week to ensure you are doing things which lift you up.

So there you have 5 very simple but very effective ways of helping to prepare your body for pregnancy. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how I can support you through preconception, pregnancy and postpartum then please get in touch.

May your journey to motherhood be filled with much compassion and conscious awareness.

With love x