Best pregnancy tips

I saw this somewhere elseand thought it might be interesting, esp. for first time mummies like me.

So.... What are your top tips for expecting mums?

Throw out any feelings of guilt and self pressure about what you eat/dont eat (within reason obviously). ie They say you 'should' eat 5 servings of vegies etc a day... well lets face it- first 16 weeks- veges aint top of the menu- if at all. The feelings of failure and guilt do more damage than not eating the vegies. MAshed potato was about the only thing I could eat!
Deffinately do what you can- but DONT give yourself a hard time. The appetite will return.

Fruit is soooo good if you are feeling a bit off colour I have found, I can eat so much fruit its crazy! And all different kinds mmmm yum now I'm hungry!

Hi ya - my advice - get enough of sleep, you'll probably need more. Listen to your energy levels, even have little naps on the weekend during the day if you need too. They stop you feeling crappy and they keep you positive. Or, like me, go to bed earlier during the week - I was in bed by 8pm! what a nana!, But you can breeze through the next day at work.

Eat when you are hungry - always have a healthly snack on hand, like fruit or a museli bar, because early on your hunger pangs can come on very fast and you dont want to be stuck for a snack and have to pick something crappy.

Try to focus on the nice things about your pregnancy, talk about them rather than talking about all the things that feel horrible. Theres always going to be little things that are annoying - but theres alot more things are wonderful and exciting.

my advice, think carefully about getting bean bags , your child WILL one day decide to open them on the living room carpet and try and tell you the cat did it ......

And yeah , write stuff down ....
eg , that time they told you the cat opened the bean bag

and a camera, always have a camera handy, you never know when you will miss a great candid shot .

I write a letter to C every year the eve before her birthday , i'll give them to her when she turns 21 ,(haha sucks to be her, no car !)

mostly I say , there will be times when you have heaps of guilt over everything you do as a mum , and you will question all your decisions, but the guilt is wasted, spend time enjoying them , instead of feeling remorse , because take it from me, one day your staring in wonder at their perfect little newborn face, the next they are nearly 7 and informing you that they are going to date a boy with a motor bike when they are "really old , like 20 " .

Dont sweat the small stuff

take time to stop and just dance with them

and the most important thing of all, just love them , love them to the moon and back ,because even when its really really tough, you must have done something great to deserve such a treasure, and they must be loved and treasured as such .

and remember they may choose your retirement home one day ....

During AN classes DH and I found out that babies look pretty gross when they are born, all slimy and purple, so we were quite prepared for the alien-looking creature when she came out. However we had forgotton to discuss it with my mum and she was a bit freaked out to see Jody all purple and thought she was dead at first. Luckily Jody let us all know how angry she was about being evicted so Mum was very relieved. I just presumed she knew what new babies looked like, but in 'those' days babies were taken away and cleaned up before being presented to the parents.

My Dr also gave me good advice about labour/birth, it is only one day you have to do this, you have the rest of your life with your child so think about that and don't worry about that one day.

I found it helpful to read all the birth stories so I was prepared for anything to happen, also it helped me to understand what was happening during my labour.

I agree with everyone on eating whatever you can, especially in the first trimester.
And keeping a diary.

Thanks for all the tips!