I earlier wrote why you should dispel the myth regarding exercising and instead shared with you a number of reasons why in fact you should stay active when you are pregnant.

In this post, I will go through some suitable exercises that you want to consider, extracted from an article by The Rite Bite.

- Go for light exercises such as pregnancy yoga, low impact aerobics, walking and stretching
- Swimming is good for your health without the risk of other more strenuous cardiovacular exercises
- Kegel contracting exercises improves your pelvic floor muscles (your bowel, bladder and uterus are supported by these)
- The Pointing Dog is a form of exercise that helps your lower back.

While these are generally safe forms of exercises for expecting mothers, it’s best that you obtain your physician’s advise and go-ahead before embarking on any workout.

Yours,
Nelly

If you have not been working out, chances are that you have been following some “old wives tales” that pretty much advised moms-to-be not to exercise.

While it is important that you stay away from those harmful strenuous exercises, you should also know that suitable light exercises (including swimming, walking and yoga) can in fact bring many benefits for you.

According to this article from Your Pregnancy, pregnant mothers should exercise because of the following reasons:

- cuts down on time during labor and recovery
- lowers stress and improve your emotional health
- manage weight gain
- helps your unborn baby’s health
- helps alleviate some pregnancy side effects
- lowers the risk of premature birth

Now, before you rush out for some workouts, do exercise some common sense such as not to over exert yourself and remember to drink plenty of water.

To your health,
Nelly

When I was pregnant with my son, I recall those grueling first few months where morning sickness and other unpleasant symptoms seem to be around forever.

If you have a similar experience as mine, the good news is that you will soon notice the easing of these symptoms as your 6th month gets near.

You are likely to feel perkier with more energy.

You will probably receive comments on how radiant you look (although your blouse / dress could be hiding some awful stretch marks!).

It’s the time when your baby starts to open and close his / her eyes and start to respond to noise outside the womb.

And since your baby is fully developed yet, this is right time for some gentle exercise and stretching routines that can help in preventing excess weight gain and reducing back ache.

According to Vici blog, you should also consider these healthy tips for you and your baby:

- get lots of rest (easier time to sleep than the 3rd trimester)
- go for regular antenatal checkups
- adopt a balanced, healthy diet
- stay away from high risk foods
- do not smoke and stay away from smokers

Take care,
Nelly

“A Guide to Prenatal Success” is the tagline of this blog by Bloom’en Nutrition, a site that has been in existence since March 2008.

When it comes to the blog, the owner has posted over a hundred posts on pregnancy issues that feature a number of videos and photos instead of just text-based articles.

Despite the tagline, this blog does seem to offer advise for new mothers as well since there are tag topics / categories that range include birth care, baby gear, clothes, dha, exercise, hair, health, vitamins, prenatal press, prenatal vitamins, weight and so on.

Just to give you an idea, when I was reviewing this blog, I found these posts appearing on the first page:

- 16 Week Pregnant Belly – Front
- Dancing While Pregnant
- Maternity Clothes : Maternity Clothes for the First Trimester
- The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, Chinese Edition

So, if you are either expecting or has just become a mother, you might just find something useful at Bloom’en Nutrition.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Nelly

Looks like you should not be driving if you have just given birth.

This is due to partum fatigue that new mothers experience.

And this can be for up to 12 weeks after delivery where a woman driver’s risk of car accidents goes up due to this fatigue.

Based on the latest study published by Queenland University, researchers have found that routineless and lifestyle changes plus insufficient sleep can cause new mothers to go through an entire day in a “mental haze”.

This effectively can lead to problems when driving where the risk posed by new moms can be as severe as people who drink and drive.

You can read more about it here:

http://blog.taragana.com/e/2010/01/29/new-mums-a-driving-hazard-85543/

Bottom line – if you need to go somewhere, ask someone to take you there!

Nelly

You are pregnant and are worried something is wrong because you noticed changes to your skin.

Actually, skin changes are really quite normal due to the hormonal changes that take place in your body during your pregnancy.

Other than the dreaded stretch marks, you might be experiencing some of these changes as well:

- rashes
- itching
- brown patches on the forehead / cheeks
- darkening of moles
- more visible veins (may be swollen)
- red sores

The good news of course is that the skin changes mentioned above do not affect the health of either your baby or yourself.

Having said this, there is one condition that may be harmful to your baby i.e. when you see big insect-bite-like rashes that appear everywhere on your body.

For more details, go read this article at:

http://www.ayushveda.com/magazine/skin-problems-during-pregnancy/

To your health,
Nelly