Pregnancy

Inside: When you suffer from swelling during pregnancy, try this doctor-recommended remedy. Not only will this fix swollen feet during pregnancy – it will reduce puffiness in your hands and legs, too. Bonus: You’ll love it.

A few weeks ago when I hit 7 months for this pregnancy, my hands swelled to the point where I had to remove my wedding ring.

I’m no stranger to the magical symptom of swollen feet and hands during pregnancy. During my last pregnancy, at the end of a day at my desk job, I looked like the Wikipedia entry for Elephantitis.

I tried everything.

• Avoid standing. (But remember: sitting too much can kill you.)
• Drink more water. (And have fun peeing every 15 minutes.)
• Put your feet up, above your hips. (But don’t lay on your back.)
• Exercise regularly. (Good luck fitting your gargantuan feet into tennis shoes.)

None of it helped. My swollen hands and fingers made it impossible to type or even hold my phone.

Every night, I sank onto the couch and put my swollen feet on an ottoman topped with three pillows.

And I’d stare at my feet. My poor, puffy feet.

I wanted to cry and yell and disown my feet, all at the same time.

So when my puffiness started a few weeks ago for this pregnancy, I talked to my doctor, desperate for new advice to reduce swelling during pregnancy.

A Simple Fix for Swollen Feet and Hands (and Everything) During Pregnancy

One of the doctors in my practice is pregnant and just a couple weeks ahead of me, so she GETS IT.

Lucky for me, I had an appointment with her the same week I removed my wedding ring.

“It seems like the swelling has started earlier for me this time,” I said, my legs dangling off the exam table and collecting even more fluid as I spoke. “I sit with my feet up as much as possible and drink a ton of water, but it doesn’t really help.”

She smiled. “Well, there’s one more thing you can try that helps a lot, but it’s not for everyone.”

I sat up straighter, crinkling the paper on the table. “What?” I asked.

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The Single Best Way to Reduce Swollen Feet in PregnancyRead More

Inside: Worried about your pregnancy weight gain? Here are the 5 main concerns, plus what your doctor isn’t telling you about healthy weight gain during pregnancy.

Last week, my 31-week ob/gyn appointment started off with me stepping on the scale.

I glanced at the number, and then I saw the nurse jot it down.

The recommended healthy weight gain during pregnancy is 25-35 pounds.

Total. For your whole pregnancy.

I’ll get back to the expert advice in a bit.

But first: Guess how much I’ve gained, with two months to go before this girl is done cooking.

Go On. Guess.

Forty pounds. Four. Zero.

I’d been feeling a little bit…softer around the edges during this pregnancy.

But I don’t weigh myself regularly at home, so I don’t keep close track. At my previous doctor’s appointments, I’d seen the number on the scale but hadn’t given it much thought.

This time was different.

This time, it was a ROUND number.

A nice, big round number to match my nice, big round pregnant body.

How Could This Happen?

As I sat in the room waiting for the doctor or midwife to come in, my mind flipped through the explanations:

1. I’m older. Advanced maternal age, even!
2. I didn’t get back to my pre-pregnancy weight before getting pregnant again.
3. Oh, and there’s this thing where I never exercise and eat dessert every night.

I’m not sure why I’d be gaining weight like crazy?

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The Dirty Little Secret About Pregnancy Weight GainRead More

Inside: Everyone has advice on what NOT to say to a lady sporting a baby bump. Here are 5 perfectly lovely questions to ask a pregnant woman instead.

At the ripe old age of 37 and approaching my third trimester of pregnancy, I am what the medical community refers to as “advanced maternal age.”

This is the badge of honor you earn for being pregnant when you’re 35 or older, and it comes with the following perks:

• An acronym! (AMA – and don’t you worry one bit about the fact that doctors also use AMA to refer to “against medical advice”)
• Extra ultrasounds as you reach your due date to make sure your placenta doesn’t start to “degrade” too early
• A strong encouragement to subject yourself to ALL THE TESTS EVER INVENTED

Because of that last perk, at 12 weeks pregnant, I took a blood test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities.

All results came back normal. Phew.

But the test has another feature. Instead of having to wait for the typical 20-week ultrasound, this blood test can tell you the gender of your baby.

A full two months early!

You can opt not to find out, of course, but we checked the gender box to find out.

Here’s Where It Gets Sticky

First, you should know that we have two girls – a 7-year-old and a toddler who will turn 2 in a couple months.

In the last few weeks, friends and family and strangers have been asking the question that you get constantly when you’re visibly pregnant:

“Do you know what you’re having?”

I’ve answered a few times, but most of the time I say “no,” even though we do, in fact, know the gender.

Why Would I Lie?

It’s not because we’re disappointed. Not at all.

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5 Perfectly Lovely Questions to Ask a Pregnant Woman – And One to SkipRead More

Inside: You probably won’t find this important step on any preparing for baby checklists, but it involves your older child. And it might help your new baby, too.

I’m 25 weeks pregnant.

At the ob/gyn appointment last week, my husband was there as usual but we also brought also our 7-year-old and 22-month-old daughters.

We wanted them to see the baby on the ultrasound and hear the heartbeat. To make the experience more real to them.

Not that they need it to be more real. This ain’t the first rodeo for our eldest Abby. And our toddler Bailey has surprised us with how much she’s been into the idea of a baby growing in mommy’s belly.

A few times a day, she walks up to me, says “baby,” and points to my belly. Then she pulls up my shirt (this is fun in public), wraps her pudgy little hands around my belly, and gives the baby a big hug and kiss.

We didn’t teach her to do any of this.

But after we explained the idea of a baby sister or brother growing in there, she just started doing it.

During the appointment last week, Bailey acted like her normal toddler self – climbing on and off the chair while I held my breath, SURE she was going to bust her head on the hard tile floor. Flipping the switch for the stirrup light on the table, over and over and over. Escaping through the slightly cracked patient room door and running down the hall past staring doctors and midwives and nurses.

I could have predicted all that.

But then something else happened.

A Surprise

Before the ultrasound tech Karen got ready to measure the heartbeat, she whispered to me and Ty and nodded in Bailey’s direction: “Watch your little one right now. Don’t say anything, just watch.”

So we watched Bailey.

She was in the middle of her seven thousandth descent from the chair, and the exact second she heard that heartbeat pounding throughout the small room, her head whipped up in the direction of the screen.

She stopped mid-descent, one leg dangling off the chair but not yet planted on the floor.

Her mouth hung open, and she just listened to the baby’s heartbeat until Karen switched off the sound a minute later.

Then Bailey went back to what she was doing, like nothing ever happened.

Like she was playing a game of Red Light, Green Light without knowing it.

I turned to look at Karen, who was smiling at our reaction. “That’s the first sound they ever heard, so when they hear it again, it gets their attention pretty fast.”

A Story for You

We love our ultrasound tech. Karen’s been there for us in moments of unbridled joy, and crushing loss.

Shortly after we had the all-clear to try again, we ran into her at the grocery store. We’d been feeling nervous to start down that path again and open ourselves up to another loss.

She smiled and said: “When am I gonna see you two back in the office? It’s time.”

We laughed. And sure enough, a couple months later, there we were – back in her office.

Then last week, she told us a story I haven’t been able to shake from my mind.

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Don’t Forget This Step When Preparing for Another BabyRead More