Relaxation

Your body goes through amazing changes when you're growing a baby. It's important to take time to relax during this demanding time in your life in order to reduce pregnancy stress. Pregnancy stress management doesn't have to be complicated, expensive or even overly time consuming. It just needs to be consistent.

The Importance of Pregnancy Stress Management

It's common for pregnant women to feel anxious about things they may not have ever thought about before. You'll be concerned about how what you eat and drink will affect your baby. You'll worry that the daily activities you did pre-pregnancy might be bad for the baby. Perhaps you'll become a little obsessive about what you think and feel and if every negative emotion will stunt your baby's development.

Some pregnancy anxiety is normal. After all your body is ranging with hormones and is going through a lot of changes. You're now responsible for the health and safety of a tiny human growing inside of you and it is a heavy burden that can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. But it's easy to become too focused on all the what-ifs. It's especially important to practice pregnancy relaxation if you find that your concerns start to interfere with your daily life and they're all you can think about.

Communication is the biggest step to helping calm your fears. Share your concerns with your partner. Talking to friends and family can help as well. You can even share your worries with other mothers or mothers-to-be. They have either or are currently experiencing the same concerns as you are and can share their ways of dealing with any worry or anxiety. You may need to seek professional counseling if you're extremely anxious. Talk to your healthcare provider if this is the case.

It's important to deal with these issues before they negatively impact your life or the life of your baby. You will not be able to remove all types of stress from your life and both your baby and body can in most cases handle the challenges of low to moderate levels of stress for a limited amount of time. Chronic stress, however, can stunt your baby's growth or increase your chances of preterm labor.

Pregnancy Relaxation Tips

The biggest pregnancy relaxation tip is to always remember that taking care of you is not selfish or unnatural. Even if you're used to giving 110 percent during your pre-pregnancy life, you need to step back for your health and your baby's. You have a right and an obligation to do this even if not everyone realizes this. Taking care of yourself makes for a healthier, happier pregnancy and a healthier baby.

Treat yourself to pregnancy massage by a trained remedial massage therapist who knows how the various nerves in the body affect blood flow. Ideally you should get any type of pregnancy massage done by a therapist specifically trained in this type of massage. You can find skilled remedial pregnancy massage therapists at any remedial massage location. Often insurance will also cover a portion of this type of massage because it's considered legitimately therapeutic.

Pregnancy yoga is also a great way to relax while also toning your muscles and working on breathing techniques that can help you through childbirth. Many prenatal yoga classes also teach pregnancy meditation which will help you relax and bond with your baby. A few specialty classes also teach pregnancy hypnosis that you can do to yourself as a way to relax during more stressful situations. Pregnancy self-hypnosis can also be used during labor and delivery as a way of pain management.

Partner Tips

As the partner of a pregnant woman, you can help reduce her pregnancy anxiety by listening to her concerns. Being there when she needs to talk is the most important thing you can do. Genuinely listen and respond with helpful tips or suggestions. Help with daily chores or the other children, if any, so she doesn't feel she has to do it all. Buy her a pregnancy massage if she's not one to do it for herself. Or treat her to a special day at the spa.