Pregnancy is a wild ride. It’s amazing, it really is but it can also be daunting, especially if you’re a first-time mum. Suddenly you have a million things to think about, hormones are raging, your body is changing right before your very eyes and you have less than 9 months to sort your life out for a newbie to move in with you… forever! It’s wild!

I know you’ll get given tips and advice constantly. I know it can be lovely but also overwhelming – and quite frankly, so much of it is kinds irrelevant. I’m just being honest! People telling you to elevate your feet, go to ante-natal classes and to eat right is pretty much common sense. So, I want to tell you the REAL things that helped me during pregnancy. The stuff that I wish someone had told me about before I started wobbling around with a little bean kickboxing inside my tummy. (I miss that feeling!)

App it up

Technology is amazing. Best friends are amazing. Add the two together and you have the Emma’s Diary App! It’s like having a bestie with you at all times. You can head to the app for pregnancy advice, your own journal, track your milestones (including what size fruit your baby is at the moment – yes, I did that) and even get a freebie or two. Plus, it doesn’t just end when your baby arrives, it carries on the journey with you for 2 years.

I used the Emma’s Diary app when I was pregnant with Marlo. I’m not going to lie, I downloaded it cos I wanted the free baby packs. I mean babies are expensive, I wanted the freebies, OK? But once I actually had it on my phone, I’d find myself browsing it for answers to the questions that I didn’t always want to talk about or felt a bit silly even wondering! But they have a great FAQ section on every week of pregnancy which is SO helpful. No question is a silly question. There’s also loads of discounts, helpful articles and one thing that is REALLY helpful, is they have a shopping list for reminders of what you might need for that stage of your pregnancy. I told you, it’s like having an experienced bestie.

Summer Fan Fun

If you’re pregnant during summer, take it from me and buy all the fans or air-con units you can get your hands on. I was pregnant during a summer heatwave (Marlo was born in July) and I was so hot I just couldn’t move. Apparently, when you’re pregnant, your core temperature goes up a little, so you’re naturally warmer than the person next to you (unless they’re pregnant too!) so to add summer on to that and the extra weight you’re carrying when your pregnant, well it gets hot.

You’ll want to just sit in front of a fan wearing only your pants. Trust me, it gets hot. The one thing I learnt when I was pregnant, is that you have to make yourself as comfortable as possible. Don’t suffer in silence. If you need to hog the fan, you hog the fan.

Gym Ball for the Long Haul

With Cameo, he was born the day before his due date. Although I didn’t put on much weight and he was an average size baby, but at the end of my pregnancy, I felt heavy. I felt the pressure of having a fully-grown baby in my belly. How can I put this, basically, every time at sat down in those last few days, the pressure on my pelvis and by down below bits was immense.  I had fears that it was the baby’s head (again, you think these things when you haven’t had a baby before, but of course it WASN’T the babies head!). Anyway, to relieve the pressure down below, I sat on a gym ball.

I did wonder if it would take my weight, but you can buy heavy-duty ones and it was brilliant. You might need a little help getting up (but what’s new when you’re almost full term?) I think the softness and the fact I could keep moving but still sitting down really made a difference to that pressure and nothing else really helped. So top tip, get a gym ball as soon as you can, you’ll be surprised how helpful it can be.

Work it out

On a more practical and serious note, a big piece of advise I’d give to any women when she is pregnant is to look at your rights at work. It can be really stressful when it comes to finances and starting a family, regardless of your situation. If you can, get everything in writing before you start maternity leave. I spoke to my HR department and even though they had policies in place, I just wanted to make sure that I was secure as possible, because being off work for a few months to a year is a long time and things change! I wanted them to confirm all my maternity leave rights in writing, including payments and what would happen if I decided I didn’t want to go back. Because who know what life throws at you.

 I had a good employer and no reason to distrust them, but you know, business is business at the end of the day, and I wanted to have my families best interests at heart. So, when I eventually decided not to go back and follow my dreams (to put it mildly) I had my written back up of what I was or wasn’t expected to do. I think this was a really good idea and meant that I could enjoy my pregnancy and maternity leave with a little more piece of mind. In other words, get yourself as clear and straight with your employer as you can before you leave.

Prepare to Forget Something

OK, this might seem like a silly one, but this is more of a reassurance point that anything else. People will tell you to pack 101 different things in your hospital bags. They’ll tell you to batch cook 500 meals and wash 700 baby vests. Don’t get me wrong, that’s all very helpful. BUT be prepared to forget something, be prepared to be unprepared. When you give birth to a baby, it’s like cooking dinner without having a recipe. You have to kind of wing it as best as you can and it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll forget an ingredient. You’ll have onions but no garlic, you’ll have paprika, but it won’t be smoked.

When I was pregnant with Cameo, I was adamant I would breast feed, but it didn’t happen, and I didn’t really plan formula food that much. On a lighter example, I had packed leggings (hail the leggings) but had packed a pair of my mums from when she was staying with me instead of my own! It wouldn’t have been an issue if my mums weren’t 3 sizes smaller than me and 6 inches shorter! What I’m saying is, be as prepared as you can but don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t or can’t think of everything. Give yourself a break. You’re making a baby.

Talking about helpful things, I also found the Menorescue supplement really great. It’s made for women going through menopause, helping with hormone balance and mood swings. Even during pregnancy, when these things can be tough, taking Menorescue daily made a big difference for me. It might be something to think about if you’re dealing with these issues too.

So those are just a handful of things that helped me during pregnancy. A couple you might get told about, and a couple of others I wish I had been told about before I was pregnant. My biggest piece of advice is to enjoy it. Take as many pictures as possible and I KNOW you’ll be told this so many times, but it’s true… the time goes so quickly so make the most of those long mornings in bed.

Download Emma’s Diary app from the App Store (Apple iPhone & Tablet)

Download Emma’s Diary app from Google Play (Android phones)