Every time I hear that a friend or even an acquaintance is pregnant, I have so many things I want to tell them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I am all-knowing just because I’ve had one baby. I just feel like I have so many tips and tricks I learned along the way that I want to share. So I decided to share them here where everyone can read them! (Make sure you also check out the things I wish I had known during labor and delivery and the ways to make postpartum recovery better.)

I talk a little bit more about these and other tips in an episode of my Quirky Parenting podcast with my husband. You can listen online or you can download it from the iTunes store.

Morning Sickness Guilt

I had terrible morning sickness during the first four months of my pregnancy. I thought I was doing so well because I found out I was pregnant early. I was eating right and going for walks everyday. Then BAM the day I hit 6 weeks, morning sickness hit me like a ton of bricks and didn’t leave for months. I hardly ever threw up, but the nausea was unrelenting. All of my previous concern with nutrition went out the window. I felt so guilty for my unborn babe’s lack of nutrition those months.

Eat what you can during morning sickness, even if it isn’t the most nutritious.

I ate crackers and various forms of potatoes (tater tots, hash browns, baked potatoes, etc.) for the first four months. Not the most nutritive, but let me tell you that it was that or nothing for me. Almost two years later, Mac is a healthy, growing toddler.

Is This Normal?

I will admit, I drove myself a little crazy during pregnancy trying to figure out if things I was experiencing were normal. I would google and google, trying to determine if it was normal.

Most body things are normal because pregnancy is weird.

Obviously, I am not saying to write things off. Go with your gut. If it feels like something is wrong, do some internet searching or call your doctor’s office to make sure it is okay.

When to Wear Maternity Clothes

Whenever you dang well please, thank you very much. Some people pop early while others can go months still wearing their regular clothes. But if you are pregnant, you are already dealing with so much. Don’t make clothes a big deal. Make sure you are comfortable!

When your regular clothes stop fitting comfortably, don’t feel bad switching to maternity clothes.

I see so many people being like “So and so started wearing maternity pants soooo early.” But what if she was severely bloated and her tight pants were giving her bad stomachaches? Go for comfort people!

What Maternity Clothes Should I Buy?

First of all, I don’t work in an office setting. I work in a Montessori school. So I didn’t have to worry so much about buying professional clothes. But let me tell you, I didn’t want to spend a fortune on maternity clothes. Not only did we not have that much money to begin with, we were also trying to save for after we had the baby. So I really was frugal with my purchases.

People think pregnant ladies are cute, no matter what they wear or how often they wear it.

On the days when I dressed the laziest, I would get the most compliments. For real, the day I threw on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt with a sweater were the days I would get told how cute I looked. So what did my maternity wardrobe look like?

• Yoga pants I already owned (they had the fold over waistband that I pulled up over my belly)
• A few sweaters that happened to also fit while I was pregnant
• Three maternity t-shirts
• Two maternity tank tops
• Two pairs of maternity jeans
• Two maternity dresses

As you can see, I definitely did not go crazy buying a bunch of maternity clothes. In fact, most of it was given to me or I bought second-hand. Here is my other advice about maternity clothes:

Buy non-ruched shirts that you can wear after pregnancy.

I still wear the maternity tank tops I bought. They aren’t ruched and don’t look like “maternity wear.” They are just really long and stretchy.

Accept Help

When I was pregnant, someone gave me this bit of advice. I am not someone who accepts help very willingly, but when you are visibly pregnant, everyone wants to help you.

Save your energy and let people help you. Pregnancy is tiring enough!

If your mom wants to come clean your bathrooms, let her. If your co-worker always opens the doors for you, let him. I feel like most people naturally want to find ways to help pregnant moms. Accept the help. Growing a human is hard work enough.

My Least Favorite Pregnancy Advice, Tweaked

I always HATED when people were like “Sleep as much as you can before the baby comes” like somehow you could stockpile that and pull from the reserves when baby was having a bad night. Wrong! But I will tweak the advice to this

Appreciate the sleep you get before baby comes.

It won’t save, but just appreciate that most nights you can sleep as long and as late (on the weekends) as you want.

Remember to check out what I wish I knew during labor and delivery and the ways to make postpartum recovery better.

What other advice do you give pregnant women? Let me know! Make sure you also take a listen to our parenting advice podcast.