Surviving Pregnancy 101: My Top Early Pregnancy Tips

I used to do a segment on my short-lived project, Salvage Maid (I'd like to think it's not dead, just on sabbatical), called "Stalker Tuesday" in which I'd feature a new blog or website for you to stalk regularly.

Here it is Tuesday and I found myself on a BabyCenter blog by Sabrina Garibian an expectant first-time-mom. I've enjoyed checking in on Sabrina the last few months. She's also got a food blog that I've made visits to only a couple of times because I've been too nauseous to really enjoy reading it, but now that the nausea is minimal, I'll be prowling her food blog more often (I'm thinking this crepe recipe will need to be made this Saturday morning). Anyway, I digress....

She did a post on her top early pregnancy tips - and I was inspired to do my own.

Here it is, Lexy's Surving Pregnancy 101: Week 18 - You WILL Live to See It!

• Always, always carry something edible with you wherever you go. Granola bar, fruit snack, little candies, crackers, grapes, an apple - any or all of these. It's surprising how quickly your blood sugar levels fade when carrying a little babushka. Even more surprising when you open your eyes after fainting in public. *Also recommended: a bottle of water, get over the whole toxic plastic first-time-pregnant worry wortedness and do yourself a favor, by carrying around water. Hydration hydration. 
• Take your prenatal vitamin at night. If you haven't heard this bit of advice yet, I'm shocked. And if you can't handle that nasty $4 prenatal vitamin from Wal-Mart, try doing a Flintstone Vitamin Complete with Choline. It's got almost 100% of all the vitamins and minerals you need, including iron. It's not that much more expensive and even though it tastes over-the-top sweet, somehow it's easier on the stomach and you get to chew it before your swallow. 
• Take a Unisom every night - particularly if you suffer nausea anytime of the day. Some magical ingredient in it not only helps you get a more restful sleep (in-between those four nightly potty trips) but helps with all-day nausea. I wasn't completely convinced, but there have been a couple of nights (like on vacation) where I forgot to take it and paid the price the next day. Read: upchuck. 
• Don't make reading baby forums a part of your daily routine - at least until you are 14 weeks along. I made this mistake in the beginning, as I was experiencing new things and worrying over every single one of them. Sometimes the forums helped, but usually they just caused an ulcer and even more lose of appetite. I was particularly worried about miscarrying ... and I would read several posts about women who had miscarried in previous pregnancies, were possibly in the process of miscarrying ... or were also as crazy worried that every little thing (like one day without nausea) meant they were going to miscarry. It made me feel like my chances were more like 50% instead of the 15-20% that it actually is. 
• Keep quilts available for your baby daddy - no matter what season it is. This is particularly important if you have air conditioning. Don't feel too bad about freezing out your significant other, your oven is seemingly running at 400 degrees Fahrenheit to cook that little growing bun, but you could do him the courtesy of making sure there's a cozy quilt near the couch. We've got a stack! 
• Worshiping the Porcelain Throne is not mentioned as a sin in the Bible - I guess this isn't really a tip, but I just wanted to reassure you that it's going to be okay. And it's okay to pray while hunched over the toilet. It might actually help pull you through. 

For more tips visit Sabrina's post.

Now sing it with me......