hi everyone welcome to episode four in case you missed it last week we
shared some pretty big news we are pregnant so without further ado
we're going to continue bringing you our week by week
pregnancy updates and information along with our in real life
experiences as we live it along the way so this week we're going to be talking
all about things that you can do to try to help your pregnancy be as
healthy as possible and some lifestyle changes you should
consider after that positive pregnancy test so if this is
your first time meeting us i'm sarah and i'm an ob gyn
i'm kurt and i'm a pediatrician and we are the doctors bjorkman
so as we mentioned this is week four in our 40 week pregnancy journey and this
episode is all about things you can do to help have a healthy pregnancy and
some day-to-day changes you can make in your lifestyle to help your developing
baby be as healthy as possible so first let's talk about some of the
early signs and symptoms of pregnancy some women aren't going to start to
notice this until one to two weeks after they're missed period but some women are
really sensitive and start to notice them
right away some of the earliest common symptoms are
breast tenderness fatigue nausea frequent urination moodiness and maybe
some bloating and that's all from those increasing
hormones your body's starting to make one of the most frequent is that breast
tenderness that usually tends to resolve as your body gets used to those hormones
and the other one that really sometimes surprises women
is how extreme the first trimester fatigue
can be and so make sure you're really listening to your body during this time
go to bed earlier take a nap most of the time that energy really starts to
rebound around the second trimester so hang in there another symptom you've
probably heard about is nausea and nausea in the first trimester
usually comes between weeks four and week nine
with actually 70 to 80 percent of women experiencing some degree of morning
sickness during pregnancy a lot so a lot um
because it's so common and sometimes so debilitating we're gonna make sure to
spend more time dedicated to this topic in a future
episode but since we've talked about nausea it's
really important that we talk about diet so one diet and pregnancy myth that
we need to debunk is that as a mom now you are eating for two
unfortunately that mindset can get you into trouble with excess weight gain
and in all actuality a normal weight woman only needs 300 to 400 extra
calories per day during pregnancy and that
increase isn't needed until the second trimester
you're definitely going to gain weight during pregnancy and a normal weight
woman the recommendation is that that you gain
25 to 35 pounds during the whole pregnancy
that usually starts to be about almost a half a pound to a pound per week during
the second trimester and it is common that you do not have
any weight gain in the first trimester if you are an underweight woman and your
bmi is 18.5 or less it is recommended that you gain between 28 and 40 pounds
during pregnancy if you are overweight so your bmi is 25
to 29.9 it's recommended that you gain 15 to 25
pounds during pregnancy and if you are obese with a bmi over 30
the recommended weight gain is 11 to 20 pounds
so where does all that weight actually come from in a normal healthy pregnancy
over the course of forty weeks about seven and a half pounds comes from
baby about two pounds comes from amniotic fluid
there's about one and a half pounds coming from the placenta
two pounds from increased uterus size two pounds from increased breast tissue
there's about four pounds that comes from increased bodily fluids and four
pounds from increased blood volume only about seven pounds comes from
increased stores in mom of fat nutrients and protein regardless
of weight however there's some other nutrients that you
want to make sure you're getting in your diet these are things like folic acid
iron calcium and vitamin d if you started taking a prenatal vitamin it's
great to continue that that's the easiest way to make sure you're getting
these extra nutrients you need if you aren't
taking one already it's a great time to start in addition to a well-rounded
balanced diet so you're pregnant and you're looking for more information
where are you going to go other than this youtube channel there's
a couple of books that we actually have ourselves there's the classic
what to expect when you're expecting maybe your mom read it i know my mom
read it during pregnancy there's also this
amazing book from the american college of obstetrics and
gynecologists just a great month by month guide to
pregnancy as well ask at your ob gyn they may actually have free copies that
they give away to patients um really outstanding information stuff
that we're going to ourselves for information in our pregnancy and
then the 2002 sorry 2020
release the motherly's guide to becoming mama
this is a contemporary book redefining the journey through pregnancy and
postpartum we love it there's a lot of great information in this book and
actually sarah was the medical advisor and editor for this book um so
we're a little bit biased we know it's filled with a lot of great
information covered to cover so in terms of diet there are a couple
foods you want to be aware of that could potentially put your baby at
risk so the foods you want to try to avoid in pregnancy
are seafood that's high in mercury these are like big fish that eat other fish
think like swordfish mackerel king marlin tilefish shark
you want to avoid any raw or undercooked seafood meat and eggs sorry sushi lovers
you want to avoid soft cheeses like brie gorgonzola feta you want to avoid
unpasteurized dairy and fruit juice and deli meats too unless you're going
to cook them to steaming exactly and the other thing you want to make
sure you're doing is washing all of your fruits and vegetables really well
keep in mind all these are fairly new recommendations in the last 50 years and
so there are women across the world who have eaten these foods in
pregnancy and had healthy pregnancies there is just very small but potential
risk that you should be aware of and decide
what you are comfortable with in your pregnancy overall the goal is to have a
healthy and well-balanced diet rich in things like vegetables fruits whole
grains and lean protein sources if you're able
to it's a good idea to vary your protein sources as well so you can think about
consuming things like low mercury containing seafood this is like shrimp
salmon tilapia it's also okay to have caffeine in pregnancy as
long as it's in moderation so think about 200 milligrams a day
that's about one cup of coffee so if you need that to get your day started or
after your lunch break go ahead and have the coffee guilt-free
for sure um one of the next things we're going to
transition to talking about is exercise in pregnancy yeah so this is
one of our favorite topics and something that is incredibly important because it
can do so many good things for both mom and baby the
goal here is about 30 minutes of exercise three to
five times a week you know if you're already active you
can stay active if you aren't active it's a great time to get active
the thing is just to do pregnancy safe activity
if you have questions about that you can definitely talk to your provider some
things that are generally safe thing safe for like hiking gentle bike riding
swimming aerobics zumba strength training all totally fine
just make sure that you are able to carry on a conversation
while you're doing your exercise so week four of pregnancy and so far
feeling fine none of those early signs or symptoms of
pregnancy yet knock on wood they certainly could be
coming i did have to give out my nightly glass
of wine but i would say that being pregnant has
definitely motivated us to eat really healthy and nutritious
things and has also motivated us to get our butts
working out again and exercising so that's been really nice
another quick list we want to share with you are some of the non-food things that
you should avoid in pregnancy the number one thing on that list is
smoking it's a great idea to quit smoking
before you get pregnant but if you are pregnant and find that you
are still smoking now is a great time to stop
smoking has been linked to vaginal bleeding pre-term birth
small for gestational age infants as well as
stillbirth and sudden infant death syndrome
smoke quitting smoking is the number one thing you could do for your health and
your baby's health another really important thing to avoid
is alcohol unfortunately there's no known safe amount of alcohol consumption
in pregnancy and we know that alcohol is related to
fetal alcohol syndrome which has related deficits in
developmental learning and behavioral issues later in life
finally you want to avoid things like cocaine
methamphetamines marijuana and other illegal substances
as these have been linked to birth defects learning issues and other a
spectrum of other things in kiddos down the road absolutely and
if you're having struggles quitting any of these things
you can call 1-800-662-help or for specific help in quitting smoking
1-800 quit now some other things that maybe
aren't on your list of things to avoid could be things like cleaning your cat
litter box unfortunately cat feces carry a bacteria
called toxoplasmosis that can have some pretty serious
effects on a developing baby you may have also heard that you need to avoid
things like hot tubs hot baths and saunas
but actually we know that as long as you limit your exposure to 10 minutes these
things are all probably safe for a baby one last thing to think about
is medications you're going to want to talk to your ob provider about any
prescription medications that you're taking
to ensure that they're safe to keep taking during pregnancy
but what about the over-the-counter stuff you are likely to experience some
aches and pains or a headache during your pregnancy
tylenol or acetaminophen is going to be your go-to pain reliever
and you can use it as directed on the bottle
nsaids or things like ibuprofen motrin or advil are not good for babies
developing kidneys so you want to avoid those during pregnancy
and then finally we've talked about progesterone that hormone that's
starting to increase in your body and it tends to slow everything down in
your system so i want you to be prepared for some
heartburn or constipation for heartburn you can use malax or tums
you want to avoid pepto-bismol and for your constipation have your
favorite stool softener on hand like colace muralax or metamucil you also
might get a cough during pregnancy and robitussin's gonna be okay
if you have any other questions about meds that are safe in pregnancy
talk with your ob provider so despite all of these
lists of things to avoid pregnancy is overall
a state of wellness and you can kind of live your life
with a few modifications and things to keep in mind
to avoid as many risks as possible for your pregnancy
so with that that's a wrap for us this week come back next week for
week 5 updates on what's going on with mom
baby and some great educational information for you if you have any
questions please leave them below um come check us
out over on our instagram at thedoctorsbjorkman and if you like what
you're seeing click subscribe and follow along on this
journey with us see you next week
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video is for
education or entertainment purposes only it is not medical advice any specific
medical questions you have should be directed to your provider