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How I survived my pregnancy.
By Maya Boneva Mahama — Written on Mar 20, 2018
Pregnancy. Expected, awaited, suddenly dropped on you, wanted, or confusing. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes with some unpleasant faces, pregnancy is always life-changing, important, and super emotional time.
How to deal with it a proper way? You are in the right place! Using the following advises and having the support of 700 moms-to-be on my side, I was able to turn my not-so- pleasant-pregnancy into the best period of my life.
How? Keep reading.
It was the spring of 2011. Nature was pregnant, in all meaning. Spring was just about to blossom here in Bulgaria. The Earth was pregnant with new life, so was I. I saw the positive test before I had to sign a contract for a great position at work — a once in a lifetime opportunity.
My future husband just had started his company also and our "living together" experience was also just at the beginning. So everything was new, fresh, and ready to start his life.
I was suffering migraines and the idea of being pregnant for 9 months was kind of stressful to me at that first moment (and many moments later), but I was happy! I was at the beginning of my 30’s and I thought this is the best time to have a child, right?
Everything started with a lot of sleeping, feeling exhausted, but excited, and then I felt so sick! I was throwing up all the time, I was dizzy and had to stay in bed for the next 6 months. After this, contractions started and again bound me to my bed for the rest of the pregnancy. The migraines were a nightmare and on the top of all, my little one has had her own opinion on everything.
She didn't let me sleep at all, didn't let me eat anything, and she liked to do acrobatics inside me 24/7. In the end, she ended up horizontally positioned just before she had to be born!
So as you can understand, it was a staying-at-home-for-9-months-experience. But you can't just lie in bed, can you? So I had to be creative and find out what can I do while waiting.
Here are my top 7 activities that saved me during this time and also gave me pleasure and future at the same time:
1. Join a community, forum, or social media group with other moms.
Being among friends that can perfectly understand and respond to your concerns 24/7 is super helpful, but also joking, have fun, sharing experience makes the day go faster and more pleasant. I had the chance to enter a group of amazing women who were super familiar with homeopathy, doctors, and tests.
They were from different professional areas, so we were able to exchange advice on medicine, law, accounting, personal development, family issues, and insurance and so on.
When you are pregnant, especially for a first time, you are not familiar with many things that you will need during and after the pregnancy, so having all the information in one place was super helpful to me. Most of the girls from this group are still on the list of my closest people.
2. Learn how to crochet.
I have never done this in my life, but imagine how surprised I was to find out I actually can! My grandmother was so good at it and I had the feeling she was navigating my hand and everything looked good from the first try!
So I watched some videos on how to create a blanket, a hat, and a doll and I just did it. (If you asked me to crochet one now, I can’t tell how I did it.) This is a helpful activity because it keeps you busy, but at the same time, it is relaxing, even meditative and when you see the result, you feel like you do something meaningful.
3. Choose a course of your interest.
Pregnancy is the best time (time that you won’t have after) to do something you always wanted but never did find the time. It can be anything from painting, singing lessons, language, personal development, maternity tips, or how to raise a healthy child.
I took few certifications during first 3 months of this pregnancy. You can choose to accelerate your skills so you can have better options after your maternity leave. You can find some of my courses on my website. Our group's best archives can be found on Facebook.
4. Learn how to read tarot.
This is one of the best things I have done in my life! Not only was it a deep soul-searching experience by itself (learning the history and meaning of each card and the philosophy behind it is something you can’t get anywhere else in the same way), but because it gives you so much perspective on every concern that you may have further in life and during pregnancy they are a lot!
About what kind of a parent you will be, are you good enough to raise a human being, how to deal with your husband, why this is and this happening in your life? From deepest questions to everyday life, everything has an intriguing answer using this amazing and wise system.
If you choose this option for yourself and you have no idea how to start, you can book a free consultation on my Facebook page.
5. Write the book of your pregnancy.
Yes, you can! You can start by writing a diary every evening, sharing your concerns, thoughts, emotions, physical changes, diet. Everything that you want. Then, just dig deeper and imagine one day this book can help your sister, friends, and daughter and start writing for them.
Then, imagine you can help all the women in the world someday! And that’s it! Just enjoy and write. No matter what the result will be, one day, you will have a lot of fun with it.
6. Find your sport activity.
It’s easy if you feel good! You can do whatever you want. But even if you feel sick as hell (as I felt), you can still do yoga! Find a prenatal yoga course. You will meet more moms and you will keep your body ready for the hard work after the baby is born (and trust me you need it!).
If you can’t get out from home, there are plenty of videos available online that you can follow at home. Just don’t let your condition to keep you stuck. Yoga will balance your inner processes and also will settle down all the hormonal storms that you will experience.
7. Focus on you.
Who is the most important person in your life? If you answer is anything different from "me", you are wrong! You are the most important, especially now when you are creating the most valuable creation in your life. Being healthy and happy in your body, mind, and spirit is the best present you can give to your baby, husband, parents, and friends.
So focus on your personal development. What makes you happy, what do you want from life, how you can achieve it. Make a plan, draw your future and be optimistic, positive, and joyful. If some fears and self-sabotages appear in the process — work on them. You will have no better time for this in the future, so why losing the opportunity!
After all — being pregnant can be described by many words. But in my opinion the most important of them is development. So, develop with a smile and be happy in every possible way!
Be brave!
Maya Boneva–Mahama is a Life Coach, NLP therapist, and Business and Success Coach. Visit her website.