Pregnancy tips and tricks

Okay, so I've learned a few things along the way between my own pregnancies and other people around me so I'm going to share them with you now!

If it's on the floor:

I'm in my 7th month of pregnancy right now, and it's not always easy to pick things up off of the floor. My solution, the vacuum cleaner hose! If it's big enough not to get sucked into the hose and light enough to pick up, it's not a problem. Otherwise, I have to ask myself, damn, how much do I want that off of the ground?

My exercise routine:

Squats, I still do my booty building exercises! I go for my walks too, basically because it feels good to move around I know it helps with labor and delivery from my previous pregnancy. Once the baby is confirmed to be in the head down position I squat, I'll squat prior but stop around my 28th week. I don't want to wedge him in there butt first! However, my other booty building exercises like kick backs, and hip extensions, I do. Just nothing that requires me to be on my stomach or on my back like in bridge lifts. I also stretch out my legs and sit and do butterfly stretches. I can also use my yoga ball to roll around and help stretch my back out.

Cleaning:

The floor of the tub and shower has been a challenge for, I think even without being pregnant it's a pain to clean. My Dad, an old salty Navy sea dog actually had a great solution. A sponge mop, yep, a sponge mop. Listen to your parents because sometimes they have really good ideas, and this man has bad knees and has had surgery on them, so he knows what he's talking about. Basically I mop my shower and tub, so much easier!

Maternity clothes? Nope!

So, I've avoided having to buy a new wardrobe. One solution was the rubberband trick while I was between regular and maternity sizes.

Maxi dresses, maxi skirts, a-line dresses, and my tops that are long enough and still flow out, those work! When a top doesn't quite cover my tummy I use a tube top and layer it under the top.

Another fantastic solution that I figured out because, I'm tall and it's hard to find maternity pants long enough, regular stretch denim in a few sizes bigger. As long as the jeans or slacks have a good stretch to them and slide easily over your hips and you can bend at the waist without the band hurting your tummy, good to go! I am normally a size 4 but, went to a size 12, which was big on me and sliding down my hips. I knew they would but I wanted room to grow so I fixed them to fit and to allow me to grow!

For this I needed:

A loop turner

Seam ripper

Elastic

Scissors

Head pins

Needle and denim thread

I carefully used the seam ripper to only rip a small vertical tear in the inner waistband of the jeans about 8 inches apart from each other. I had a piece of thicker elastic left over from a project I did. So I grabbeed my loop turner and pulled one end through, pinned the end before I pulled it, then pulled it all the way through, once I got a gather that I liked I pinned the other end and cut the excess elastic off. I sewed the elastic in place with a few stitches and now, my jeans fit and I can grow! (this would totally work for kids jeans when they don't quite fit and for jeans that fit but have a gap in the back, just do a shorter spot of elastic)

Sleeping:

Sleep hasn't been easy for me especially as it gets later into my pregnancy. However, sleeping with a body pillow between my knees and under my tummy has helped.

There it is folks, my solutions, tips, and tricks! Ask your doctor about what exercises you should and can do, and don't feel like just because you are pregnant you HAVE TO wear maternity clothes. If you want to buy a few pieces go for it but, you don't have to.

What are some of your tips and tricks?